WeThePeople
USA,#2General Comment
Thu, January 16, 2014
Your story sounds so very familar. I am going through much of the same as we speak.
I also feel obligated to inform people of The Liquidation Channel's latest (or who knows maybe long-standing) "Shipping/Invopice Scam".
I sincerely hope that what has happened to me will provide other customers with the knowledge of LC's existing "mystery" policy/scam and once aware, will not also become an LC victim.
What has happened to me involves a shipping/invoicing scam that has costs me hundreds of dollars just in the last few weeks.
It works like this...
As a customer, if you place an ONLINE order you pay a one-time, flat fee (known as a "Shipping Bundle") of $29.99 for all purchases made within a 24-hr. period.
However, and PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE heed my warning...
If you also place, or have placed, orders from their ON-AIR television program (known as their "Automated System"), LC has what I believe to be a totally illegal policy of not charging customers their On-Air ADVERTISED shipping rate but instead, LC will charge you their "Shipping Bundle" rate of $29.99 for EVERY ITEM you purchase.
In other words, the $1.99 or $2.99 shipping rate will not apply to you any longer! IT'S A SCAM!
LC never mentions this to customers either Online or On-The-Air...and this policy appears nowhere on their web-site nor has any On-Air host ever mentioned this policy.
IT IS A COMPLETE MYSTERY.
And the only way you will ever learn about it is THE HARD WAY...like I did...after it has cost you a great deal of money.
Only after LC has charged you nearly 30-times the actual shipping rate for every item purchased and only after you call Customer Service to resolve this problem will LC inform you that this is their policy.
And, in fact, they will endlessly argue with you to let you know just how wrong you are...to quote, my CS Rep told me that "It's your fault because you didn't call in before placing your On-Air order to inquire about the shipping costs"...WHAT???
Who calls in to inquire about shipping rates for an On-Air purchase when the actual shipping rate is right in front of you on your TV screen?
Well, according to LC, everyone does? REALLY?
According to LC, every customer who places an On-Air order with them will FIRST call-in and get their actual shipping rate before making that purchase.
Picture that, you are watching TV, you see a time-sensitive On-Air auction for an item that you want to purchase...BUT...before you call into LC's Automated-System to buy this item that has less than two-minutes remaining before it's gone, you first call Customer Service and wait for more than an hour to speak to a Rep to ask them how much shipping will cost.
Does LC think the purchasing-public are a bunch of morons?
Appearently.
Secondly, the rep I spoke to then said to me (and I quote) "Well, you received good shipping deals on previous items...so it all balances out..." WHAT????
Has LC ever heard of FALSE ADVERTISING?
I don't give a diddly what good shipping deals I have received in the past..if I place an order for an item and I am quoted a shipping rate of $1.99 or $2.99, then that is what I expect to pay!
NOT $29.99 for every item.
If LC thinks they are not charging enough for shipping Online, then they need to increase their shipping rates...NOT scam customers by charging them 30-times more shipping on their next purchase!
THIS IS FRAUD...AND IT IS A SCAM! Period.
Next, they are (what I call) "Convenient-Dating" Invoices so that if you happen to be under a 24-hr. "Shipping Bundle" blanket that allows you to make as many purchases as you like for one flat-rate shipping price of $29.99, they will date your Invoices on a day different from the day you actually made the purchase in order to re-charge you shipping, which is, again...$29.99 per item!
In other words, say you make a purchase Online and pay $29.99 to have the order shipped. Then, and while still within 24-hrs. of your Online purchase, you make an On-Air or "Automated System" purchase for one item you see on TV.
You should only pay $29.99 to have everything shipped but instead, LC will date your invoice for your On-Air purchase on the following day or an entirely different day than you actually made the purchse in order to charge you yet another $29.99 to have that ONE item shipped.
And, they explain this by saying that "You should have inquired about shipping before you made the purchase".
Buyer Beware! According to LC, eveything is YOUR fault..and it is going to cost you.
So, I am left wondering...why LC's On-Air hosts never mention any of this to customers. I wonder why they have an advertised shipping quote of $1.99 or $2.99 when it doesn't apply to anyone who has made an Online purchase. I wonder why LC is so secretive about this policy and will only explain it AFTER they have taken a customer for hundreds of dollars and only AFTER you contact them.
IT'S A SCAM!
I have recently cancelled all of my remaining orders and will send back every item that I have ever received from The LC. (taking into consideration all of the items that have been missing in my orders that they refuse to address).
And, I am not stopping there.
I am filing a complaint with the Attorney General of Texas as well as the BBB, and will absolutely file suit against LC in order to make the buying public aware of what is happening to customers.
Despite LC's contentions that "the problems I have described have never been complained about before", which I will bet my life is an absolute lie, I wholeheartedly believe that if it has happened to me, it has happened to others.
If the LC has never run into these problems from any other customer before me, then why did the Rep that I spoke to have her mantra ready for reciting?
I mean if this is truly a "first"...why didn't the Rep ask a Supervisor on how to proceed? How did she even know what to do?
It just wasn't the case. Her ready-made response placing all fault on the customer was recited like verse. And, I will bet my last dollar, she has repeated these words on many, many ocassions.
So, after making the huge mistake of buying from the LC, I have made-up my mind that:
I will not stop until LC either:
(1) Changes their ridiculopus, and most likely illegal, practice of changing unknown shipping rates that differ from their advertised shipping rate (which is blatant False Advertising);,
and (2) LC also stops their, more likelty than not illegal, behavior of dating invoices on days that are most finacially beneficial to them as opposed to the actual date when a customer made a purchase, in order to charge a customer 30-times the actual shipping for every item they buy.
LC is not going to get around the fact that a customers Credit/Debit Card doesn't lie.
I have the actual dates that I made purchases Online, as well as On-Air...and simply because LC doctored my invoice to make it appear as if the two orders were made on different days in order to be able to charge me 30-times the actual shipping rate, my Credit/Debit Card charge dates tell the real story.
And, the fact that they do not reveal a policy either on their website or On-Air that unexpectedly and unknowingly costs consumers hundreds and/or thousands of dollars, doesn't mean that they can get away with taking people's money and then claiminmg that the consumer isn't doing their due diligence.
They are NOT going to get away with it.
I WILL NOT STOP UNTIL THESE TACTICS ARE ADDRESSED, BY WHATEVER GOVERNING BODY/BODIES OVERSEES LC'S BUSINESS PRACTICES, AND DISCONTINUED.
And...every LC victim is reimbursed and made whole again.
THAT I PROMISE.
As consumers, if we cannot look out for each other, we're all destined to exploitation.