Pool.com rant:

[Dagwolf]

There's a big difference between 48-72 hours and 30 days. I signed up with pool.com the other day in order to pre-register a domain name (well, I was considering it). Instead I actually bought one from their auction.

To my surprise, I found an additional $60 charge on my bill. I checked it out; it turned out to be a pre-authoriztion which, according to their FAQ, would be returned to my account in 48-72 hours.

No problem.

Long after 72 hours, the $60 verification charge was still on my account. I messaged my card issuer to see what was up; they replied that unless Pool.com released the verification charge the hold would remain for 30 days. I had a problem with that!

so I emailed Pool.com asking them to release the hold, as it had not automatically expired after 3 days (as they had indicated).

Hello;

Thank you for using Pool.com.

Unfortunately Pool.com cannot help you in this regard. We perform these preauthorizations as per our terms and conditions which can be read at http://www.pool.com/terms.aspx . Many different credit card companies have varying policies in this regard and it is up to the user of the card to be aware of them. Pool.com does not get involved in this manner.

Customer - 08/25/2004 03:02 PM


Some Joker,
Customer Service

www.pool.com
Date Created: 08/25/2004 03:02 PM
Last Updated: 08/25/2004 05:07 PM
Status: Solved

Nice customer service. " It's not our problem. STATUS: SOLVED!"

[BRISK]

[{fusion}]

very poor indeed

[AGF]

very poor service.

I hope there is some way you can get the problem fixed.

[MickeyG]

what bastards, I would chargeback

[Groove]

That sucks! And I don't understand the $60 charge. If they need to validate the card they could charge something trivial like $5. What's with the $60?

[Dagwolf]

I've emailed them back again. Let's see what happens.

[Dagwolf]

Here's my second email to them:

You are denying me access to my own funds, and you're telling me it's my
problem?

I don't think so. I am a regular poster on THE largest adult webmaster
boards on the Internet. Hundreds of your customers read my posts every
single day. I really don't think you want me to start a daily column about
this.'

Here's how it works: I post a single message regarding what has happened to
me, and how Pool.com has responded to the issue. I tell nothing but the
truth. Then every other person who has ever had a problem with you will put
in their two cents. Then one or two people will say, "I've had nothing but
good experiences with Pool.com" ... but that doesn't matter, the seed of
mistrust is placed.

What you said to me was, "Pool.com does not get involved in this manner".
Not cannot... Does not. You're telling me it's too much trouble. I refuse
to accept that. Please release the hold on my funds . I do not owe you
money.

Once again, here is what my card issuer says needs to be done:

"In order to drop any pending/outstanding charges on your ePassporte
account, you must contact the merchant that has the hold on the funds, and
request them to cancel/drop the hold. If the merchant does not have the
capability to do so, they must fax a statement to ePassporte indicating
that they have no intentions of charging your account."

My pool.com account is [email protected] . Epassporte contact info can be
found at www.epassporte.com .

Here's their reply:

Thank you for using Pool.com.

Our previous answer referring you to our terms and conditions at http://www.pool.com/terms.aspx still applies.

[Dagwolf]

I am now replying to them with a link to this thread.

[hjnet]

I've signed up with them about 2 weeks ago, hopefully they don't try to pull the same on me

[Dagwolf]

Actually, I read their terms and conditions page... I don't see how it applies here.

What this guy seems to be telling me is, they don't really give a crap. "Send a FAX? Oh, no! that's WORK!"

I hope this guy's bosses get wind of this... so far I'm dealing with just 1 person.

[Dagwolf]

Well, this just bites. I'm stuck between my CC company's 30-day authorization hold policy and Pool.com's "I don't give a shit" policy.

It's been about 10 days since pool.com pre-authorized a $60 charge on my account; I still don't have access to that money. It's not that I need THAT money right now.. it's just that I have a bid in for a domain at another place, and if I win it I'll need that $60 next week to buy school clothes for my kids.

Apparently I still have to wait another 3 weeks.

What a bunch of pricks.

[Basic_man]

Fuck, that shit suck !

[Dawgy]

yeah they did that to me too... took over 30 days for the charge to go away... and NOWHERE in their terms (that i can see) does it say theyll preauth my card for $60... i may be blind, but i cannot find that in there anywhere.

[BradM]

Thanks for the thread. I will never use pool.com because of this.

[adrenalinedef]

Why not call them? Ask to talk to someone in charge

[Zerof8]

Thats fucked up! Goodluck getting that shit resolved Dagwolf but I wouldnt expect that money until the 30 days is up.

[bringer]

Some Joker,
Customer Service

very professional

[Dagwolf]

Originally posted by Dawgy
yeah they did that to me too... took over 30 days for the charge to go away... and NOWHERE in their terms (that i can see) does it say theyll preauth my card for $60... i may be blind, but i cannot find that in there anywhere.

It's not in their terms except where it says something like " all applicable charges as posted on our website" ...

The pre-authorization info is in their FAQ.

[paxton]

Originally posted by Dawgy
yeah they did that to me too... took over 30 days for the charge to go away... and NOWHERE in their terms (that i can see) does it say theyll preauth my card for $60... i may be blind, but i cannot find that in there anywhere.

I couldn't find it specifically in the legal terms, but it is stated on the FAQ page:

What is a pre-authorization?

A pre-authorization validates a credit card and reserves a specified amount of available credit. It is not a charge, although it may appear on your online statement. This reservation of credit is usually in effect 48 to 72 hours, and will expire automatically. This is a security measure that we use to protect our customers and Pool.com from fraudulent acts against our Backorder and Domain Marketplace systems.

Note: Entering valid credit card information is mandatory when creating a new Pool.com account. Once entered, your card will be pre-authorized for US $60.


http://www.pool.com/help/faq.aspx

Still I agree their level of service is crap, and they should have canceled the hold. I certainly will not do business with this company.

[vitty]

Originally posted by Dagwolf
There's a big difference between 48-72 hours and 30 days. I signed up with pool.com the other day in order to pre-register a domain name (well, I was considering it). Instead I actually bought one from their auction.

To my surprise, I found an additional $60 charge on my bill. I checked it out; it turned out to be a pre-authoriztion which, according to their FAQ, would be returned to my account in 48-72 hours.

No problem.

Long after 72 hours, the $60 verification charge was still on my account. I messaged my card issuer to see what was up; they replied that unless Pool.com released the verification charge the hold would remain for 30 days. I had a problem with that!

so I emailed Pool.com asking them to release the hold, as it had not automatically expired after 3 days (as they had indicated).





Nice customer service. " It's not our problem. STATUS: SOLVED!"

[Dagwolf]

Originally posted by Zerof8
Thats fucked up! Goodluck getting that shit resolved Dagwolf but I wouldnt expect that money until the 30 days is up.

I've pretty much written it off for now, and made alternate plans... but that doesn't mean I'll forget about it.

If they have a change of heart and decide that customer service matters after all, I'll be just as quick to bring this thread back up and post it.

[TheWildcard]

ask for a dispute form

[email protected]

[vitty]

Originally posted by Dagwolf
There's a big difference between 48-72 hours and 30 days. I signed up with pool.com the other day in order to pre-register a domain name (well, I was considering it). Instead I actually bought one from their auction.

To my surprise, I found an additional $60 charge on my bill. I checked it out; it turned out to be a pre-authoriztion which, according to their FAQ, would be returned to my account in 48-72 hours.

No problem.

Long after 72 hours, the $60 verification charge was still on my account. I messaged my card issuer to see what was up; they replied that unless Pool.com released the verification charge the hold would remain for 30 days. I had a problem with that!

so I emailed Pool.com asking them to release the hold, as it had not automatically expired after 3 days (as they had indicated).





Nice customer service. " It's not our problem. STATUS: SOLVED!"

[Doctor Dre]

Fucked up . I don't like their new bid policies either