Shopping… FAIL!

So I went to this shopping website (merchant’s name withheld) and I tried to buy some lingerie, scarves and hats. It’s all so cheap!

I placed the order THRICE in total. Cos the first two orders HAD to be cancelled.

Problem was, they NEED your billing and shipping address to match. Bloody hell, of course it won’t match right?! Cos I am so ultra cheapo that I get my US shopping shipped to a forwarder and then to me, just to save costs.

If the two addresses don’t match, they REQUIRE you to fax/email in a copy of your ID/passport, your credit card statement AND the front and back of the credit card you are using. What the heow?!

I have no scanner or fax, so the first day I placed the order and was informed of the troublesome procedures, I ran round like a headless chicken trying to find a printing shop in my area that had a scanner and could upload the scanned images onto my storage device.

The printing shop’s scanner was out of order and sent of repair.

So I cancelled the order.

2nd time round, I thought I could cheat and put my US shipping address as my billing add. But noooooo. They debited my card for the order amount, then emailed and said they needed my bank’s number to call and verify my billing add, which OBVIOUSLY will not work because I had used the freight forwarder’s address as the billing add.

So I had to cancel that order as well.

Frustrated with the two experiences, I finally decided, WTF just order and get it shipped directly to Singapore lah! With the current ongoing 20% off promo (which ends at 12mn EST), the money I save from the discount works out nicely to cover half of the international shipping rate of USD 29.95.

If I got the concierge service to place the order for me, the entire amount will come up even higher as they will charge me 5% of my order (as handling and service charge) AND the 20% off promo would have ended by the time they ordered (as they stated 1-2 business days before they order).

So after I placed the 3rd order, I called the merchant to provide them with my bank’s number so they can call and verify my billing add. The staff on the other line said the order had already been verified, the items have been packed, and will be shipped tomorrow morning!!

I have no idea why they don’t need to verify it any more even though it’s stated that non-US issued cards would need to be verified with the bank.

Maybe I had called in so often and canceled two orders that they think “Hey, this woman can’t be using a fraudulent card, she keeps calling in! No fraud would call in this often and put herself at risk of being caught since our calls are recorded.”

Hurhur. Whatever it is, I am glad this shopping drama is OVER. *rubs hands in glee and anticipation of order arrival*