On 09/27/2010 09:26 AM, Bob La Londe wrote:
Ok... Sometimes you just gotta wonder. Yeah I'm sure I'll get some
judgmental superiority replies, but I thought some folks might need a
reminder about how the world sometimes doesn't make sense.
Last night I went on-line and ordered some lead screws from Roton to
repair a little CNC machine I have been playing with. I checked my
credit card balance to make sure there was enough available credit to
make the purchase... and there was with a plenty of spare. I was annoyed
that Roton does not have a freight calculator in their website, but I
didn't think any more of it. I just figured if they raped me on
"handling" I just wouldn't buy anything else from them.
Well, they don't process the payment on the card in real time. Nor do
they just process it later after adding on the freight charges. Instead
their system puts a hold on the credit card effectively reducing your
available credit for the amount of the materials ordered. Then they
process it manually later when they calculate they freight charges.
I got a call this morning letting me know that my card had been
declined. Since I had checked the balance prior to the order I was very
surprised. My balance had not changed, but my available credit had been
reduced by the amount of the lead screws. Their own system had caused
the problem that lead to my card being declined.
So.... In summary. If purchasing on-line from Roton (or probably other
vendors who do not process order charges in real time or add freight
charges later) you need to have MORE THAN TWICE the available credit as
the amount of the materials you want to buy.
Sigh. I just cancelled the order. They seemed peeved at me. Oh, well.
I firmly believe that when a vendor signals to you that they don't
really want your business, that you should listen.
It's the only nice thing to do.
--
Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com
Do you need to implement control loops in software?
"Applied Control Theory for Embedded Systems" was written for you.
See details at
http://www.wescottdesign.com/actfes/actfes.html