In January I bought an external SATA drive from Dirt Cheap Drives to expand the storage on the SA8300HD DVR I was renting from Cablevision. There was some kind of incompatibility between the DVR and the drive that caused recording/playback problems (macroblocking, sound glitches, and lockups requiring the box to be unplugged) that got worse over the 2 weeks I tried using the drive.
I got an RMA number from Dirt Cheap Drives and sent the drive back to them by UPS. UPS indicates the drive was signed for by GROOVER at 11:41am on February 8 in Dickinson, TX.
After a couple of weeks I called to inquire about the refund and they said it would be processed. According to their terms, I should have received a refund of $350 less a 15% restocking fee.
After 2 credit card statements went by without a refund, I called again and was again told it would be processed.
At that point I forgot about the issue until going over my credit card statements in June. I tried calling Dirt Cheap Drives again, but was only able to leave a voice mail message that wasn't returned. So I disputed the charge with my credit card company.
Several months went by and in Mid October my credit card company (Citibank) sent me a letter denying the dispute saying "Since the merchant has not responded to our request for credit, we do not have any further options available to assist you. Contact the merchant directly."
I left a couple more voice mails that weren't replied to.
Then in November, I decided to try a different tack. I was looking for a large drive to put in a NAS enclosure, so I emailed them asking to order that drive and apply a credit from the returned drive to the purchase of a new drive. I sent the email several times over the course of a week without getting a reply. Then I called and actually got a person — a new saleperson who told me to fax the details. I did that on November 20, and twice after that. Every time I called back I either got voicemail or the same salesperson who told me he had passed the info on.
I still haven't received a refund or credit, and it's now almost a year later.
0 comments