From: pchelp@nwi.net (pchelp) Subject: CommView Purchase Date: Wed, 16 Aug 2000 16:30:35 GMT Organization: http://pc-help.org/ Message-ID: <399ab133.54153942@news.grc.com> X-Newsreader: Forte Free Agent 1.11/32.235 Newsgroups: packetsniffing Lines: 60 Path: colossus.SMG Xref: colossus.SMG packetsniffing:1704 NNTP-Posting-Host: k31-dialup.nwinternet.com 206.159.43.41 I just purchased CommView. But I was stopped in my tracks with a SALES TAX charge which was tacked onto my order, and I nearly canceled the order on that account. Nothing on Tamos.com or RegNow.com, up to the point of final order confirmation, makes any mention whatsoever of this tax. The order confirmation page, where the tax first appears, makes no mention of Washington State, in fact it says: "This purchase order shall be construed and enforced under the laws of the state of North Carolina exclusively in North Carolina courts." NOWHERE is there any indication that the sales tax is that of Washington State. My first impression was that I was being improperly and perhaps illegally charged with a North Carolina state sales tax. Only when I looked up the regnow.com domain record was it evident the tax was valid: Registrant: Universal Commerce, Inc. (REGNOW4-DOM) PO Box 1816 Issaquah, WA 98027 Domain Name: REGNOW.COM Note that I had input personal info and a credit card number at RegNow before I was ever confronted with the tax charge or any mention of it. May I suggest -- no: DEMAND that you place a comment on your order page (and near links to RegNow) which mentions this tax, and also that you communicate with your contacts at RegNow to require that they do something similar? When RegNow does charge tax, they should (and I believe by law they must) say WHAT tax and why. They and Tamos should by all rights notify buyers of the fact that there is a tax on Washington State residents BEFORE any personal info is entered. Buyers should be given the choice to decline at the appropriate point in the process, and that is before they have extended such trust. This isn't mere hair-splitting. I mean to see something done about this. I have contacted RegNow by phone and I'm expecting a call back from the director. I have a database of Washington State law and I am about to perform a search. As a businessperson who has charged sales tax in Washington and read the State's regulations, I am certain such notification is required; it's just a matter of finding where that requirement is articulated in the State's legal codes. pchelp Posted to: news:news.grc.com/packetsniffing Emailed to: "Michael Berg" "Steve Gibson"