GL Incompetence strikes again........

Won some lots last month, my card was initially declined (my fault, had an automatic draft come out that dropped the account a few dollars under), no big deal, contacted GL with the 5 days via live chat and asked them to rerun the card.



They didn't. Well, they claim they did, but a trip to my bank confirmed that absolutely no charge was attempted on my card, and none was declined. But GL is claiming they did run the card and got declined. I have 100% proof from my bank that the debit card was not charged. Maybe they entered the data wrong, who knows, but my card was definitely not charged according to my bank, and the funds to cover that charge were 100% in the account.



Now live chat tells me I have to email management.



Anybody run into this, and did you get it resolved? Losing my stuff is bad enough, but I 100% refuse to pay a default fee based upon their incompetence before I can bid again.

Pretty sure Westfolk had this happen once also. I think he swore off GL after that.

I had a somewhat similar deal when they charged my debit card and it was over the then $2,500 limit my bank allowed for a charge where the actual card is not swiped and where I had not let them know in advance.

I eventually got it straightened out. I seem to remember that the way I handled it was with the Live Chat. The gal I told the story to walked over to the person who could fix the issue and they handled it within a few minutes.

After that I had my bank raise that limit to $5K and had the customer service folks annotate my account to show that I would pay by another metheod. Usually I call them and use the same card but my bank doesn't get surprised anymore.

Good luck

Lance

LanceRobson said:

I had a somewhat similar deal when they charged my debit card and it was over the then $2,500 limit my bank allowed for a charge where the actual card is not swiped and where I had not let them know in advance.

I eventually got it straightened out. I seem to remember that the way I handled it was with the Live Chat. The gal I told the story to walked over to the person who could fix the issue and they handled it within a few minutes.

After that I had my bank raise that limit to $5K and had the customer service folks annotate my account to show that I would pay by another metheod. Usually I call them and use the same card but my bank doesn't get surprised anymore.

Good luck

Lance

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Live chat was zero help. They kept saying they had tried to charge my account, but when I asked for the transaction # they couldn't provide it. They did confirm they got my email to "management" and that they had informed "management" of the issue, but were of zero help other than that.

They will rue the day this happened if they don't fix this and want a default fee due to their own incompetence.

I ended up with a default due to their inability to pick up the phone and call me about a decline. They claimed they sent me an email (prob ended up in the spam box with their sale notifications).

Ended up having to pay a $300.00 charge to continue to play (reduced from $700.00 after threatening them with a Congressional Investigation).

Bought the same deuce later for $500.00 less than the first time.

Negative $200.00 for GL.....DOH!!!!!!!

They think that because they are the only game in town they can make the rules as they go along. Forward all correspondence to your congress critter.

They are a gooberment contractor...they have to answer a Congressional.

My friend, I hope you don't have to take it that far, but, if they have to rue the day, I think you will be doing the rest of a us a great service. They push until someone threatens to bite. I have been threatened by a manager with default...UNTIL I POINTED OUT I WAS STILL WITHIN THE PICK-UP WINDOW!!!! Even then, the only reason I had not picked up my truck was BECAUSE THEY TOLD ME THAT I COULDN'T WHILE I HAD A PENDING CLAIM! As a reminder to those who may not remember, I had about $1200 worth of parts stolen off of a truck while my EUC cleared. They never reimbursed me, but only ALLOWED me to back out of the sale if I wanted. What BS!!! CHIEF_919...have at 'em!

wreckerman893 said:

I ended up with a default due to their inability to pick up the phone and call me about a decline. They claimed they sent me an email (prob ended up in the spam box with their sale notifications).

Ended up having to pay a $300.00 charge to continue to play (reduced from $700.00 after threatening them with a Congressional Investigation).

Bought the same deuce later for $500.00 less than the first time.

Negative $200.00 for GL.....DOH!!!!!!!

They think that because they are the only game in town they can make the rules as they go along. Forward all correspondence to your congress critter.

They are a gooberment contractor...they have to answer a Congressional.

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Ohh trust me, after 17 year in the Army I know how to play the game. I can assure them if I have to pay a default fee I will cause enough trouble- all through legitmate legal ways- that the manpower they use responding will cost 10x what the default would be.

Bogus defaults
Charging for SF-97's that should be free
Shipping goods to a few central points at government expense to lower manpower costs for a contractor
Excessive damages caused by GL employees mishandling, inability to use forklifts, and leaving goods out in the weather resulting in lower bids resulting in lower payments to the government.

I have tons of stuff that multiple congressmen, plus the DRMS/DLA IG, could give them the runaround on if I pushed it. I have a strong feeling that the part in bold is one that GL really does not want looked in to.....

I had a similar problem. They billed over my banks max daily limit. I called the bank, then had GL re run the card. I told GL I would pay by other method in the future to avoid the rejected payment.
I purchased a very nice M105 trailer for around $100.00. I told them to go ahead and bill my card then I sent in the EUC. I waited about a week and when I went to check on the EUC it said the sale was canceled due to lack of payment. The money was there but I was not expecting them to bill me until the EUC cleared so I was not watching to make sure they took their money.
They said I failed to pay because the live chat person did not run the card when I told them it was ok to bill it. They had changed their policy on billing for items that require a EUC and never told me. When I called they were having great difficulty speaking English and I am American and don’t speak forign languages like Spanish. Each one made a different excuse as to why they couldn’t help me. Each one was able to what the others said they couldn’t but had a different excuse. After that I decided to record all conversations with GL. I haven’t had any issues since – except for the language barrier.
They told me to e-mail management. I did. They didn’t charge me the default fee but also didn’t give me the trailer and changed their minimum bid to $150.00 so I could never get another at the original price. I still haven’t found another M105 as close or in as good of condition at a reasonable price.

Welcome to GL's payment system! I have had this problem multiple times with them, mostly because I have to have my daily limit raised, my bank will raise the limit for 24hrs, but GL usually won't run the card when you tell them too, plus if it declines instead of simply making a call to the buyer they suspend your account.

Why is it that they can't offer online payments like GSA does? I think I've had my account suspended 3-4 times because of their lousy billing dept, but I will say that they have worked with me after I email management with a stern email. They have always re-instated my account with no default fees.

It finally got to where I did have to file a complaint with the BBB about some damaged trucks, and boy did they move fast when I did that! I did get a reimbursement that I requested on the claim for the damages.

Having to pay $60 for SF97's is rediculous, especially when GSA not only gives them out for free they usually have them to me in the mail (automatically, without having to request them) within a week after I pay the invoice.

NOW......on a positive note, I have had a few reassignments from GL come to with my personal name instead of my business name, they have been real quick about sending me the corrected ones in the mail with no hassles at all.

Off topic, but I don't ever give out my debit card number to anyone over the phone/ net. I will give out a credit card number though.

BFR said:

Off topic, but I don't ever give out my debit card number to anyone over the phone/ net. I will give out a credit card number though.

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Visa/MC debot cards these days have the exact same buyer protections as a Visa/MC credit card does. You can see that on the website.

For online transactions like GL I use a debit card linked to an account that is only used for these specific type transactions, that I monitor and put just enough $$ to cover what is going to go out plus a small cushion.

The one time I had unauthorized charges my bank reversed them all in 5 minutes, no problems. But I do use a small hometown bank where they know my name when I walk in the door, results at a huge chain bank might differ.

Agreed BFR...I have a CC that I use for nothing but GL. MV related stuff and in an emergency...business. It has a high limit..and I have never had a problem with GL and billing. Also, by using the CC, you always have the dispute/charge back option if something goes wrong.
You can cancel a CC with a quick phone call (well debit card to) but once your money is debited from the bank...it is gone.
I would NEVER give my debit cards numbers to anyone...on or off line. Just old fashioned and somewhat paranoid i guess.

I know you guys are gonna blast me...but out of about 15 GL transactions, I have never had a problem and have always had fairly courteous service and even help in recoveries

I've only been buying for about a year and a half...but so far...I guess I need to "knock on wood?

Chief_919 said:

Visa/MC debot cards these days have the exact same buyer protections as a Visa/MC credit card does. You can see that on the website.

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I know they have the same protections but I'm like BFR. Seems it would be better to have fraudulent charges on a credit card than it would be a debt card. I'm figuring Visa is going to be faster getting it worked out if it's their money (because you don't have to pay fraudulent charges) than they would if it is your money ( on a debt card the money is gone from your account). On a credit card you just don't pay the bill while they get it worked out but on a debt card your money is gone out of your account while they get it worked out.

I've got a credit card for the sole purpose of on-line purchases.

m16ty said:

I know they have the same protections but I'm like BFR. Seems it would be better to have fraudulent charges on a credit card than it would be a debt card. I'm figuring Visa is going to be faster getting it worked out if it's their money (because you don't have to pay fraudulent charges) than they would if it is your money ( on a debt card the money is gone from your account). On a credit card you just don't pay the bill while they get it worked out but on a debt card your money is gone out of your account while they get it worked out.

I've got a credit card for the sole purpose of on-line purchases.

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The only time I had an unathorized charge on my debit card I walked in the bank, had the charges reversed and the money back, and walked out in 5 minutes.

Faster than on the phone with the CC companies.

But as I said, this is a small hometown bank, might not get the same results with a big chain bank.

They did the CC thing to me, too and then had the nerve to say that I owed THEM $600. I told them I would rather never do business with them again than to give them $600 to pay for a mistake THEY made.

I have had problems with my debit card going through on many occasions. I do not fund the account until I see how much I have won, and they always bill my account immediately. This gives them a decline on my card for the first try. I then call the bank and tell them how much money to transfer, and to allow it to go through. On many occasions, GL says that the second attempt was declined and the bank says it was not. I end up sending a wire transfer, but they seem to have some bugs in their system. I bank at a small community bank, and they always give me good service on everything. I have not had a problem with anyone else like this. Oh well, that is the way of life with GL.

Well, 24 hours after the acknowledged that "management" has my email, zero response from GL.

Well, 48 hours in, from when they said I would get a reply in 48 hours, and ZERO response from "management". Live chat now says it can take 72 hours...

I kind of feel sorry for those poor folks they have doing the live chat, I am sure they take lots of abuse. I am always tempted to go off on them but I know they are powerless to do much but respond as the script says.

Got an email this morning that was obviously a form response they just cut and paste your name and dates in to.

They are still maintaining they attempted to charge my card a second time when I asked, despite me and my bank having 100% proof that they did not.

I responded with that, and told them that in 24 hours if the default fee they are trying to charge me is not gone and my account abck active I would go to the DRMS IG, DLA IG, DRMO small business ombudsman, as well as the congressional staffers both in my home district and where my dutry station is, as I have worked with them before.


Ball is in their court, the clock is ticking. Given Obamas promise to replace hundreds of thousands of DOD contractors with regular GS/NSPS employees (I won't get into the political angle of why he wants to) I think GL might just be a great place to push them to start.

I think I have it figured out. If you really really want a lot, GL will cancel it.

If you really really want it canceled, GL will stick it to you.

Wow, that was simple.