On 2/9 I placed an internet purchase order of 4 DVD internal drives for $4.99 each (In case someone thinks that I landed a hot deal: these are old 4x drives from pre-1995 era, so $4.99 S&H is just a fair price), from this company, to be shipped to me. The subtotal was $4.99x4=$19.96, plus shipping cost of $13.75, thus making the total of $33.71.
The product title looked as follows:
'Panasonic EIDE DVD Drive-LIMIT 1'
At the time I didn't notice last 2 words: Limit 1. It didn't elaborate at all. Anywhere. It could mean anything: limit of 1 product per order, per customer, or just part of the product's name. Sales Terms and conditions didn't say anything about any kind of limits.in fact, no other part of their website mentioned limits.
Anyway, the website accepted my order (quantity of 4), and later I received Order Confirmation email, that I regard as their consent to enter a legally binding contract. Note that the Terms and conditions doesn't say anything about possibility that orders may be changed or cancelled without the buyer's permission. I clicked on SUBMIT ORDER button, they sent ORDER CONFIRMATION EMAIL, and we entered into a contract.
When I received the package, I found only 1 DVD drive instead of 4 ordered. They had charged me for the price of one drive and S&H of $9. I assume that it's a partial shipment, and waited for a week, but nothing else. Then I emailed their so-called customer service, inquiring about my order, but there is no answer. Not even automatic 'We have received your inquiry and will respond within 3 business days' email. Being nice and patient, I send another email a week later, and still no response.
I send yet another email a few days later, this time with warning that I'd report them to BBB, FTC and consumer complaints, they replied quickly. It turns out, they had received both of my emails before, but didn't care enough. Ray Chau, the person who responded was, to their credit and to my surprize, not rude (and even kind of courteous). He said that my order was changed (Changed? And not even notify me about that, let alone ask my permission?) because the product page stated there is a limit of 1 per order. So I ended up with an old 4x DVD drive that cost me $14.
I requested them to complete the transaction as initially agreed, or take the drive back at their cost and issue a full refund. I also offered them a compromise: I would keep the drive if they charge me a reasonable shipping rate per drive (say, $3.44 would be fair because in the original agreement the average shipping charge per drive was: $13.75/4 = $3.44) and refund the rest. They refused again.
I have heard before about this company's less-than-average customer service, but didn't expect them to back out of a contract they had entered into, and arrogantly ignore my requests.
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