Buying from Pixmania with UK credit card

[Chancer]

I have been trying to buy a portable computer on line from Pixmania.fr, and trying is the correct word for the experience!

After a long time navigating and having to find the hidden ways to remove the €110 of unwanted extras that they slip into your order, after having set up an account and finally paying, or so I thought with my UK Nationwide credit card it threw up a message saying something like "votre transaction n'est pas acceptable".

I thought that credit cards were universally accepted across Europe, the only thing that I may have done different to what they asked was typing in my full name as it appears on the card (its in upper case with one middle initial) whereas they asked for nom et prenom.

Has anyone else had this problem, I was not asking for it to be delivered to my address, ie not the address registered on the card but to collect it from a local relais

Will I not be able to pay with any UK card? I could use my Flex account card or another credit card but then I would pay the foreign transaction loading.

Any advice on how to proceed?

Editted, I tried again, still no joy, this is the message:

Votre paiement n'est pas accepté par votre établissement financier.

Nous regrettons de ne pas pouvoir donner une suite favorable à votre demande.

[audio]

From pixmania.fr I bought a UK spec netbook, good discount and no problems filling out the order form exactly as requested.

I understand that card fraud depts do not like orders sent to other that the card holders address.

Try telephoning them with your details.

Your name entered should match your card exactly, according to a UK c/c company I spoke to this morning.

[Chancer]

Yes having looked carefully it did indeed say that which is what I did.

Did you buy from them with a UK card?

I suppose I could try the UK site for one with an Azerty keyboard [:D] however laptops on promo are actually cheaper in France then the UK as they are the same price £ for €, unless the exchange rate has died.

I tried inputting my UK address as the facturation address which it would have let me had I lived in Martinique or Guadeloupe.

[audio]

I bought the pc with a QWERTY from their Fr. Site. Possibly with a Fr. Card but I have used my UK card several times on Fr. Mail order.

There seems to be a real tightening up on card purchases with UK cards, hence my call to them this morning after blocking 2 transactions, I missed out my middle initial!

[Chancer]

Thats what it was Audio, I called Nationwide and they had put a partial block on the card, I guess a laptop from a foreign merchant within an hour of my (or a hacker) raising my credit limit falls within their fraud profiling, its good to see that they are on the ball, they now have my French phone number.

Tthanks again for your fast response.

[pachapapa]

Not pixmania but I had trouble trying to buy a TV from RedCoon; the CA Visa Card was rejected until I entered a PIN number raised specifically for the transaction using a mobile phone.

I do not have a mobile phone so gave up and paid by cheque; it took 3 days for the cheque to arrive and be cleared.

It was all done before the cut off date for getting a refund of VAT from Samsung.

[NormanH]

CA are doing this all the time now. [:@]

In some cases they will send the code to an email address, in other cases to a mobile, which I did not have until my recent spell away from home.

[audio]

[quote user="NormanH"]CA are doing this all the time now. [:@]
In some cases they will send the code to an email address, in other cases to a mobile, which I did not have until my recent spell away from home.
[/quote]

My Fr C/C people insist on sending a code by mobile. I do not have one either. You will see on the merchant’s website when they ask for this code, there is provision for poor or no  mobile network available cases. Click on this and normally they will request your birth date instead.

[Chancer]

Clearly they are not satisfied that I jumped through enough hoops yet so they are making them harder [:'(]

Just when I thought I had actually achieved something from a French web retailer they produce yet another hoop that I cannot jump through

Conformément à notre engagement sur la sécurité des paiements, nous souhaiterions procéder à la vérification des informations saisies lors de l’enregistrement de votre commande.

Cette démarche s’inscrit dans notre volonté de lutter contre les fraudes aux moyens de paiement sur Internet et de protéger ainsi l’ensemble des consommateurs.

Afin d’honorer votre commande et de vous assurer une livraison dans les délais prévus, nous vous invitons à nous envoyer dans la journée:

- une copie de votre pièce d'identité,
- un Relevé Identité Bancaire (RIB), correspondant à la carte bancaire utilisée lors de votre paiement en ligne.

My bank/visa have agreed the payment, it has already been debitted or perhaps pre-autorisé from my account, do any French retailers actually want to do business.

I do not even have a paper statement from this account (they are in the UK) let alone an RIB, its a credit card not a bank account, does anyone have any ideas other than to phone customer (not) service at 34cts per minute?

[audio]

This 34c/min is a right pain in the a@&e 

I almost give up on some of the Fr sites, I would call their counterparts in the UK 0844 369 0372 and see if they will/can help.

 

OR (UK)

020 7660 1527

Number provided by James Felix who is the Customer Service Director in www.pixmania.com

[Chancer]

I am going to do that because after spending what seemed like 15 minutes keying in more and more data to their robotic switchboard I eventually get a message to say that they only work to 15.00 every day and not at weekends [:(] And this is supposed to be one of the leading French retail E-commerce sites, words fail me.

I take it back, the Uk number says the same "our validation service is currently closed to avoid a long wait please call.................."

Yeah right, it would be a long wait untill Monday morning [:-))]

Other than the language the message was identical, could Pixmania possibly be a French owned company or perhaps the Uk workers have swung the same conditions as the French ones!

[audio]

I would wave one finger at Pix etc; cancel the payment and Google German and Belgian sites, they are far more efficient, helpful and in most cases cheaper, there is also Amazon.co.uk.

[breizh]

Pixmania is part of the Currys/Darty group. Forget what the call themselves these days.

I think though Chancer that you've been in France long enough not to be surprised with what's happened. I think you'd have been surprised IF it had gone smoothly.

France+Commerce+Internet=Absolute Disaster 

[Gardener]

Have you got a pay pal account? you can pay using that with pixmania, if you haven't it doesn't take long to set up.

[Chancer]

Yes BreizH you are quite right, I got very worried when it seemed to be going OK [:D]

My problem is that they have already debitted the sum from my credit card account which affirms (cant recall if thats the right term) our contract, but of course now they are adding conditions after the event, they have the money, French law says they dont have to deliver before August 3rd which after claiming 24 hour delivery they sneakily tell you after taking your money, looks like I am just going to have to find a way to jump through their hoops, it should make for an interesting, but sadly for me expensive discussion when I finally do get to talk to a human being who deigns to have a work break during les vacances.

On the positive side I actually managed to get a couple of hours work done myself aside from dealing with this sh1te and there remains a couple more hours of daylight.

[EuroTrash]

This email you got, it couldn't be a scam could it?

I had the exact same email, relating to a purchase from a different retailer, that I'd paid for with a French bank card. Admittedly, in my case too I asked for delivery address different to the address that my bank has. But I have done this many times. And like Chancer, the payment has been taken and I've heard nothing from the retailer, just this email from a third party. It seems slightly odd that no-one has mentioned these emails before (that I've seen) and suddenly they are popping up all over. That said, it looks genuine enough ...

[Théière]

[quote user="breizh"]

 I think you'd have been surprised IF it had gone smoothly.

France+Commerce+Internet=Absolute Disaster 

[/quote]

I ordered a new battery pack from a french Co website using windows translation and it went smoothly, Paid via credit card (UK) and the goods arrived in 48hours and I was bloody surprised (pleasantly) [:)]

[Will]

[quote user="breizh"]

Pixmania is part of the Currys/Darty group. Forget what the call themselves these days.

I think though Chancer that you've been in France long enough not to be surprised with what's happened. I think you'd have been surprised IF it had gone smoothly.

France+Commerce+Internet=Absolute Disaster 

[/quote]

I'm sure it was an inadvertent typo, but just to set the record straight, Pixmania is a French company that is part of the DSGi group which includes Currys, PC World and Dixons in UK as well as some other European retailers - including some of the much-maligned extended warranty providers.

Darty is part of the rival Kesa Electricals, which also owns Comet. Kesa was de-merged from the Kingfisher Group (B&Q, Castorama, Screwfix, BricoDepot etc).

I agree with the comments about French retailers. Unfortunately many British ones seem to be descending to the French level of customer service rather than the French improving.

[NormanH]

[quote user="breizh"]

Pixmania is part of the Currys/Darty group. Forget what the call themselves these days.

I think though Chancer that you've been in France long enough not to be surprised with what's happened. I think you'd have been surprised IF it had gone smoothly.

France+Commerce+Internet=Absolute Disaster 

[/quote]

Perhaps, but I have been delighted with purchases made from Materiel.net, Kiabi, and Decathlon. Conforama was a little harder, but once I got the hang of their site it was OK the second time.

I have regular orders (online ordering, delivered to the door) from Monoprix, Casino, and Picard (the top!) all of which work well.

[idun]

I don't know how many times I have been screaming at the screen whilst in France in sheer unadulterated frustration, the advantage of living in a detached house, far enough away from neighbours. When I say scream, I mean scream as only a woman can! If I had been a man I reckon I could quite have easily punched the wall!

OK so maybe I am a bit of a nutcase, or maybe you understand how I felt sometimes.[Www]

 

Good luck with your purchase where ever you get it from.

 

edit, I wouldn't ever buy anything else from Conforama, their apres vente service is atrocious.

[Jako]

Never had any problems with Pixmania or any other webshop I use. I use either my Dutch of French card, never had any problem.

I buy everything online-but food. My TV, dishwasher, computer, computerparts, sat receivers, flash memory...  All purchased online. Pixmania usually ships the same day, delivery within 48 hrs. I buy stuff in Germany, Holland, the UK and even in China. Delivery from Germany and Holland within 48 hrs, from China and the UK usually one week. (yes, the UK seems to be just as far away as China[:)]) Not one problem-ever.

[Pommier]

I haven't checked, but is this site any use to you for finding a non premium rate number to phone?

http://telephonie.sanjb.net/numero-telephone-non-surtaxe.php

[Chancer]

Well for the moment I seem to have progressed, I have spent the last half hour trying to get through to customer services, it puts you in a sort of loop and continually asks you to input a 10 digit number before finally cutting you off, after 6 attempts I had a full head of steam up when to my surprise I heard a human voice on the phone, poor bu**er got it with both barrels.

You have to feel sorry for the guys on the other end, invariably by the time a customer gets through to them their blood is alrady boiling, mine was, after explaining that he was asking for les trucs impossibles he said "ne vous inquietez pas, nous allons faire la verification au teléphone", it was quite simple, just to confirm my address, the last 2 digits of the card and the issuing bank and he released the order.

I apogised to him at the end and explained why I was so ennervé and he said "c'est tout à fait comprehensible"

I am feeling optimistic now, as long as the florist at the delivery point isnt looking for a birthday present for her boyfriend I should be OK [:D]

[NormanH]

Congratulations on your patience and resilience in the face of the 'revenge of technology'

[Chancer]

Thank you you old sweetie, je vous embrasse [kiss]