[rocky2]

Any consumer lawyers out there?
I'm not quite ready to name names yet but a large Mac mail order house that features prominently on sites like this one and xlr8yourmac, sent me a DOA accelerator card with a $600+ value that I bought on a Visa credit card. After trying to troubleshoot the problem for an hour via international phone call, I gave up and asked for an RMA and a full credit to my Visa card. They then advised me of a 15% restocking fee + my responsibility to pay to get the dead card back to them. I suspect this is BS under US consumer protection laws. I have appealed to them to do the right thing since they sold me defective product but they refuse offering only to exchange the card and I still have to pay the $50 shipping. What are my rights under US consumer legislation? They are in IL. Could I ask Visa for a reverse payment and also inform the mail order company that the POS they shipped me is awaiting FEDEX pickup at their expense.

[jtc]

Call your credit card co. and tell them the situation. If all else fails, they will allow you to dispute the charge and get you your money back (all of it).

I've had similar experiences, and called my CC immediately. Several times they�ve called the company themselves (while I was on the line able to listen to the conversation) and convinced them to exchange/refund with no restocking fee and also pay for the return shipping. Companies are much more accommodating when they hear �Hello, this is visa calling, one of our customers has a problem with a purchase��

[DigitalEl]

Don't be shy though. Out the a-hole company you're dealing with so the rest of us can avoid them and deal with someone else.

[robot prom]

Unfortunately, you don't have much recourse other than bringing your CC company into this fight. Unless the vendor knowingly sold you a defective card and you can prove it, they got you by the testicles, or ovaries, whatever the case may be. most companies would wave the restocking fee if you're exchanging the part, and I bet with some sweet talking they would refund the return shipping if the part was truely defective.

An IL based mail order house that sells lots of accelerators that's featured on XLR8yourmac.com has got to be Other World Computing. If it's them, it's too bad, I've had good experiences with them for years.

[Brazuca]

Yeah, just call your Credit Card company, explain what happened and they'll fight the battle for you.

As far as I know, as long as you make a good faith effort to solve the problem with the company you've done your duty.

Don't pay them a cent and tell us who it is. Informing other consumers is the kind of pressure that can change a company's policies.

[TheMosco]

Originally posted by robot prom:

An IL based mail order house that sells lots of accelerators that's featured on XLR8yourmac.com has got to be Other World Computing. If it's them, it's too bad, I've had good experiences with them for years.

This has been a major complaint towards them for a while. One reason i wont order from them.

[rocky2]

Yes, unfortunately, the company in question is OWC.

Here is part of the reply from OWC about why they have a restocking fee of 15%.

Snip
No one benefits by having to process a return and that is why we offer replacements at no additional cost, if a problem should arise._ Unfortunately all returns for refund do have a 15% restocking fee, but this is partially in place to help lower your initial shipping and product cost._ We_also do not try to_hide any_of our return policies._ All of our return policies are agreed upon by the customer, before any online order is finalized and has a quick link to our terms of service page if there should be any questions._
Snip

They conveniently ignore the fact that a dead product cannot be restocked and that I am still out $50 returning the dead product for either replacement or a refund. So dear readers, bear this in mind when considering a buy from OWC.

However, this story looks like having a happy ending. Mr Tim Ericksen from GigaDesigns called me back from California after I left him voicemail and after a comprehensive series of very helpful suggestions and checks (late at night in California), agreed that the board is faulty and he Fedexed a known checked good board next day. It has not arrived yet but assuming this new board works, I am then to send the dead board back to GigaDesigns direct. Mr Ericksen was the essence of how a good business should be run (concerned, polite, helpful and wanting to do the right thing) and I have no issues at all with GigaDesigns. **** happens with electronics and as long as the maker stands by the product with good service, I am happy.

I do have issues with OWC over their 15% restocking fee for returning even DOA products for a refund and not replacement but now that things look like working out, I am not going to let them eat my soul.

[kentuckyfried]

^ Sorry to hear that.

Has anybody else has problems with Powerlogix?

Right now, I'm in a bad spot. Powerlogix sold me this card that was DOA too, not only that but it killed my BW g3's logic board so I've been scrounging around looking for a replacement, but no luck.

Here's the kicker: I had installed it with heat sink per their directions. 3 times. I didn't see the warning that says you have to have the heat sink on no matter what (it was this tiny little red slip in the antistatic bag including the chip). By the time I got onto screwing around with this thing the 4th time I was getting irritated trying to pry off the heat sink so I just left it off for no more than 20 seconds. Yes...I admit it's beyond retarded but I actually passed this info onto them, though I did correct myself immediately afterwards and told them I did have the heat sink on the first 3 times.

So even though I had correctly installed the upgrade chip, Powerlogix is claiming that I have voided their warranty (another lawyer has suggested to me that this claim is false, or is arguable at least b/c the warranty can't be voided on something that wasn't functioning to begin with).

Anyhow, they are claiming that I am a liar and will not refund me any of the $300 I spent on this chip. I wouldn't care so much if it had simply wrecked my computer, b/c that was their original disclaimer. It just pisses me off beyond belief that they won't refund me $300 for their defective chip, and now they're trying to hide behind their warranty claims and making me out as a liar.

How likely is it that they'ed counter-sue me if I tried to get them to show up from Texas to a small claims case and I happened to lose?
It's kind of like, my word against mine, and I don't have any evidence against them except my emails which can be interpreted my way...or their way.

[dav]

just chiming in to say i had problems with owc last year when i received a damaged hard drive i ordered - won't ever purchase from them again, i'd pay more elsewhere first.