OT. Internet ordering.

[J&P]

I had problems when placing an order for some flowers on the internet.
Three attempts failed (a blank page appeared each time I submitted the
order) but my credit card was debited three times and no flowers were
received.

I was informed that I had probably 'double clicked' on the submit button (I
hadn't) and this causes a problem "that cannot be rectified as this is the
way the internet is, ie when you double click, it doesn't give time for the
system to process the order or send a confirmation but for some reason,
which I am unsure of, it takes payment from you".

The little Basic programming that I have done, leads me to believe that this
is just a poor excuse for bad programming. But, not having programmed for
the internet, I would like a more knowledgeable opinion(s).

Many thanks in advance.

Regards,
Joe

 

[Shenan Stanley]

I had problems when placing an order for some flowers on the
internet. Three attempts failed (a blank page appeared each time I
submitted the order) but my credit card was debited three times and
no flowers were received.

I was informed that I had probably 'double clicked' on the submit
button (I hadn't) and this causes a problem "that cannot be
rectified as this is the way the internet is, ie when you double
click, it doesn't give time for the system to process the order or
send a confirmation but for some reason, which I am unsure of, it
takes payment from you".
The little Basic programming that I have done, leads me to believe
that this is just a poor excuse for bad programming. But, not
having programmed for the internet, I would like a more
knowledgeable opinion(s).

Not knowing the site you chose to utilize - I cannot tell you whether it was
trustworthy and/or possibly done in an amatuerish manner.

As for you double/triple clicking... It doesn't necessarily mean you
double-clicked on the submit button (like double-clicking quickly on the
icone) usuallty that refers to someone being impatient with the load time of
the next page and/or forgetting they clicked on submit and doing it again.
This starts the server processing another thread for the same transaction -
and not knowing it.

While I am sure some check could be done to see if that transaction number
by that person given that method of payment has been handled in the last
minute or less and drop all but the first one - I am unsure if any web-based
business using such a method has gotten to a point where they would program
that instead of using a more reliable payment system instead. ;-)

 

[J&P]

Not knowing the site you chose to utilize - I cannot tell you whether it
was trustworthy and/or possibly done in an amatuerish manner.

As for you double/triple clicking... It doesn't necessarily mean you
double-clicked on the submit button (like double-clicking quickly on the
icone) usuallty that refers to someone being impatient with the load time
of the next page and/or forgetting they clicked on submit and doing it
again. This starts the server processing another thread for the same
transaction - and not knowing it.

While I am sure some check could be done to see if that transaction number
by that person given that method of payment has been handled in the last
minute or less and drop all but the first one - I am unsure if any
web-based business using such a method has gotten to a point where they
would program that instead of using a more reliable payment system
instead. ;-)

Many thanks for the reply, Shenan.

The site is quite trustworthy and I have previously ordered with no
problems.

I didn't click on the submit button more than once, I actually went through
the full order process three times, thinking that it was me missing some
info out on the final submit page. I received no confirmatory email (their
usual practice), just a three separate debits for three items not received.
I successfully completed an order on the following day - which appears to
indicate that the fault was at the suppliers end, and that three
transactions were started and invoiced but went no further. I could not
understand how double clicking could produce such a result.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Olórin]

...

Many thanks for the reply, Shenan.

The site is quite trustworthy and I have previously ordered with no
problems.

I didn't click on the submit button more than once, I actually went
through the full order process three times, thinking that it was me
missing some info out on the final submit page. I received no
confirmatory email (their usual practice), just a three separate debits
for three items not received. I successfully completed an order on the
following day - which appears to indicate that the fault was at the
suppliers end, and that three transactions were started and invoiced but
went no further. I could not understand how double clicking could produce
such a result.

Regards,

Joe

From the supplier's point of view, it would seem only fair to bill you for
three purchases if you "went through the full order process three times" -
how are they supposed to know you didn't mean it?

To me, it all hinges on whether you actually completed the transactions or
not - your first post implies that you did ("a blank page appeared each time
I submitted the order"), but in your second you say that you "didn't click
on the submit button more than once". If you didn't, you should demand your
money back. In England, I believe that you'd be covered for problems with a
credit card transaction of this sort. How they handle your complaint may
affect your choice to continue using their services or not.

The additional fact that none of the three orders was received might be
something you want to use against them to further demonstrate that something
is squiffy with their online ordering, too. Possibly also the non-receipt of
any confirming e-mails, but you'd be hard pushed to *prove* a negative like
that...

 

[J&P]

From the supplier's point of view, it would seem only fair to bill you for
three purchases if you "went through the full order process three times" -
how are they supposed to know you didn't mean it?

To me, it all hinges on whether you actually completed the transactions or
not - your first post implies that you did ("a blank page appeared each
time I submitted the order"), but in your second you say that you "didn't
click on the submit button more than once". If you didn't, you should
demand your money back. In England, I believe that you'd be covered for
problems with a credit card transaction of this sort. How they handle your
complaint may affect your choice to continue using their services or not.

The additional fact that none of the three orders was received might be
something you want to use against them to further demonstrate that
something is squiffy with their online ordering, too. Possibly also the
non-receipt of any confirming e-mails, but you'd be hard pushed to *prove*
a negative like that...

Sorry for delay in replying to your posting.

Actually, I had no problem getting my money back as it was quite a reputable
company that I was dealing with..

I was really querying whether writing programs for the internet was prone to
unusual problems which a good software programmer was unable to cater for.
I was told by a representative of the company that the problem was such that
it "cannot be rectified as this is the way the internet is ......". Which
seemed, to me,
rather a naive statement to make, but as I had never written such programs,
I thought I had better check this out.

Thanks a lot and apologies for the confusion.

Joe