Rockler Issues

[Andrew Kertesz]

I always read the praises of Rockler, but you never hear the bad. I placed an internet order and they debited my account which was to be expected. What wasn't expected was that they would submit the debit again two days later and hit my account twice for the same order. Has anybody else experienced this issue? I'll bite my tongue until I talk to them tomorrow but it sure doesn't give me the warm and fuzzies about doing further business.

[Mark Engel]

I have done business with Rockler many times over many years and never had a problem like you describe.
Any problems I have had with them have always been quickly taken care of by customer service with a phone call.
Give them a call, they will straighten this out.

[Rick Potter]

I would put that one in the 'Everybody makes mistakes' file. Unless, of course, they don't promptly correct it when you make them aware of it. I would give them a chance.

That being said.....my Rockler complaint is getting sales flyers with something I need on sale. I go in the first day of the sale and they are sold out. I have been told once that they only had three of an inexpensive item. The store gets upset also, they have told me their inventory is centrally controlled. Of course that makes it even worse, not having sale items on hand.

In general, I have to say that Rockwell is a favorite store for me. I can't believe we don't have a Woodcraft nearby.


Rick Potter

[Matt Day]

I wouldn't call this thread "biting your tongue". :-).

I'm sure it was just a mistake and they'll fix it right away.

[Dave Lehnert]

Most often there is a safeguard in place so it is not possible to bill a customer twice for the exact same amount on their card.
Are you checking your card account on-line? We use to get customer complaints for the same type issue. What was happening is when you make a purchase, your account shows the amount pending. Kinda like reserving that amount from your available balance. But your card is not actually charged in a day or two. So it may look like you have been billed twice.
Call your card company and see what they say.
Let us know how it turns out.

[Bill Bukovec]

Any problems I've had at Rockler were quickly resolved.

Since there is a store nearby, I never use mail order.

Ironically, I rarely need anything at Rockler and end up mail ordering anyway.

[Mike Harvey]

Had a # of orders both online and at the area store.. Never had that or any major problem.. But customer service hopefully will take care of your issue quickly and to your satisfaction.. let us know how it goes..

[Andrew Kertesz]

At this point I haven't made any dispariging remarks about Rockler so I am biting my tongue and not saying anything. I have contacted my bank and they verified that it was submitted twice from Rockler. I will call this morning and see how they handle it.

[Scott Kuykendall]

Rockler is very good about making things right. I bought an item and almost a month later they put the item on sale, I went online and chatted with customer service, within two minutes they had a gift card for the difference on the way to me. Had a problem with a pen lit missing a part, they sent me a new kit right away.
Scott

[John McClanahan]

You might double check you account. I have seen similar entries on my account during the billing. They put a hold on the money until they ship, then collect payment. You may have checked your account just as the billing was taking place. I have found Rockler to be a good company to buy from.

John

[Tai Fu]

I had this problem with LMI... what happens is they pre authorize the amount, and when they do, your bank sets the money aside. But when the order ships, they charge the card, but when that happens the bank sets aside the same amount of money again. So what happens is your order amount gets frozen for a month until the bank realizes that it was only charged once and you get your money back... it's extremely annoying when this happens...

[Matt Day]

My point is that I think you should have given Rockler the courtesy of talking to them before even starting this thread. I know you didn't rail into them or anything.

Maybe this is part of a societal thing, that we must voice everything online for all to see.

I don't mean to cause a fuss or anything, but if it was me I would have waited to talk to Rockler and find out what was going on before posting. If you found something fishy going on, a PSA would be welcome.

For what it's worth, I had some things that looked like double charges when my cc was stolen during that Target thing. Turned out it just appeared that way and they were single charges - though fraudulent!

[Matt Meiser]

You really think Rockler might make it a practice to double bill customers?

[David Masters]

I've encountered something similar when ordering online using a debit card. The merchant's payment process first checked whether my debit account had enough to cover the purchase. A hold was placed on the debit account for the amount of the purchase, then when the order was fulfilled, the debit card was charged. The issue was that as policy, the bank wouldn't release the hold for a set period of time, and took the charge as a new transaction. For a short time (days though) the activity showed that the card was charged twice. When the bank released the hold, my account showed that I had only been charged once for the purchase. I've only seen this pattern when I've used a debit card for the purchase.

Your experience may not be Rockler's fault, but due to the way the bank processes holds and debits.

Dave

[eugene thomas]

I kind of think should of called them then if got run around started this thread. Seems like didn't give them chance to "take care of the mistake".

[Wes Mitchell]

I'll echo what Tai and David have said. When we run debit cards, it authorizes the amount, then when the order ship it bills the amount. Sometimes it takes a few days for the authorization to drop-off. We try to make a habit of warning our customers that use Debit cards that this is the way our bank processes it.

[Ruhi Arslan]

Never had any billing, shipping or customer service issues with them for years when I used to shop at Rockler until I had an issue. The only time I had an "issue" with them was when they removed my review of a 6 inch "engineer square" that I've purchased from Rockler. There was nothing "precision" about it. My review never "approved". I followed up with them. The answer I've got was "it was an older model and since then they have updated it with a corrected one hence my review was not accurate". They did NOT offer a replacement but suggested that I should order a new "improved" one. It took me a while to figure out that I should have checked the accuracy of a precision square, therefore I was not aware of it initially when I first purchased it. It was MY fault after all. For few bucks worth of an item they could have replaced, they have not received my several few thousands I've spent somewhere else since then. My money, my choice.

P.S. No animals or Rockler items harmed during this review which reflects my views and only my opinions.
P.P.S. Rockler, please do not stop sending me your catalogs as you indicated on the cover of the last one suggesting that you might stop sending it becasue I have not ordered anything as of late. They make good fire starters on my fire place. Hold on till Spring please. :)

[Myk Rian]

My point is that I think you should have given Rockler the courtesy of talking to them before even starting this thread. I know you didn't rail into them or anything.

Maybe this is part of a societal thing, that we must voice everything online for all to see.

I don't mean to cause a fuss or anything, but if it was me I would have waited to talk to Rockler and find out what was going on before posting. If you found something fishy going on, a PSA would be welcome.

For what it's worth, I had some things that looked like double charges when my cc was stolen during that Target thing. Turned out it just appeared that way and they were single charges - though fraudulent!
I completely agree. Knee-jerking does nobody any good.

[Phil Thien]

Done business with them since back in the 80's, when they were "The Woodworker's Store."

They're outstanding.

[Andrew Kertesz]

Let me start by saying that there are an awful lot of people hammering me for asking a frickin' question!! No way in my orignal post did I say ANYTHING against Rockler. I asked if anybody else experienced this issue and stated what my actions had been up to that point in time. There are many other people that start threads with a similar slant and don't get hammered like you did me. TAKE A BREAK!! Like many people said it ended up being an issue with a hold on the money and the actual payment processing at the same time. I spoke to Rockler and they were nice and polite and informed me of the way their process works.

[Rick Potter]

Glad it's all straightened out Andrew. Enjoy your new stuff.

Rick Potter

[Andrew Kertesz]

Thanks Rick... All the planets are aligned.

[Rich Riddle]

I don't understand why people start these treads in the general woodworking and power tools thread. The issues with a company have nothing to do with this section. It's appropriate for the "off topic" section, not this forum.

This type of incident happens with many transactions. Another danger of using a debit card instead of credit card centers on you not having protections afforded to credit card customers. To remedy both situations you can purchase "debit" card at a retailer (such as Walmart) and only load the amount you want to spend. Prevents the double billing or hold situation and there are no worries if the number leaks (just get a new card).

[William C Rogers]

I don't understand why people start these treads in the general woodworking and power tools thread. The issues with a company have nothing to do with this section. It's appropriate for the "off topic" section, not this forum.

This type of incident happens with many transactions. Another danger of using a debit card instead of credit card centers on you not having protections afforded to credit card customers. To remedy both situations you can purchase "debit" card at a retailer (such as Walmart) and only load the amount you want to spend. Prevents the double billing or hold situation and there are no worries if the number leaks (just get a new card).


I agree with you.