Time LIfe rip off practices

Time life has an order process that does not involve a person. We ordered something that we saw on television but did not notice that the ad said 4 payments. all we noticed as $49.95. When we ordered, it is all machine done. The total price is not quoted until the very end of the process and there is no opportunity to finally accept the sale or not. After the ordering process and after the computer hung up on us, we called back immediately to stop the order and they said it could not be done. We called the office that night and the next day and according to Time Life, there is no way to prevent the order. I do not believe this. They have a great system to take your money, but no way to provide customer service or to stop an impending order. I am certain a person could stop this order. Instead, they want us to send the order back after it comes. What will be the time frame for this to be removed from my credit card? This is a terrible business practice that has no interest in customer service. We finally spoke to a manager but during the conversation it was obvious she could care less and instead we could here her typing while on the phone and having nothing to say but "sorry sir".

I will never purchase anything from Time Life and I hope I can convince at least one other person to follow suit.

Comment On This

Time Life has got to have the worst customer service ever. I ordered the 4 DVD set of the World at War series. I already have the 11 disc set that was previously released by the A&E network. Thinking this might be a supplemental set to the original I wanted to order them. So I went to the TL website and scoured the site to make sure that this 4 disc set wasn't part of the 11 disc set. NOWHERE on the TL site does it indicate that these DVD's are part of the original set, so I ordered them. Only AFTER I hit the submit order button does it ask if you would like to order the other 7 DVD's to complete the set. I thought great but no problem I'll just cancel the order. On the bottom of the confirmation e-mail is a number to call to cancel the order. I called right away only to be told it takes "72" hours for the order to get into the system before it can be canceled. I immediately sent an order cancellation e-mail to CS as well as sending one the next day. After only "48" hours I called CS again to cancel the order only to be told I couldn't because the order was preparing to ship. I thought I had "72" hours. The operator told me to return the DVD's when I received them and he would mark my account as such. I finally received responses to my cancellation e-mails 9 and 10 days later stating they cannot cancel my order. After 2 weeks of waiting still no DVD's, so I sent another e-mail to CS stating that they had 1 more week for delivery or I was making a charge dispute with my bank. I received an e-mail about 2 days later from CS rep Tara Lancaster stating that I should be receiving my DVD's "any day now". I knew that was a crock and filed the dispute with my bank. It should be noted that all attempts from my bank to contact TL on this matter went unanswered. It should also be mentioned here what TL return policy is. They will only accept returns for 30 days from the SHIP date. ANY RETURNS RECEIVED AFTER THE 30 DAYS WILL NOT BE RETURNED TO YOU OR WILL YOU RECEIVE A REFUND. My timeline is as follows; Placed order on 11/11/09, tried to cancel on 11/11, 11/12 and 11/14/09. Supposedly shipped on 11/17/09. Received "any day now" e-mail on 12/4/09. As 12/17/09 approached I knew I wouldn't have time to return package due to their return policy. Then out of the blue on 12/14/09 received an e-mail from TL stating they received my return for processing. What return? I never received anything to ship back. It's obvious they never shipped the product in the first place, even close to a month AFTER the shipment e-mail. TL has quite a scam going by making sure the consumer doesn't receive their purchase in time to return it if they want to. My bank has issued a preliminary refund to my account until TL processes the return. God nows how long that will take. I urge everyone NOT to order from TL, they are nothing but a bunch of scam artists. Only after my ordeal did I see all the negative feedback online about this company. What a joke.