Canada Computer Charging Debit Card without Consent?

[Statik]

So back before Black Friday I was pricing out a new PC. Canada Computers had the best price on a 3700x and ML240R. Now when BF hit, I got better deals elsewhere, and didn't make any purchase through CC. I made about ~$500 in purchases on my Visa debit, and the rest on my visa. (from Newegg, Amazon, and )

 

The following few days my debit kept getting declined at stores, and yesterday at Canadian Tire, it said on the machine that my card was cancelled. This morning I called my bank and they verified my purchases on Newegg, then he told me of a charge from "Canada Computers" that they blocked and it never went through (I forget the actual price, but I believe it was $568 or something. Which was VERY similar to the price of the two items i had in my cart + tax) So my bank cancelled my card, and I have to go get a new one. After talking to CC customer service they basically told "not to worry, before they do transactions with credit cards they ensure its legit", and that bullshit was about the extent of it. I don't know if anyone has had similar issues, but I'm extremely surprised by this, since CC is a reputable franchise, and I don't know what went wrong, and just warn everyone to be cautious. 

[amdorintel]

1 hour ago, Statik said:

then he told me of a charge from "Canada Computers" that they blocked and it never went through (I forget the actual price, but I believe it was $568 or something. Which was VERY similar to the price of the two items i had in my cart + tax)

interesting, so you never purchased anything at all, but you had it in the cart of cc

did you fill out everything (address, name, billing information and banking details for payment) for checkout and just not commit to it?

 

[Statik]

29 minutes ago, amdorintel said:

interesting, so you never purchased anything at all, but you had it in the cart of cc

did you fill out everything (address, name, billing information and banking details for payment) for checkout and just not commit to it?

 

Yes, I did all that to price out shipping, but I got better deals on the same parts elsewhere. I 100% did not order it. There's nothing in my order history, cancelled orders, pending orders, etc. Very weird

 

[amdorintel]

4 minutes ago, Statik said:

Yes, I did all that to price out shipping, but I got better deals on the same parts elsewhere. I 100% did not order it. There's nothing in my order history, cancelled orders, pending orders, etc. Very weird

 

very interesting

 

what i normally do is enter false details to get a s/h price, but checkout procedures do change from vendor to vendor

 

do you think you have a virus on your pc?

 

could be a rogue i.t. guy at cc

 

[nbrowser]

I dunno, I've visited a couple of the new locations here in BC and honestly...I get bad vibes from the sales staff...just nowhere near the friendliness of say Memory Express or another local chain Mikes Computer Shop and hell NCIX retail stores at least had stellar service before it's owner went and screwed that up. Just something about CC rubs me the wrong way, could just be in my mind but in the couple of dealings I've had with Canada Computers...can't say I'll spend my money there.

[Statik]

29 minutes ago, nbrowser said:

I dunno, I've visited a couple of the new locations here in BC and honestly...I get bad vibes from the sales staff...just nowhere near the friendliness of say Memory Express or another local chain Mikes Computer Shop and hell NCIX retail stores at least had stellar service before it's owner went and screwed that up. Just something about CC rubs me the wrong way, could just be in my mind but in the couple of dealings I've had with Canada Computers...can't say I'll spend my money there.

Yeah I'm really not versed in buying electronics online until this BF, but after spending almost $4,000 online I can say my experience with Canada Computers and Mikes Computers were both very poor. I don't think I'll be shopping at either place again. 

[dalekphalm]

I've shopped at Canada Computers probably hundreds of times. Never had an issue even remotely similar to this.

 

@Statik when they told you that they check the card, was this told to you by an in-store employee, or by support staff from the website/online ordering?

 

While staff friendliness can vary per store, just like literally every other retailer (NCIX, Mike's Computers, Memory Express included), they're not a scammy company in general, so I highly doubt their system intentionally charged your card.

[amdorintel]

4 hours ago, nbrowser said:

.I get bad vibes from the sales staff...just nowhere near the friendliness of say Memory Express or another local chain Mikes Computer Shop and hell NCIX retail stores at least had stellar service before it's owner went and screwed that up. Just something about CC rubs me the wrong way, could just be in my mind but in the couple of dealings I've had with Canada Computers...can't say I'll spend my money there.

well the quality of the employees and their friendliness can depend on their wage, so at $15/hour there is no motivation for the employees to always be smiling and put up with bs from customers, its an 8 hour, room temperature grind that no $40/hour 12 hour outdoor year round, sweating eyebrow job can give them a work ethic on. of course that all depends on the person, but no one does a back flip out of bed at 6am for $15/hour, even if its a commercial store employee. I must say I do like Memory Express, I like their hiring criteria, atleast at the store I go to, unsure of the stores in poorer neighborhoods as I always hit the one mem ex store. but even then, the fact they've been around a long time, i think outweighs the ownership factor.

 

 

 

 

3 hours ago, Statik said:

Yeah I'm really not versed in buying electronics online until this BF, but after spending almost $4,000 online I can say my experience with Canada Computers and Mikes Computers were both very poor. I don't think I'll be shopping at either place again. 

i dont even know anything about cc or where their stores are, i know there was a store called computer rack but i never went in.

yeah when you spend big bucks (multi g-notes) you expect a level of service or professionalism right, and there is the security factor of using credit cards rather then debit, personal banking info.

 

 

[mr moose]

Why did you have to put in your card details in order to get a shipping price?

[dalekphalm]

7 hours ago, mr moose said:

Why did you have to put in your card details in order to get a shipping price?

He shouldn’t ... you get a summary before putting in payment details. 

[Statik]

9 hours ago, mr moose said:

Why did you have to put in your card details in order to get a shipping price?

I'm actually not sure? I don't recall now, perhaps I put it in after as I was about to make a purchase but held off?

[Teddy07]

I am not from Canada but it sounds strange that a bank would replace a credit card because of one questionable transaction

[Statik]

14 minutes ago, Teddy07 said:

I am not from Canada but it sounds strange that a bank would replace a credit card because of one questionable transaction

It was a fraud alert so they froze my card, and when I called they explained the recent charges (and the attempted one from CC). When I told the guy I 100% did not make that purchase he said it wasn't something to worry about since it got declined anyways, and he said he just went ahead and cancelled my card, and I just had to go pickup a new one.

[mr moose]

3 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

He shouldn’t ... you get a summary before putting in payment details. 

Then the question has to be asked, why did he put in payment details if he wasn't going to order?  Because as far as I can tell the only way a company on the internet can charge you is if you click next on the order after putting in payment details. 

[Statik]

12 minutes ago, mr moose said:

Then the question has to be asked, why did he put in payment details if he wasn't going to order?  Because as far as I can tell the only way a company on the internet can charge you is if you click next on the order after putting in payment details. 

Read my posts above. There’s also NOTHING proving I ordered. There’s nothing under “previous orders”, “cancelled orders”, or “pending orders”

 

websites also tend to save inputted purchase details for easy of checkout

[dalekphalm]

I just signed into my CC account to check - as soon as you add something to your cart and then click "Checkout" - the very first screen is a basic summary, and where you select things like shipping and billing addresses, and whether you want in-store pickup or for the item to be shipped. The next screen (assuming you selected shipping) allows you to choose your shipping service level.

 

The next next screen allows you to choose payment type (Credit Card or Interac Online) - at this point, it shows a full summary including shipping costs and taxes, before you would put any payment details in.

 

Lastly, you get a confirmation screen which goes over all information, and has a place order button. While I didn't proceed with this order, I believe you enter payment details after clicking "Place order".

 

@Statik when you were checking out, did you type in your card number at any point in time? If you did, I'm pretty sure you accidentally ordered the items.

 

The transaction might have been deleted after CC detected that your card was declined and then cancelled though - but you'd have to contact online support to get more info.

 

Point being, you can check the order summary including shipping total and taxes before you submit the order and definitely before you type in any payment details.

[Statik]

30 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

I just signed into my CC account to check - as soon as you add something to your cart and then click "Checkout" - the very first screen is a basic summary, and where you select things like shipping and billing addresses, and whether you want in-store pickup or for the item to be shipped. The next screen (assuming you selected shipping) allows you to choose your shipping service level.

 

The next next screen allows you to choose payment type (Credit Card or Interac Online) - at this point, it shows a full summary including shipping costs and taxes, before you would put any payment details in.

 

Lastly, you get a confirmation screen which goes over all information, and has a place order button. While I didn't proceed with this order, I believe you enter payment details after clicking "Place order".

 

@Statik when you were checking out, did you type in your card number at any point in time? If you did, I'm pretty sure you accidentally ordered the items.

 

The transaction might have been deleted after CC detected that your card was declined and then cancelled though - but you'd have to contact online support to get more info.

 

Point being, you can check the order summary including shipping total and taxes before you submit the order and definitely before you type in any payment details.

I don't know what to tell you, but I assure you that I didn't order anything. I have no emails with receipts, or anything. I was very methodical about ordering. I had a list of everything on one monitor, and added everything to carts on another monitor, and ticked them off as I went down, then I ordered anything. Also not to mention the attempted transaction was placed on Nov 29th, and I ordered my CPU from amazon on the 28th. 

[dalekphalm]

1 hour ago, Statik said:

I don't know what to tell you, but I assure you that I didn't order anything. I have no emails with receipts, or anything. I was very methodical about ordering. I had a list of everything on one monitor, and added everything to carts on another monitor, and ticked them off as I went down, then I ordered anything. Also not to mention the attempted transaction was placed on Nov 29th, and I ordered my CPU from amazon on the 28th. 

Very odd - Well I can tell you from my experience that Canada Computers isn't trying to scam you. It might have been a glitch in their system or something. If you really want to get to the bottom of it, you'll have to contact online support and see what they can trace.

[mr moose]

8 hours ago, Statik said:

Read my posts above. There’s also NOTHING proving I ordered. There’s nothing under “previous orders”, “cancelled orders”, or “pending orders”

 

websites also tend to save inputted purchase details for easy of checkout

 

7 hours ago, Statik said:

I don't know what to tell you, but I assure you that I didn't order anything. I have no emails with receipts, or anything. I was very methodical about ordering. I had a list of everything on one monitor, and added everything to carts on another monitor, and ticked them off as I went down, then I ordered anything. Also not to mention the attempted transaction was placed on Nov 29th, and I ordered my CPU from amazon on the 28th. 

 

The problem here is that they managed to try and charge your card for the exact items you entered into their online shop along with your details (which weren't needed to be entered for the info you were after), the most obvious conclusion is you did click the order button as I have yet to experience an online shop (especially one of any decent size) try to sell you goods you didn't confirm an order for.     Transaction dates can be the next business day from receiving the order.   I have had charges come through on my card 3 days after I made the actual purchase.