Miar Posted September 19, 2012 Share Posted September 19, 2012 1. Should you start answers with 'I believe' or 'try X' or check and find out what the real answer is? 2. Should you assume your international customers are only from Europe or Australia when asking about paying in US dollars? 3. Should you make assumptions about someones nationality? If You are from the USA and I call you Canadian, Mexican or French are you going to be happy? What if you are Irish and I call you British? They aren't exactly racial slurs but you will feel different with each. 4. Should you charge Americans who can pay in US dollars an extra surcharge? (Is this a statement that Americans should only live in America?) 5. Should you charge people who live in countries other than Australia or those who use the Pound or Euro and extra surcharge? (What does this say about non-westerns?) Having to wait 24 hours between emails/service between what I feel are insults just adds to my annoyance after getting the 3rd email I'm really not sure I want to bother even trying to make an order. I'm very tired of all this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miar Posted September 19, 2012 Author Share Posted September 19, 2012 woofing does make me feel better though! edit: woofing? word substitution for B*******? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serenity Posted September 19, 2012 Share Posted September 19, 2012 Posting here is a good idea for getting some action. Occasionally, even Reaper can drop the ball on customer service, though most of us have had good or even excellent experiences with them when something has gone wrong. I know it is frustrating when you have to use email and it takes so long to hear back. I hope they address your problems promptly here or by other means -- as they usually do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miar Posted September 19, 2012 Author Share Posted September 19, 2012 I haven't emailed back after the last one. The last email was much more business like and apologetic but it just doesn't feel like they are thinking through the implications of what they are saying. And if I point out the problems at this point it seems like I'll get another email back annoying me again on some level or other. Which I will get just before going to bed which makes for a rocky pillow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThornDJL7 Posted September 19, 2012 Share Posted September 19, 2012 Coming from the POV of a Financial Representative working for one of the top 5 international banks: 4) Yes, if you're paying from a source originating from outside the US. There are fees that Reaper's bank will charge Reaper to take your US dollars from you when you live outside of US borders. Reaper is passing that cost onto you. 5) Same as #4, but worse. Reaper now has to take that non-US Dollar and convert it to US dollars once it gets to the US. Once again, the cost is being passed to you. Those are the only two I'm going to touch since those are my fields of expertise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goblyn Posted September 19, 2012 Share Posted September 19, 2012 i hate being forced to pay in euros too 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MonkeySloth Posted September 19, 2012 Share Posted September 19, 2012 Coming from the POV of a Financial Representative working for one of the top 5 international banks: 4) Yes, if you're paying from a source originating from outside the US. There are fees that Reaper's bank will charge Reaper to take your US dollars from you when you live outside of US borders. Reaper is passing that cost onto you. 5) Same as #4, but worse. Reaper now has to take that non-US Dollar and convert it to US dollars once it gets to the US. Once again, the cost is being passed to you. Those are the only two I'm going to touch since those are my fields of expertise. Especially if you haven't read the fine print of your credit card. Ouch those things can hurt if you're international. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frankthedm Posted September 19, 2012 Share Posted September 19, 2012 Sorry, but we are only being told your side of the story and your interpretation of what they said. You have not shown evidence of misdeeds by Reaper, only that something has angered you in your dealings with them. Maybe you got rotten customer service, maybe you didn't. If you shared the text of the email, we might have something to go on. 3. That can be worse than a mere slur IMHO. Calling someone the nationality that committed unpunished atrocities against their fore-bearers is pretty damn bad. Other posters have covered the fees. Financial institutions the world over love their fees. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thatguywiththeface Posted September 19, 2012 Share Posted September 19, 2012 4 and 5 have to do with currency exchange fees. Reaper is passing the expenses on to you, as Thorn said. It's really not that unusual. As for 1-3, I'm sorry to hear that happened to you. I assume you'll at least get an apology for how the representative treated you. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buglips*the*goblin Posted September 19, 2012 Share Posted September 19, 2012 3. That can be worse than a mere slur IMHO. Calling someone the nationality that committed unpunished atrocities against their fore-bearers is pretty damn bad. I once knew a guy so stupid he went into a restaurant called China Kitchen and, upon seeing the ideograms decorating the back wall, asked "Is that Japanese"? The old lady was not so very amused, no. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thatguywiththeface Posted September 19, 2012 Share Posted September 19, 2012 I love it when people do stupid things like that. Unless I'm with them. Then I'm mortified. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miar Posted September 19, 2012 Author Share Posted September 19, 2012 You are all right when you mention the currency fees being the problem. But you are also wrong in the way you mean. Also if I had gotten to this point on the first email I had gotten I would be a lot more patient in figuring out the currency fee problem. When you pay Reaper you have a choice in paying 4 different currencies (or is it 3). I am American, I have a American bank account, I have an American credit card. My money is coming from within the USA. I have been told that if I want free international shipping I can't pay in US dollars I must pay in another currency. This means I pay in pounds or something (my credit card charges me fees because of the currency change) then Reaper charges me a higher price because they are converting from pounds to dollars. There is no reason for this, I can pay in dollars. They gain nothing by not letting me pay in dollars. If someone has another currency than one of the ones they list (say Japanese Yen). They can't pay in dollars (if they want to get free international shipping). They must pay in pounds or whatever (which means more exchange fees). So they pay for 2 sets of currency exchange fees instead of one. Reaper gains nothing by not setting it up so you can get international free shipping if you buy a certain amount in dollars. It's no different than setting it for pounds or euros. Reaper at the end of the day gets their money in dollars. Asking people to jump through unnecessary hoops and nickle and dime them for no profit on their part makes no sense. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokingwreckage Posted September 19, 2012 Share Posted September 19, 2012 5. Taxes, surcharges, fees and so on vary by jurisdiction. Importantly, so do laws. There is commonality between the British derived jurisdictions, and the whole EU uses a fairly standard system when dealing with trade. Some jurisdictions are quite hostile to trade or impose heavy tariffs, and outside of the large zones of commonality (British derived, EU standardised) there can be very major variations from nation to nation. There's a large overhead in terms of knowledge acquisition. EDIT: to clarify: the laws might be compatible, but there is a time cost involved in finding that out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miar Posted September 19, 2012 Author Share Posted September 19, 2012 5. Taxes, surcharges, fees and so on vary by jurisdiction. Importantly, so do laws. There is commonality between the British derived jurisdictions, and the whole EU uses a fairly standard system when dealing with trade. Some jurisdictions are quite hostile to trade or impose heavy tariffs, and outside of the large zones of commonality (British derived, EU standardised) there can be very major variations from nation to nation. There's a large overhead in terms of knowledge acquisition. EDIT: to clarify: the laws might be compatible, but there is a time cost involved in finding that out. What has this to do with the EU I'm not in the EU, Reaper is not in the EU. I am an American who would like to pay in US dollars to a US company. That company wants me to pay in Euros because they haven't thought about the way the set up their website. Paying in Euros makes me change from US dollars to Euros and back to US dollars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thatguywiththeface Posted September 19, 2012 Share Posted September 19, 2012 (edited) If you have yen and want to pay in pounds, you only need to pay ONE set of currency exchange fees. Yen to Pounds. If you have dollars and want to pay in pounds, you only need to pay ONE set of currency exchange fees. Dollars to Pounds. I'm too tired to be talking about anything else, really, but I think you're making a lot of fuss over a little issue. Edited September 19, 2012 by thatguywiththeface Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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