They had a $15 off $50 special. The website showed the coupon was applied. The pre auth to my bank was correct.

HOWEVER, the amount actually billed to my card neglected the discount. It SHOULD have been $45.29, they billed $60.29.

Ebay (who owns half) has confirmed there was an error, but says Half must fix it.

Half has not replied to my emails through their site, & the phone # published to Visa has a tape recording that hangs up on you no matter what you push. I've had trouble with them in the past. NEVER AGAIN.

If the $15 is not refunded by Friday, i will dispute the entire charge with Visa.

Consider yourself warned.

I haven't used Half.com in years.

Yup. I had nothing but bad experiences with them and wouldn't touch 'em with a barge pole now.

I just got a refund for something I (thought I had) bought on iOffer because the item was no longer available. Bogus.

Same here . I used half a few times a couple of years ago . It was always a headache. I refuse to buy from them anymore.

I got a form letter that this happened to "other buyers experiencing the same issue."

They say I will have the $15 refunded within a week.

Not a good way to attract & keep customers. Also publishing a worthless phone # VISA/MC problems isn't real good for cust service.

I discovered Half.com about three years ago, ordered three or four items, and ultimately received...one of them? (I think). They have a very screwy business model (if they even have one)--I find myself suspecting that most of what is being sold is fake merchandise from the Far East.

They're owned by ebay (though they were originally an indie site). Most of the sellers (though not all) are on both sites. Even half customer service emails are visible on the ebay website. The service problems do seem to have started after ebay purchased them. Ebay was planning on closing half a few years ago, & supposedly got so many complaints that they supposedly changed their mind.

The frustrating thing about this situation is there is no way in hell i would have made this purchase without the 30% discount which I have yet to receive. The 3 items are all things i wanted & I have received all 3 & all are good, but the pricing without the coupon was higher than ebay & Amazon; & 2 of the 3 had been on my radar for a long time & I was waiting for price drops.

Even on Ebay, I seldom buy a CD unless the listing includes a photo of the actual disc being sold. It's not so much wanting to have an idea of the condition of the disc, just an assurance that the seller has the title in hand and is able to put it into the mail upon payment, rather than keeping me hanging for a week and then refund my money, saying that the drop shipper screwed up or something.

Although I've resigned myself to the fact that most of the CD's I will purchase from now on will be purchased over the internet and not from actual stores, I will never be a huge fan of the practice.

You bring up a big problem with ebay. They strongly encourage sellers (all but require, & they do require in dvd) to use their pre filled listings, which are often wrong & have caused me untold grief as a seller.

I agree with your caution.

Amazon's prefilled listings are more likely to be accurate, but as has come up here many times they make mistakes also.