Am I unreasonable?

[Steve]

Hi folks,

I need a reality check. I recently ordered some stuff from a company called Access Micro (www.accessmicro.com). I ordered a new pc case, power supply and a fuji digital camera. The case and power supply came in. :) Nice case. Good p/s. The camera is back ordered.

Truthfully, I've found a better deal on a better camera elsewhere. Seeing that the camera I ordered hasn't been sent yet, I figured I'd call and cancel the camera. Nope. I called and was informed that I could not cancel the order for the camera! Not only that but my credit card has already been charged and there is nothing I can do about it. When the camera is sent to them, it will be sent to me whether I want it or not.

I can then call about an RA, pay for the shipping to me, pay for the shipping back to them and when they recieve it my card will be credited less shipping and a restocking fee.

I really don't like this. Am I being unresonable?

[Budfred]

Hey what would I know, I'm an unreasonable kind of guy. I am the kind of guy that expects companies to make the effort to keep me as a customer. I expect a company that has just gotten a few hundred dollars worth of business from me to want me to come back. I expect the company to realize that if you treat me well I may tell a few people (newegg and KDC), but if you treat me badly, I will tell as many as will listen (SVCompucycle and Antec). I am also the kind of person who might go through the hassle of contesting the charge with my credit card company rather than put up with the hassle of dealing with a bad company. I am also the kind of person that really, really hates it when someone charges my credit card for an item that they don't have and don't know when they are going to get it. And I am even the kind of person that would go to:

http://www.resellerratings.com/

and enter a really negative review on a company that treated me this way.

Budfred

Oh, one other thing, I am really unreasonable about companies that violate their own published policies in an effort to screw me:

http://www.accessmicro.com/Doc/cancellation.php3

Budfred again

Ok, just one more thing:

http://www.resellerratings.com/seller2087.html

Budfred yet again

[Steve]

Thanks Budfred,

I guess I'm as unreasonable as you. I see that you found their cancellation page. Funny thing is, I tried to cancel the camera about 30 min. after I ordered it and was told NO. So OK. I'm an easy going kind of guy.

Then after I got the rest of the order and no camera I called again today to see what happened to the camera. The rest is related in the first post.

I'll be talking to one of the managers on Monday, none are available today. At least they have an 800 tel. number.

After this run around I doubt I'll ever do buisness with this company again. It's to bad.

[Budfred]

Steve,

Did you check out my last link? They are not very highly rated on ResellersRatings, so it may be a good idea to avoid them...

Budfred

[Steve]

Budfred,

Yup. I wish I had seen that link earlier. My own fault for not doing my homework.

Accessmicro is certainly worth AVOIDING! :mad:

[YODA74]

Steve did you try calling your credit card CO. usuall if it is a legitimat grip they will recall payment from the Company?

[Steve]

Yoda,

Yup. I got in touch. They have assured me of satisfaction. It's just gonna take some time. I have to go through the call, complaint routine on Monday. It'll be interesting to see what the Access Micro manager wil have to say and what he/she will do for me.

Once again I could have been a little more on the ball. Sat. isn't the best time for this kind of stuff. :rolleyes:

[hiredgoonz]

Yoda's right...you can generally cancel payment within 60 days if you used a credit card. You might have to fill out some paperwork, but when it gets right down to it, it puts the company in a tough position.

They can either cancel your order or send you the camera for free and then try to sue you for the money. That will cost them far more than what you paid for the camera, let alone their profit from the sale of the camera.

And you're not the only one to have trouble with them...ordered an "Antec" case w/a 250W PSU from them, got it and it was a POS "Artec" case w/a 235W PSU. Ordered a 1Ghz SLOT A Athlon CPU, got a 1Ghz Socket A CPU.

Now I don't buy anything from them...

[jabarnutcase]

Hi Steve-
How ever this works out...And I certainly hope it's for the best, one thing I would suggest is to send a letter of complaint to the President/CEO of the company.
Having worked for a rather large company myself at one time, I can tell you that once something is in writing it really needs to be addressed.

People would call and complain to CSR's or their supervisors till they were blue in the face, but believe me, once a letter of complaint ended up on the head honchos desk, he wanted it adressed ASAP!

I know the game...You put something in writing, it's truly documented. Who knows how many other copies are around? Perhaps your laywer has one? The local newspaper? :D

You would be amazed how often I have recieved refunds, along with letters of apologies and some free stuff to boot...Simply by putting it in writing!
Even if on those rare occasions your complaint is unsucessful, it helps you to get it all off your chest.
Have a good experience, you tell a few people...Have a bad experience, and you tell everyone you know!!
And any company with even a minimal amount of customer service training realizes that too! ;)
Give it a try- Sometimes it's a lot of fun! :D
Good luck!

[Steve]

The creditcard folks said that since I authorized the charge that I have to go through with the call on Monday. If I'm not satisfied with the results they will take over. It's just a matter of time. ;)

It seems this company has gotten a real bad reputation recently, listing a lot of products as in stock when in fact they have no idea when they will arrive. Uncooperative return and cancellation policy.

I have a few hundred dollars tied up in this camera that I don't have and don't really want. I hope this is over soon. I need that money to get the camera that I really want. My daughter is applying to art colleges and I need a camera to take pictures for a portfolio to put on cd. Funny how it's all done digitally nowadays...

[BigBlue66]

I used to order tons of stuff from AccessMicro. This was over the course of the last year and a half or so.

Well, a few months ago I ordered an MSI KT3 Ultra board. When I received the board, I noticed that the quick start guide was missing, you know, the little bound book that tells you at a glance the various things you need to know to set it up. (MSI guides are usually done up in glossy red and look really :cool: )

So I called them and Steve, whoever he is, assured me that they would send one out. He had me fax him a copy of my packing slip and I was supposed to write on the slip what I was missing. So I did that.

Then I waited. And waited. Finally I called back and got the same dumb ass. Long story short, he had lost the paperwork I had faxed to him. He then told me that his supervisor would have to approve the request. He put me on hold and then came back on and said his supervisor approved the request and that they would ship it out immediately, and oh by the way, could you fax all that paperwork that you faxed before?

So I did. To this day I still haven't received that quick start guide. Of course, I have since went to MSI's site and downloaded the manual. But it's the principle of the thing, right?

Needless to say, I haven't ordered from them since.

[jabarnutcase]

Hi again guys-
Whenever I hear stories like this I can't help but get excited. (Not because you had a bad experience, but because it makes me want to sit down a write another letter)
I know, you're saying "geesh, not that pain in the neck nutcase again".

So, allow me to share a couple of examples! :D

My wife had a horrendous experience on an airline one time. Without going into too many details, I'll tell you that it ended with them assuring me that, this time, she was definately on the flight and it was on time from California.

Away I drove to Boston, (for the second time that night), only to find the flight went to Washington and they "put her up in a hotel for the night"- That "she would be on the first flight to Boston in the morning".
Well, I'm generally a very polite kind of guy, but that night, people fleed from the ticket counter when they heard me yelling.

After several futile e-mails and phone calls to customer service, I finally called the company headquarters in Chicago. I didn't complain, but simply asked for the mailing address of the president of the airline.
The lady, while curious, was also very nice and we chated a bit. She gave me an address and I sent a letter explaining, among other things, that I would encourage everyone I know never to fly their airline.
Well, guess what? A short time later, I received a phone call from a rather important person telling me that they would be mailing me five free tickets to San Fransisco. Yes, that's right- Not one, but five!
My family and I had a wonderful time visiting family a couple months later.

Example #2: (Promise- I'll make it shorter, then I'll shut up). :rolleyes:
I sent a watch to a company to be repaired. Soon, I received a credit card charge in the amount of approx. twice what the watch cost when it was new.
Phone calls? E-mails? Nothing....
A letter to the president of the company explaining that my next watch would be a "Timex" and that I knew a lot of people and they would never buy a watch from them either?
You guessed it.
A credit on my card, a letter of apology, my original watch (repaired), another even nicer model, and two free watch bands!!!
I have since turned this into an art. I don't go out of my way to look for trouble, but when a company causes me grief, I am relentless.
(I knew that customer training I had would pay off some day!;) )

To conclude.....Whenever you can, put it in writing :D

Man, I don't believe I just wrote this. And what the hell am I doing up at 6:00 on a Sunday morning? :confused: :rolleyes:

[Steve]

Six telephone calls later...

Accessmicro sucks. What a bunch of uncooperative idiots! Even though that stinkin' camera isn't even in their possession yet, they REFUSE to cancel the order and credit my card.

I'm so mad I could rip someones head off. :mad:

The camera will be sent, whether I want it or not, if and when they get it. I will PAY for the shipping of the camera that I DO NOT WANT and PAY to ship it back. :mad:

My credit card assures me that I will be credited for the full amount within 30 days. That's nice. 30 days to get back my money on a product I don't have and don't want.

'nutcase, the letters will go out as soon as I can compose something without vulgarity.

Peace and love... peace and love......I guess I need to calm down and practice what I preach...

[Budfred]

Major idiocy over there....:mad:

What did they say about their web page that says they will cancel products that haven't been shipped???

Budfred:rolleyes:

[Steve]

They said "we can't do that because the order is already being processed". That's what they told me the night I made the order. It seems that as soon as you put in an order, "it is being processed" and you're stuck with it. I tried canceling 30 MINS after I placed the order and was told that it was already in the works and couldn't be canceled.

This was Oct. 30 by the way! That was almost two stinkin' weeks ago and they don't even have the camera yet! It's been on back order! But because the order "is being processed" I'm stuck with it.

That's Accessmicro in case anyone wants to order anything from them...:mad:

[Budfred]

According to their policy, they can and will cancel orders until "Orders are assigned with a tracking # and packaged." The order obviously has not been packaged since they don't even have it. The make a point of being Bizrate certified, I would contact Bizrate and let them know what is going on.
http://www.bizrate.com/merchant/reports/index.xpml?mid=21343

If nothing else, you can leave a scathing review.:)

In addition to writing a letter to the prez of the company, you may want to send copies to anyone else that may be able to hold them accountable for their stated policies, like the Dept. of Commerce.

Budfred

[Steve]

I apologize. I think maybe I AM getting unreasonable. Sometimes these things happen. :o

The thing is...my daughter asked me to get a digital portfolio done for her to send with her college applications. After pricing it locally it seemed to me that I could BUY a camera for the prices I was getting to have a portfolio done and we could do it ourselves.

I'm a man of moderate means. I worked a couple of weekends to get the money, while my daughter patiently waited. Now I don't have the money or the camera. Everything is on hold. Time is a wasting and she really does need to get the apps. in.

But hey...these things happen. I doubt that I'll ever do buisness with this company again but maybe they will get their sh*t together and improve their customer service. Good luck to them.

Well, maybe I can get some more side work this weekend.

Peace and love, good will to all involved....:)

PS: And yes, now that I have calmed down, a letter will be sent expressing my disappointment with their company.

[JUAN DOS]

I have purchased from Accessmicro without problems. Lucky me!
Might not be much consolation, but I just emailed Accessmicro referencing this post.
In short I told them to keep their resumes up to date because they will need them.

[Budfred]

I just remembered that PCWorld has a consumer advocate service which will take on companies like this. They are at www.pcworld.com and maybe a little publicity would be good for your friends at AccessMicro.

Budfred

[Steve]

Thanks JD, I appreciate the support. From you, Budfred, JNC and everyone else. :)

It seems that alot of people have had problems with this company. But as I read through the reviews I see that some people have had good results. I have berated these folks for all the world to see. I think it's time I offered some encouragement to them.

I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and pressume that they are trying the best they can. I think I have pointed out a major flaw in their customer service program and I hope they take this opportunity to fix their policy. Very few of us gets it right the first time around. It takes time for all the problems to come to light and solutions found. Perfecting a business is an ongoing proccess. Good luck to them.

Whether they do or not, I'll get done what I need to get done.

Peace and love...:)

[Sylvander]

I think if you write to your favourite PC magazine you may well find the matter is magically resolved to your satisfaction.

Probably with the company supplying your preferred camera of choice for free.

It's amazing what they will do to avoid bad publicity.

[Budfred]

I do not want to shatter your peace, but even crooks occasionally give people a good deal and some people are happy no matter how badly they are treated. The truth is that these people made a promise and are now violating that promise. You can let that go if you want, but it remains true....

If you need to let it go for your own peace of mind, just ignore that last paragraph.:)

Budfred

[Steve]

Hey, I know what you mean. Just picture this...

When I got home home from work today, I thought I'd call and see how everyone was. Well, the camera is in. The contact person read through the record they are now keeping on me and tried to be helpful. He found the camera that I don't want and promised that he would make sure that it was packaged as soon as possible. Because I have been so unhappy, he is going to get intouch with UPS and make sure that they pick up the camera that I don't want and get it to me as soon as possible. If I call back tonight at 6:30 EST he will have the tracking # for me. When I recieve the camera, I can then send it back and they will happily refund my money. Of course I will be charged for the shipping and handleing each way.

I'm numb. I feel like I'm in the twilight zone....

[jabarnutcase]

Hmmmm-Wonder if JUAN DOS's reference to this post had anything to do with it? :D

As SYLVANDER, (and I) mentioned, if it's one thing a company hates it's bad publicity!
Anyway, glad it looks like things will work out. ( I hope)
;)

[Budfred]

To answer your original question again, I think I am much more unreasonable than you...I would be all over them about this. The supreme audacity of sending the camera to you so you can ship it back, it is so offensive. And in violation of their policy. And with a hefty profit on S&H I bet. It is so expensive to handle it...

How much you want to bet they charge you a restocking fee too?

Budfred

[Steve]

Anyway, glad it looks like things will work out.

I really must be in the twight zone.

When I talked with them today I asked where the camera was. It's in shipping and recieving. After it's sent to me and I send it back, where will it be? In shipping and recieving. Can't you just keep it there and refund my money? Nope. The order is already being processed.

http://www.jamezbrown.com/mysmilies/cwm/cwm/uhoh3.gif

[jabarnutcase]

Woops! :o
After reading your post again Steve, I see it isn't exactly "working out"

I agree with Budfred...That sure is a crazy way of resolving things. :confused:

Back to the letter and bad publicity I guess! :p

(Edit) Darn...You snuck that in there with my quote just before I tried to redeem myself. HeHe...Good luck. Crazy indeed!

[Steve]

Oh yes. I'm certainly expecting the restocking fee. It's already been mentioned.

[Steve]

Heh heh... ya gotta be quick around here....:D

[deddard]

Put everything in writing.
Write to the CEO.
Write to ANY organizations that this company belongs to.
Go to as many online- seller review sites and give them the appropriate rating.
When you write to them, make sure you pay a little extra so they have to sign for the envelope- no way they can say they didn't receive it.

Companies like this annoy me like hell - they think that because they are remote, they don't have to abide by the normal rules and etiquette of business.
Solution - make sure they don't get any business. This name is going on my 'don't even bother looking for the website' list!:D

[Steve]

Hi folks,

When I saw deddard's post tonight (and I agree with you 100%) it reminded me that the camera is still somewhere other than here, and my money is somewhere other than in my pocket. So I had to think, "SELF!" "Is it worth it to call these people, yet again, and try to figure out what is going on?" Well, a couple of beers later and I'm on the phone.

The camera has magically been diverted, while in transit. My card has already been refunded. Goodbye. Click.

I wanted to ask if they were sure but the conversation was over. Oh well. I called my credit card company and the young lady said all was well.

I can't help but think, that this thread, and some e-mails that were sent to the company in question (and forwarded to me) had alot to do with this.

Thanks folks. I really appreciate it...:)

[JUAN DOS]

Steve,
CONGRATS!

To all:
Here is how a reliable company handles problems!

I ordered from NewEgg three identical 350w power supplies, in addition to a few other items.
When they arrived a week ago, the 3 power supplies were incorrect. They were not P4 ready.

Now I am a little perturbed, because two weeks previous, I had to RMA a DOA UPS (ain’t acronyms fun?).
The return shipping is a pain, and NewEgg policy is $10 max return shipping and the real cost was $22. So at best I’m out $12. But to get the $10 bucks you have to FAX a copy of the shipping invoice. No time to screw with it so I’m $22 bucks down. Oh well.

So I phoned Customer service using their 800 #. I am connected in a couple of minutes to a fella name Louis, who is very understanding of why I am miffed. He says that newegg made the mistake, and will cover full return shipping costs, and also reimburse me for the other $22. No FAX needed.
He credited my Mastercard while we spoke.
I then ask him "what assurance do I have that the next 3 PS will be shipped correctly?", and he said “good point, I’ll personally check with the warehouse manager, to see if maybe they are incorrectly stocked / coded.

Today I received the correct power supplys.

NewEgg (and Louis) properly treat their customers.

BTW, I am not a big customer with them, as have spent less than a grand there in the last year.

[Budfred]

Steve,

Congratulations!!

It does my heart good to see an unreasonable person get what they are reasonably due.

Budfred:) :)