# ncphobbies: Be Very Careful



## Big Ralph (May 18, 2017)

I felt it necessary to relate my recent experience with ncphobbies as a cautionary tale and a warning to my fellow slot car enthusiasts.

I recently spotted a carded HO slot car on their site and purchased the car using a newly purchased pre-paid debit card.
I received an email receipt for the order quickly and thought all was good.

After a couple of days, I noticed that my card had not been debited for the transaction. I thought that rather strange as all online vendors I am familiar with immediately debit a card at the time of purchase.
So, I contacted ncphobbies by email. I was corresponding with someone named John.

I asked if there was a problem with my order and why they had not yet debited my card.
After a couple of days, John replied that there was "no problem" and that they had to confirm they had what I ordered in stock and, as soon as they did, they would debit my card and ship my order.
He told me to wait a week to hear from them.
(This business offers items for sale that they don't know if they actually have or not? Give us a week to find out? Let's play debit card bingo?)

I thought this very strange but I played along. I even offered to select another car if they found they did not have the one I ordered, as long as they could tell me if they had the alternate selection ready to ship. (I wasn't prepared to wait weeks for the debit of my card).

Well, I waited the week. Never heard anything from John that entire time and saw no activity on the card.
About half way through that week, the card company mailed me my personalized card to replace my store bought card.
While the card number remained the same, the exp date and PVV code were different.

On the day they said they would know by, I still hadn't heard anything or seen any activity on the card.
While I am a patient person, this transaction was starting to weird me out.
I emailed John and canceled the order.

In reply, John said they had tried to ship my order "earlier in the week" (this was on a Monday) but said the card was "bogus".
I explained to John what had happened with the card and how some of the card information had changed with the issuance of the updated card. 
I explained that, had they simply debited my card at the time of purchase as EVERY OTHER ONLINE BUSINESS DOES, they wouldn't have had any problems.
I also told him that, had he contacted me when they had problems with the card, I could have also immediately corrected the issue but no one tried to tell me there was any problem. I had no idea at the time if they had tried to debit my card before or after the updated card was issued.

I was frustrated by this point and I (politely, no really, I was very professional in my response) suggested that perhaps some business and communication processes at ncphobbies needed to be altered so as to make the transaction process more in line with normal business practices and apologized for the failure of the sale. Yes, I apologized. I did not hear anything further from ncphobbies.

On a related note (actually, I don't know for a fact that it's related but I have my suspicions), a fraudulent transaction appeared on my card a few days after the conclusion of this series of events. The amount of the fraudulent purchase was very close to the amount the original ncphobbies order ($29.99). The transaction was made with an online gaming business that sells and distributes games and software through download. A digital products vendor. I'm not a gamer (used to be years ago), I'm in to slot cars now.

That fraud is currently under investigation, the business where the fraudulent transaction occurred has been notified, and the card has been canceled. Fortunately, I only had about $50 get frozen on that card so, while the delay in accessing that money is an inconvenience, it's not a disaster.

Folks, be careful with ncphobbies. I've read some feedback from other customers since this incident and I wish I'd seen that information before I tried to do business with them. It seems they have a less than professional attitude when it comes to customer service or communicating in a timely manner.


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## RollinOlds442 (May 5, 2021)

Appreciate the warning! Thanks. They should've initiated contact with you early on, and apologized to YOU. I guess some places don't need to make sales. Have they unfrozen your card yet, or figure out what happened?


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## Big Ralph (May 18, 2017)

RollinOlds442 said:


> Appreciate the warning! Thanks. They should've initiated contact with you early on, and apologized to YOU. I guess some places don't need to make sales. Have they unfrozen your card yet, or figure out what happened?


All my card issues have been resolved. I contacted the fraud department of the gaming company and told them about the fraudulent transaction. They immediately investigated and found the transaction in their records and only one day later contacted me and told me that they had found the transaction and it did indeed appear to be fraudulent. The gaming company refunded the full amount that day and told me they would pursue the issue with the member that made the transaction. I was quite impressed with their speed and thoroughness.
The name of the online gaming business is Humble Bundle (humblebundle.com) and I told them I would recommend them every chance I got and I'm doing that here. Excellent customer service and an honest desire to do right by their customers (and even not their customers).

As I said, I can't directly connect ncp to the transaction but it's just too coincidental IMHO. I suspect they handed my card info off to someone but that's just a suspicion.
I've actually learned more about "John" during this time. Turns out he's a truck driver running "ncphobbies" out of his garage. Seems his son is involved with the business too and has a reputation for shady dealings. 
All in all, probably just a good idea to steer clear.
It's unfortunate too because he had some interesting items listed and he had some good prices.


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## JWSpeed (Jun 2, 2009)

Last dealing with them I never received my order. Emailed them three times no responce, I did a charge back on my credit card and got a email the same day. John said he had never had a order not delivered and I was being dishonest. I told him if the order did showed up I would gladly pay again. Will never order from them again.


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## Rich Dumas (Sep 3, 2008)

In my opinion a dealer should not bill you for items that are not actually in stock. A few dealers do not bill you until they are ready to ship your order. Some e-commerce sites show items that are out of stock, others do not. 
I know that some people are reluctant to use a credit card to place orders. Credit card companies can deal with fraudulent transactions, though that can take some time. A while back my credit card got skimmed at a gas station and someone charged a $5400 vacation at Club Med to my card. The transaction got flagged and the credit card company contacted me to ask if it was legitimate. I replied that it was not and the company eventually removed the charge and issued a new card. I had to go to all of the sites with automatic payments and change the credit card number. Some people would rather use a debit card or a gift card, but those have less safeguards than a credit card. One option is to have a credit card with a very low limit to use with transactions that might be risky.


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