Feb. 2006 I purchased an Xium Dish. According to their claims, this thing receives HDTV better than any antenna on the market (I really should have been wary when I also saw it was great for AM/FM and CB and added a note to the invoice, that it sounded like "Snake Oil"). But, a 30 day money back guarantee.
Add to that they take credit cards via Paypal. And we all know how good Paypal is when it comes to Buyer Protection (NOT! More about that later). What could possibly hurt to try it out.
I received the Dish and assembled it and hooked it up. This thing gets worse reception than a Terk indoor UHF/VHF HDTV antenna which is about 1/3 the price. It is also more directional than the Terk (in my case) I was going to have to install a rotor. Well, it was a nice try and it didn't work as claimed.
Here is where the fun begins.in order to return the antenna, it must be shipped back in the original box (or one might see a 15% restocking charge)... I kept the box, pristine. Next, (as per their web site) I sent an email to customer support with all of the information required to get an RMA# so I could send it back. (Any return will be refused unless there is an RMA#). No reply. Same with the second and third emails. No Reply. I refuse to make a long distance call when all of the transaction was done via the Internet and add more cost to this thing.
After doing some review, I found there are many people who have done exactly the same thing as I and have had the same results. Some of them did, however, make that phone call (several times). And those calls were not returned. No RMA# = no return = no money back guarantee.
Second line of defense is Paypal. I submitted a "Buyer Complaint" claim with Paypal and received an email back saying "As stated in our User Agreement, PayPal's Buyer Complaint Policy applies only to the shipment of goods. It does not apply to complaints about the attributes or quality of goods received. Therefore, we are unable to reverse this transaction or issue a refund." Next time I really do need to read the fine print.
One other important thing. If someone still wants to purchase one of these dishes, be sure to look at the invoice before you hit the submit button.in my case, the cost of the dish went up because they sneak a $15.00 handling fee at the last minute. So, with the cost of the dish, handling fee and Fed. Ex., my total was $177.95. With that, I could have purchased several different Terk antennas (indoor and out).
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