mr. moo

I sympathize with everyone's plight, but I hope people understand how ridiculous they sound when they start telling B&N's customer service representatives that they're going to sue over $80. At worst, B&N is failing to exercise poor business sense; there is certainly no clear-cut grounds for litigation, however.

Incidentally, punitive damages are never meant to compensate -- thus they are never calculated on the basis of "time spent". You're not going to get punitive damages in a situation like this unless B&N is unusually high-handed, oppressive, cruel, et cetera.

chanster

If you threaten to sue, the cost to them giving you your order is less expensive that 15 minutes of their in-house lawyers time.

Scott27

A supervisor called me this afternoon about 2 hours after I got off the phone with the CSR who said I would get a call from them. He wasn't budging, then said he would transfer me to someone else who may be able to help me. In the process of him transferring me, I got disconnected. I called back, and the CSR put me through to a Team Leader. After quoting that blurb from the B&N web site (which has since been changed), he put me on hold for a few seconds. Then, he said he just talked to the Payments Processing Mgr. (or something like that) who just ran by him, and he said he WOULD reinstated my order. I asked him to e-mail me a confirmation when he does, and he said he would. Let's hope he does.

jiggyblau

Scott, post if he does. When I was told last night that my orders were reinstated, I pleaded for some sort of confirmation email, but as of yet, I have still not received it. I would be interested to know if you get one. thanks

DVDKrayzie

if you threaten to sue over $50 in flooz their in-house laywers will just pass around your e-mail for a good laugh

chanster

Hey, whatever man, I did exactly what I posted, and the good people at BN decided to process my 2 orders worth about 120 bucks.
So, they can laugh all they want, but I will be enjoying my Flooz DVDs'.

Dr_Evil

Well I've had a breakthrough. I spoke to a supervisor and he has agreed to replace the order with the flooz money discounted out. He said that it would most likely be done tomorrow. I have his email address in case he does not come through with what he said. When I got the first CSR I immediatly asked to speak to his supervisor and got transferred quickly. I explained to the supervisor that when I submit the order and B&N.com deducted the money from my flooz account, it stopped being an issue between B&N and I, it was now an issue between flooz and B&N. He agreed and said he would reorder the DVD's for me and he would only charge the original amount. So if you haven't called please do so and make sure you let them know that you are aware that you are not responsible for the payment. Hope this comes through. Stick with it if you haven't got it reinstated, there is hope!!

mr. moo

You, too, must have worked as in-house counsel for a retailer.

The reason why threatening to sue is so ineffective is because it is the world's most empty threat: the cost, both financially and temporally, is so high that one would have to be an idiot to sue over $50.

LostHiWay

Very true...but does Barnes & Noble want to pay them $500 an hour to read those funny letters from thousands of people?

Sparrow

NOOOO! I have $80 in flooz that I can't access and no one will
accept! #$*%$ I somehow missed this thread, but seeing as they are canceling orders, I couldn't have used the flooz anyway and gotten my product.

DavidMP

I sent B&N a nice calm e-mail reply. Have not heard anything back from them after a full day. Did anybody get an e-mail response?

DVDKrayzie

please they just hit the delete button whenever u say Im going to sue you over $50...and chanster you didnt get your DVDs because of a threat to sue them over flooz. I highly doubt they went to their lawyers and said "O MY GOD chanster's going to sue us for our last $50, we better fulfill this man's order ASAP!!!"

Mutley Hyde

I guess nobody here has heard of a class action lawsuit? Yeah, $50 might make them laugh on a case by case level, but get organized, and all of a sudden you're talking several hundreds of cases together, maybe a thousand even. Add to that punitive damages, lawyer fees, and I don't think that vindictive bastard Noble will be laughing much more.

Somebody contact Ralph already!!

LBPound

Nope. Not yet.

Master J

Shouldn't you be suing Flooz if anyone, not B&N? Jeeze, people loose their sanity over 50 dollars of virtual money.

When you agreed to use flooz I am pretty sure they had a Terms of Sevice agreement, that all of us remembered to read Usually companies will put disclaimers in there for such situations as this.

J

LBPound

Well let's go check Flooz's website....wait a minute, let's not.

Flooz has nothing to give, there'd be no point to suing them over the $50. That's not what this is about. This is about Flooz that was redeemed, deducted, and confirmed through orders.

moocher

You know, I usually have taken the side of the e-tailer in mis-price problems etc. but this is one case where it is a no brainer. It is really shocking how a professional company such as BN can so totally botch customer service like this. There is NO WAY anyone with any reason could side with BN on this. If they don't end up fulfilling the orders they deserve a boycott by not only individuals but sites such as DVDTalk.

By the way, I did not place a flooz order with BN (I "floozed and losed") so I have no financial interest either way but I am as disgusted with BN as those that did...

Lemondrop

If B&N gives the orders out , they get the shaft . If they don't , they piss off a bunch of customers . Only thing in the entire mess is B&N will be way up higher on the to be paid list than joe-sh!t ( that would be the DVDtalkers) . B&N can only look to maybe break even IF they get any money from Flooz . Im pretty sure if the are ditching pre-orders on you guys that they might know something about Flooz never coming back
I can forsee Flooz's CEO and other chief officers in court soon because of the recent promo's and the like and then jumping ship . Im sure the promo's were to make thier bottom line (which Im sure was really a sub-bottom line) look good enough to get a investor or a buy-out . The big business like B&N will take a hit from Flooz but can recover . Little guys like us don't have the time or money to attempt a lawsuit to recover . A class action would likely net you 10 dollars if Flooz had 50 of yours after attorney fees , and that would be pretty worthless other than the "make myself feel better" . Not to mention it would be tied up so long you would forget who Flooz is by the time you got paid , if ever . B&N would be smart to let these orders go , or offer the order for free if you agree to pay the shipping with your CC # . If the order was 75 dollars , Id imagine B&N has 35 to 40 in it . IMO 40 dollars is not enough to lose a customer over , but I can understand if they have a ton of orders pending . For all we know B&N could have millions of unpaid Flooz dollars . As I said , I don't think B&N would do this IF they didnt KNOW Flooz is dead for good . I could be wrong but ???? Good Luck guys .

prez387w

I had emailed them on August 10th about my Godfather DVD pre order and the concern I had with Flooz going down. They replied the same day and told me my order would be honored and sent out.
Then yesterday night I get the same email that everyone else is getting. I replied with their positive answer to me, saying it would be accepted, but I still haven't heard back from them.

Joe 10

DavidMP

I just got an e-mail from Tower Records. The backordered Great Escape DVD I paid for with Flooz was shipped today.

Yes, that is right. I paid for it with Flooz on 8/2. They sent most of the order and backordered one DVD. Today they shipped that last DVD. Even after Flooz went South!

Good for Tower! Barnes and Noble could learn a lesson from them...

Scott27

I just checked my e-mail and, lo and behold, I had an e-mail confirmation from BN.com, with a new order number. Looks like I WILL be getting my order. Thanks, B&N.

DrCaligari

While I generally support my fellow DVD Talkers, I believe that most of the anger here is misplaced. Flooz is the problem, not B&N. B&N did what they were supposed to do, which was put a temporary hold on the Flooz account until the charge went through, or 30 days, whichever was less. If the Flooz account doesn't have the funds when the product is ready to ship then it doesn't go out. Using the logic that most people on this board are using, if I used up all of my Flooz after the temporary hold was released, B&N would STILL be responsible for shipping the product.

If B&N is to be grilled for for anything it is for inconsistent messages to their customers. It is probably a madhouse in their office right now because of this, and it seems like no one has a clear idea on how to handle this without pissing everyone off or losing a ton of money. The latter is important since, as we all know, web sites don't quite seem to have this "money thing" straight yet. I am not fond of the sites prices, but I would hate for them to pull a Bluelight or Borders.

Now here is my most controversial point: People who bought Flooz should take some responsibility for giving their money to this company. Would you buy a gift certificate from a local store if you thought they might close up? Considering the number of dot.com failures, many of which have taken their customer's money with them when they shut their doors, I don't understand why someone would give their money to Flooz. How many horror stories does one have to read on this site before you realize that all internet purchases should be made with a major credit card? Only then do you have some level of protection when you have to dispute something.

I do feel sorry for everyone who lost money on Flooz, especially the many "regular" people who never visit these types of forums. Still, I feel the anger and legal action should be directed at the responsible party, and not at the company that still happens to be in business.

Mikey

I tend to also believe that BN is not at fault. Flooz is the one that is at fault.. and so the majority of the blame should fall on them. I think that many people took risks by joining Flooz and now it simply looks like many were taken advantage of by Flooz. So, if BN can't validate the Flooz because Flooz is going down the drain then I understand why they would cancell orders and/or adjust the price totals of customer's orders.

jiggyblau

Well, I made my follow up call.

Remember, I called last night and the woman said all is well.

So I got this guy Jack who barely could speak clear English, but he was a nice man. I think we had more a discussion than anything else. I asked him if my order was canceled. He told me that my order was clean, and should ship. Again I informed him that I have no proof of anything and asked for a confirmation email. He said he could not do that. He said that Flooz keeps telling them "it will be a couple days and our site will be up" but B&N doesn't believe it. Way to go, B&N. Out of the coma for you. Anyway, I told Jack about how farcical this all is and he agreed. He agreed that it's better for B&N to try to get money than for individuals. He agreed with everything (his job?) but I left the conversation with mixed feelings. I basically told him that he's going to have to deal with me if my orders do get canceled in the supposed 5-7 day window. Hopefully I will not need to do anything more.

Something tells me that they're just going to honor orders if you complain enough. I do believe what I was told tonight--that they are still sorting through the ashes. Jack said that they are trying to figure out which orders that were in process actually got them their Flooz (making me believe that they DO in fact get the Flooz immediately). They are trying to figure out exactly what they will lose by granting the orders. They have "not come up with a solution" as of yet. I think this situation will last a few more days. That's a few days longer than Flooz lasted.

Good luck to all in this continuing saga. Even though my orders are "clean" I have no confidence. I will continue to update this thread.

Dr_Evil

I have responded to all requests up to this point. Sorry for the delay, I was out with my girfriend picking up cheap PVDVD's at Blockbuster. $40.00 for 4 new releases isn't too shabby. Anymore requests will be dealt with in the morning. I hope this pans out for all of you. As jiggyblau said, I think it will take a few days for the smoke to clear, and then we'll see who is left standing.