I'm on the fence about this one:
Ordered a bandit deal after reading and clicking thru a 100 links and twisted pages on this wacko site.
Nowhere did I find any disclaimer or rules about anything to do with the bandit deals except: "Contractors and Dealers are Excluded from Midnight Bandit Offers"
Well I'm not a contractor or a dealer so I clicked the deals that said "These go great together".
"Holy DOUBLE-DEAL Batman! Bandit Strikes TWICE with Automation Heist!"
6 for 1 slimline designer switches $24.99
and
"Double Bandit - These two kits go great together"
RCA ActiveHome Kit $10
and since it was approx 6$ for shipping I thought I'll just add a Infrared Mini-Controller for $22.something to push it over $50 so shipping would be free. I was like wow that was cool! - I might actually reccomend some of this to my friends. I got my order confirmation via e-mail and waited. The box comes in a timely fashion and I open the box and the ActiveHome kit is missing. Both from the box and the packing slip. Arrrooo?
I double checked my order confirmation - yep all three items are on there and the total is 57.85.
Check my MasterCard and yep they charged 57.85 - again Arroooo?
So I web form a order support request in the next day. Get an automated e-mail reply letting me know that:
"Order issues are handled with the highest priority, and
we look forward to being able to assist you."
I go Cool! Thanks and patiently wait...................................................................................
Notice all the dots? a few days later I e-mail a 2nd order support request in.
Patiently wait...................................................................................
Nothing. So I thought maybe they are working on it and a box will showup because their customer service seems so good.
a few days later...Nothing...Then an e-mail titled "Important message about your recent order"
I thought cool they are letting me know the status...but wait...instead it is more advertising. Something about X10 bucks and them giving away more stuff for free. I don't care about X10 bucks, I want what I ordered.
Then 3 days later a message about their servers being down....Ok I'll cut them some slack....
Nope again more advertising - giving away more stuff for free.
Ok time to call and talk to a warm body.
I call a few days later and hear "Wait time may be 40 minutes" - huhhhhhhh?
Ok...I hang up and wait till have have that much time to worry about my missing $10 item.
So I call...hear the 40 minute possible wait message again and listen to the wonderful musac.
10 minutes later and lovely lady comes on the phone - Wow that wasn't 40 minutes - I thought this was goin great.
As polite as she was (I could tell she had been thru the ringer today but was still very polite and not snapping as my voice/tone and frustration escalated) she didn't tell me what I wanted to hear.
...Exchanged pleasantries and order number...
Me: "I seem to be missing part of my order"
Nice Lady: "Ok let me take a look... ohh I see what happened...You are only allowed one bandit deal"
Me: "huh...I didn't see that anywhere"
Nice Lady: "Well that is our policy"
Me: getting not happy "That stinks...Then how come my order confirmation shows what I ordered?"
Nice Lady: "Well the warehouse would just remove the second item"
Me: already not happy and tone becoming more stern "And not tell me?"
Nice Lady: "Yep"
Me: "So the deal in your deals are not really deals?"
Nice Lady: "Well that is our policy"
Me: steamed now - too mad to think logically and ask 'Where is this pollicy?' and 'Why did they charge the whole amount?'
"That stinks, I hope they didn't charge me for it." I didn't know the exact $s at that point...I was at work - just that it was around $50.
Nice Lady: "Let me look up the items...6 for 1 switches, IR mini controller and shipping"
Me: "huh - shipping? The only reason I ordered the IR controller was to push the order over $50 and get free shipping"
Nice Lady: "Well that is our policy."
Me: "That stinks!! - there is nothing you can do for me? - your unauthorized adjustment to my order lowered it to $47.85"
Nice Lady: "nope"
...I semi-politely (she was nice) ended the call before I started throwing nasty words around. They came out after I hung up.
Pfffft. This is not how that was supposta go.
Problem #1: No policy I could find with any kind of details on Bandit deals/6 for 1s/etc...
Problem #2: Changed my order without authorization (a big no no, if you want to keep your customers coming back)
Problem #3: Didn't personally respond EVER to my web form support request or my e-mail support request.
Problem #4: You give away X10 bucks, free stuff all over the place, free shipping, etc. but you won't give your NiceLady customer service reps the authority to give a pissed off customer $2.15 to keep them happy. What the heck kind of company do you run?
Ok now that I typed all this I am no longer on the fence. This isn't right! You cannot adjust my order without telling me. I would have probably gladly paid the extra $10 (normal price for ActiveHome) had they called or e-mailed me and let me know about your unpublished policy. I might have been miffed, but I would have been ok and a continuing customer had they initiated conact about the issue. Plus I would would now have what I need and been using your wonderful products. Now it what I have is just sitting in a box - not usable.
The reason I WAS on the fence is cause these are really good deals (actually don't know how X10 can do this and make any money - but that isn't my problem). What pushed me over the fence is that they changed my order without notifying me. My invoice says I got the double deal, my order confirmation says I got the double deal, your e-mail stated it was a "DoubleDeal", etc....
I am not a happy customer! And probably not a future one.
PS. All this equipment was going into my HomeTheater where my many of my friends will be coming over to watch 100s of movies.
They sit down, Lights dim, screen comes down, movie starts - I hear "Cool! How did you do that?" I won't be telling them X10 did that!
