Extremely Unfortunate Experience With Prusa Sales
Hi Everyone,
I am writing this post to share my latest, unfortunate experience with Prusa sales. This will be a long post, as the situation was extremely mishandled and I am left feeling neglected and diminished as a customer. I am also writing this as a warning to anyone that chooses to pay for an order via wire transfer.
This situation started on March 29/23 when I placed an order for 2 new assembled MK4 printers, 6 build sheets, 9 rolls of PLA, and 6 rolls of PETG. I will preface this by mentioning that I own a small business here in Canada that I 3D print custom golf accessories, and this order was placed with Prusa to fulfill a large order a customer placed with me. After placing the order with Prusa, I selected the wire transfer form of payment because my bank conversion rate from CAD to USD was less expensive than paying via credit card. I received a proforma invoice from Prusa on the same day, and sent it to my bank to be completed the same day as well. I then received a confirmation receipt from my bank that the transfer was completed on March 30. I received a confirmation of payment email from Prusa on April 4, and this is where the problems began...
I will say that I did not check the attachment on the payment confirmation email, and that is my mistake. I received the transfer receipt from my bank on March 30 and verified that the amount sent in the transfer was the same amount as my order total so I assumed the confirmation email from Prusa was for the amount that I sent. Unfortunately it was not, it was short by $216.85 USD. That being said, I was not informed of this discrepancy in the payment. It wasn't until April 27th when I decided to track my order to see why it hadn't arrived yet that I discovered that the amount Prusa received from the wire was not the same as the total order. I immediately reached out to Prusa support to figure out why there was a discrepancy and how to resolve it. I also double checked the payment confirmation email attachment, which verified the amount that Prusa received, however no where on the confirmation receipt did it say that payment was insufficient, it simply stated the amount and date it was received.
On April 28, I was contacted by the support team and asked to provide the receipt of transfer from my bank. This receipt confirmed that I sent the requested amount, in the desired USD currency. I did not hear back from support until May 3, of which I was only provided a confirmation from the bank that received my transfer of the lesser amount. No resolution or reason for the discrepancy was provided. I was then contacted again on May 5 by a different support member claiming that the discrepancy was due to bank fees and conversion fees, and that I needed to pay the difference before my order was placed in sequence to be packaged and shipped. After reading that email, I was furious... I had provided confirmation that the amount I sent was the amount requested, and in the desired currency, yet I was being asked to cover the fees of the receiving bank and my order had not even been packaged and ready for shipping. This put my deadline for fulfilling my customer order in question and presented a risk that if my customer cancelled the order, I would not be able to recoup my investment made specifically for this order. Plus, I also incurred a fee from my bank, in addition to the wire amount, for initiating the wire transfer all together; so to be asked to cover the receiving banks fees, I felt was incredibly unfair and inappropriate considering the situation.
I was provided the option to complete a credit card transaction to cover the payment discrepancy, and after expressing my extreme displeasure about how things were unfolding, agreed to complete the credit card transaction for the difference. On May 5 again, I received an email explaining that a credit card payment could not be made as a portion of the order had already been paid for via wire transfer and another wire needed to be sent for the difference. Again, I was furious after reading this... I was not provided any information about how the original fees were calculated, yet was expected to send another wire for the difference in payment, not knowing if the amount I sent was going to be the amount they received. Not only that, but I had already provided the wire receipt from my bank stating the amount that was sent and the currency it was sent in, yet I was being asked for more...
In my anger, I expressed that I would not be sending any more money at all until I was provided a reason or calculation as to how the fees were charged. I then provided the option of taking my pre-order deposit for the Prusa XL printer as payment for the discrepancy, or removing a number of spools of plastic to reduce the order total to the amount that was received in the original wire. I did not hear back from anyone at support until May 10, of which they confirmed that they would accept my cancelled pre-order deposit as discrepancy payment and were 'making an exceptional accommodation' to waive the additional $16.85 out of courtesy to me and the situation. I was never provided a reason as to why the amount taken for fees was calculated as such. As much as I appreciated the gesture of waiving the remaining discrepancy, that amount was less than %0.5 of my order total. I had to give a large discount to my customer since I was not going to meet the deadline agreed too since the order was just now being packed up which I was quoted would take an additional two weeks before being shipped, so this exceptional accommodation was not even close to being a sufficient resolution to this situation... On May 22, I received confirmation that my order had shipped, via regular FedEx ground shipping. They couldn't even express ship my order to try and accommodate the amount of time wasted in trying to resolve this situation...
I am writing this now feeling very diminished as a customer, feeling very neglected as to the position of my business, and very upset as to how everything was handled. The things that I expressed to the Prusa team that made me feel this way are: I provided confirmation of the amount sent and the currency it was sent in based on the proforma invoice I was provided. No where on that invoice did it say that any fees associated with the transfer were to be incurred by the sender. Including that one line on the invoice would have been completely acceptable to then have me pay the discrepancy. The transfer was sent in the desired currency, yet I kept being given the excuse that some of the fees were due to currency conversion, which is simply untrue and proved otherwise. If I hadn't of looked into things on my own at the end of April, would I have ever been contacted about this discrepancy in payment? And finally, I felt as though I was asked to pay for a mistake made on behalf of Prusa. I sent the requested amount, in the desired currency, end of story... I'm sure I am not the first wire transfer they have encountered, and in providing such a payment option, it should be made clear that any fees associated with the wire are to be paid by the sender. It was not, and I was asked to compensate that mistake, and that is why I am writing this post. I believe it was an incredibly bad business practice to ask me to accommodate the additional fees on top of what I already had to pay my bank for initiating the transfer, and because of that I will never buy directly from Prusa again... All they had to do was cover the fees that their bank charged them for accepting the wire, which in total would have been less than %6 of my order total. Instead, this situation dragged on for weeks and Prusa has now lost me as a direct customer. Unfortunately for me, my entire 3D printing setup is built around the Prusa brand so I will have to continue to purchase select items from them in the future in order to maintain my setup, which makes me feel sick to my stomach having to do so...
Thank you for taking the time to read my story. For anyone looking to pay Prusa via wire transfer, be very cautious...
RE: Extremely Unfortunate Experience With Prusa Sales
Whilst your experience is unfortunate, how is this Prusa's problem?
Prusa is entitled to full payment and to my knowledge, any fees in relation to payment remittances are generally the responsibility of the purchaser / person who is making the payment.
RE: Extremely Unfortunate Experience With Prusa Sales
Sounds like a cockpit error to me....
RE: Extremely Unfortunate Experience With Prusa Sales
Whilst your experience is unfortunate, how is this Prusa's problem?
Prusa is entitled to full payment and to my knowledge, any fees in relation to payment remittances are generally the responsibility of the purchaser / person who is making the payment.
It's Prusa's problem because it was their bank that took undisclosed fees... It's Prusa's problem because they did not build the fees of the wire into the total price... It's Prusa's problem because they could not assure me that sending another wire for the difference in payment was actually going to arrive in its entirety...
While Prusa has every right to ask me to cover the difference, what kind of customer service is that? I sent the requested amount in full, in the desired currency, based on the invoice I was provided, and provided proof of such... Maybe in Canada we do business differently, and value our customers, especially when they spend almost $5000 on a single order...
As a business owner, I incur a fee of 4% anytime a customer pays with a credit card. This is something I disclose to my customers prior to them completing the purchase, and inform them of the addition in price. If a customer were to pay, without knowing about the additional fee, and I not only didn't disclose the fee but withheld their order without informing them of the fees I incurred, and then asked them to pay the fee weeks later while not even having started the process of assembling and completing the order, would that be an acceptable business practice? No, not at all... Regardless of were you are in the world, that is an absurd expectation for any business to have... It is devaluing to the customer, it is negligent to their position, and it is bad business practice...
I find it hard to believe you would take the same stance if you ever find yourself in the same position...
Sounds like a cockpit error to me....
How so? Receipt of payment, in full, in the desired currency was provided... Aside from assuming the payment confirmation email was for the full amount I sent, what else should have been done?
RE: Extremely Unfortunate Experience With Prusa Sales
a warning to anyone that chooses to pay for an order via wire transfer.
Not surprised. Wire transfers are an evil relic from times past and weird fees are common. Speaking from unpleasant experience…
I selected the wire transfer form of payment because my bank conversion rate from CAD to USD was less expensive than paying via credit card.
Which didn't consider the wire transfer fees which is a mistake easy to make if you've never done a wire transfer
The main culprit I see here is not Prusa but your bank who should have told you what fees to expect
Formerly known on this forum as @fuchsr -- until all hell broke loose with the forum software...
RE: Extremely Unfortunate Experience With Prusa Sales
Bingo!
I will not use any method to pay outside of a CC or Paypal. Wire transfers and many other new payment methods are wrought with fraud and failures.
a warning to anyone that chooses to pay for an order via wire transfer.
Not surprised. Wire transfers are an evil relic from times past and weird fees are common. Speaking from unpleasant experience…
I selected the wire transfer form of payment because my bank conversion rate from CAD to USD was less expensive than paying via credit card.
Which didn't consider the wire transfer fees which is a mistake easy to make if you've never done a wire transfer
The main culprit I see here is not Prusa but your bank who should have told you what fees to expect
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Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog
RE: Extremely Unfortunate Experience With Prusa Sales
So as a business owner, you pass on bank fees, but it's not OK for Prusa to do that!
YOUR bank incurred the fees in the transfer. They will tell you the charges were from the other end (which they were) because they use middle men to change the money. Talk to YOUR bank, you have asked them to transfer a fixed amount to Prusa, that amount did not turn up.
It's fairly simple really.
As a business owner, I incur a fee of 4% anytime a customer pays with a credit card. This is something I disclose to my customers prior to them completing the purchase, and inform them of the addition in price.
RE: Extremely Unfortunate Experience With Prusa Sales
The difference is the disclosure of such fees. Anyways, the issue has been resolved and my next post will reflect that.
So as a business owner, you pass on bank fees, but it's not OK for Prusa to do that!
YOUR bank incurred the fees in the transfer. They will tell you the charges were from the other end (which they were) because they use middle men to change the money. Talk to YOUR bank, you have asked them to transfer a fixed amount to Prusa, that amount did not turn up.
It's fairly simple really.
As a business owner, I incur a fee of 4% anytime a customer pays with a credit card. This is something I disclose to my customers prior to them completing the purchase, and inform them of the addition in price.
RE: Extremely Unfortunate Experience With Prusa Sales
UPDATE
Just wanted to let everyone know that this issue has been resolved accordingly. The issue was the actual charge for initiating the transfer. The way the proforma invoice was written, my bank interpreted it in a way that the charge of initiating the wire was issued to Prusa. The confusing and complicating part was that I was also charged a fee for the wire, separate from the initiation charge. The sales team was finally able to clarify this reasoning, and will now list it on their proforma invoices that any charges OR fees are to be incurred by the sender.
Lesson learned, and problem solved.