I see your point, but I think you had a special case.  In a typical mail-order
scenario, you buy stuff, you pay with a CC, you're supposed to get it.  If you
don't get it, you challenge the CC transaction.

The vendor is then presented with the opportunity to prove that he/she shipped
the items and must produce a signed copy of the slip.  If you're a mail order
vendor, you don't have signed slips because you do the transaction remotely.
Now it's your word against the customer's and the customer is right by default.
 That is, if you can't unequivocably prove that the stuff was shipped and
arrived, you get a chargeback (the CC company debits your bank account) plus a
chargeback fee.

It's a real pain in the ass.  I know...I do it all the time.  It's mostly
because people don't remember what they ordered and say "what's this charge" or
their spouse reviews the bill and doesn't recognize the toys that the other
spouse bought.

-Karl
aka Mr. Makarov.com

> Using credit cards to pay for goods/services from unfamiliar vendors is a
> good idea... but don't do what I did, i.e., remind the vendor that you
> *did* pay with a credit card (until you are at the point where you want to
> challenge the quality of the goods/services).

Karl and Kristina Bloss, Trexlertown, PA
'87 Westfalia Weekender  "Beverley" - 192K miles
http://www.enter.net/~bloss/vw/
PA/NJ Vanagon owner's mailing list: http://www.enter.net/~bloss/vw/pavanagon/