I knew the exact product I wanted -- a Sony KDL-32XBR6 LCD TV, so at this point I was buying just based on price. I first checked a couple of sites, and then used pricegrabber.com to help find the lowest price. Direct Buy Electronics had the lowest price.
Direct Buy Electronics, Inc. has been registered as a California Corporation since 03/13/2008, they've been a pricegrabber.com merchant since 09/18/2008, and they've been selling on ebay.com for a while. They even have an ebay seller's page, replete with spelling and grammar errors. Here's a capture of a piece of that page from today:
I'm always wary of storefronts hiding behind yahoo and ebay and pricegrabber, and I should have followed my own advice to do a little research first -- but I didn't. If I had, I would have found this blog which would have been the only red flag I needed to stay away. The poor customer service and the intimidation outlined in that blog would have served as warnings to me.
I ordered the TV from Direct Buy Electronics via pricegrabber.com and paid with paypal. That was at 11:12 a.m. There was very little information provided during the order process, such as when and how the product would be shipped. And I was interested in that.
So at 11:53:01 I called the seller at the number listed in their pricegrabber seller information (310 709 8887). I got their voice mail. I left a message stating that I had placed an order, requested a call back, and left my name and number.
Four hours passed and I had not heard from the seller so I thought I'd call again.
At 15:10:37 I called again; the call went straight to voice mail.
At 15:11:17 I called again; the call connected but it was just dead air.
At 15:11:39 I called again; the call went straight to voice mail.
At 15:12:14 I called again; someone finally answered, but only to very rudely scream that "we don't answer blocked calls" and hang up. No "hello"; no "please unblock your number and call back"; no "goodbye". Just very loudly that "we don't answer blocked calls" and hang up. That's professional?
No-where in any of the information I read did the seller indicate they did not answer blocked calls. That would have been nice to know out of the gate. (And doesn't answering a blocked call just to tell you that they don't answer blocked calls sort of contradict their blocked-calls rule? I'm just sayin'.)
So I unblocked my number and tried again.
At 15:12:49 I called again; the call went straight to voice mail.
At 15:13:07 I called again. I finally spoke with someone. Gerald. That conversation lasted almost 12 minutes and was primarily him hollering and screaming. I told him that I had placed an order and wanted to know how and when the product would be shipped. Literally the first words out of Gerald's mouth were "do you want a refund"? I told him that I had simply called in to find out how to obtain status information. But guess what? After being rudely hung up on after being told that "we don't answer blocked calls", and then being *immediately* asked if I wanted a refund, you bet I wanted a refund. I gave him my name, transaction id, and payment method, and it still took him several minutes to even find my transaction. He was rude, obnoxious, and unprofessional and I told him he was a pathetic little man. He told me that if I wrote a negative review that I would be "blocked forever" (not-so-faint echoes of the other blog).
I did write the review. It was basically a 500-character summary of what you're reading here.
At 16:43:50 my phone rang but I was nowhere near it. Caller-ID says the call was from 310 709 8897 (Direct Buy Electronics). There was no voice message.
At 16:51:38 my phone rang but I was nowhere near it. Caller-ID says the call was from 310 709 8897 (Direct Buy Electronics). There was no voice message.
At 16:52:02 my phone rang and I answered it. Caller-ID says the call was from 510 798 3166. It was Gerald from Direct Buy Electronics. He was calling to tell me that pricegrabber had removed the review and that my account had been blocked forever. He was quite irate, and hollering. Now he was claiming that earlier I had called him a n******. I guess that because he has no customer service skills he is reduced to introducing race into the equation. Rather self-serving. That's professional? I hung up after about a minute.
At 16:53:49 my phone rang and I answered it. Caller-ID says the call was from 510 798 3166. I did not say anything. Gerald just started hollering. Then another phone rang in the background on his end and he hung up on me. That call lasted just twenty seconds or so.
The timestamps listed were taken from the log on my phone; they can be corroborated via a portion of the call detail from cell provider:
Gerald did whatever he did to have my negative review removed. pricegrabber sent me a message stating that the review had been removed and that my account had been placed on hold. I wrote pricegrabber, telling them everything that you're reading here. They responded, stating that my account had been taken off hold and that the review had been removed because the transaction never actually completed (i.e., the payment had been refunded before the product had been shipped). I suppose that's why Gerald wants to know right up front if you want a refund or not, so he can remove your ability to rate his service.
Have a look at his pricegrabber reviews. He did not have any negative reviews in the first 3 months. 100% of the 24 negative reviews he has received have been written in the last 3 months. As time goes by, Direct Buy Electronics will be a seller with no buyers.
Their ebay page states that they "[...] are about projecting a professional image." "If we dont't have it, is beucase you don't want it!" [sic], berating your customers and screaming at them, harassing them, and falsely accusing them of racist remarks are not the sign of a professional image, Direct Buy Electronics. Google "310 709 8887" and you'll find out even more.
Customer service is dead; Direct Buy Electronics is a prime example of that.
Run, don't walk, from this merchant. In the end you'll be better for it.
