Bizarre pricing change with PB Tech purchase

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jonathan18

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#236306 28-May-2018 08:35

So I was buying a Chromebook from PB Tech last night; I’d got right to the end of the purchase process, having selected payment method etc (having only discovered at that point they don’t take bank transfers during sales and charge a 2.5% credit card surcharge) when, without any warning, the purchase process started all over again (back to selecting address, I think). But I noticed something a bit weird – the total price had gone up a bit; I then worked out the price of the Chromebook had gone up $3.04. Checking the item page it indeed showed a revised price of $813.79 instead of $810.75.

I went though and purchased the laptop, but have sent an email objecting to this and requesting a refund of the difference – it’s not a significant amount at all to me, but it’s the principle – as it is a price shouldn’t change during a sale, let alone increase when an item’s in someone’s cart, let alone during the actual purchase process.

Will be interesting to see what they say is behind this. Has anyone got any ideas, or experienced this sort of thing before?

grimwulf

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#2023729 28-May-2018 09:24

Given the small amount, it's likely a currency fluctuation - given that NZ dollar's downward trend over the past few months, and that most of PBTech's stuff is imported.

Typically e-commerce sites have a global and then item specific setting for each item (that's rarely used).

If someone in the back end updated the global purchase currency for the item that could have had a flow on effect and invalidated your original purchase prior to completion - hence the reset.

It's unlikely that someone saw you buying that item and decided to bump your price by a few bucks ;).

On the plus side - at least it did do that, and gave you the option of buying at the slightly higher price - some sites don't and simply charge your credit card the higher price anyway.

mdf

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#2025906 30-May-2018 20:53

Interestingly, I got an email from PBTech this morning to say that I had accidentally been overcharged, apologising, and saying that my refund would be credited back to my card ASAP.

Which I thought was damn good service, all in all.

mattwnz

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#2026023 30-May-2018 23:13

jonathan18: So I was buying a Chromebook from PB Tech last night; I’d got right to the end of the purchase process, having selected payment method etc (having only discovered at that point they don’t take bank transfers during sales and charge a 2.5% credit card surcharge) when, without any warning, the purchase process started all over again (back to selecting address, I think). But I noticed something a bit weird – the total price had gone up a bit; I then worked out the price of the Chromebook had gone up $3.04. Checking the item page it indeed showed a revised price of $813.79 instead of $810.75.

Sounds like the products price changed while you were in the checkout process, so maybe their system them sends you back to the start so that you agree to the new price. It is a weird situation though, as I would have thought it would have let you get it for the price you put it in your basket at.

jonathan18

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#2026120 31-May-2018 10:44

I too got the email about the overcharging, but they had already sorted my one out...

The initial response I got from PBTech was:

“Unfortunately our server went down last night and reset the sale prices back to retail. This was not intentional and will be happy to refund”

I am not sure if this explanation makes sense - their standard price for the Chromebook I bought is a bit over $900, so not $3 more than the sale price but closer to $90... anyway, good to see that they were on to sorting it out fairly quickly...

Batman

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#2026133 31-May-2018 11:13

So the standard sale prices in PB Tech would be a discount of $3/800, or about 0.35%. GOod to know.

TonyR1973

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#2042506 22-Jun-2018 16:01

grimwulf:

It's unlikely that someone saw you buying that item and decided to bump your price by a few bucks ;).

Actually, that's exactly what I did!

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3puttssuck

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#2042543 22-Jun-2018 17:25

I recently purchased something from them instore, well in excess of $1000 and it turned out to be faulty. They agreed to refund my purchase price but not the 2.5% Credit Card fee. I said that this was not right, they would not budge. I will not step foot in their stores again.

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#2042551 22-Jun-2018 17:59

3puttssuck:

I recently purchased something from them instore, well in excess of $1000 and it turned out to be faulty. They agreed to refund my purchase price but not the 2.5% Credit Card fee. I said that this was not right, they would not budge. I will not step foot in their stores again.

I don't understand why some businesses insist on setting themselves up for punishment in our world of social media. PB refunding a paltry $25 would have prevented this negative feedback on a well-patronised forum. It's poor service, they should have refunded, and I'd now think twice before making a significant purchase from them.

gzt

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#2042556 22-Jun-2018 18:21

3puttssuck:
I recently purchased something from them instore, well in excess of $1000 and it turned out to be faulty. They agreed to refund my purchase price but not the 2.5% Credit Card fee. I said that this was not right, they would not budge. I will not step foot in their stores again.

Which branch?

3puttssuck

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#2042559 22-Jun-2018 18:23

gzt:
3puttssuck:
I recently purchased something from them instore, well in excess of $1000 and it turned out to be faulty. They agreed to refund my purchase price but not the 2.5% Credit Card fee. I said that this was not right, they would not budge. I will not step foot in their stores again.

Which branch?

Christchurch

toejam316

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#2042624 22-Jun-2018 19:37

Should've gone to your Credit Card provider and opened a dispute over it - they would've changed their tune real quick.

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wsnz

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#2043289 24-Jun-2018 20:42

3puttssuck:

I recently purchased something from them instore, well in excess of $1000 and it turned out to be faulty. They agreed to refund my purchase price but not the 2.5% Credit Card fee. I said that this was not right, they would not budge. I will not step foot in their stores again.

They are legally required to refund a proportion of the CC fee as well. I've had a similar situation with another branch, and they refunding it no question asked.