Complaint Review: Fingerhut

Fingerhut sells obsolete products at premium prices, has absolutely no way to cancel an order in the event that you change your mind or make an error, keeps you on hold for an unacceptable time frame and tries to rip you off at every corner.

THE ORDER
I placed an order for a cell phone: HTC HD7 Windows Phone. I mistakenly thought this was the newly released windows phone (which I soon realized is the HTC HD8 not HD7). I went ahead and ordered. Then as I viewed a review of the phone on Youtube I realized that I'd purchased the HD7 from them NOT the HD8. The HD7 was released in 2010 and is obsolete as far as smart phones go. It is available at all other outlets for between $149 and $199 because it is an older model. When I realized the mistake (about 2 hours later) I sent an email requesting to cancel. This is when my problems began. Unlike most all other vendors, Fingerhut does not cancel your order. They claim that they begin fulfilling it as you check out and therefore can't guarantee a cancellation. Almost every vendor I know begins filling orders upon checkout but as long as the order hasn't shipped they can cancel and FINGERHUT can too, but they refuse to. I received an email saying that they attempted to cancel my order. I called to confirm. I was on hold 45 minutes. A representative answered the phone and told me that it was indeed cancelled and that it would take 24 hours to process and receive my cancellation number and that I wouldn't be charged.

SURPRISE SURPISE
After 24 hours I did not receive a confirmation of the cancellation so I sent another email. No one ever responded. After another 24 hours I sent another email, again no response. Then I receive an email saying that my package shipped. This was 2 days after I requested cancellation. I call AGAIN and tell the representative that this order was supposed to be canceled 2 days ago. The item shipped 48 hours AFTER I'd requested cancellation and you're telling me that's not enough time to cancel an order? The representative kept telling me to try the 30-day-in-home-trial. NO. This item was requested to be canceled and then you shipped it 48 hours later? The representative tells me he will send me a return shipping label. So now I'm supposed to pay to ship it back just because you refused to cancel? I cannot be the first or last person to place an order in error. I told him to forget the return shipping label I will track the package, stay home and REFUSE your garbage shipment.

REFUSED SHIPMENT
I stayed home all day waiting on the UPS man. They were NOT going to stick me with a package that I didn't want. Trying to sell me an obsolete phone for $379? If that's not a rip off then what is? The NEW version was released December 3rd and IT is $369 so why would I pay $379 for a version from nearly 3 years ago (its almost 2013 and the phone Fingerhut is trying to pawn off is from 2010). The tracking label shows that I refused the shipment because I cancelled the order and it was sent in error. The phone was delivered to the vendor on December 7th as confirmed on the tracking information

BACK TO THE PHONE
I call back to find out what the next step is after refusing shipment. I was on hold for 45 minutes. That's completely and utterly unacceptable. We're talking about a 1.6 billion dollar company and they don't have enough agents to answer calls in a timely manner? What a joke. This company is despicable and I'd say pass on them no matter how desperate you are for credit. The agent tells me to wait 7 business days for the item to return and then I will be credited. It's been 12 days since the item arrived at the vendor and still NO credit. I demanded that my account be closed immediately, however they are STILL charging me interest on a phone I don't have and STILL showing my outstanding balance as $379.99 instead of $0.00? On top of that -- when you close your account they keep all your details active, they never delete your account!

THEIR LOSS
I was a good customer. Never paid late. Never took out more credit than I needed. Only ordered one item at a time and paid it off. They even raised my limit  from $200 to $500. The fact that you cannot cancel any orders made in error is ridiculous. They just want to stick you with their sub par obsolete premium priced crap so that you will either give in and keep it or they will charge you an outrageous re-stocking fee and shipping and handling fee. Never in my life have I ordered something from a merchant and they refuse to cancel it. Meanwhile, you are expected to pay on an item they refused to cancel and that you don't have in your possession while they take you through the ringer. They are trying to profit no matter what, whether its on re-stocking fees, interest on an item they refused to cancel or whatever. Their goal is to make it easy to order but difficult to receive any real service or assistance thereafter.

DEMOGRAPHICS
Fingerhut banks on the fact that their demographic are mostly consumers with damaged credit that are looking to rebuild. They trick you into thinking they are a good option and as long as you're ordering and paying on time they will play nice. The moment there's an issue with your order, forget it, you're on your own and its their opportunity to take advantage of any mistakes or errors you make. They are banking on you being incompetent and  uneducated. I'm college educated and my credit score is 620, no perfect, but not terrible either.  You've fugged (purposeful spelling) with the wrong person Fingerhut.

TAKE THEM DOWN
Wait until the shenanigans are over and cancel your accounts people. Hit them where it hurts, which is their bottom line. Don't give them your good business. They will no longer get mine. I will file complaints with the Consumer Affairs Department of California. I am also a journalist for the Los Angeles Times and plan to do an article on the poor service and illegal tactics that Fingerhut uses to get your money and keep it, meanwhile keeping you on hold close to an hour and refusing to cancel your order, or acting like they "attempted" to cancel and couldn't. I'm going to interview other consumers. The Los Angeles Times has circulation of just over 1 million. Take that Fingerhut. I'm going to make sure you don't get more potential customers to torture from ANY time soon. I am also filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and filing complaints on every single consumer web site in existence. I will spread word-of-mouth to all of my friends and family. I also run a VERY popular consumer blog and I will inform my readers of this. I get over 68,000 page hits per month from all over the United States so this will help spread the word further since my Los Angeles Times article will be local. I will also file complaints with the FTC and every consumer protection agency.