Be careful shopping on line or by phone! (1 Viewer)

[Jeff Adams]

Hello all. I just got done with an experience shopping by phone and to say the least, I did not walk away happy. I purchased a Sony SCD-CE 775 from onecall.com. I was very pleased with the price of the unit. $308 delivered to my doorstep. I was also very pleased with the time it took to get there. It only took 2 days with no special rush delivery. One other thin I was happy with was how good the packaging was. It was double boxed with foam bits in it. The Sony box was inside a bigger box. However the unit I got was defective. And I didn't even test it out before I took the back off of my entertainment center and hooked up 9 different cables to it! Well I press the power button and guess what, nothing happened. No power to the unit at all. I tried plugging it into a variety of different outlets with no luck. The unit never powered up, I even tried it the next morning again just to be sure. Anyway, I called up onecall and talked to one of the main guy's and he said no problem just send it back. I asked how would they handle the shipping on it. He told me sorry but we are not going to pay for the shipping on your defective unit. I was stunned, I told him that I have never heard of anything like that. Where is the customer service? On top of that if I wanted the unit replaced in a timely fashion, I actually had to buy another one and put it on my credit card. Or I would have to wait until they got my defective unit,tested it out. Then the guy told me that they are a hot item and that they could be out of stock by that time that it could be weeks until I got the replacement unit. I was beyond upset at that time and told them to forget the whole thing, just credit my card back. And keep your merchandise. But after I thought about it for awhile, I did not want to have to go down to my local guy and have him order me one. I would have had to pay more money and tax. I went ahead and bought another one form onecall and at least they did not charge me again for shipping on the new unit. It has been 2 weeks though and I am still waiting for my credit card to br debited back for the first unit. Terrible, terrible customer service in my opinion. They should have shipped another one out right away, maybe taken my credit card # for security purposes, but not have ran it unless they never got the defective unit back. And they most definately should have paid for the shipping on the defective unit. In all the player cost me $322. I could have went down to my local Circuit City and paid $329 without all this hassle. Not only did I have to pay for the shipping, I had to take time to disconnect the unit,box it back up, tape it up, take time out of my busy day to stand in line at the post office and mail it back. Heck, just for the inconvenience alone they should have thrown in some free cables. So I for one will most likely NEVER purchase major equipment like that over the phone or online again without the guarantee of cost free shipping on defective gear. If you plan on buying on line or by phone stay away from onecall.comunless you want crappy customer service. Just looking out for the interest of my fellow Home Theater forum friends.

 

[Jeff Adams]

I was wondering where I should have posted this. Thanks.

 

[KeithH]

Jeff, sorry to hear of your bad experience. OneCall has good prices, but I will admit, they do not offer the best customer service. I believe the HTF was going to partner with OneCall for group buys, so maybe someone from OneCall will see this thread and do something about it. You never know.

 

[Reginald Trent]

Take the unit to a Sony repair center if you have one nearby, they will repair or replace the unit and ship it back to you at no cost.

 

[DaveHo]

With the exception of not picking up the return shipping on the defective unit, your experiance is pretty typical of most mailorder/e-tailers. Sure it sucks, but it's not unusual for it to take a week or two till they get around to checking out the defective unit.

But my real question is why would you mail order it in order to save a measly $21? Especially on a Sony product, which in my experiance are frequently dead or defective out of the box.

Sorry, I don't mean to rip you a new one, but at least for me I would have clear chosen the B&M store in this case.

-Dave

 

[Jeff Adams]

It's okay Keith, I am now enjoying my sacd player. I love it. Plan on a better player in a year but for right now it is fine. And to answer your question Dave, I am really not too upset for them having to tsest the unit out. My main complaint is that they refused to pay the shipping on the defective unit. I know it's not alot of money but it was simply the principal. And as far as buying one at my local shop, they were out of the unit and would have had to order one. I was anxious to get this unit and the guy ay onecall told me they could have i tto me in 2 days, which they did but it was defective. So I figured why not not get it sooner and for less money. And you also have to keep in mind that I would still have to pay tax on the player at a local shop but after all the hassle, I will pay the extra expense.

 

[Brian E]

As much as it sucks (I agree it would be nice if they refunded your shipping costs), their return policy does state that you are responsible for return shipping. http://www.onecall.com/Policy_122.htm
It says they will credit your account within 14 days of receipt. It's been my experience with most places to really allow about 21 days.
It's been my experience that many places make you pay the return shipping and then they pay to ship the new one out to you.
Personally unless I can save a decent amount on an item I'll usually buy locally. It supports the shop (keeps them around for when you need a $2 part and don't want to wait) and I have someone I can complain to face to face.

 

[Jeff Adams]

Brian, I guess I should have read in more detail before ordering. And like you said, I like supporting my local shop, they are very cool and always hook me up. I am going to be like you, if I cannot save alot of money ordering online then there is no point.

 

[Zak Solo]

I have had very similar problems with a UK supplier. They are supposedely Sony authorised dealers as well. Unless I am saving big £££'s like a hundred plus I won't buy on line.
But reading through your e-mail (and I am not sure how tax in the US works) the differnce of $21 dollars dosen't sound like a lot for peace of mind - and you would have been supporting your local retailer.
BTW I used a company called www.techtronics.com. and they are not Sony authorised (according to Sony!)