ComplaintsforBurgers' Ozark Country Cured Hams Inc

• Initial Complaint

  12/08/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  My name is *** ****** and I live in Pensacola, FL and I had been trying to find a smoked turkey locally but could not find one. Went online and contacted 2 other places who said the earliest they could get a smoked turkey to me would be on the day before Thanksgiving and my wife said that would be too late because the turkey would have to be thawed out and everything. Found your website on the computer and called your company at 10:12 am, 11 of November 2022, and spoke with a lady and asked what would be the soonest they could deliver a turkey to me and she said the end of the following week. I asked if she could take a check by mail and she said she couldn't. I told her I would go to ****** and buy a prepaid credit card and call back and order the turkey. I had asked about a particular size of turkey and the lady said it was out of stock so I told her I would take the next size which would cost $89.00. Went to ****** and got a $100.00 prepaid credit card and called your company at 10:21 am, 11 November 2022, and ordered a smoked turkey that cost $89.00. I gave the lady the card number and she said it was okay and I believe she asked if I wanted a confirmation number which I didn't think I would need. At 2:26 pm, 17 November 2022, I got a call from a lady from your company that she had tried to run the credit card but it was declined due to lack of funds. I told her that I had bought a $100.00 credit card, used $89.00 to pay for the turkey and then went to ****** and bought some groceries and used the remaining $11.00 as partial payment for the groceries I had ordered and then destroyed the card since I had used the $100.00 I had on that prepaid card. The lady asked if I had another credit card and I told her I didn't because several years ago I was a victim of credit card fraud and that it took several years to get that mess straightened out and destroyed the credit cards I had at that time and never applied for another one. I told her I had not yet received the turkey and she said it was at my front door and I told her no one could get to my front door because I have a 125 pound Rottweiler who won't allow anyone come into the yard. She said the turkey had been delivered about 20 minutes prior to her call and when I looked out the door I saw a white package outside the gate and when I went and got it, it was the turkey you had sent me. She said she would send me an invoice for the $89.00 and I asked her why they could send a turkey if it had not already been paid for. Didn't want to get into a pissing contest with her so told her to send me an invoice and I would send a check for the $89.00. After thinking about it for a while and going by what she was telling me, I would be paying two times for a turkey and I decided I would not do that. At 2:56 pm, 17 November 2022, I called and told the lady that I wasn't going to pay for the turkey two times and that I would send it back, which I did as soon as I got off the phone with her. I believe the lady I had spoken with said her name was ****, but not sure since I didn't write her name down. The more I thought about this situation the angrier I got since I had in good faith made a credit card payment of $89.00 for a turkey and think someone in your company has made a mistake about the payment. It cost me $19.80 postage to send the turkey back to you. After giving this more thought I have decided that I would like to have a refund for the $89.00 I paid for the turkey and the $19.80 I paid to mail it back. I have also decided that if this is not straightened out by Friday, 25 November 2022 that I will go to small claims court about this situation and also write a letter to the Better Business Bureau. We're only talking about a few dollars here, but I have now decided it is a matter of principle since I in good faith bought a prepaid credit card and paid for the turkey. You are free to call me if you would like to discuss this further.

  Business response

  12/22/2022

  December 22, 2022 

  Better Business Bureau 

  211 N. Broadway, Suite 2060 

  St. Louis, MO 63102 

  Attention: Dispute Resolution Department 

  Re: ID# ******** 

  To Whom It May Concern, 

   

  In response to your inquiry dated December 15, 2022 concerning the complaint identified by the number above, we acknowledge that *** ****** placed an order for a turkey in November and can’t dispute the basic facts as presented in the Customer’s Statement, except that we never received payment for the turkey. 

  The prepaid credit card in the amount of $100 was originally authorized so a turkey in the amount of $89.99 was shipped to the customer, but the charges were later denied before money was deposited into our account. We contacted the customer concerning the denial of funds; when upon *** ****** told us that he spent the remaining $11 at ******, even though the balance remaining on the prepaid card was actually $10.01. *** ****** called on November 17 requesting to return the turkey, which was agreed upon between the parties at a reported cost to *** ****** in the amount of $19.80. On November 21, 2022 we wrote-off the balance of $89.99 as a bad debt to clear the balance. 

   We offer to reimburse *** ****** $19.80 to cover return shipping costs pending agreement by the complainant. 

   Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any further questions or concerns. 

   Sincerely, 

   

  ****** ****** 

  Burger Specialty Foods 

   

  CC: Send to BBB by email on December 22, 2022

  Customer response

  01/03/2023

  Received your letter today showing the response from the business owner of the business I had made a complaint about.

  I reject the response for the following reasons:

  1. I find it very hard to believe that any business would send an item to a customer without the item being paid for in advance.  I paid for the item using a VISA pre-paid credit card.

  2. I bought the pre-paid VISA card at ****** and when I place the order with the lady on the phone, I gave her the card number, expiration date, and the 3 digit number on the back of the card and she accepted it.  I assumed that the transaction was completed at this time because I thought she would enter the card information and get an immediate confirmation of the purchase.  Was I wrong in assuming that?

  3. The response to you from the business said the card was originally authorized so how is it possible for it to be denied later before the funds were deposited into their account? The money should have been immediately put into their account at the time I gave the card information to the lady I was speaking with on the phone.

  Okay, so maybe I made a mistake when I said that ****** showed the remaining balance on the card as $11.00.  I assumed it was $11.00 because I told the clerk I wanted to use the balance on the card as partial payment on my purchase of groceries.  I didn't actually look at the receipt.  The business stated the balance would have been $10.01 which is no big deal.  Talking pennies here.

  I used the VISA card at ****** several days after ordering the smoked turkey and the reason I had a balance of $10.01 or $11.00 is immaterial because the price I had paid for the turkey had already been deducted from the card.  If the $89.00 (which I was quoted) or the $89.99 the company said was the cost of the turkey had not already been deducted from the card, the entire purchase at ****** would have come from that card.  The balance of $10.01 or $11.00 was because the company had already deducted the cost of the turkey from the card!!

  I hereby refuse the order for the company to reimburse me the $19.80 shipping cost of returning the turkey to them.

  Money is not an issue with me, the issue is a matter of principle since I in good faith made a payment for the turkey.  I spent 20 years in the U.S. Navy and 21 years with the Pensacola Police Department so again, it's not a matter of the money.

  If this is not cleared up in the next 2 weeks, I will file a claim in small claims court and look forward to seeing *** ****** or his representative in court and hearing him tell the judge how the card was authorized at the time of purchase but at a later date rejected due to insufficient funds on the card.

  Thanks for your time in this matter.
  

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