NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER PRE-ORDER AN IMPORT GAME!!!

[Blade]

I recently pre-ordered (read: About a Month ago) a Copy of Super Robot Wars Alpha 3 for my PS2, and it shipped yesterday, however, I had assumed I had fully already paid for it.


NOT!


They slapped me with the bill right when my account was drained and now it's in the MINUS AMOUNT.

Thanks alot, National Console Support, Inc....I really liked that, now I have an overdrawn bank statement of $50 bucks, not to mention a $30 Overdraw fee I have to pay = $80.



....Luckily tomorrow's Payday....and I worked overtime this past two weeks.

But damn, I'm never pre-ordering again, unless it's a full Pre-Purchase!

[llabnip]

I'm not even sure it's legal for them to charge the card until it ships. Oh wait, I guess I have seen that before in rare cases (but not with NCSX). In any event, even if they did offer that, most of us don't want the card or account debited until the item has shipped. Items get cancelled, or you may cancel long before the item ships. Beyond that, I don't want that money in their hands when it can be in mine earning interest. I'd be plenty unhappy if they charged my card months before the item shipped. My only advice would be to keep close track on your accounts - always make sure there is enough to cover any allocated withdrawals no matter if they have cleared or not (much like writing a check, I wouldn't recommend 'floating' your account to cover checks, but rather to always have the proper funds in the account so that whenever the check cashes the funds will be available - money management is a valuable skill).

[Ghegs]

^-- What he said. If you want to pre-pay your imports, use Play-Asia and pay via PayPal.

[jiji]

llabnip took the words out of my mouth. I won't deal with any online retailer if they take my money even a day before the preorder ships. Just remember to keep your ducks in a line and an eye on when you'll be charged. :)

[JigsawMan]

I've never had ncsx charge me before the game was shipped, I must have bought about 30 games from them in the past 5 years or so and had them shipped to the UK. They don't even 'reserve' the funds on my card.

[Kiken]

I've never had ncsx charge me before the game was shipped, I must have bought about 30 games from them in the past 5 years or so and had them shipped to the UK. They don't even 'reserve' the funds on my card.

I think the only time they've ever done a pre-charge was with the DC release of Ikaruga... and that was due to the sheer volume of pre-orders they received (it's the most purchased game they've ever stocked). They had made a statement about how they were handling it, so it was no surprise.

[captain ahar]

sorry Blade, but i don't see how this is their fault (if you were indeed pointing fingers).

on that note, i have been charged before shipment from both Play-asia and yesasia. but they were just the temp charges, and were eventually solved without incident.

[MSZ]

Just like the others said, order your imports at play-asia.

[oxtsu]

Manage your money better, because really it is your own fault (though I can understand your anger from getting the overdraft charge). Now you know that the pre-order is charged to your credit card on the shipment day. They make that clear on the website, and it is standard practice.

Just like the others said, order your imports at play-asia.

They have the same deal as NCS with credit card charges and pre-orders.

[NTSC-J]

NCS rules, I had a goof-up with my card number so I gave them a call and right there on the phone they fixed everything for me. Plus, they send my shit priority mail, which means 3 bucks and it's here the next day. No complaints here.

...what are you doing ordering imports when you don't have any money in your account?

[Elixir]

Usually people find importers in their local area and have them send you their lists. It's all the rage and it saves time.

...though, when I rented Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles a few weeks ago, it was graphically nice but it lacked in the balls. Before that, I told my importer to "hold" one.

...I'm still meant to be buying "Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles" but in the end my excuses aren't going to last forever and I'll have to buy the damn thing, unfortunately. You need to choose better.

[system11]

Sorry, I'm having trouble understanding what NCSX did wrong. All they did was get your game, send it to you, and charge your card. It's not their fault that you happened to not have enough money in there when they shipped - this is the normal preorder way of working, and is much better than the days of old where people had to prepay, then not get proper refunds when the game failed to ship on time (or at all).

I get all mine from play-asia, I like their account management system - you can check up on your orders, and even cancel them easily (unless they've hit preparation stage - usually the day the stock arrives with them, or a day sooner if its a multiple item order and some parts were in stock). The shipping ranges from cheap to expensive for tracked stuff - I pay for tracked, import gaming was never cheap to begin with, and still isn't.

[Moogs]

I'm sure somewhere on their site they say that they don't charge you until your item ships. Nevertheless, they aren't at any sort of fault here; this is how most online pre-orders work.

I ordered Mushihimesama from them, but they just sent me an e-mail saying they were out of stock and wouldn't have any until next week. Had they charged my account already, I'd be a bit pissed, cos why would I want to spend money on something when I have no idea of when I'll be receiving it?

[gameoverDude]

NCS didn't goof. While your bank should probably have declined this transaction since it would've created an overdraft, you could've avoided this with a little money management as oxtsu said.

Establish an extra savings account to use as a "Kitty" for stuff you preorder. If you preorder something, make a transfer to put the shipped total price of it in the "Kitty". Don't touch that cash you put there until the game is nearing the ship date. When the ship date is close, transfer the money back to your checking promptly.

Have no qualms about dealing with NCS- they're a company I've dealt with for over 8 years without any real problems. The closest I came to any problem with NCS was when they doublecharged me by accident for a Sega Saturn Metal Slug. I called them about it right away and they didn't waste a second in ordering a reversal of the duplicate charge. Situation resolved.

[Blade]

Okay, first of all I'm not blaming anyone, I just didn't know that Pre-ordering Online meant purchasing only part of it Online, I assumed that I completely paid for it. I preordered it last month and was fully capable of purchasing it then.

It just bugs me that they didn't inform me they were about to charge me before doing so. Charging on the day of Shipping Aside, it would've been possible to wait a day at least (Payday is Friday for me). On top of that the Release date of the game I Pre-Ordered was floating around a bit so how could I possibly know what date it shipped?

I'm saying I made a mistake by Pre-ordering here and that I'm not doing it again unless I'm fully capable of purchasing a game right then and there is all.