Do not use Projector Lamp Center or any of their other "sister" companies. This company acts as though it is a scam. Items on the website show as "in stock" and "usually ships in 24 hours" but are not delivered as promised. After falling for the low prices and claims of quick shipping, and not receiving our item, we checked out the reviews of this company on several different sites including the Better Business Bureau. All rate Projector Lamp Center with one star. There are multiple complaints on the Better Business Bureau website.
We ordered a projector lamp on a Thursday evening and paid for overnight shipping. We expected the order to be processed Friday and arrive the next shipping day which would be Monday. On Monday the item did not arrive. We have family coming in town and need the projector working, so when it still did not arrive on Tuesday, I tried calling. I searched for a customer service number on the website, but there wasn't one anywhere. This gave me my first "nudge" that something wasn't quite right.
I used the "online sales" button. A chat window opened up and someone answered. When I typed in my question — "why hasn't my lamp shipped yet" I got the message that my question was being forwarded to the "correct" customer service representative. I had to ask the question all over again as the new person didn't know what I needed. When I asked the question again, I was asked for my order number. I gave the number and after several minutes was told that after speaking to their "vendor" of this product, they had a lead time for the shipping of this item from the manufacturer and that it wouldn't ship to us until the following week.
When I relayed this to my husband, he was quite upset as we had a group of people coming to watch the big football game at our house that weekend. That was the whole purpose of getting the overnight shipping and ordering it a week in advance. He asked me to cancel the order and find the lamp somewhere else. I went back to the projectorlampcenter.com website and this time clicked on "Online Sales" chat again thinking that an order cancellation and refund would be within the sales realm. Again, I was re-routed to a new customer service rep after posting my question to the first person.
I had to go through the whole sorry tale again and give my order number again in order to cancel the order. The customer service rep was very friendly and cancelled the order quickly. Then I was told that a refund would be processed in 30 days in the form of a check. When I questioned this practice I was told it was "company policy".
This is unacceptable in today's marketplace. I own a small business myself and process credit card orders frequently. I also process refunds when needed. It is a very easy process and takes less than 2 minutes. There is no reason why a company cannot process a credit to the credit card used in the original purchase, especially when the product has not even been shipped out.
An upstanding good quality business will process a refund immediately either upon cancellation of an order that has not yet been shipped OR the return of a product. If the product was paid for by a credit card, then the refund is issued immediately back to that credit card. Refund checks are only cut if the product was paid for in cash or by a check. This is good business practice. Projector Lamp Center does not follow good business practices and should not be allowed to continue to rip off consumers.
I am thankful that we were in desperate need of the lamp and did not allow this fraudulant activity to continue over a span of several months as did other consumers I read about. We called the credit card company and disputed the charge to our account. I am mailing/emailing copies of the reviews I've read, the Better Business Bureau complaints and the copy of the transcript between myself and the online customer service person of Projector Lamp Center to the credit card company to back our claim. If this happens to you, don't wait for the refund to be issued — dispute the charges to your card!
0 comments