Terrible service, avoid them at all costs
Written: Jan 24 '03
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A few weeks before Xmas, I noticed that they were having a good sale on treadmills and they had one of the models I was interested in. I ordered the item on their website, and got a confirmation mail within a few hours. The confirmation mail said I should receive the item in about two weeks. Everything good up to this point.
Part I. The Wait
Then I start waiting. And waiting, and waiting... I send them an e-mail asking about the status of my order after two weeks but I get no response. Then I try calling customer service. After waiting on hold for a long time, I finally get to talk to someone. She says that this item is shipped directly from the manufacturer using a 3rd party cargo company and she cannot tell me when I should expect to receive the item right now but I should get an e-mail once the item is on its way. Great, good excuse to ditch responsibility for something they sell through their website.
Part II. The Delivery
A few weeks later, about 5 weeks from the day I put in my order, I get an e-mail saying that I should expect delivery shortly. The next day, some guy shows up at my door with a truck. The guy speaks almost no English. Luckily, he has his son with him. The kid does not look much older than 7 or 8 but he is able translate. The truck does not have a lift, so I am curious how he is going to be able to unload the treadmill (some treadmills weigh close to 300lbs) by himself. He opens the rear gate, the truck is full of all kinds of boxes stacked randomly all over the place. I see some computers, TV boxes, etc. He starts pulling out this huge rectangular cardboard box. The box is about 6'x8' but it is clearly not more than 10" thick. I am thinking how the hell did they fit a treadmill in that!
Somehow, the guy manages to pull the box down to the street onto a rolling cart with minor damage to the box. I am quite impressed that he could do that! He starts bringing it toward my garage. I go and take a look at the box. It says "Large Air Hockey Table" on it! Oh my God! I stop him, and pull out the packing slip. There is a packing slip with my name and address on it, but the packing slip clearly says "Treadmill". I try to explain to him that this is not what I ordered. He is not willing to listen. He repeatedly shows me my name and address and asks "this, you?". It is hard to explain to him my problem. Finally, his kid is able to translate to him what I am talking about. He says some stuff to the kid. The kid tells me that I should sign for it anyway and call the company for a return, somebody will come and pick it up later. I tell him that I am not signing for anything, this is clearly not what I ordered, and I am not interested in keeping a monstrous Air Hockey Table package in my garage for who knows for how long. I don't know how much of this the kid was able to translate, but not the guy is irate. He is shouting "you sign, I go!". Eventually he calms down. Through his son, he tells me that he is willing to take the package back with him, but I have to help him load it on the truck since there is no one else and obviously he cannot do it by himself. I quickly try to think whether it is better to keep the huge box in my garage for a few weeks (or months) and park my car on the street, or risk serious lower back injury? Since I am not that smart (otherwise I would not have ordered from FogDog in the first place) I decide to risk injury and help him load the box in the truck. A few more rips on the box, but it is still in one piece.
Part III. The Customer Service
I immediately go back in the house and call FogDog customer service. After listening to elevator music for about 30 minutes, I finally get to talk to someone. I try to explain to her what happened. She keeps asking me if I am sure that the package did not have a treadmill in it. I tell her I am pretty sure since the package was very clearly labeled (actually, there was even a nice picture of the Air Hockey table on one side) and it would simply not be able to package a treadmill in that form factor. She goes away for a while and comes back and says that according to their records, a treadmill was shipped to me. Great. I tell her that it was definitely not a treadmill, and I rejected the shipment. I ask her if and when they can send me the treadmill I ordered instead of the wrong item I received. She goes away for a while and then she comes back and says I should get it within two weeks. Sounds familiar. I am somewhat skeptical, but I say OK. (Did I say that I am not that smart earlier?)
Part IV. The Billing
A few days later, I check my credit card statement, and I see two charges from FogDog. One for the price of the treadmill I ordered, another one for $300 more! What is going on here?
Part V. Customer Service (or lack thereof)
I call the customer service again. After hearing some wonderful synthesizer arrangements of 70s pop songs for about half an hour, I get to talk to a customer service representative. It takes me a while to describe the situation. She tells me that what happened was that the previous customer service representative indicated that I was returning the original unit I ordered. She also explains to me that the original customer rep had also ordered me a new unit, which was no longer on sale, and that is the reason for the second charge on my account. This is obviously news to me. I tell her that this was clearly not my intention, I was simply trying to exchange a wrong item I received in shipment and they should not charge me one more time. She says that their procedures do not allow this. She says that the item is currently not on sale and she cannot give me the sale price. After a few more minutes of trying, I give up an ask to talk to a manager. She tells me that there are no managers available right now, but if I leave my number, a manager will call me later. This, actually turns out to be a good thing, since it allows me to calm down (you can imagine how I am feeling at this point) and plan how I should approach this matter.
Part VI. The Manager
The next day, I get a call from the manager. I have to spend another ten minutes to explain the situation, and I think she finally gets it. At this point, I am getting a little bit smarter, so here is my plan: first, cancel the second order, I certainly don't want to buy the treadmill for $300 more than what I was planning to pay for. She says she can do this, but it will take 2-3 weeks for me to get a credit. I can't believe this. The two treadmill charges on my credit card add up to $$$. I certainly don't want to (and actually can't) pay this much money to avoid interest charges on my card. Later I found that I could have disputed the charges, but I did not know that at the time.
So far so good, now we start talking about what to do about the original charge. I certainly don't want the treadmill anymore. She says she cannot give me a refund on that one until the item has been received at their warehouse and inspected. This is their policy on returns. I try to explain to her that this is not case where I ordered something and changed my mind and simply returning it. FogDog sent me the wrong item. I did not even open the package, I simply refused the shipment, so I should be given a refund right away. She says she cannot do that because their policy is ... I am starting to lose it at this point. I tell her that what they are doing is pretty close to theft or embezzlement. At this point, the lady gets very angry and starts saying nasty things to me. OK, I guess it is time to hang up. This people clearly think that they can charge you first, ship you the wrong item next and then worry about it later.
Conclusion
After this, I give up talking to their customer service department. I write a very detailed letter describing all the events. At the end of the letter, I clearly state that if I don't get credits for the two unsubstantiated charges on my credit card within two weeks, I will take legal action. I send copies of the letter to their customer service and VP of marketing. After two weeks, I check my credit card statement and both charges have been reversed. However, I never get an apology call or letter from them.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
qazsen
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Location: San Francisco, CA
Reviews written: 4
Trusted by: 1 member
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