Nokia has already had a few problems rolling out its new touchscreen 5800 XpressMusic phone, including earpieces that go bad in humid weather and firmmware that wouldn’t work on certain big-city 3G networks on the US model, but now they’re screwing around with something serious: customers’ money.

This post by a user named ChOpSu3i on HowardForums explains what’s going on:

After ordering, the order confirmation screen showed the final price as “$727.48”; the email order confirmation also showed “$727.48”. I thought nothing of this, then when the phones shipped on 3/19 I received a shipment confirmation with a final price that was also “$727.48.” I thought, cool, I’m finally going to get these things. Fast forward a week and the pending credit card transaction was gone, but moved to recent transactions. Here is what I see:

…[I] called back today and was promptly transferred, I spoke to some random guy who didn’t give his name, but after a few minutes of arguing told me to disregard whatever prices I was emailed, or whatever prices show up on NokiaUSA.com because the invoice price should have been “$734.25”. I asked to speak to his supervisor after 5 minutes of circular arguing, in which he told me he was not available. Huh? It’s a Tuesday, yes it might be Caesar Chavez Day in California, but this call center was definitely not in California and they are definitely not celebrating the day as everyone else seemed to be working.

Anyway, so the reason for posting this long winded thread is because like many others in the 5800 Official Thread, I was charged more than was quoted. I don’t know their disclaimer on this, but that is definitely NOT right. How can you send someone 3 different screens for a single quoted price, yet later charge more?

Nokia clearly indicates that the tax and shipping are estimated amounts during checkout by using a red asterisk next to each field and adding a dislaimer nearby.

However, by the time you’ve reached the confirmation screen, shouldn’t this be taken care of? And if not—if it’s still an estimate—then where did the asterisks go? Compared to the checkout screen, all the screens and emails that follow seem pretty finalized:

ChOpSu3i, we think you should try calling again, and if you get another unhelpful CSR, consider disputing the amount with a bank. Yes, we agree, it’s almost a trivial amount to deal with, but Nokia needs to address this more satisfactorily than just saying you shouldn’t pay attention to any of the documentation they provide you—even your order confirmation.

“Attention Customers of NokiaUSA.com” [HowardForums]

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