List Price: $612.70
Sale Price: $499.00
Today's Bonus: 19% Off
This card was on sale for 78% off when I bought it (like many of the other memory cards here on Amazon). I received the wrong capacity -a completely different card with only 128GB (LSD128CTBNA600), and so did some other reviewers here. I immediately contacted the seller (Adorama Camera), who failed to respond for days -that is, until I opened a case with Amazon and forced their hand.
When they finally responded, they were remarkably rude given the nature of their own fraudulent "mistake." I requested an exchange with the correct item but they not only refused outright, they ignored the request entirely until the sale expired and then regurgitated their "standard REFUND return policy." This treatment is unfair in itself. This is not a standard return for a standard grievance for a standard mistake and shouldn't be treated as such. Refusing to honor the price agreed upon when we entered into the purchase agreement through Amazon is one [bad] thing, but to refuse to take any sort of responsibility or accountability is quite another. Weeks later, with numerous frustrating back-and-forths between the company and (an) absurdly negligent and uncomprehending case assistant(s), I was promised a "full refund." Well, I finally got my refund a month later -of ONLY the item price, WITHOUT the double-digit shipping I paid for it. Incredible.
A partial refund well after the sale period is over is too little, too late, as Adorama is not taking responsibility for their fraudulent actions. On the contrary, seemingly at snail's pace and with all the apathetic, lethargic carelessness they could muster, they resorted to numerous maneuvers to stall me out of the sale period, shirk their obligations to replace the incorrect item with the correct product (even at my shipping expense), pass the blame for their mistake to other parties, stall the refund as long as possible, and finally deliver only a partial reimbursement of the purchase price (excluding shipping). I was extremely lucky that this incorrect product, intended as a gift, wasn't opened by its intended recipient; otherwise, Adorama admits they would have taken advantage of another loophole to refuse even such an inadequate partial refund (explicitly mentioned in one of their emails to me). There's a word for this behavior in a seller. Please look up the definition of "fraud" in your dictionary and tell me if it isn't chillingly appropriate.
I was cheated out of a good product, hours of my time, and a golden Valentine's gift opportunity. Further, far from going the extra mile as has any decent company I've dealt with in light of their own mistakes, the seller now tries to cheat me out of refunding even the full price as well -after a month. Where's the seller's accountability? Where's their dignity, their human decency? Adorama utterly refused to take responsibility for their own mistake (their manager "Leah R" actually verbally brushed me off by trying to blame Amazon for "feeding" the incorrect listing, but refused to commit to such a sad excuse in writing -I'm glad at least my Android records calls!).
DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT IF ADORAMA IS LISTED AS THE THIRD PARTY SELLER. Especially if on sale for a reasonable price (like 50-80% off as with many cards sold on Amazon, including many from Adorama). I would not trust anything from them from now on (their own website is riddled with typos, too, apparently). The mark of a professional con artist is the quality and glibness of excuses they can make in real-time -and I am as much in awe of their level of professionalism in excuse-making as I am disgusted by their repugnant lack thereof in actually resolving or even addressing the problem entirely of their own creation. Blaming others, attempting to sweep the matter under the rug as an "obvious listing error" 10 days after the purchase (made with my and Amazon's confidence) despite ample time and indications to the contrary, stalling until the deal period expires, promising a full refund but failing to refund the shipping cost even after a month, and many rude and deflective emails deliberately avoiding the issue... If you still have that dictionary, you might also want to look up "Confidence trick" for an apt description of the purchase as a whole.
You may receive a 128GB card like me and many others here. There's no avoiding this simple fact given the huge body of evidence and similar grievances posted right here among these reviews. If/once this happens to you, know that NOBODY here will take accountability for the the seller's behavior. This is a very costly gamble -in time, money, effort, and sanity. In fact, to even get the full purchase price back (via some sort of roundabout, conditional promotional certificate), I was forced to speak directly with an Amazon specialist, who informed me they are powerless with third party sellers and cannot even ensure that they give the full refund as promised, making the entire resolution/claim system inherently pointless and a complete waste of time. (Further, as regards the "claim" system, the agent(s) there did not speak or type English well at all, did not understand the obvious nature of the problem, responded by different foreign names each time I replied, and made some pretty weighty typos in their communications with me.)
As for the card itself, don't get me wrong; the 128GB card I received is great, but not at this price. Not for $230. Not with the giant "256GB" image, product number, and spec sheet staring at me when I bought it from this very page only to be cheated, lied to, brushed off, and ultimately inadequately compensated. Note once again that I COULD NOT test the specific card I received, as Adorama rudely (cleverly?) mentioned they would actually void even their forced, token, partial, month-long refund policy had that been the case, but I have used another and it is fast. You can get the 128GB card for a mere $100 on sale (labeled "400x" but benchmarked as virtually identical in speed; see other reviews of the 128GB 400x card for speed comparisons to this one). Therefore, this card is obviously not worth the current price, not to mention the obscene amount of hassle when/if Adorama sends you half the capacity and stalls you out of whatever deal happens to be going on (and refuses to refund any shipping costs when/if they agree to a partial refund a month later).
I have never been so disgusted with a purchase (or company) in my entire life. Not only does this destroy my confidence in Adorama and feed it to me backwards, but severely erodes my faith in Amazon as an honest and accountable marketplace where customers are reimbursed completely and in timely fashion in cases of obvious fraud like this one. Remember, even previously/supposedly "large" companies are not above fraud, and they should be held accountable. In this case, nobody took responsibility, as there was absolutely no accountability forthcoming whatsoever (except after the fact, in Amazon's agreement to at least refund the rest of the price I paid in the form of some sort of promotion certificate, as mentioned above).
PS: Do not hesitate to contact me for evidence or further explanation. I would be delighted to share.
[edit]: PPS: Read this review's comments for another solution if you have been burned by Adorama over this card.
0 comments:
Post a Comment