Disappointment

[Lori Kleinberg]

A couple of days ago I posted about finally ordering my Steel City drill press:D . I was so excited :) .
Got a call today from ToolKing that says it is on back order until the end of November :eek: and if I wanted to cancel they would understand :( .
I told them to keep the order because there is no where else to get it from. Privately being the suspicious type :rolleyes: , I am wondering if it has anything to do with the price. My total was $478 delivered to my door, kind of makes me wonder.
Anyway I just needed to vent.
Oh yeah, they already charged my credit card. Is this normal??

[Brad Townsend]

Oh yeah, they already charged my credit card. Is this normal??
THAT would concern me! I wouldn't allow them to do this until it actually ships.

[Matt Meiser]

Agreed. In my experience, when something is back ordered, charges are not made until the item ships.

[Richard Dooling]

Agree. Very unusual to be charged prior to shipment. Make sure this is not listed as a pending charge, which as I understand it impacts your available credit but is not an interest bearing charge until the the item ships. Anyone else had a negative experience with ToolKing? I have not heard anything negative.

[Bill Brehme]

I would definitely get to the bottom of this... Either produce the DP from your bowels or credit the money back to my account!:mad: And yes, also give them the angry face emoticon.;)

[Bill Wyko]

I'd contact the mfg and ask why the long back order.

[Rick Levine]

Whenever I order a tool from Woodworker's Supply I'm never charged until the item ships. I even asked them to charge me before my latest tool purchase shipped because I wanted to send in the rebate form for the Steel City planer and jointer I ordered because it takes about 8 weeks to receive the money but they still couldn't. I would be concerned about the charge from ToolKing.

[Phil Harding]

Oh yeah, they already charged my credit card. Is this normal??

None of my favorite vendors (Lee Valley, Amazon, Highland Hardware, Woodcraft, etc) ever charge until they have merchandise to ship. I think I would ask for a refund.

-- Phil

[Bill Wyko]

I just tried to call Steele City but they're closed. Here's the number, 1-877-724-8665. Maby you can tell them the circumstances and they can help you. Good luck.

[Jeff Considine]

I've had one experience with ToolKing, ordered a mitre fence thru Amazon. After paying Amazon via credit card, ToolKing notified me that the item was on backorder, offered to immediately credit the card for the purchase and put me on the backorder list for the next shipment.

I called the manufacturer, they confirmed some shipping delays. I contacted the rep from ToolKing, cancelled the order, and by the end of the day, had the credit card refund.

They pretty much did exactly what they said they'd do, when they said they'd do it. The same rep even notified me several weeks later when the item came in and asked if I still wanted it.

Only one experience with them, but this sounds like a glitch they should be happy to fix for you.

Good luck

Jeff

[Lori Kleinberg]

Thanks everyone. I will definitely double check the charge and make sure they are not putting it on my card before shipment.
Thanks Bill for the phone #. I will call them in the AM.
Am I mistaken or is the price I ordered at seem real good (maybe too good) 389.99 + 87.99 shipping. I would normally not order with so high a shipping charge, but the price of the DP was real good usually $469 everywhere else.

[glenn bradley]

Oh yeah, they already charged my credit card. Is this normal??

I've had different outfits do it different ways. Maybe for them this is normal. Sweet DP by the way, congrats in advance.

[David Weaver]

I have had two experiences with toolking.
1) two base bosch 1617EVS refub router - came without event
2) Delta 22-580 planer - arrived with cracked castings. Box had no padding in it at all. I called them four times and wrote them three times and every time I called, they said they were going to schedule someone from UPS to come look at the packaging and would get back to me within a week. They never responded to any of the emails. They seemed friendly enough on the phone (and I was pleasant to them), but in the end they did nothing and scheduled nothing and after several weeks, I gave up and just purchased replacements online.

I will not purchase anything from them again - it's an instance where it's easier for me to speak with my dollars on future purchases than it is to keep beating a dead horse. It may have been an honest mistake on their part not to get my claim assigned correctly and taken care of, but the result is still the same. It's not worth the trouble for me to save a few bucks on shipping when they have a sale. When they're not running a sale on something, it's often easier and cheaper to get the item in question somewhere else - even after factoring in the cheap shipping.

[Dave Falkenstein]

...I told them to keep the order because there is no where else to get it from.

Lori - Why is it that Tool King is the ONLY place where you can buy this drill press?

[Jeff Clow]

If they did charge your card, remember that you have 60 days to dispute the charge, after that, no charge backs. A dispute because of no product shipped would go throught without a problem.

[Lori Kleinberg]

Dave, maybe I should re-phrase that. I haven't found anyplace to compare with their price . Which is also why I think maybe they "back ordered" it. The price from ToolKing was 389.99 + 87.99 shipping for a total of 477.98. Every other place I have checked was 469 + shipping.

[Vic Damone]

If you used a credit card for this purchase the Federal Fair Trade Act prohibits this type of transaction. The Act makes it easy for your cards bank to get an immediate refund if you request it.

First, check your billing to see if the vendor has actually credited your account. If so, contact your credit card and explain the situation. I'm assuming you've already contacted the vendor to cancel the order and credit you account?

A call to the manufacturer might be informative.

Vic

[Leland Berry]

Lori, Dave has a point-Toolking may not be your only choice-While looking
at Steel City tool, check their distributors list. I have a 5hp Steel City TS
that needed a motor cover (also back ordered), but the Dallas dist. had no prob. shipping it here to me in AR. In fact, they shipped 2-some glitch.
You may get lucky and end up with 2 for the price of one.

[Rob Diz]

I agree that charging your CC when the order is accepted is unusual, but Sears just did it to me when the accepted my online order for the DP that was on huge sale. I was told that delivery won't be until late November. I will watch that closely to see if they actually send me a machine or an "I'm sorry" email.

So I guess that's a long way of saying that practices are changing for some retailers.

[Matt Meiser]

If I'm remembering correctly I paid $479+tax for my SC DP from a local vendor. So you'll pay a little more, but no shipping hassles. Woodcraft in Tucson is listed as a distributor. You can carry this thing no problem in a minivan/SUV/pickup/trailer/station wagon (oh, I mean "crossover utility vehicle".)

[Dave Falkenstein]

Dave, maybe I should re-phrase that. I haven't found anyplace to compare with their price . Which is also why I think maybe they "back ordered" it. The price from ToolKing was 389.99 + 87.99 shipping for a total of 477.98. Every other place I have checked was 469 + shipping.

Hmmm. Maybe it would be worth paying more if you could actually get what you ordered??? Smile.

[Lori Kleinberg]

Thanks all for the replies.
Matt, I have talked to my local Woodcraft, but they don't have them yet, :( so shipping is still an issue. And shipping :eek: is what is doing me in.
Will keep everyone updated when something new happens.
Thanks again

[Tim Morton]

Dave, maybe I should re-phrase that. I haven't found anyplace to compare with their price . Which is also why I think maybe they "back ordered" it. The price from ToolKing was 389.99 + 87.99 shipping for a total of 477.98. Every other place I have checked was 469 + shipping.
ToolKing is now showing $469 plus $7shipping.

[Lori Kleinberg]

Tim, I saw that. I got an email flyer about no shipping charge for this weekend. Checked into it; If item normally reguires a $7.99 shipping charge then it is free. The drill press has a large shipping fee so doesn't qualify.
Interesting thing is that they now list the drill press in stock and available :confused: .
Amazing. I contacted them and asked them to furnish an updated delivery status :rolleyes:

[Dave Falkenstein]

Tim, I saw that. I got an email flyer about no shipping charge for this weekend. Checked into it; If item normally reguires a $7.99 shipping charge then it is free. The drill press has a large shipping fee so doesn't qualify.
Interesting thing is that they now list the drill press in stock and available :confused: .
Amazing. I contacted them and asked them to furnish an updated delivery status :rolleyes:

You might be the most patient woman in the USA! Tool King needs more customers like you. Smile.

[Doug Shepard]

Maybe it was backordered because they had a lower price and they couldn't keep up with the number of sales??

[Jeff Booth]

I can comment on toolking. I purchased a Dewalt Planer from them via Ebay. The first one showed up and had obviously been dropped and the base was cracked in several places. I emailed them immediately and they gave me the choice to refund my money or get a different unit. I took another unit which came and has been great. They were good to deal with; everything happened exactly as they said and it was fast. I had a new planer in 3 days.

Hope it works out with your new tool.

Jeff

[Doug Rogers]

I have had merchant accounts with several different companies. I also have a current merchant account. It was and still is a standard policy that merchants are not allowed to charge a credit card before the product ships. The only exception to this rule is; if the product is custom made.

Actions such as this are violations of the TOS for the acceptance of Visa, Master Card, Discover and American Express cards. Debit cards with the Visa & Master card logos are also included.

Hope that helps.

Doug Rogers

[David Weaver]

I have had merchant accounts with several different companies. I also have a current merchant account. It was and still is a standard policy that merchants are not allowed to charge a credit card before the product ships. The only exception to this rule is; if the product is custom made.

Actions such as this are violations of the TOS for the acceptance of Visa, Master Card, Discover and American Express cards. Debit cards with the Visa & Master card logos are also included.

Hope that helps.

Doug Rogers

Doug - it's nice to know that it creates TOS issues. Given my previous post, I wouldn't deal with toolking, but I wonder what they'd do if you told them you still wanted the order but didn't want to be charged until it was shipped.

[Lori Kleinberg]

RECEIVED TRACKING NUMBER FOR SHIPMENT OF STEEL CITY DRILL PRESS. :):)
Alot of exchanges of info taking place in the background with Tool King.;) Finally worked to my satisfaction. Will post again with picture of drill press in my garage.

Happy Holidays to all.

[Tim Morton]

RECEIVED TRACKING NUMBER FOR SHIPMENT OF STEEL CITY DRILL PRESS. :):)
Alot of exchanges of info taking place in the background with Tool King.;) Finally worked to my satisfaction. Will post again with picture of drill press in my garage.

Happy Holidays to all.


very cool...I saw this and thought you started a new thread and were dissapointed with your DP. Glad it was an old thread with an update:D

[Mike Ramsey]

I ran across this thread when doing a search for toolking,
I ordered a steel city 1.5hp DC yesterday morning, they have
so far charged my account 4 times!! total more than $1300.....
I am having problems reaching the accounting lady at toolking to
get this resolved. Anyone else have this problem with them?

P.O.ed in Texas!

[Sean Troy]

I ran across this thread when doing a search for toolking,
I ordered a steel city 1.5hp DC yesterday morning, they have
so far charged my account 4 times!! total more than $1300.....
I am having problems reaching the accounting lady at toolking to
get this resolved. Anyone else have this problem with them?

P.O.ed in Texas!

I had that happen to me once at a local woodworking store and they charged my card 16 times. They kept trying to do a credit but kept getting in deeper and deeper. It was resolved as soon as the owner got in that day. Not a fun situation to be in. Best of luck getting it straightened out.