help needed - MoneyBookers

[the Dahaka]

So yeah, I finally brought myself to order the Cosmos along with some other stuff from SouthSmoke. I received this e-mail today:

"
Thank you for contacting the
SouthSmoke.com Customer Service Center!

 Due
to the size of your order, and with security concerns, we respectfully request
that you use Money Bookers for payment.  We are unable to verify your
credit card information, as the card companies no longer will do that for
us.

Please
advise us as to what you wish to do."

So I checked out this MoneyBookers thing, which is completely new to
me, and the following is part of their process of verifying your credit
card:

"

[*]

We will charge your card for a random verification fee between EUR 1.01 - 2.99.
[*]

You
must then check your card statement for the exact transaction amount
and enter it into the 'verify credit card' section of your Moneybookers
profile.
[*]

Upon
completion, the verification fee will be refunded to your Moneybookers
account and your card will be verified with an upload limit of
50.00 EUR in any 60 day period.
[*]

Due to processing restrictions we cannot refund this transaction back to your card."



Now, call me retarded if you think I am, but doesn't third bit mean
that, for example, I would need FOUR MONTHS to upload a total of 100
EUR?

Someone please tell me I'm wrong or suggest a good alternative if you can think of one.

As always, thanks in advance!

[pavlakos_politakos]

is this thing necessary?otherwise yeah its 4 months...and the resuts  just came in...you are not retarded!!!! wooohooo!!!!!

[tjt486]

Possibly due to the talk a few months ago about how your not supposed to be able to buy tobacco with a credit card online.  

[PipeSmokeMcGee]

sounds wierd to me

[MR Bubble]

Oh, I feel your pain! I sure hate to see this stuff happening to anyone. Call me retarded, but is it possible you can get a money order with converted currency? If I remember, I think I could in Germany several years  (it feels like a million years) ago. But maybe I'm wrong. You may want to check out what your Post (office) can do for you.
Remember: money is money and there is always a way of wiring it around.
MR Bubble

[HookahDuck]

Yeah... I would try to go the money order route.

[the Dahaka]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. Mind you, this is the first
purchase I've ever made online by myself and have no knowledge of or
experience whatsoever with different payment methods.

That said, I really feel it should be part of their customer support to
come up with a viable solution rather than me having to figure it out.
Could just be me, though.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

[ioannisds]

This all sounds really kinda wierd to me.  Especially after the "maintenance kit" stupidity you experienced, I would just tell South Smoke to shove it up their ass.  I think mushrat and others have had bad experiences with them.  I personally love Social Smoke.  Every hookah I've bought from them has been top-notch in quality, and I don't think you can beat their customer service.  As you are a Hookah Forum member, if you enter the coupon code "hookahforum" when you check-out, you get another 15% off your order.  Seriously man, at this point, I would tell South Smoke to go have intercourse with themselves.

[the Dahaka]

Normally, I *would* have kindly suggested they try their merchandise on
their anal cavities by now, but the thing is...I SO want that Cosmos.

The only other place I've seen it is www.myasaray.com, which doesn't
appear to sell tobacco. If I order my hookah there and tobacco and
accessoires elsewhere, I'll end up having to pay for shipping twice.
This does not call for a celebration.

Plus, there's always the human error factor...basically I'm giving them
until tomorrow to come up with a reasonable solution (they could start
by actually replying to let me know they've received my e-mail and
bringing their customer service chat back online) or there WILL be
mandates for hookah-aided colonic irrigations...

Thanks for the mentioning the discount, though! Will keep that in mind.

[Sonthert]

A big problem in on-line retailers is bug-outs on the credit card bills. Somebody will run up a a large bill, paid for by their credit card and then report to the credit card company that they didn't make the charges. The buttholes, I mean the credit card companies, then reverse the payment and you end up out of luck. The problem dates back a ways, people use to be asked for their ID when presenting a card for a purchase at a brick and mortar store. All was well. Then telemarketing and websites came along. Credit card monsters didn't want to turn down business for "security" reasons they figure they could just screw the companies. Since they put money in your account AND make the rules, they can screw you whenever. Somebody complained "Why do I have to show my ID when I go to a store, but not when I order my Elvis plates from QVC?". The powers that be said "You're right, you shouldn't". Knowing full well, if they made the onus of fraud fall on the customers, the customers would tell them to shove it. So then we have the law enforcement community peering from behind their dusty desk and they go to the credit card companies and say "Since you haven't been requiring people to demonstrate who they are, we have alot of minors buying tobacco. Do something." So now the credit card companies have stiffened the requirements to prove you are who you say you are to be able to buy it online. Some companies got fed up and told, the credit card buttholes, rightly so, screw off. So now they don't accept credit cards from elsewhere. Everything could be solved if we put laws on the credit card companies the same way we have laws on the insurance and utility industries.