Date: Thu, 25 Jul 2002 17:23:40 -0500
From: Robert S.
To: Hot Deals Maniac
Subject: TigerDirect.com Warning!
Hello,
Yesterday you posted a deal from TigerDirect (Sylvania 15" LCD
computer monitor $315).
I thought you should know that TigerDirect is no longer a safe
company to order from. Without their customers' consent, TigerDirect gives
away their customers' credit card numbers to third parties, which then bill
recurring charges of around $50 each month, under names such as "AMR LD
Service Plan." Apparently there is a pop-up window during the ordering
process that appears for some people allowing them to opt-out of this, but
it doesn't always appear (it didn't for me, and I was affected--see below),
and when it does appear, TigerDirect apparently doesn't honor it anyway.
More information is available here:
1. http://www.ripoffreport.com/view.asp?id=23416
2. http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=40&threadid=818110
3. http://www.consumeraffairs.com/computers/tiger_direct.htm
From what is told in those stories, once the charges start it is
apparently often very difficult or impossible to make them stop (all you
can do is individually dispute each new charge with your credit card
company every month), and you will eventually have to get a new credit card.
It may be advisable to warn anyone who has ordered from Tiger Direct
in the last six months to scrutinize their past credit card statements to
make sure this hasn't happened to them and they just haven't noticed.
And, yes, it did happen to me: I ordered the USB Ethernet Adapters
you mentioned on your site from TigerDirect back in June. Luckily, I used
a one-time-only credit card number (from MBNA). By chance, when I called
my credit card company about an unrelated matter, the person I spoke to was
looking at my records and casually mentioned "Wow, there sure has been a
flurry of activity on your account." Apparently there had been many dozens
of attempted charges on that one-time card number, for various amounts
ranging from $5 to $500, over the last week, all (luckily) declined
automatically. That card number was never given to anyone other than Tiger
Direct on their secure web site for that single order. Imagine what might
have happened had I instead used a debit card to order from Tiger
Direct! From reading the stories at the links above, other people who did
that have had some very unfortunate consequences including overdrafts.
I advise extreme caution in dealing with TigerDirect, and would
advise to NEVER give them a regular credit card number. Over the last
twelve years, I had ordered many things from them. But this new way of
doing business is unacceptable. I don't believe I would ever order from
them again, under any circumstances.
Date: Fri, 26 Jul 2002 04:52:43 -0400
From: Jay H.
To: Hot Deals Maniac
Subject: Tiger Direct
Hello,
It has been a year or more since I ordered from Tiger Direct. I quit
ordering from them because I was also charged for services that I did not
order. I was on the phone for hours getting the chargers taken care
of. The company that charged me told me that I had requested their service
through Tiger Direct.
Good Luck with your efforts!
Date: Fri, 26 Jul 2002 12:44:13 -0500
From: Quantum Bit
To: Hot Deals Maniac
Subject: Tigerdirect tried to screw me, but failed, not with phone thing
About 2 years ago I saw a motherboard on tigerdirect's web site that
I wanted to order. Well, I ordered the motherboard, and when it arrived,
it was completely differant from what I ordered, and worth about $40
less in value. Well, after trying forever to talk to someone who could
help, I got someone and they said that I couldnt return it for free, that
I would have to pay a restocking fee. Well, I called my credit card
company and told them to stop payment on the order to tigerdirect.
Surely enough, that did the trick, they finally agreed to take the
motherboard back for free, and pay for the shipping. To this date I still
get their catalogs and the second I see "Tigerdirect" on the cover, it
goes to the trash can. I have a few friends who also were considering
purchasing from tigerdirect, but I managed to persuade them after a bit,
but I'm sure with this scandal, it shouldnt be too hard to convince
anyone else. :-)
Oh, and I love the response they posted that your site has a link to.
Some people will fall for it accept their appology, and continue to order
from them. But if they ever get screwed out of their money from
tigerdirect or elsewhere, maybe they'll waken up a little, but they will
have asked for it.
Also, if they lied before when selling your info to AMR, why wouldnt they
lie again saying that stopped?
P.S. Great site, I've found many usefull deals there, and you will always
have my visits to add to your traffic and take your bandwidth :-)
Date: Fri, 26 Jul 2002 12:29:09 -0600
From: Paul R.
To: Hot Deals Maniac
Subject: Credit Card Fraud
Hello,
Interesting post, about Tigerdirect. I ordered some hardware from
Tigerdirect about two months ago, and within a week after making the
purchase, unauthorized charges were showing up on my Discover card.
Luckily Discover caught it, called me, and asked, and of course I
explained that the charges were not authorized. It was very interesting
to hear that I am not the only one with this problem. I was not sure how
my card number had been taken, though I did suspect Tigerdirect for lack
of another possibility. I had purchased from Tigerdirect in the past,
with no problems, though, so I was somewhat mystified. If you get many
responses to your request for e-mails of credit card fraud in regards to
a Tigerdirect purchase, you might want to pass them on to the credit card
issuers. It is probably hard for the issuers to correlate where the
cards were compromised, but individually we (the card holders) know
whether we had made a purchase from Tigerdirect near the time of the
unauthorized charges.
Thanks for the "heads up." I don't know if I would have purchased from
Tigerdirect anyway because of my suspicions, but now I definitely won't.
It may not be enough to stand up in court, but it's enough to convince
me!
Date: Sun, 28 Jul 2002 22:16:08 -0500
From: Jack
To: Hot Deals Maniac
Subject: Tiger Direct got me, too.
I got stuck on the same deal with Tiger-Direct and AMR Long Distance
Service Plan. I just wrote Master Charge about two bills from AMR for
$61.02 for services I did not authorize or request. I did not talk to
Tiger Direct about any long distance package. However, I did get an
advertisement included with my purchase/shipment from them in April. The
advertisement was on a pachage that said if you don't cancel, you would
be billed... I never did authorize this in the first place, so there was
nothing to cancel.
I writing several other letters: Corporate Tiger Direct, Master Charge,
FTC, and the Better Business Bureau in Miami FLa.
Another thing with Tiger Direct: I purchased a motherboard, CPU, and fan
on Dec 31, 2001. There was a $30 Rebate on purchases before Jamuary 1st.
I mailed in the sales receipt with rebate form. After waiting
severaaaaal months, I got a notice stating that my purchase wasn't made
within the allotted time frame. I sent another copy of the receipt with
Dec 31, 2001 and Jan 02, 2002 circled, and told Tiger Rebate center that
there was a ship date of Jan 02, 2001 and a purchase date of December 31,
2001 as showed on the order form. The qualifying purchase was made Dec
31, 2001. The www.wheresmyrebate.com web page later indicated rebate
status "approved" with an expected ship date of 5/25/02. Purchase date
still indicates Jan 2/2002. I still haven't gotten the rebate.
I guess I could write the CEO and state that if he doesn't send me the
money that I have been billed along with some resitution for my
suffering due to his company's illegal practice, I'll condider "a no
response" as his acceptance to authorize a $100 per month lifetime
payment from his bank account to me.
Date: Mon, 29 Jul 2002 11:14:16 -0700 (PDT)
From: Mike K.
To: Hot Deals Maniac
Subject: tiger
i'd also like to mention another crappy thing tiger
has done to me a couple times. i bought memory from
them a while ago which had a rebate. after a few
days, they switched the model number of the memory on
the rebate and hence, our rebates got rejected. it
was absolute crap. and the customer service said
that they ran out of the model they sold us for the
reason for changing the model of the memory. they
still assured us the rebates would go through. after
that, i never bought from tiger again. they are full
of crap.
Date: Mon, 5 Aug 2002 20:18:14 -0700
From: Emily D.
To: Hot Deals Maniac
Subject: Tigerdirect's case of selling information to another company
Hi there!
Thank you very much for posting that. I immediately went to my credit
card statements and on 4 separate instances, I found charges of $61.02
from a company called AMR Long Distance service and one more company
named www.pay-system.com for the same exact amount of $61.02. These
charges appeared shortly after purchasing some hardware from Tigerdirect.
I don't know if you have any proof that they are the ones who sold the
credit card information but if you do, please let me know. I have always
dealt with tigerdirect and I do believe this is the first time this has
happened. But who knows, I have not gone into past year's statement with
a fine tooth comb. If you need further information, please let me know.
We do a lot of business on the net because we have a website for
electronic product. Essentially, we do a lot of business with a lot of
companies and websites on the net. Thanks again for making us aware of
this blatant attempt to steal money from innocent people who may not be
aware of their rights.
From: John
To: Hot Deals Maniac
Date: Sat, 31 Aug 2002 19:59:44 -0700
I got screwed by Tiger Direct. Charges showed on my bill for long
distance the last three months, one month after I bought something at
Tiger Direct. Thanks for the warning! I got my credit card company to
credit the bad charges back to me. Thanks again,
Date: Wed, 4 Sep 2002 18:38:15 -0400
From: Bob R.
To: Hot Deals Maniac
Subject: FW: Comments and Suggestions
Sir,
This is the reply from TigerDirect that I got after reading your
review. This is interesting and perhaps the other side. I sure agree
with you that I would not use TigerDirect while they had that policy with
the long distance phone service in place. Hopefully, this is not just
sales hype. I have had good luck with this company but have not ordered
from them in about 3 months. I did not have any bad charges put on my
credit card so I guess I am lucky.
Thanks very much for your service, you have helped me numerous
times!
-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Wallet
Sent: Wednesday, September 04, 2002 3:08 PM
To: Bob R.
Subject: RE: Comments and Suggestions
Dear Mr. Ryan,
Thanks for your comments. As part of my regular monitoring efforts I
came across your email and felt compelled to respond.
As a long time employee of the past 11 years and an officer of the
company I am deeply saddened by your comments and by the negative
feedback about my company. I take it as a personal disappointment when
our good efforts fail and our customers suffer as a result.
I want to state point blank that the feedback you are seeing is not
true. It is true that we were offering our customers a long distance
calling card with a free period during which the customer could make
unlimited calls with no charges. As part of this offer, a 3rd party
would get the customer's credit card and bill about $55 per month (I
forget the exact amount) after the free period unless the customer
cancels. A very important component of this offer was a detailed
disclaimer that was read aloud to each and every customer and a
requirement that the customer respond with a "yes" after hearing the
disclaimer. Agents were monitored for compliance and disciplined if the
disclaimer policy was not followed. I believe that we did everything
right, however, complaints began coming in about unauthorized charges and
we immediately cancelled the program. In hindsight I regret that we ever
introduced the program but we were really excited about the offer and, at
least initially, customers loved us for it! In the end we have
endeavored to make it up to any customer who felt that they were treated
wrong.
It is never our intention to defraud or mislead any customer at any time
and if I ever catch anybody in this company who acts inappropriately
towards any customer the punishment is severe. We are in this business
for the long haul and we are growing rapidly. We recognize that our
future growth goals would be impossible to reach by angering customers.
We're here to sell computer products with the best values and service
around and we are singularly focused on that mission. I hope this
answers your question about what we've been up to and if there is
anything I can do to help you please feel free to call on me directly.
Thanks again for your business.
Richard Wallet
Executive Vice President
TigerDirect.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Bob R.
Sent: Tuesday, September 03, 2002 5:20 PM
To: TigerDirect
Subject: Comments and Suggestions
Message :
Sir,
Your company is receiving alot of bad press right now about you
selling our credit card numbers and then some third party charging to our
cards. Can you please verify. I enjoy looking at your ads and have
ordered from you in the past but I cannot support something like this, in
fact, it totally turns me against your company. The site that is
reporting this is www.hotdealsclub.com. Perhaps you have been hacked? I
don't know what the extent of the problem is but I am in the process of
checking all my credit card bills right now.
Thank you.
Date: Thu, 5 Sep 2002 10:02:00 -0400
From: {anonymous}
To: Hot Deals Maniac
Subject: Tiger
Hi. I still love your site.
How completely disingenuous of that Tiger VP! He writes that 'A very
important component of this offer was a detailed disclaimer that was read
aloud to each and every customer and a requirement that the customer respond
with a "yes" after hearing the disclaimer. Agents were monitored for
compliance and disciplined if the disclaimer policy was not followed.'
But the preponderance of complaints were from people who ordered over the
web! Most say they were signed up automatically with NO notice at all, let
alone a disclaimer and a "YES" option. (I was not affected; just reading.)
His complete failure to address web orders makes his "defense" laughable. I
am sorry to write Tiger off my list, since they have had bargains in the
past, but this insincere response does nothing to help their image.
Date: Wed, 04 Dec 2002 23:39:09 -0500
From: Doug
To: Hot Deals Maniac
Subject: AMR LD, TigerDirect SCAM!!
I just learned of this scam after being the victim of it for the last few
months. I can't believe TigerDirect is getting away with this. I looked
through my statements, and sure enough, there was a Tigerdirect purchase I
had almost completely forgotten about. Bastards!! Please email me back if
you have learned anything new.
Date: Tue, 22 Jul 2003 18:18:53 -0400
From: Steve
To: Hot Deals Maniac
Subject: Tiger Direct problem...
I figured you and your visitors would be interested in knowing how
TigerDirect deals with their customers.
I (and my companies) have purchased $1000's of dollars worth of computer
equipment from them and when my first problem arose this is how it was
dealt with.
I was interested in the Trendware - TK-401R - 4-Port Rackmountable KVM
Switch, so I decided to call them. I asked what it came with, was told
the unit itself, ac adapter and rack mount kit. I was unhappy the cables
where not included but ordered it anyway.
Upon arrival it was missing the ac adapter. I double checked their web
site and no mention of the fact that it was not included. I called and
spoke to William, who said it should have and that I should call the
manufacturer and they would be happy send me one (this was annoying, but
I obliged), after 20 minutes with the manufacturer I learned that it did
NOT include the ac adapter.
I again called TigerDirect again, got a supervisor (a different William)
who started down the path of telling me that I need to call the
manufacturer to get the AC adapter and when I explained the problem
reacted with "well our website never said it came with the AC adapter".
He blew off my original call and my call to William where I had been
told it would be sent by the manufacturer. He not only refused to pick
it up the switch (saving me shipping), but said that it would be subject
to restocking fee's! As such I have it in dispute with my credit card
company... which will get me my money back but is annoying nonetheless.