Home audio & video forum: ValuePlasma.com

I really wish I had put forth a bit more effort into researching this company before I tried to purchase a TV from them. On 12/2/2007 I submitted an order for a SHARP - LC-52D62U 52-IN HDTV AQUOS Liquid Crystal Television for $1,879.99. Their website said the free shipping was ground shipping.

The next day they call me to confirm the order and tried to sell me the stand for another $200. I argued and they "added" it to the order for "free", even though on their site the product description includes the stand. Tried to call them out on it, they just got pissed and argued back.

After trying to sell me the stand they said the ground shipping wasn't ground and it would be delivered to the curb with no tracking number and no signature required. They then tried to sell me the next level of shipping for $150. After pushing back they sold it to me for $50. It was supposed to include 24-72 hour processing at which point I would be mailed a tracking number. It's now been 9 days and I've got no email, no tracking, TV hasn't been shipped but they've charged my credit card and gotten their money.

When I asked about shipping insurance I was told about the HIP (Handling, Insurance and Processing) fee which, based on my state, was another 7% being added to the total cost. Long story short, they hide this in four paragraphs deep in their "Privacy Policy" section of the site but don't provide any details about the amount that you are going to get charged.

Like everyone else on this thread, I got threatened with a 20% restocking fee if I tried to cancel the order. When I try to call them I sit on hold forever then the phones go to voice mail saying they are closed in the middle of their day. If I do speak to someone it's usually the same guy lying about his name, being rude and making up some BS about why they aren't sending me the TV.

I've contacted my credit card company and am disputing the charge. They're trying to charge me almost $200 more than I agreed to pay for services and a product they aren't providing. From the sounds of it, even if they did send me the TV it wouldn't even be new which means I'm having my credit card company fight them no matter how this turns out.

So for now it looks like I'm fighting the same battle as everyone else, I at least wanted to help spread the word about this place to help someone else avoid this same issue. Gobuydigital.com is a scam and the people there are just as bad as their service.

To answer our own question. Our Credit card company disputed the purchase and our account was credited today...Sometime it pays to use a credit card....Still have not heard from the seller.

I too have been defrauded by this company and filed complaints with BBB and NY Attorney General's office. I also called the Binghamton Police Dept. and found out that their business address is completely bogus (28 Court St.). It actually is in the address range of an American Red Cross Chapter (their address is 26 Court St. though they also occupy the 28 address as well). So this information should prove GoBuyDigital is an internet SCAM.

There's nothing great about OnBlass.com - OnBlass gives the consumer a place to event about poor service, products and investigate tough consumer related issues such as FAKE companies running scams on the consumer. OnBlass is different from other complaint web sites. We dont write product reviews yet! Its totally up to the consumer to write a review on the products and services they buy. Of course, we will post comments on our own experiences

Onblass most recent post went after someones negative feedback on ebay and how someones baked potatoe tasted. I found it to be more of a joke than a consumer complaint site.

To answer your question, I just searched msn for 'consumer complaint' and found a site called iRipoff or http://www.iripoff.com which makes leaving a consumer complaint easy. According to Alexa the site gets twice the traffic as OnBlass.

As for the other post, I agree, I wouldn't put much faith into passing private information through a third party in order to get investigations done. That just doesn't seem safe or secure.

iRipoff.com doesn't require email addresses or request them like onblass or ripoffreport, thus making complaints safer for it's users. I don't blame iripoff for not providing addresses and names. This certainly gives the consumer an advantage over bad businesses.

Especially online. This won't always be the ideal route if you add in the cost of your time to fix problems related to poorly researched online purchases. Most people don't even take the time to inquire whether or not BB, etc. can give a lower price. IME most of these big box stores are hurting to move merchandise (especially their inventories of flat panels), so it's an excellent time to negotiate with a place where you can more easily return a big ticket item.

I bought a Samsung LN52A650 and got a confirmation email the next day. Then the following day I received a call from one of their scammers telling me that they just drop-ship and that it would cost $100 to have it sent by UPS and get a tracking #. He also tried to sell me an extended 5 year warranty for $400. I declined both. He then told me that I had to be home to get the shippment or else I'd get charged extra for redelivery tries. Finally, he told me he'd email me a shipping tracking # in a few minutes and gave me the UPS shipping and warranty for $150.

I got a blank email . . . no content. I emailed back and got no replies. I immediately went to their website and tried calling both phone #'s. They were BOTH disconnected. That's when I called my CC company and cancelled. About 3 weeks later, I saw a large box sitting by the side of my house. I never had the chance to decline the item!!!! UPS just dropped it there. Is that even legal? The sale is in dispute with my CC company now.

NEVER . . . I MEAN NEVER DO BUSINESS WITH THIS COMPANY!!!!!

are closed Saturday. That only implies they are Jewish. Perhaps that is foreign & exotic to some folks scattered across our large American continent.

The greater New York city area includes a large Jewish population. Greater NYC also has several of the finest merchants, especially for camera & electronics goods. These may very well be Jewish, but rather than sleeze merchants, are solid firms in business with brick & mortar stores for many years & who have extensive inventories including professional level & obscure items.

Please, let's not have veiled references to some religious body be discriminatory. Lot's of us have at least developed firm principles that we do not accept anybody being systematically denied any opportunity because of being identified as belonging to a group based on the usual list of race, color, creed, national origin, gender & so forth.

You are obviously an anti-Semitic ignoramus who makes a correlation between one's prices (low) to not having a physical facility. May I also surmise that all E-tailers are low-priced and/or dishonest because of the absence of a store? Amazon, FYI does not have a "store"; may I assume they're dishonest or do they pass muster because they're a public company who must answer to the SEC and shareholders? This logic of yours may lead one to believe Enron and MCI were honest!

Additionally, it took me less than 3 minutes to find out the physical address of PCVideoOnline.

Whether or not you've had any commercial dealings with a vendor closed on Saturdays (including Seventh Day Adventists) is immaterial as you obviously have an ax to grind.

You probably would be happier posting on a skinhead website.

This company (ValuePlasma.com) did observe jewish holidays. I got pulled in on the same scam. This is nearly 3 years ago now. I was sold a refurbed tv that was advertised as new, overcharged, called to have shipping upgraded (pay instead of free as was advertised) then it took them longer to ship it then was expected. I did finally get the unit and realized it was refurbished. Called them on it they offered to send a new one and I would resend the refurbed one when it arrived. After several attempts within the next week (several days) I was promised a small LCD for my trouble as they still had never shipped the new unit. In pulling up records to make a formal complaint and dispute with my credit card company I also realzied I had been overcharged a couple hundred bucks from the price of the unit on top of it all. I did get a full refund from my credit card company and had no issues in getting it. I had about 17 pages of proof emails, original purchase information, phone calls etc, with my dealings with this company which I included.

Whats even worse they were including the free tv as an incentive for me to take down negative reviews which I had posted about them because of the terrible quality of service. They also requested a 5 star review and haggled with me when I was only going to give a 3 or 4 as they had not given me great service the first time around which in my opinion is what would be worthy of a 5 star review.

The ethics of this company alone was enough to **** me off. I would never deal with them again. On a plus note though I did wind up with a free refurbished television and 5 year warranty.

iRipoff.com as mentioned above is a great consumer complaint site to get your word out about consumer complaints. They have made posting complaints easy and it lets u attach videos, audio and images. Pretty cool!

Consumer Priority Service - do not buy extended warranties from them

Some of your readers mentioned this company CPS - Consumer Priority Service, www cpscentral com based in New York. We got involved with them as an extended warranty vendor for a TV we bought from a New York web site (pricemad.com).

The bottom line is:

Do not give your money to this company. They not only won't provide service for the money you pay them, but they also require you to provide a credit card when you file a claim, and if they decide on a whim that the service call was 'erroneous' - they will bill your card $160.

I have filed a claim with NY BBB on them, because they have also done many other things trying to avoid having to provide service, and they seem to be crooks, and I'm going to find every single blog and forum where their name is mentioned and warn people away from them.

-- John Lasersohn, San Jose, CA

I am one of many people that purchased a Samsung TV and after just over a year the power supply went out. This is another whole story. I have a In-Home Extended Service Plan with CPS, Consumer Priority Service. I called them Monday November 23, 2009. The customer service person took my information to file a claim. I thought I asked all the right questions, this being my first claim with them. Not one time did this person ever tell me they needed the sales receipt and copy of my membership card. I received a email requesting this later that evening. Of course I sent it in and waited for a call or email telling me when a service person would be out to repair my POS Samsung. I called today 11-25-2009 and asked about the status of my claim. The person told me I would receive a email telling be the next step. NEXT STEP good grief....just call a repair service company and have them come out and fix my TV. So I get a email asking me for a credit card number. NO where and I mean no where does any of their paperwork or website mention about this STEP. Shame on this company to not disclose this anywhere in paperwork or on their website. They do mention on their homepage "Rapid Claim System" If this is rapid I would hate to see slow.

I talked to their Department Manger "Ralph" he gave me a lot of "I Don't Know" he didn't even have a phone number to call his supervisor. I wonder who he calls when he is sick or really needs help from him? All I received from him was "every one has to give us a credit card" I requested a refund on my policy and he didn't know who I needed to talk to or how I went about getting it. When I asked Ralph about why don't the CS person tell us on the first phone call they need the sales invoice and membership number, or anything about giving them a credit card number. His words were" they don't know all the steps it takes to make a claim" WHAT? I would think it might be helpful if they would know that. Bottom line, he was no help at all and he just had a lot of "I don't know" even when I asked the question is there someone else I can talk to that would know? NOPE he didn't know that either. Customer service was at a -9!

It's a shame that companies are allowed to not disclose all the steps to file a claim up front. So be careful if you decided you want to do any business with this company.