Lost SG$250 in BHPhotoVideo Refunds

[PolaroidShaker]

As you can see on the image above...

They say they are having problems verifying my credit card when they have actually charged to it... and then after they told me unable to verify, they refund me a whopping SG$120 less. The fact that now i'm still waiting for another refund means would almost total up to SG$250. Can buy another lens!!!

I believe this is the result in SGD to USD and USD to SGD conversion? But come on... they were unable to verify, so why did I get charged for this in the first place? So at the end of the day, I had to pay SG$110 just to get my card "verified"?

I have sent them an email to see whats going on... I'm really frustrated at this ;( My main intention was to save some money buying from them, at the end of the day, there's no difference buying from other shop that costs more, but atleast I get to use Paypal (which would refund me just fine) in case anything happens and I could have gotten my item at my doorstep by now.

Honestly kinda excited to get my first DSLR and cant wait to take pictures of Brunei while im still here... but it all turned out sour.

What are your thoughts?

 

[tonyep]

They won't be able to charge you when they can't verify. That amount should be for authorization. B&H usually only place an authorization on your account when you order and charge it when it ships. You should speak with your bank.

 

[9V-Orion Images]

Why don't want ask friends and relatives in Singapore to purchase for you and mail it to your location?

Slowpost by Shittypost to Brunei Darussalam for a 3 kg parcel at $27.70, estimated delivery time of 6 - 8 working days (actual delivery time of 6 - 8 weeks) but still better than shipping from B&H.

If you are in the SAF, can ask your enciks to help also. They will send C-130 Hercules to airdrop it over Jalan Aman or Temburong Camp.

 

[PolaroidShaker]

They won't be able to charge you when they can't verify. That amount should be for authorization. B&H usually only place an authorization on your account when you order and charge it when it ships. You should speak with your bank.

I managed to call DBS and guess what... Hmmm is it really the bank's fault? Because first the CS brought up a good point at first, maybe because of cancellation fee on the website side and asked me to check with BHPhoto, but then he said suddenly said he'll check something first, so he put me on hold with the background music for like 1 mins? And when he got back, somehow they say they will "settle" this and it will be deposited into my acc after 3 days with some apologies. So made me conclude there's an error on the bank's side because if it's true there is some cancellation fee BHPhoto did, DBS wouldnt be so kind enough to cover it back to me. Haha.

Why don't want ask friends and relatives in Singapore to purchase for you and mail it to your location?

Slowpost by Shittypost to Brunei Darussalam for a 3 kg parcel at $27.70, estimated delivery time of 6 - 8 working days (actual delivery time of 6 - 8 weeks) but still better than shipping from B&H.

If you are in the SAF, can ask your enciks to help also. They will send C-130 Hercules to airdrop it over Jalan Aman or Temburong Camp.

Whoops... looks like i've been compromised. ABORT MISSION ABORT MISSION.
IIRC it's still cheaper if not, no difference if i were to ship to BN directly vs shiping to SG and then to BN. because the shipping difference is around USD$20 too i checked during check out. So thats why I just told myself to directly ship here.

I'm sure my encik wouldnt mind at all

Btw u sound like you've been here before

 

[eleveninth]

i reckon it's the bank side.

have never faced this problem, even on the first time with bh when they wanted verification of my cc.

 

[dodgethis]

Did you check with Paypal?

 

[tonyep]

Did you check with Paypal?

That B&H transactions were definitely not using paypal or the statement details will start with paypal followed by the merchant name.

 

[Clarenze]

I work in the bank so I'll answer this for you, so as not to give people the wrong idea that it is DBS fault.

For credit or debit cards, the bank will "earmark" (holding amount in layman terms) the amount that is supposed to be deducted by the merchant.
The bank will keep this "earmark" for 10 days pending for merchant (in this case B&H) to claim the amount. So, merchant has to process this transaction before this amount will be fully deducted from your bank account and reflect in your transaction history. The fact that the transaction got posted by merchant means that B&H did claim this amount with DBS.

It works the same for hotel deposits. The hotels "earmark" a deposit when you check in to the hotel and this amount usually gets released after 10 days. Reason being that, since the bank only "earmark" the deposit for 10 days, the hotel just simply do not complete the transaction and the "earmark" amount drops off after the 10 days holding period.

Now the reason why your refunded amount is lesser than the charge amount is solely due to exchange rate difference. If you read your T&C of debit/credit cards, a certain % is factored on top of the exchange rate when you charge an amount to your card in foreign currency. Therefore, when merchant refunds, it will be that certain % shortfall. The CSO basically helped you out of goodwill to "absorb" the exchange rate difference.

HTH.

 

[Clarenze]

Clause 9 of DBS Cards Agreement

"9. TRANSACTIONS IN FOREIGN CURRENCIES
Transactions in US dollars shall be converted to Singapore dollars on the date of conversion. Transactions in foreign currency other than US Dollars will be converted into US dollars before being converted into Singapore dollars. All conversions shall be based on the prevailing wholesale interbank rates or the government-mandated rate, as shall be determined by the respective card associations, namely VISA International, MasterCard International & American Express International, Inc. The rate used for the conversion may be different from the rate in effect on the date of the transaction due to market fluctuation.
All transactions in foreign currency are subject to a charge imposed by the respective card associations, either as a reimbursement charge representing the charge imposed on us or as a direct charge to you. For foreign charges converted by American Express, American Express applies a conversion factor of 1% to the converted amount.
An administrative fee for services provided or actions taken by us in relation to such foreign currency transactions shall be payable by you and debited to your Card Account. The prevailing administrative fee is 1.5% of the foreign currency transaction amount for transactions involving VISA International and MasterCard International and 2% of the foreign currency transaction amount for transactions involving American Express International, Inc."

As you can see VISA/Master/AMEX charge these additional amount which is already factored into your conversion.
Therefore, the bank absorbed this hidden charges charged by the respective card organization (VISA/Master/AMEX) in your case.

Information can be found in DBS website under DBS Cards -> Terms & Conditions -> DBS Card Agreement.

 

[eleveninth]

so indepth.

thanks for the info.

 

[9V-Orion Images]

Whoops... looks like i've been compromised. ABORT MISSION ABORT MISSION.
IIRC it's still cheaper if not, no difference if i were to ship to BN directly vs shiping to SG and then to BN. because the shipping difference is around USD$20 too i checked during check out. So thats why I just told myself to directly ship here.

I'm sure my encik wouldnt mind at all

Btw u sound like you've been here before

Exclusive for Lancer perm staff, can also arrange with S4 to coordinate with CSSCOM Air Terminal Company (ATC) controllers from the 3rd Transport Battalion (3 SAF TPT BN) and RSAF 122 Squadron loadmasters to airdrop your package swee, swee on to the Point of Impact (PI) or Drop Zone (DZ) on high priority milk run. You want Super Puma deliver all the way to your parade square also can.

Seriously, you nature lover? What you plan to take photos of? Pinky size ants or sparrow size cicada and crickets?

 

[dodgethis]

That B&H transactions were definitely not using paypal or the statement details will start with paypal followed by the merchant name.

TS said he used Paypal. So I'm just asking.

 

[tonyep]

TS said he used Paypal. So I'm just asking.

TS means that he should've just bought from other places that uses paypal to accept payment.

 

[PolaroidShaker]

Clarenze thanks for the indepth info. Will absorb it as much as possible to avoid confusion in the future. Made my conclusion because the CS was also quite amused at the sum that was missing, $110. He said it was quite a big amount. Maybe we wasnt too well versed with the extra fees too.

Hopefully I can settle the verification with B&H because they have already charged me and I wouldnt want this issue to happen again...

THANKS DBS! Love u.

 

[Octarine]

THANKS DBS! Love u.

It's a bank, not charity. Reading the fine prints helps

 

[LiverpoolMadman]

Sorry to hear that ... and that's a lot of money lost ..

I ordered from Adorama and thanks GOD everything went well ...

 

[ricleo]

Actually, I disagree with this view as this is a refund, and the FX rate should be backdated to the same date as the charge, and whatever transaction fees should not apply for a refund. the customer shouldn't be charged fees twice, once on purchase and once for the refund.

In fact between 26th - 28th of Feb, the USD weakened against the SGD. Hence the difference should not have been due to FX rate difference.

I work in the bank so I'll answer this for you, so as not to give people the wrong idea that it is DBS fault.

For credit or debit cards, the bank will "earmark" (holding amount in layman terms) the amount that is supposed to be deducted by the merchant.
The bank will keep this "earmark" for 10 days pending for merchant (in this case B&H) to claim the amount. So, merchant has to process this transaction before this amount will be fully deducted from your bank account and reflect in your transaction history. The fact that the transaction got posted by merchant means that B&H did claim this amount with DBS.

It works the same for hotel deposits. The hotels "earmark" a deposit when you check in to the hotel and this amount usually gets released after 10 days. Reason being that, since the bank only "earmark" the deposit for 10 days, the hotel just simply do not complete the transaction and the "earmark" amount drops off after the 10 days holding period.

Now the reason why your refunded amount is lesser than the charge amount is solely due to exchange rate difference. If you read your T&C of debit/credit cards, a certain % is factored on top of the exchange rate when you charge an amount to your card in foreign currency. Therefore, when merchant refunds, it will be that certain % shortfall. The CSO basically helped you out of goodwill to "absorb" the exchange rate difference.

HTH.

 

[ricleo]

additionally, the difference of $117.85 is a 6.2% difference, way too high even if you want to factor in a 1.5% admin fee.

Clause 9 of DBS Cards Agreement

"9. TRANSACTIONS IN FOREIGN CURRENCIES
Transactions in US dollars shall be converted to Singapore dollars on the date of conversion. Transactions in foreign currency other than US Dollars will be converted into US dollars before being converted into Singapore dollars. All conversions shall be based on the prevailing wholesale interbank rates or the government-mandated rate, as shall be determined by the respective card associations, namely VISA International, MasterCard International & American Express International, Inc. The rate used for the conversion may be different from the rate in effect on the date of the transaction due to market fluctuation.
All transactions in foreign currency are subject to a charge imposed by the respective card associations, either as a reimbursement charge representing the charge imposed on us or as a direct charge to you. For foreign charges converted by American Express, American Express applies a conversion factor of 1% to the converted amount.
An administrative fee for services provided or actions taken by us in relation to such foreign currency transactions shall be payable by you and debited to your Card Account. The prevailing administrative fee is 1.5% of the foreign currency transaction amount for transactions involving VISA International and MasterCard International and 2% of the foreign currency transaction amount for transactions involving American Express International, Inc."

As you can see VISA/Master/AMEX charge these additional amount which is already factored into your conversion.
Therefore, the bank absorbed this hidden charges charged by the respective card organization (VISA/Master/AMEX) in your case.

Information can be found in DBS website under DBS Cards -> Terms & Conditions -> DBS Card Agreement.