What Happened to PricesEngine?

eug on 05/08/2010 - 11:52

Anyone knows what happened to PricesEngine? Why is paypal witholding their money?
I just got this email from them:

Dear PricesEngine customers,

We send this email today to inform you our site will be forced to stop operation for a period of time. Due to Paypal keep holding large amount of our fund for some unreasonable reasons. We'll start to strive for our rights via Australian law.

Unfortunately, our site will have to stop operation since Paypal is the only payment method we have at the moment. The actual time of the suspension will depend on how long Paypal will spend to settle this matter.

We apologize for the inconvenience caused by us. Our customer service team will work as usual to answer all the queries. Hope we can make PricesEngine back to work soon.

Best regards,
The PricesEngine team

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Comments

  • northirid on 05/08/2010 - 11:53

    Paypal don't like big surges in funds, I've heard of this happening to a few people - paypal stonewall them out of business as possible scammers due to the sharp (and very fast) increase in funds to their paypal accounts.

  • samfisher5986 on 05/08/2010 - 12:00
    +2

    Typical Paypal, I hope it gets fixed soon.

    They should just set up bank deposit while they wait.

  • Mikinoz on 05/08/2010 - 12:03
    -2

    This could be happening because of a large number of people not getting their goods, or massive delays for some.

    Personally i think paypal are investigating them because of this , if so nice work paypal hope they come back bigger and stronger but with better customer service!

    • Horizon on 06/08/2010 - 17:58

      …because of a large number of people not getting their goods…*

      I was one of those.

      I paid for a DVD burner and didn't receive it, or any replies or communication about it.

      So 10 days later I complained to PayPal, and eventually got a refund.

      I guess if you behave like Dodgy Brothers you 'll get treated like Dodgy Brothers.

      • Mikinoz on 06/08/2010 - 18:05
        +1

        I am with you on that one, after seeing all the replies of people misisng there goods i have reserved my purchasing from them

      • wisc on 07/08/2010 - 19:35

        yeah fair enough, i've got shipping notifiecation from the drives i bought, so im pretty happy with them, however my mate only received a notification that it was being processed. (not shipped yet) sounds like they are pretty disorginised, hopefully they come back with better service then they will be a great service…

        sounds like they have almost 0 overheads, but might need someone to check emails and respond.

        • eug on 08/08/2010 - 00:04
          +2

          then their prices would be higher, wouldn't it…
          If it's a good price, I don't mind slower service as long as I get it within a reasonable amount of time (i.e. up to 2 weeks).

          If I want it fast and with well-organized customer service, I wouldn't be looking at the cheapest place around.

          • wisc on 08/08/2010 - 21:09

            @eug: thats not necessarily true, service can be lifted with a gain in efficency…

            the problem is if there service levels are too low people don't end up getting there drives at all… thats bad… im all for low prices specially as low as price engines,

            but its not good if
            1: you never get your product
            2 there is no process to RMA a dead product.

            im find for support, as i can do it myself. and if i can RMA the card directly to the manufacturer, which mainly leaves not getting the product in the first place.

            • eug on 08/08/2010 - 21:14

              @wisc: Have people totally not received their drives, or have they been delayed through this paypal thing, or did they expect them to arrive too quickly?

  • lukelegend on 05/08/2010 - 12:03
    +3

    Yeah, I hate paypal, they are more dodgy than the ebay sellers!!

  • nfr on 05/08/2010 - 12:03
    +11

    Paypal can freeze your account for whatever stupid reasons. This impacts the seller's cash flows, very bad for low margin businesses like PricesEngine. I feel sorry for them.

  • Bappy on 05/08/2010 - 12:03

    Here goes my chance to get a possible cheap system

  • scrimshaw on 05/08/2010 - 12:04
    +3

    I'm guessing that their previous sales had been so good (and moving thousands of dollars per day) that Paypal probably thought there was some sort of scam going on.

    This is going to be bad for PricesEngine, since they don't make much profit per item sold, and have to rely on sales volume to keep the cash flowing.

  • Gecko on 05/08/2010 - 12:05

    hmm, so does this mean we wont be getting out items?

  • bartracer on 05/08/2010 - 12:08

    they had this problem once before.

    paypal like to hold the cash for as long as as they can

    PricesEngine have taken there ABN number of there site
    dont know why they did that

  • DorianZ on 05/08/2010 - 12:12

    OMG….. Anyone tell me does this mean i can not get my moneyback for a long time if i ask for a refund. (ordered a MB, not received for a week).

    • mgexiled on 05/08/2010 - 12:27
      +1

      if its any help i recieved my motherboard yesterday

  • ardseidel on 05/08/2010 - 12:15
    +1

    DorianZ: Have you contacted customer service? Pricesengine aren't the quickest to ship. I ordered a 500g 2.5" last thursday and it has only shipped today. Might have to be a bit more patient. The upside is that their customer service shouldn't be too busy at the moment!

    • DorianZ on 05/08/2010 - 12:22

      Hi ardseldel:
      I think it's opposite, their CS must be really busy at this moment.
      I emailed them, no reply. Added their skype, no reply. Do you know any other methods to contact them?
      Thank you.

      • Gecko on 05/08/2010 - 12:26
        +2

        With all this going on, they're probably getting swamped. No point trying other contact methods as you'll just make them even more swamped.

  • knuckle8 on 05/08/2010 - 12:23
    +1

    I have heard this happening as well. It can take upto a week for paypal to unlock your account. They should really use another means of taking payment.

    • scrimshaw on 05/08/2010 - 12:34
      +5

      Sometimes they will even outright refuse to unfreeze your account.

      There are tonnes of Paypal horror stories on the anti paypal forum (which is now a bit dead). I wonder how many of these cases finally do get resolved.

      This is yet another reason why you shouldn't trust Paypal with large sums of money. Withdraw the cash as soon as possible into your bank account.

      • WhiteEvo6 on 05/08/2010 - 13:05
        +2

        Agreed, everytime I receive payment from buyers on ebay I transfer the money out of paypal the same day. I never let it build up. Paypal has its uses but your screwed if they decided to lock things down. Are they almost untouchable I feel for pricesengine.

        • eug on 05/08/2010 - 13:27
          +1

          Can paypal withdraw money out of your linked bank account if they suddenly decide they want some money back? I vaguely remember some people complaining about that.

          • bigsue19 on 05/08/2010 - 13:31
            +1

            @eug: Scary, if that's true!

          • Mikinoz on 05/08/2010 - 14:40
            +1

            @eug: Yes they can it sucks but has happened to me

            • eug on 05/08/2010 - 14:53
              +1

              @Mikinoz: brr, makes me wanna set up one of those new fee-free accounts and always keep a zero balance with no OD facility.

              I imagine with a credit card, you can dispute the charge?

              • carlenet on 06/08/2010 - 14:07

                @eug: Yes that's the only safety net there is with Paypal! I never use my Paypal balance, I don't usually have one anyway now that you can withdraw funds without incurring a fee, I always use my CC. I've had a dispute before and I went straight to my CC company as I knew Paypal would hold it up for months! The CC company had it sorted within the month.

              • leiiv on 16/08/2010 - 17:02

                @eug: Do you know which particular banks/accounts that have no fee and no OD?

                • anthony on 16/08/2010 - 17:48

                  @leiiv: I think you can ask them to make the OD limit $0

                  • leiiv on 16/08/2010 - 18:07

                    @anthony: I asked CBA once and they could not do it.

              • anthony on 16/08/2010 - 17:47
                +1

                @eug:

                I imagine with a credit card, you can dispute the charge?

                Yes, that is why paying with paypal has no benifit

  • Swiper on 05/08/2010 - 13:30

    I had a dead 1TB HDD that I returned to them over 2 weeks ago and it got sent back the other day as a return to sender. I sent it to the address the warranty dept requested. When I contacted them explaining this, they said there must have been a mix up with the courier and to send again. I've done this, but have no confidence that I will get my replacement (even more so now this has happened) or money back.

    Unfortunately, looks like a waste of money and time. It's a shame because there were many good reports by Ozbargainers and they were offering plenty of good (maybe too good) deals

    • lukelegend on 05/08/2010 - 14:00

      It should be ok, paypal have to cover you for a refund as long as you don't go ver the 45 day time frame for a lodgement. just hang in there, I'm sure all will be ok :)

      • Mikinoz on 05/08/2010 - 14:41
        -1

        This is probably why they have been suspended

    • anthony on 15/08/2010 - 23:46

      You don't trust a seller because a courier who they are not related to was not able to make a delivery?

  • leonheart1 on 05/08/2010 - 14:03
    +1

    Lol, what timing!
    I just bought 4gb of RAM this Monday then this shows up!

    After you buy something they usually send you a series of emails: Received, Processed, Approved, Order Status Update(Shipped).
    Right now mine is on Approved.
    Guess I'll be stuck here RAMless til at least next week. :P

    EDIT: AHAHAHA WHAT TIMING INDEED!! The second I finished writing this message, I checked my email and VOILA, Order has been shipped!

    • jayster on 05/08/2010 - 14:30

      Lucky for u!

      I've still got 2 item sitting in the 'processed' queue. A monitor from over 2 weeks ago, and a 500G HD from last week. I'd like to know what takes these guys so long to process an order. now i'm wordering if i'll get it at all.

    • DorianZ on 05/08/2010 - 14:30

      My status is Approved. I sent an Email for cancelling the order 5 mins ago. Better they have not shipped the item out. -_____-

    • leonheart1 on 06/08/2010 - 11:31

      Received mine early this morning. Now just gotta get it working with this mobo I bought…

  • wisc on 05/08/2010 - 14:49

    hope I'm not waiting too long for my drives i ordered a couple of days ago, haven't got a processed email yet…
    hope they don't hold onto existing orders that would be a bit unfair as the money came out of my account today…

    I can just imagine…. by the time i get my drives the street price of the drives is cheaper!

    hope they get it sorted ASAP.. yeah paypal is dodgy, but have pretty much cornered the market…

    Received, Processed, Approved, Order Status Update(Shipped).
    (2*2TB seagates)

  • ragflan on 05/08/2010 - 21:11

    Anyone get their 2x2TB drive shipped yet from a couple of days ago?

    • lukelegend on 05/08/2010 - 21:51

      I just got the WD ones today but still waiting on the seagate ones , should be late next week

      • wisc on 06/08/2010 - 09:17
        +1

        that is if they are sending them out…I know if paypal was holding my money, i wouldn't be too keen to ship anything out…

        • ragflan on 06/08/2010 - 15:53

          I got the shipped notification email with a tracking number for the Seagate drives. Hopefully they arrive early next week.

          • wisc on 06/08/2010 - 16:36

            @ragflan: yeah me too see below.

            EDIT Got mine today… mates havent been shipped out as yet.

  • Livert on 06/08/2010 - 09:28
    +2

    If too many people make disputes on their purchases, Paypal will demand proof of delivery from the merchant. If this is not done quickly enough, they will freeze the funds on all purchases. I'm not sure which courier company they use (never purchased from them before) but if it's Auspost, it will delay the process as tracking evidence only gets released when the parcel hits the first depot.

  • wonderland on 06/08/2010 - 09:48

    someone mentioned pricesengine has the same ABN as 9289.com.au, is that true?

    • ardseidel on 06/08/2010 - 09:55

      Yeah looks that way. Makes you wonder why they don't use the credit card gateway from 9289 in the meanwhile if it is indeed the same business…..

  • lukelegend on 06/08/2010 - 11:15

    Update, I just received a couple of emails from price engine , one for the power supply and one for the two seagate 2tb harddrives and both receipts have tracking numbers with them, so they are on the way :)

    All is good :)

    Paypal still suck though

  • WhiteEvo6 on 06/08/2010 - 11:55
    -1

    i think the annoying part about all this is they kept selling items the day before this happened. They obviously knew this was happening and its not just something you wakeup and decide. Pretty poor form but I guess you cant 100% blame them its Paypal…

    • Mikinoz on 06/08/2010 - 12:00

      maybe the could have had a backup system ie another pay provider, or next time so there is no issues

    • lukelegend on 06/08/2010 - 14:09

      I don't think so, paypal just shut the door with no warning and you have to fax documentation to them to unlock the account which takes time. It's happened to my work, absolutely no warning at all.

    • zhenjie on 09/08/2010 - 12:49

      What proof do you have that PriceEngine knew this was going to happen? If you read previous Paypal stories Paypal tend to give zero warning to account holders.

    • anthony on 15/08/2010 - 23:47

      I guess you cant 100% blame them its Paypal…

      yes you can

    • vinny on 13/10/2010 - 00:21

      There is no warning paypal just block accounts whenever they want to..

  • wisc on 06/08/2010 - 12:22
    +1

    man i miss there mid day deal… just went and visited there site…. still no go :(

    thanks for the update lukelegend! that gives hope to the rest of us… cant check my hotmail at work. so will be interested to find out if i received the same today…

    EDIT: i got one too at 11am :

    http://auspost.com.au/track/
    use domestic tracking: barcode…

    status when i track mine!
    Event Date/Time (Local Time) Event Description Location
    06/08/10 xx:xx Manifest received ST LEONARDS BULK LODGEMENT CEN

    • lukelegend on 06/08/2010 - 16:14

      Hmm mine says the same thing, actually both the harddrives and the power supply tracking number is the same… must be a bulk lodgement.

  • lbft on 06/08/2010 - 13:51
    +2

    I've got a tracking number for my order of the 2TB Seagate hard disks…just waiting on the courier now. So they seem to still be shipping orders at least. I know PayPal are a pack of bastards but their email sucked, they could've said "we're still shipping your order, so don't freak out". I wonder how many people went and filed PayPal disputes because they weren't sure what was going on? That can't be good news for PricesEngine.

  • wisc on 06/08/2010 - 15:13
    +3

    man id so be suing paypal for loss of income, 2 days of lost sales, plus the weekend… few k i bet.

    • lukelegend on 06/08/2010 - 16:12

      me too, i would be seeking compensation, that fully sucks.

      • Mikinoz on 06/08/2010 - 16:23
        -7

        Although they did agree to the paypal terms and conditions before selling anything , maybe they should have understood them aswell.

        We can all bitch about paypal but why are we blaming them ? seems its the seller not the payment gateway that is at fault here.

        • scrimshaw on 06/08/2010 - 16:36
          +1

          I would have to disagree. PricesEngine did nothing wrong, there was a reason why PricesEngine refused to ship items to buyers without verified Paypal accounts.

          I'm guessing a large number of people probably made successful transactions without verified accounts which probably made Paypal suspicious.

          • lbft on 06/08/2010 - 16:51

            @scrimshaw: In this case it's more likely that PricesEngine's raised a red flag with PayPal because of both the volume they started pushing out of nowhere on a new account and the insistence on verified accounts only.

            That verification requirement would've meant that an abnormal number of transactions would have been refunded, and I'm sure a few people were pissed off enough to open disputes. When you combine that with PayPal's known tendency to freak out over sudden surges in activity I suppose in hindsight it's not surprising that they've suspended the account.

        • wisc on 06/08/2010 - 16:36
          +2

          shhh! stop defending paypal, they are the company we love to hate!

          still hate them for the bike fairing fiasco!

          • Mikinoz on 06/08/2010 - 16:44
            -3

            @wisc: lol they still annoy me from time to time, but i am still hesitant to deal with Price engine until they seem/become more legit.

            Great prices and i kinda miss there daily specials too, just need to get it sorted and we will all be happy or at least i will be when i get a 500gb scorpio black :)

  • videoman on 06/08/2010 - 18:25
    +2

    I don't think people are giving pricesengine the respect they deserve. Some of the deals they have come out with over the last couple of weeks have been amazing. Now the website has basically been put of out business for about a week because some idiot at paypal couldn't see that they were a legitimate business. It would have taken a paypal employee about 5 minutes to see that pricesengine is the same company as 9289…

    • Cheeper on 07/08/2010 - 10:57
      +3

      You should know Paypal won't spend more than .05 sec investigating something.
      Ahhh… ebay/paypal and the great fake memory stick scam,.. bitter sweet memories, and it is still happening with their support!

  • colblair on 08/08/2010 - 17:59

    Started up a business a year or so ago and was selling heaps of stuff on ebay - 95% of the sales going through paypal.
    Everything was going great at the start - sales were good, everything selling at a good profit then PayPal started holding all our money.. and this went on for a few weeks. Over $10K was sitting in there and piling up and as it was nearing Christmas we didn't want to stop selling as this was the best time of year to sell our stuff… it got to the point where the business money had run out and we couldnt post things anymore as we couldn't get access to our money… so we had to start taking money off our house to fund the postage. Eventually it got sorted out but it was a MAJOR pain, especially when you HAVE to offer PayPal. Hopefully no issues like that this Christmas.

    This whole ebay/paypal thing is something that really needs to get sorted out.. at the moment you can buy any item that will be sent regular post or 'pickup only' - pay via paypal.. get the item then claim through PayPal you didn't get it and get your money back.

  • daydream on 08/08/2010 - 23:34

    I didn't want to give Paypal my bank details just to get verified (they already have my credit card details and I'm happy to make transactions via that as I do with all other online companies). PricesEngine wouldn't even send my free HDMI cable because my account wasn't verified! All I got for my order was a number, no description or account to log in to check status/order, etc. Looks like they have gotten bitten by the very mob I didn't trust - Touche!

    (PS. To clarify for the neg voters on this comment who can't be bothered explaining their views: Now PrEng know why I was justified in being wary of Paypal processes maybe they should've done the same if they understood/cared more about their customers banking details and didn't want to lose total financial control over their business trading.)

  • lukelegend on 09/08/2010 - 11:11

    Beat this one, my paypal account has just been limited!! I've had the same account since 2002, I've spent a ton of money through them and now they have done this! i'm fully cranky now!!

    I found a great deal with xbox 360 elite versions at harvey normans so i went back and purchased 20 to put on ebay, they all sold in 24 hours and i made some cash out of it. 19/20 people paid with paypal and i have posted them all off except for 1 which is still clearing through paypal. paypal have now limited my account and sent me an email asking for receipts from where i purchased the xboxes!! and also the stores contact numbers and all the tracking details of the parcels i've sent!!! I'm so livid, i'm going to report this to the banking ombudsmen. I phoned paypal this morning who said they do this because the xbox 360 is a high security item and they have to check everything is legit. nothing to do with the fact i've been a member for 8 years and have a fully verified account that i use just about daily and have never had a problem. I've faxed off everything they asked and now they said i have to wait until they can confirm the receivers got their items with the tracking numbers before they can take the limitation off my account!! That is just so wrong….all is can say is,

    PAYPAL SUCKS!!!

    • lukelegend on 09/08/2010 - 11:14
      +1

      Oh just got this email, Unbelievable!

      Dear ####### ,

      Your account access limitation cannot be lifted at this time. Based on the tracking information you provided, it appears that some merchandise is currently in transit. Once tracking shows delivery has been made to the destination address, we will complete our review.

      Sincerely,

      #

      PayPal Account Review Department
      PayPal, an eBay Company

      I feel your pain price engine :)

    • samfisher5986 on 09/08/2010 - 11:16

      Think about it this way.

      If you stole those xboxes, Paypal will still make the same amount of money from you.

      The issue is that they appear to be responsible for who is on their website, and I have a feeling they are very strict on stopping people from stealing + selling on their site. I'm sure they can get in a lot of trouble if they don't actively try to stop it.

      While it sucks, I can't see any other alternative, its not like they have something to gain from asking for receipts and paying their staff to look through things that won't gain them profit.

      • lukelegend on 09/08/2010 - 11:30
        +1

        It's an absolute joke, I can't even use my account to pay for something. I've just won a laptop on ebay and now i can't use paypal to pay for it as my account has been limited until they check the tracking numbers. I'm not going to send a direct deposit for the laptop as the seller doesn't have a great number of feedbacks. I guess i just have to wait and fume while paypal sorts themselves out. I just reakon that is such bad customer service, why can't they just pick up a phone and call me to confirm details etc, they don't have to block peoples accounts!!

        • wisc on 09/08/2010 - 11:54
          +1

          realistly its none of paypals business what your doing and selling. ebay maybe. paypal, not at all.

          paypal are getting much to big for there own boots…
          what gives them the right to hold your cash?

          pretty dodgy! well more like extreamly!

  • stralya on 09/08/2010 - 15:24
    +3

    Paypal can be quite arbitrary about suspending accounts. This time last year, they froze my account for 3 months because I logged into my account when I was overseas. Hope Pricesengine gets their issue resolved quickly.

    • cwongtech on 09/08/2010 - 20:31

      Are you serious!? Because of a diff I.P. that belonged overseas they locked your acc?
      I would understand why they would lock it, but I would have thought they would have sent an email explaining why, then have a new password incase you got hacked or something, but lock for 3 months!? Overkill!?

    • lukelegend on 10/08/2010 - 07:16
      +1

      yah, i have a paypal account again, unbelieveable!! I can't believe they wanted the receipt from where i brought them from, probably some paypal employee wanting to find out so he could buy some also ;)

  • ragflan on 09/08/2010 - 18:53
    +1

    Got my order delivered today. PricesEngine is awesome.

    • lukelegend on 09/08/2010 - 19:52

      me too :>

    • ardseidel on 09/08/2010 - 19:57

      Same ere, my 500gb 2.5" rocked up :)

    • daydream on 10/08/2010 - 03:26

      Just wondering why you guys are so excited to actually receive your orders? Isn't it a basic expectation of any retailer to deliver once they've got your money? Personally the spelling/grammar on the site, the lack of order detail, online account, order status info, etc leave these guys way behind other online retailers.

      They may have some good deals for some occassionally but the rest doesn't inspire confidence. Glad you did get your orders in the end.

      • eug on 10/08/2010 - 08:23
        +1

        All those things are what drives overheads up. I'd rather forgo online status info and correct grammar/spelling and get a great deal, as long as the item actually arrives within a reasonable amount of time.

        edit: the Samsung printer i ordered last wednesday arrived yesterday. That's 3 working days - definitely reasonable. :)

        • ragflan on 10/08/2010 - 13:21
          -1

          @daydream, dude don't be jealous just because you missed out on the deals. If you didn't care about the deals PricesEngine offered, you won't even be here.

          And it isn't excitement about receiving the orders, but its acknowledgement to people like yourself and others that were suspecting that PricesEngine won't deliver on the sales made. And stop being a jackass. Grammatical mistakes don't equate to an incompetent company. Order status information provided by PricesEngine is pretty damn good. I received order updates consistently (4 emails) and a tracking number when the order was shipped. As far as doing a good job goes, PricesEngine nailed it. It's clear you missed out on the deals or you wouldn't be running your mouth about order status information.

          And @wisc, sounds like you support PricesEngine and are looking forward to the deals but odd that you agree with daydream's screwed up rationalisation of what constitutes a good retailer.

          • ragflan on 10/08/2010 - 13:22

            @ragflan: Agree with eug.

          • daydream on 10/08/2010 - 14:34

            @ragflan: We can all be derogatory but it doesn't add anything useful. You've made assumptions which are incorrect. While I'm interested in bargains I haven't been interested in what PE has offered so far, other than a free HDMI cable which I did receive. My neighbour didn't receive theirs however and their experience/email trail. which I have seen was a farce. "Thank you for shopping at pricesengine.com Your purchase order is now being receive. For your reference, your purchase id is PE289xxxxx". Not very useful for a customer's records. What's the item, price paid, customer, delivery address? I don't think that is a "screwed up" expectation as you describe. The customer didn't receive anything useful for their records or the item in the end. After a lot of wasted time/correspondance they gave up but only because of the value of the item.

            I'm not saying PE doesn't offer bargains for others, I just haven't been interested/neeeded the items. I am disappointed in their communication and reliance only on verified Paypal accounts and that is why I am contributing here.

            Constant grammatical mistakes and poor handling of communication/problem (as others have clearly experienced but luckily not you) are indicators of their lack of care. Again you shouldn't assume everyone has had the same service as you.

            Your expectations from a retailer might be different different than mine and that's fine. As I said choice is a good thing. I don't think having a different opinion warrants neg comment votes though or classing what I feel as reasonable as being "screwed up". Different opinions are fine here and not everyones experiences have been the same as yours.

          • wisc on 10/08/2010 - 14:41
            +1

            @ragflan: yep support priceengine great company great prices, but he does bring many good points to the table… cant argue with that..

            I've also received pretty good communication, that said, my mate told them he verified his paypal, then they sent him an email saying let them know when its verified…
            i for 1 am prepared to put up with the poor service level for the great prices, (the four drives that the two of us bought saved us 160 bux!)

            so basically i can see both sides… what if i need to RMA something or my order doesn't arrive or is delayed, the poor customer service will be an issue…

            the point about grammar being an issue is valid… if they cant get there web page right, what are there communications to the general public going to be like, typically a web page is something you put a large amount of effort in to get right.

            my grammar/spelling isn't perfect, but then again i'm not trying to run a web site…

            • eug on 10/08/2010 - 14:50
              +1

              @wisc: I don't think good grammar is a necessity for a "bargains" website, simply because overheads have to be kept low. The person behind it probably doesn't have english as their first language, so they'd have to hire someone to proofread all their descriptions every day.

              When buying anything online, I never expect to have to send the item back to the seller if something goes wrong. I'd much rather deal directly with the manufacturer or their service center. Why waste time? If I send it to the seller, they have to send it to the service center anyway. I might as well send it direct and get my item back more quickly.

        • daydream on 10/08/2010 - 13:43
          -1

          Fair enough (up to a point) and choice of retailers is a good thing for shoppers but still surpised at the excitement of actually receiving something when it should be expected to be delivered (It's not eBay). While you have had luck on your side clearly from others comments they do have problems if at the very least around communicating/dealing with those customers concerns. You can't assume they are all being unreasonable with their expectations.

          • ragflan on 10/08/2010 - 16:55
            -2

            @daydream: The excitement that some people are showing is due to the fact that Prices Engine is having problems with Paypal and we expected delays in orders placed but our orders arrived promptly. Not due to the purchase actually making it to us. That wasn't ever a doubt.

            And also, you basing Prices Engine's service on their grammatical competence is adding up to something useful? Dude, my calling you a jackass is only due to the fact that you point out grammatical mistakes and use that as a some sort of flawed reasoning to not deal with Prices Engine. Odd that the grammatical mistakes didn't deter you from getting a free HDMI cable from them.

            If grammatical competence is of that much importance, why deal with Prices Engine? Instead of getting a free HDMI cable and dealing with bad grammar from Prices Engine, why don't you get a $80 HDMI cable from Belkin? Their English is downright incredible. It can be concluded that Prices Engine probably don't have native English speakers but I'd much rather prefer their site to be at least readable in English than in another language entirely that they might be grammatically proficient in.

            And as to your previous comment about not having details of the order, it's a site that doesn't have a HUGE inventory of things to buy and you don't have to be rocket scientist to be reminded of what you bought. As for the delivery address, Prices Engine don't have a customer account so your details are pulled from Paypal.

            My calling you a jackass is only due to the fact that you chose to pick on a company based on how good their English is which is no different being a racist wherein you judge them based solely on one characteristic.

            • daydream on 10/08/2010 - 17:42
              -2

              @ragflan: Your first point appropriately answered my original question and would have sufficed if you provided it in the first place.

              Bad grammar (which you seem very focused on, excluding other points) was only a part of it. I already explained that it as well as all the other things I listed made me (not you or others - as with the definition of an opinion) wary of doing business with them personally. I'm allowed that. Not all people who have different opinions to you need to be called names. I didn't spend any money with them (just took up their first offer here of a free cable) I'm happy with that level of risk. People need to be provided with their own record of details as proof not just a number when things go wrong. You may have got your corespondance, but seem to fail to accept that others didn't receive theirs or get the same level of service as you.

              Your comments about racism due to a comment on bad grammar are a ridiculous defence to your overboard response - especially given your comfort to label others who are different to you as a jackass or screwed up. Even more so if you knew me and my background personally.

              • ragflan on 11/08/2010 - 01:12
                -2

                @daydream: Dude, you're not focusing on the point I'm trying to make. If Prices Engine had proper English language skills, you'd have no problem dealing with them since that is basically the focus of all the points you highlighted except 'account'. Towards that end, you're just focusing on one negative aspect of this company. Which is what I'm trying to point out - basing someone on one characteristic is racist (not just their colour of skin or country they come from, but also if they're fat, their profession, what not - English proficiency in this instance).

                For example: If you told me, 'iPhones are not my style especially due to the fact that their not open to customisation. Their like a walled garden.'

                And if I respond, 'You mean they're not their. Learn English dude lol'

                In that context, I'm a jackass because, instead of finding a valid point to argue upon and learn about the awesomeness that is Android, I focused on your grammatical error. That's my reason for calling you a jackass. Instead of saying Prices Engine don't seem legitimate (although I got my free HDMI cable), they don't seem trustworthy of my money (odd that their deals get sold out within 20 minutes which means plenty of people trust them enough), they don't maintain proper communication with me or product information is inconclusive (which can be surmised as your technical incompetence considering they provide the product code that you can Google), but you chose to point out grammatical mistakes (be it on site or the order updates they sent like the word 'receive' instead of 'received').

                I didn't mean it as an insult. I meant it like, 'Your focus on their grammatical problems is very jackass-like'. You're missing my point and becoming completely defensive.

                • wisc on 11/08/2010 - 10:16

                  @ragflan: lets just leave it as you both have valid points!

                  both very good arguments.

  • wisc on 09/08/2010 - 20:40

    bit of time off from new deals must have been exactly what the doc ordered, time to sort there old orders out too ;)

  • wisc on 10/08/2010 - 12:11
    +1

    another day another missed bargain!

    man just think about all the cash pricesengine is loosing due to paypal… they should switch to paymate/credit card/direct deposit with your order number…at least they would be able to sell more products, although they would need someone just to do their AR…

  • WhiteEvo6 on 10/08/2010 - 14:25
    +5

    Suggest we all start putting some presure on Paypal, 100 emails from Ozbargainers should annoy the crap out of them enough to help Price engine out :)

    • Mikinoz on 10/08/2010 - 14:31
      +1

      Great and get them to rely on the same payment gateway again and have it do the same thing?, the smarter option as advised above is to use a different gateway and have one as a backup if that is your business!

    • goober on 12/08/2010 - 13:40
      +2

      +1 . Paypal sucks doggs balls. I HATE them with a passion. Im all for an online petition and spaming them with email request. Down with PayPal!

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