Dear So and So

[Eden]

Eden - could you share the name of the company so the rest of us can give them a wide berth?

It's not bike related, but rather the professional side of my life... but I'm more than happy to let everyone I can think of know to steer clear...

I order a small back drive/viewer (its basically so that I don't need multiple memory cards when I travel - it has a CF reader and you simply dump the card onto the viewer - it stores the photographs and has an LCD screen for looking at them) for my photographs from an online camera store called Tristate Camera. The only reason I went (with reservations) with this company is that I didn't really need or want a huge drive, and this was the only place I could find selling the 40GB version of the brand I wanted. Everyone else has the newest models, which start at 120GB.

They sent me an older model with a much smaller LCD screen (the size of which is entire reason for the price difference and also why I wanted the particular model that I ordered - I wanted the bigger screen...). Not only that the box had been opened (scotch taped shut) and there was an item missing from it and no (but not sure if there ever were any) warranty cards. This model is listed at $60 cheaper than the one I ordered and was charged for (and which is out of stock on their web site now....)

I knew something was up when I had to contact them twice just to get them to ship - and it took 10 days just to get the thing to UPS, then another week to ship..... (I ordered on Sept. 2). I figured they didn't have it and they would make excuses, try to get me to buy something else and cancel the order, but when they did ship it, I had hopes...

I called them on the phone this morning... the guy didn't seem at all surprised or even question me about it being the wrong item.... All he would do is blame "his supplier" and tell me that he was cheated too (actually he tried to say they just get them shipped directly from the manufacturer - which was a blatant lie - the manufacturer isn't selling that model themselves anymore and I called him out on that....), but anyway the thing was shipped with their invoice, from their address so that's a load of bull cocky anyway.....

They offered to refund the difference plus $10 (which is only about 5% of original price) and I said not acceptable - it is not what I ordered, not what I wanted and $10 isn't equal to the amount of hassle that I've been put through, not to mention the opened state of the item, the missing piece.

I told him that I wanted a full refund and that I wanted a pre-paid shipping label and he did at least send me that - but he also sent me return paperwork that only offers a trade or credit (I wrote in refund), specifies a 35% restocking fee and charges for both shipping both ways.... I included a letter stating that it was their mistake and I expect a full 100% refund with absolutely no money deducted period.

We shall see what happens when they get it back... I'm not afraid to get the BBB and Visa involved... I wonder if Visa ever revokes the credit privileges of companies with multiple complaints...

For me... I'm going to suck it up, order a new model off of Amazon... (the 120GB new models are only about $75 more) at least I know I can trust them...