Community poll forum: What do you do when you feel you've been ripped off?

4-19-2007

First I create Complete Documentation of ALL Business Transactions!
I include the date, Time, Name of Company, Name of person I talk to & What we discuss, including what the conclusion is of whatever the problem is.

I contact Store Mgrs & warn them that I WILL (I have actually done this a few times)by carrying Bright Florescent Yellow posters stating that they CHEAT THEIR CUSTOMERS. I even got a car dealer to come to me when I was parked in front of his dealership & he said, "You owe us nothing more, & gave me clear title.)!

I also did this in front of a Real Estate Office.

Store mgrs will then prefer to give you the Rebates that the Rebate Companies try to ignore, but I keep a separate Rebate Folder & do NOT let them off of the hook!

Can you imagine that if 1 Million people across the USA (not counting those around the world) have $20.00 rebates coming, but they actually only pay-out $5 Million, they are stealing (Theft by Deception)
$15 Million Dollars! BUT... NOT FROM ME!!!

Photocopy EVERYTHING you send them, including even the envelope you send with their name, address & stamped.

HP replaced my laptop, because I let then know that I keep Complete, Accurate records of ALL communication with them, et al & had to send their new computer for repair four times after complaints from Day One of my purchase. The last time I complained about this "Lemon," I actually drove to their local facility & took my laptop, AND ALL of my documentation in to show them I was prepared to beat them in Small Claims Court.

I also tell them I WILL Report their Consumer Relations (Despite their Completely un-Crediable JD Power & Associates AWARDS, bought & paid for by these companies, it seems, to the BBB & other orgs, etc. I mean, WHO hasn't had EXTENSIVE CSR/TECH Problems when you are sent online to India's so-called Techs?

I tell them I will make complaints on ALL of the Online Reviewing Orgs, such as Cnet, PC World, Epinions. et al so this report will go out Internationally, as well as to EVERYONE in my Email Address book... THIS GETS RESULTS!!!

They sent me the newest 17" laptop to me, but since it had the new VISTA OS, it didn't have the drivers that would operate my HP 7310 All-in-One. I pressured them into sending me an XP OS CD which I could then install & it operated my All-in-One, as XP always has done in the past. No problem now.

HOWEVER, Printer Mfr's such as BROTHER & HP, et al are STILL Violating U.S. Supreme Court Anti-Trust Laws & Decisions, by Telling customers that their Warranty is void, because of using Non-OEM ink cartridges. The U.S. Supreme Court said, "Manufactuerers CANNOT force you to use THEIR Cartrdiges, etc & Consumers CAN use other, After Market Vendors products, and NOT be in violation of the Mfr's Warranty!

They figure the average citizen doesn't have the money to take them to court for this extreme problem of "User Abuse," by these companies & their Laughing at the Law.

What we need probably, is for everyone to contact the Lawyers Orgs, such as "Lawyers & Settlements," Online that do Class Action Lawsuits against these companies. THEN, we should get some action.

Jerry Rodrigues
j_rodrigues@sbcglobal.net
You may contact me if you wish to discuss this further.

A few years ago when the Sony T615 pda came out I bought one. I liked it so much I then bought my wife one. Then mine quit working. Wouldn't sinc with my computer. Since it had just been about six months since I purchased it, I began trying to contact Sony. Their web site was no help. I got automated messages thanking me for my interest in Sony! A call for help got nothing. Zilch. Nada. You should understand that my home was (note the past tense) a "Sony advertisement." If Sony made it and we used that catagory of product, we had it. It has taken a few years, but we are know a "Sony-free zone!" No TV, no audio, no radio alarm clock, no telephone, etc. Most of those components were replaced well before they normally would be. But everytime I saw one, I boiled inside. And my four children, two of which are married, the youngest of which is in college... Due primarily to my advice and related experiences they are "Sony-free" as well! (The daughter is married to a successful builder and no Sony products go into his home. One son, with one of the big four accounting firms, had a choice of computers from the firm and turned down the offered Sony for another brand because of my experience - which he related to his managing partner who changed his order to another brand as well. The other son is in sales of products for new homes. Need I say that he doesn't place and recommends against Sony?! The youngest, in college, is the most "electronic gadget" guy, with his interest leading him to a part time job with the university's IT department. (No, he's not a EE major or even going into a computer related degree program. He wants to go into accounting like one of his brothers.) But he gets asked about electronics by his peers all the time, and, you guessed it, Sony takes a black-eye in such discussions.

I wonder how much in sales Sony's pitiful lack of response to my problems has cost them. I'll never know, but I can report that it cost them well into five figures of what I would have likely spent on their brand. To borrow another products slogan, I just said/say "No" to Sony. And the "bad press" ripple effect has to be substantial!

There should have been the option to click..."All of the above". When one takes pride in what they do to earn the money they spend on sub-standard products, they should do no less then demand an accounting on products that did not have the same principal applied to it's creation!

I have had great success with retailers with this approach. The most recent example is with a store brand ink cartdridge, that failed with approximarely 60% of the ink left. I returned it & asked to discuss the situatiobn with the manager. He replaced it with brand name cartridge. (no charge) This is another reason to do business with online retailers with stratigically placed retail outlets...

Gateway is the worst for trying to get your rebates back---in fact they are the rudest customer support on the planet as well--

I found a great app to use when someone rips you off so that they wish they never had done. It's called skycaller http://www.skycaller.us and it basically just calls a number over and over again and then plays a message when they answer the call so you can set it up to call constantly and everytime they answer they get a piece of your mind! Great!