So I bid on an item last night. Only instead of clicking on the autobid box I clicked on the bid box. So now my bid is higher then the next closest bid. I then closed out and went to sleep. This morning I noticed the error I made and call C-bid.

Although this is CLEARLY an error on my part they will do nothing to correct it. Unless you catch your error and fix it in the next 15 minutes you are SOL.

I always see posts raving about the customer service at c-bid. But in my mind if the customer makes an honest mistake, brings it to the attention of the seller before any damagae is done, and it can be fixed but isn't because the seller says "it isn't our policy to fix it" - that is not great customer service. That is no service at all.

I guess next time I'll be more careful with my bidding. That is if there is a next time.

yeah, you have to be careful and double check. I've noticed mistakes and gone back in and done the edit bid function. And there's been other times when I just meant to do one thing and did another. Oh well. I wouldn't be too hard on c-bid though. When you place a bid and it's recorded, it may discourage someone else from bidding who otherwise would have. Let's at least hope they're good smokes and you enjoy them.

You aren't the first to have done this and won't be the last. However, CBID's great customer service tends to apply more to errors on their part, not ours. What you're asking for are special exceptions to the posted rules. Imagine what the bidding process would look like if anyone could cancel their bid at any time.

On the bright side, you stand a chance of winning a bid on an item and you will pay the maximum price that you were perfectly willing to pay for it when you placed the original bid. The only real downside is some other guy might get the same item for a few bucks cheaper. Its not like you placed a $1000 bid on a five pack of Bad Frogs! You still might get outbid anyway.

I've done this too. It's on you, not them. Be careful with the scroll wheel too!

You made the mistake (just like the rest of us have) NOT them. You also made YOUR bid high so that others would not out bid You, I am not sure what you wanted CBID to actually do for you? CBID customer service is really very good. My suggestion have a glass of the gold stuff with a good smoke and chauk it up to experience! Good Luck Rob

I agree with you all that I made a mistake. Now let me run this by you for food for thought.

You are at McDonalds and you want to order a Chicken Sandwich. When you order you in error say Chicken Nuggets. They enter your order in the register and start to get it ready. When they put the nuggets on your tray you realize an error has been made by you and say, "I'm sorry I meant to say chicken sandwich. Can you change the order". The clerk then says, "I'm sorry you ordered chicken nuggets and that is what my register says that is what you will get. You made the error not us so we don't have any responsibility to correct the problem. Therefore we won't. Thank you and come to McDonalds again."

Now if this happened would you say McDonalds has great customer service. Probably not.

What if I ordered nuggets and they put a sandwich on my tray. I then say, "Excuse me I ordered nuggets not a sandwich". They then put the sandwich back and give me the nuggets. After all it was their error. Would you say then that they have great customer service. Probably not.

My point of this post is that everyone raves about the customer service. However, I did not get great customer service. I got none what so ever. I made an error, yes. Could the error be easily corrected by c-bid without substantially changing my order, yes. Did c-bid make the change, no because it is their policy not to. Fine but then don't tell me they have great customer service if their policies prevent them from helping the customer. Don't tell me they have great customer service if THEY make a mistake and then fix it.

I needed some help and didn't get it. That may be good business on their part but it isn't good customer service.

plabonte,
I don't agree 100% with the McDonald's example.

If you walk into the McDonald's at 10:29 and there are 15 people in line waiting for the last 3 egg mcmuffins before breakfast ends, and you say I will pay 6 dollars per sandwich. You move to the front of the line and pay the money...after recieving your sandwiches, you sit down and then realize you didn't want to pay that much. You cannot just go to the counter later and say I want to change this order.
Take into consideration that this is an auction site and retracting bids shouldn't even be a grey area. You obviously wanted the item at some point, didn't you? You even say it was your mistake, so why wouldn't you just swallow it, and not push blame elsewhere? I think that the customer service here is unbeatable and the prices too!!! If the CBid staff spent their day looking through "hopeful retractable bids", none of us would ever get our orders on-time. It seems cheesy to me to trash customer service of the company you buy from, and post on....on the site. Just my .02 though
Dave

Guess I just THOUGHT I wanted to hear someone gripe about something other than Bush/Dean/War.

I guess my beef is that I made a mistake. C-bid and I are both aware of it. It can be easily fixed without disturbing the bidding process. C-bid refuses to fix it.

I'm not asking to retract a bid. I put my highest desired bid in the regular bid area and not the autobid area. I only asked that c-bid correct this. I didn't ask them to change any amounts or delete the bid. Only to correct an error I made.

C-bid chooses not to. If that is their policy that is fine. What is the result? I end up paying more (potentially) then I have to have paid. C-bid makes money off my error.

I guess its my error and I should just take my lumps. But I don't like the idea of someone capitalizing off an error that I made that could EASILY be corrected but that was chosen not to.

I don't think that is good customer service, I don't think its a good way to do business, and I won't order from c-bid anymore. And I guess that is all I'll say about that.

Sorry, p,

but I'm afraid it's diffuicult to contain my frustrarion with you here. I've made several mistakes, 1 or 2 like the one you describe. I knew full well that it was mine and mine alone.

This is an auction pure and simple. Have you ever been to one. When the auctioneer calls out a price and you raise your hand, you don't get to change your mind because you made a mistake. Take some responsibility.

When you order those McNuggets you don't GET to bid on them, you pay full retail! And you aren't taking something from another customer that can't be replaced in 30 seconds.

Your analogy is far from relevant.

P.S. No hard feelings. I've enjoyed conversing with you about many things on this board, but I think you need to re-evaluate your position here. The rules are extremely clear.

plabonte,
I also apologize if my post came off a little rough. I really enjoy reading your posts, cause you are one that gives your honest opinion to people and has extensive knowledge about such an amazing hobby. Stick around! If you stop bidding...more cigars for us, but don't stop posting. I probably would be frustrated also, but a good deal on cigars would be your loss not CBid's.
Dave

You hit the button right??? Well thats the same as sighning a contract with them. They didn't trick you. And as you accept that you made the mistake they don't see a problem and neither do I. What they do see is people bidding very high, on occasion, for a item that they really want. So how can they tell the difference? They give a grace period. You didn't change it then. Opportunity lost. I you don't bid anymore because of this simple mistake... More smokes for me. Your loss.

ajeroth

Sorry to say I am with the rest on this topic plabonte. Besides I'm sure you still got the smokes at a price far below the price on Cigar International. Next time don't bid on CBid, just buy them at Cigar International, and leave the bidding to us, heheheeeee. Not to worry, CI & CBid would love you for this.

Knof

Holy Freakin Crap how many times do we have to go over this - if you have a beef with cbid then deal with cbid and leave the rest of us who love cbid the heck alone. I don't even care if they were the ones who made the mistake - which they very rarely are. Whining about how you didn't get your way does NOT belong on the misc. forum when you are trashing our HOST!!!

If you put your max bid in for your regular bid and you won, what's the problem??? You were willing to pay up to that much anyway...

If you got outbid, that would have given you another chance to place another bid.

Am I missing something ??

Low

Al... this is exactly where this post belongs. C-Bid can see it and determine if it is something worth looking into or not. If you don't like the topic, don't read the thread.

Robby nailed this issue right at the beginning. If the error had been caught earlier, it could have been fixed, but because it had been so long from when the original bid had been placed, it most likely discouraged others from bidding on this item. That's probably why they coundn't fix your mistake.

Sorry about piling on.

Great thread!

Bummer Paul...it sucks when that feeling hits. You know the one. When you are like Wile E. Coyote going over the cliff and you are in mid-air momentarily only to go plunging down to your demise...

Happily, it was only one bid...and at a price that you set for yourself at the onset. I'd like to know just how many of us have made that mistake in the first place...I've done it...

I've had an issue with customer service here that didn't end up the way that I hoped...but the details were kept to myself. Sometimes, things just don't go our way.

I'd have to say that the customer service here is greater than the majority of auction, retail, or internet based business' in general.

Kudos to CigarBid for leaving it up...

No man is infallible. It's how you handle your own mistakes that prove how great you are. You can quote me...

Marla

Don't worry guys I won't get upset if you disagree with me. I disagree with plenty of people.

You are correct that the analogy with McDonald's isn't 100% acurate. The point was that an error could be easily corrected but wasn't. Again correcting the bid I made would NOT have effected (or is it affected) any other bidders. I would also like to mention that I have been to many auctions as well as auction sites. And this is the only auction I've ever been to where you have to enter two bids. A current and a high. Every other place you enter your high bid (as in most auction websites) or your current bid (as in a live auction).

Its c-bids policy and I'll live with it. But in my eyes c-bid could easily fix this without any disruption to the auction or other bidders. The result is that they won't get as much money for the auction. And when I put it that way it makes sence why they wouldn't change it. Why would a business want to make less money. My only beef is that they are earning money through an honest mistake, which was brought to their attention and could be remedied. If you did a trade with a BOTL for five cigars and he sent you someone elses package because he got the address labels mixed up and it contained 15 cigars and they notified you would you keep the 15 cigars and say your error live with it. You very well could and it would be legal. But that doesn't mean its the right thing to do. A business has to make money no doubt. But one that does it while still doing the right thing is one that has good customer service. But hey that is just my opinion.

As far as the contract statement ajeroth you are incorrect. A contract that has been entered into between two parties that contains a material misstatement as to the subject matter (in this case price) becomes a voidable contract at the option of the party who made the error. Business Law 101.

I would like to see the auction thread and see how bad the price difference is between high and low bid, considering you were perfectly willing to pay the high bid that you currently have it at. Through your error, all you did is reveal your bid strategy a little early.

CBID has a clear policy with terms and conditions that all bidders agree to and they simply aren't making a special exception for you. Posting about this here seems to be a method of whining or extortion to take a second shot at getting the exception to the rules.

Oh man, p, where do I begin.

First off, Gb has it right. The one guy that had maybe planned to spend as much as you did may have seen your bid and decided to wait for the next one. How in the hell can you not see that?

Cbid does NOT REQUIRE you to enter 2 bids. You can either enter a single bid OR your max, auto bid. As far as other auctions go, yes they are a little more simple in the way of the max auto-bid, ala ebay. Personally, I like that you can see what the present bid is in the first window.

Next, a deal made with a BOTL is not even close to the same as an auction!!!

Finally, so you're saying that any time I "misrepresent" my bid price, I can get out of buying cigars from CBid? Well that's pretty cool. Now I can change my mind anytime I want. If you really think that's possible under your Biz Law 101, then get a lawer and fight it. Good luck.