In August my wife and I entered SoundWorks located at 10526 Connecticut Avenue, Kensington, MD 20895 to look at a home theater and sound equipment for our home under renovation. As part of this initial visit, SoundWorks agreed to come to our home for an initial consultation at no cost if we purchased at least $250 in product and/or services from the store. We agreed and provided SoundWorks with a check in the amount of $250 to be credited to the overall purchase amount. Based on his visit, the sales person, provided a list of recommended home electronics he recommended we purchase.
Later the same month, we contracted with SoundWorks to perform the cabling for video and sound of our home. To begin work we agreed to pay an additional $1000 to be credited towards our account to cover the approximated costs of the work.in total, we therefore paid SoundWorks $1250.00 to be credited towards to the costs of the installation. SoundWorks performed the work during September totaling $1095.80 for installation services.
In June because I had not heard from my sales person for several months, with our renovation now near completion, I contacted my sales person, to further discuss next steps. I was told that he was no longer employed by the store. I subsequently decided not to purchase any services or equipment from SoundWorks.
On July 13 I contacted the store to discuss my credit of $154.20 and requested settlement of my account. The person who answered the phone, "Rick", indicated that he was the store owner. He refused to credit me the amount because the company policy states no refunds. I explained to Rick that I was not informed of any no refund policy neither by his sales person nor any other employee of SoundWorks. I furthermore told him that I was not returning a product but that the amount represented an overage of a prepaid credit for services already purchased. He accused me of taking my business elsewhere, and deliberately refused to even consider returning my credit due, on the assumption that I had taken my business somewhere else.
He went further to state that he believed that I had not been charged enough for the installation services previously provided, and was therefore not even entitled to a store credit in the amount in question. It appeared that he wanted to pad the bill with false charges 8 months after completion of services. I stated my objection to such fraudulent intent. He did not care to hear it and hung up the phone.
In our case the store policy of no refunds does not apply.in addition, no store representative ever communicated a no money back policy. Had we known the store's position regarding not returning credit, we would certainly never have agreed to a large upfront payment without any chance of getting our unused funds back.
BTW - When I told "Rick" that this was not a good practice for establishing good references, he was blunt and said he did not need my reference I have plenty of others he stated.
Buyer beware in dealing with this store - they can't be trusted. Only imagine the possible nightmare on larger purchases and the treatment when something goes wrong. Stick with larger established stores.
R.
Kensington, Maryland
U.S.A.
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