emk Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5518 days ago 2615 posts - 8806 votes Speaks: English*, FrenchB2 Studies: Spanish, Ancient Egyptian Personal Language Map
| Message 89 of 99 23 June 2012 at 8:45pm | IP Logged |
Juаn wrote:
Now I look at my credit card details online and see the amount of the order
was indeed subtracted from my account four or five times. I wonder now what terrible
headache it's going to take to sort all this out. I attempted to use their "Live Chat"
option but of course it's offline. |
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Ouch, thank you for the warning. I feel bad for having pointed you in that direction.
Anyway, go here, and try
using the contact form, which was working fine a couple of weeks ago. When I used it, I
got an e-mail back the same day.
If that doesn't work, try calling the Cambridge store. If that's not practical for
whatever reason, send me a private message and I'll be happy to call them for you.
And thank you for the warning. I'll avoid using their online ordering form. It's too
bad their website is broken; I was planning to order some stuff online.
Edited by emk on 23 June 2012 at 8:46pm
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Juаn Senior Member Colombia Joined 5331 days ago 727 posts - 1830 votes Speaks: Spanish*
| Message 90 of 99 24 June 2012 at 12:46am | IP Logged |
Thanks for your kind offer. I have already written to them, but since it's Saturday I suppose I'll have to wait until Monday.
Their site is thoroughly broken indeed. This was apparent from the start and I shouldn't have risked using it, but they had in stock the old Arabe sans peine in two volumes brand new which are difficult to obtain used even, and I really wanted them.
Since credit card transactions take a few days to process and show up, I don't know yet if charges were actually made to the card rather than pre-authorizations.
At any rate, I don't recommend anyone use this store in its online version.
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ericblair Senior Member United States Joined 4697 days ago 480 posts - 700 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French
| Message 91 of 99 27 June 2012 at 6:10pm | IP Logged |
Juan sorry too hear about your incident, that is unfortunate.
That said, as a general tip for internet purchases, one
should never hit submit or final purcase more than one
time. Keeping thatin mind in the future should help you
avoid some trouble.
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newyorkeric Diglot Moderator Singapore Joined 6365 days ago 1598 posts - 2174 votes Speaks: English*, Italian Studies: Mandarin, Malay Personal Language Map
| Message 92 of 99 01 July 2012 at 1:06pm | IP Logged |
Bookdepository has some Assimil books (without audio) between $25 and $30 wth free shipping of course. I saw German with Ease, Spanish with Ease, Hungarian with Ease and others.
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LtM Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5846 days ago 130 posts - 223 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: German
| Message 93 of 99 04 July 2012 at 12:17am | IP Logged |
Although I did read the entire thread above, I nevertheless started checking the Schoenhof’s website daily to see if their out-of-stock Assimil Russian (with the same ISBN as on Assimil’s official site) would come back in stock, since they’d been out of it for awhile.
Then, about a week and a half ago, instead of saying “Back ordered”, Schoenhof’s “Assimil Russian with Ease” page said that they had 1 copy in stock (a return?). So, in spite of Juan’s poor experience with them, I took a chance and placed an order with them for it. I had no problem with the online process, and I’m happy to report that the package arrived yesterday. It contained exactly what I ordered: book and CDs unopened and in the original shrinkwrapped package -- the same product with the same ISBN that Assimil sells for close to double the price on their web site (if one factors in the current euro/dollar exchange rate and includes shipping; shipping was free from Schoenhof’s).
I’m not sure if the above poster’s difficulty with ordering online from Schoenhof’s was an aberration or common, but I did want to balance that bad experience with my own, much more positive one.
One caveat: As another poster mentioned, always check the ISBN before ordering, since the product name/illustration doesn’t always exactly coincide with Assimil’s.
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Juаn Senior Member Colombia Joined 5331 days ago 727 posts - 1830 votes Speaks: Spanish*
| Message 94 of 99 04 July 2012 at 1:17am | IP Logged |
You're luckier than I am.
It looks like my credit card was not actually charged but pre-authorized four times, so the corresponding funds were subtracted from the spending limit but the actual charges were not made.
Did you happen to notice whether your card was charged at the time of placing the order or when it was actually shipped like Amazon does?
I never received an explanation or any advice or help regarding this, despite several communication attempts. All I got was a brief note stating no funds had been transferred. My sense is that the problem stemmed from the billing address, since it is not from the U.S., and their system was tripped up by it.
It is a shame because I really wanted some of the Assimil courses they had. Oh well.
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LtM Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5846 days ago 130 posts - 223 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: German
| Message 95 of 99 04 July 2012 at 2:12am | IP Logged |
Juаn wrote:
Did you happen to notice whether your card was charged at the time of placing the order or when it was actually shipped like Amazon does? |
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I placed the order on June 25, the US Post Office tag on the box marks it as having shipped out on that same day, and my credit card account was charged one day later, June 26.
Juаn wrote:
My sense is that the problem stemmed from the billing address, since it is not from the U.S., and their system was tripped up by it.
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One would think that they'd be able to handle international orders, or if not, that they would at least better explain the situation to you. I'm sorry that you didn't have better luck with them.
[Edited for clarity]
Edited by LtM on 04 July 2012 at 2:14am
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Gallo1801 Diglot Senior Member Spain Joined 4888 days ago 164 posts - 248 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Arabic (Written), Croatian, German, French
| Message 96 of 99 10 August 2012 at 2:57am | IP Logged |
I received my German with Ease within 2 weeks of ordering, and just got my Catalan sin
Esfuerzo and Frances sin esfuerzo about a week ago, or about 5 weeks after the order
(note: they were on backorder.) I called to ask about the backorder, and the gentleman
was helpful and told me that they had just been shipped. Besides the slowness, the price
is great. Cross-check the isbns for sure, but they are the best way to get Assimil in my
humble opinion. Will def use them again in the future!
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