GPSCity,com

[BBB61]

I ordered some memory chips for my Streetpilot III and also a couple for friends through them on the 24th May, to be delivered to a friend I am visiting in the US next week. The online ordering process was straightforward enough. The items I ordered were out of stock, but were due in with enough time for them to ship them before I travelled.

I certainly wasn't expecting them to e-mail me 24 hours before my departure and to ask for a copy of both sides of my credit card and my passport!!! Not having a fax or scanner at home, I didn't have the means to comply with their "policy", especially when I have been concentrating on getting packed and ready today.

I have to wonder why they don't mention when an order is placed that they require additional identification from someone ordering outside the USA. The other items I have ordered have all been shipped without the requirement for additional identification information.

I am not impressed with these guys!!

Bob

 

[John Armstrong]

Deja vu from the 30/3/04

6.03 beta RIP

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by Greg Masters
Bob

The PC software is a free upgrade from the Garmin site. Without looking it up, I beleive your options are either v5.4 or v6.0.3 Beta.

Greg
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Looks like 6.03 beta was shorter lived than 6.02 beta according to Garmins site today! 6.03 seemed to be trying to cure some of 6.02's woes. It'll be good when the PC software is up with the 2610's 2.95 beta capabilities.

PS the 2610 is still available form GPS city for $749.95, and their service is very good.

They do ask for identification to prevent credit card fraud which in my case was a copy of my passport and front and rear of the card.

 

[BBB61]

John,

It was the fact that they left it so late in asking that has annoyed me. As to the idea of sending a copy of both sides of my credit card to them, when I mentioned this to my credit card company, they advised against it most strongly.

Bob

 

[GADGET]

They did exactly the same thing to me Bob, Just before I left for TEXAS, cannot say I blame them for the requirement, there is a lot of credit card fraud about. I dont have a scanner, but managed to take an acceptable photo to send them.

My 2610 from them has now arrived, I thought their 1GB cards were too expensive so bought one from US ebay `yogi computers`, which arrived today. John

 

[Banjaxed]

Try Amazon.com

I've just bought a 2610 at Amazon.com (the USA site) for $731.94! They will happily ship to addresses other than billing ones and don't need any photocopy of credit card/passport/willy as proof you're not a tosser...

 

[Muppet]

But if a card is used fraudulently, unless it can be proven that they were negligent in their handling of the transaction they aren't liable anyway!

 

[BurnieM]

But if a card is used fraudulently, unless it can be proven that they were negligent in their handling of the transaction they aren't liable anyway!

What do you mean liable ?
If you mean that the store still gets their money then you are wrong.

The first time I ordered from GPScity they came back to me within 12 hours and asked for front/back of my credit card and some other id.
Even this procedure does not protect them if a fraud occurs.

 

[PanEuropean]

I've noticed over the past year or two that it can be a real pain in the tush to order stuff from companies based in the USA, using a credit card for payment.

I tried ordering a computer from IBM (a small Ma & Pop cottage enterprise in America) last month - eventually I just gave up and bought it from the local dealer here in Switzerland. It seems IBM USA uses the latest, greatest fully computerized credit card authorization system, and because the billing address on my credit card was not the same as the shipping address I specified, their computer just tossed the transaction out.

In the old days, the merchant would phone the bank credit card center for authorization, and if the bank had any doubts, they would then phone you - but those days of common sense and personal customer service seem to be gone. IBM had no procedure available to the sales rep I spoke to that would allow her to manually verify and authorize the payment transaction.

Some US based companies that use fully computerized credit card authorization system will toss a transaction out as "unapproved" simply because the first 4 digits of the card indicate that it has been issued by a bank outside of the USA.

I guess it's a bit of a trade-off - in order to offer the lowest possible prices, a merchant has to put highly structured, highly automated systems into place, and by their nature, these systems don't cope well with requests that are the least bit out of the ordinary. Sort of like trying to get a hamburger without a pickle at McDonald's, if you know what I mean...

PanEuropean

 

[MikeO]

Had to do the same when I bought a camera here - did so and the camera arrived without drama.

The other way of doing it is to change your CC address to the delivery address, do the transaction and then change it back - this is probably the best thing in your case and can be done and undone over the phone.

Mike

 

[BurnieM]

Bear in mind that most credit card accounts allow you to list several addresses. So add your delivery address (C/o work?) to your account as delivery address is definitely something they check on.

 

[BBB61]

I did contact my credit card company and they did say I could have changed the address over. The problem was with GPS City only telling me 24 hours before I was set to travel to the US instead of 3 weeks earlier when they took the order.

Anyway, after exchanging a couple of e-mails, they accepted they had "dropped the ball" and agreed to process my order.

Bob

 

[DOWNUNDER]

I have used
http://www.gpsdiscount.com/

I found them very helpful. They accept overseas credit cards with no problem and will send to an address that is not the billing address. I phoned first to see if there were any restrictions on overseas cards.

Also with GPS Discount.com you can have your parcel sent to a FEDEX office - they have "hold at location"- but beware they will only hold the parcel for 5 days.

http://fedex.com/us/services/express/addservopt/hold.html

I have also used GPS City and had no problems. I phoned first to see if they had any special requirements. They said they required the faxed credit card details which I faxed before I ordered on the net.
I phoned quite a few GPS suppliers and they will not accept overseas credit cards as their credit provider will not allow them.