Mid May of this year, I fell into a trap. DeadlyDeal.com offered a mystery box guaranteed to satisfy. I thought I couldn't go wrong with a $46 dollar purchase (with supposed free shipping), after all, my dealings with Woot.com had all been more than satisfactory so far. After a long wait, I received my mystery box with only the invoice inside identifying it from deadlydeal in June (2nd to be exact), which contained an already opened Mr. Clean AutoDry Car Wash starter kit (retail $30 from Amazon at the time). I'm perfectly happy to wash my car with a hose, bucket and sponge, and so attempted to arrange an RMA for the product I was not happy with. I received no reply from their RMA team, nor their listed support email that I tried several times to reach through June. Finally in July I got a response when I tried posting on their message board. They issued me an RMA number and instructions to return the product.
Recently, against my better judgment I went back to DeadlyDeal.com when I noticed an item for sale I had been watching for (a credit card lock pick set). I felt a bit more comfortable in knowing exactly what it was I was ordering, even given their long shipping time in the past. However, it seems they don't want my business. Not only have I still not received the refund for the RMA I returned 2 months ago, (order # 8561), but I also have not received my latest order (# 10520) which supposedly shipped 8/27/09. All but one of my contacts to the company have been ignored, and have yet to actually resolve anything.
I used paypal for my first transaction. Since it was more than 40 days past the original purchase, they refuse to take any action. Do I need to issue a chargeback on my second order before I get stuck in the same situation?
Yes. Get the hell away from DeadlyDeal and stop doing business with them, Brandon! You can buy cheap, probably foreign-made crap at a dozen other websites any day of the week. DeadlyDeal does not need—or apparently want—your business. If they did, would they have sent you a previously opened, $30 car wash kit in your $46 mystery box in the first place?
]]>Which, of course, had been sitting in a dusty crate with thousands of other tarnished keys from vehicles 20-50 years old, and the Porsche to which they once belonged has long since been through the salvage yard. Its former steel frame now enjoying its reincarnation as part of a a light stanchion somewhere along a highway in Budapest.
]]>Is this person allowed to vote or reproduce?
OP, please go play with the stove for a third time and tell us all about it, Okaaay?
]]>@stryper2000: Same here. And same for everyone else. At least it was only $5.
]]>AFAIK, Woot makes no such guarantee on their bags of crap. Therefore, it's not relevant when people complain about the crap that they get in their bags of crap.
]]>I've never been to woot.com, but I was just reading their "about" page and they're not very nice (or, they're just very dry and not funny) people.
[woot.com]
@Cupajo: I agree.
]]>Depends on so many things. Perhaps DeadlyDeal is slow to the US?
I know it takes DX, on average, 1 month to ship my stuff. The longest I waited is 3 months (still waiting) and the shortest was 2 weeks.
I would love for DX to start selling kits for the raw parts of certain modification items that they can't sell complete. If you have the skills to install them, you probably have the skills to assemble them and program them. :)
]]>@Révolution: It may depend on the shipping method (surface vs air) and the contents, which have to be declared for international transit.
]]>After some bad experiences years ago with some web retailers (which are no longer around), I learned a simple rule. If this is the first time ordering from a website, look for their contact info before you order. Click "about us", "contact us", etc. and there should be something about the company including a physical address and their phone number (real addresses and phone numbers are preferable to PO boxes and toll-free numbers). These are indicators that you can contact them in other ways besides e-mail. And no, it doesn't guarantee they are legitimate but it is a start.
If you've never heard of them before, they list no contact info (other than e-mail) and the deal seems too good to be true, walk away. Even in the point-and-click age, "caveat emptor" still applies.
]]>Second, I'm not familiar with this site, but with woot purchases can frequently take more than just a week or two to arrive. Smartpost, the crappiest shipping there is! It can take a bit. Have a bit of patience.
]]>Rules of DX:
1. Don't buy the flash memory
2. If it's backordered, put it in a separate order (shipping is still free)
3. Break up larger orders
Also, doing business again with a company you have decided you didn't like is just asking for trouble.
]]>Or maybe a boat!
]]>@1saleaday.comFan: I substitute your reality for my own! ;-)
]]>"There's a sucker born every minute"
- P.T. Barnum
]]>Because of the vaguely similar business model?
]]>I've used DeadlyDeals a couple of times in the past. They ship most of their merchandise directly from Hong Kong or China, I can't remember which, off hand. It takes about a month to get state side depending on the item. I ordered that lockpick set some time last year and I also recall it taking a very long time. Same with a USB hub/memory card reader combo from the same site.
I have received everything I've ordered, but it's never been quick.
]]>you're an idiot twice over and deserve to be hussled. only a fool lets people piss on their leg and tell them it's rain.
]]>Let me guess, the "sad face" was your reflection in the iPod's screen?
]]>"Oooh, you! One of these days I am going to get into you, locked storage shed, and I'll finally get to watch those Punky Brewster reruns!"
]]>Not in a million years would I pay $46 for a "mystery box" from an unknown website, though.
]]>Thats like saying you expect the same level of customer service from BestBuy as you do Newegg.com.
]]>A credit card Lock Pick?????
Why would anyone be watching for that?
Only $14.99 for a two-record set. Two records! Oh, Zoidberg, at last you're becoming a crafty consumer! Hello? I'll take eight!
]]>This Mystery Box purchase sounds like a great idea. Maybe it will be filled with gold and jewels!
]]>But random electronics or gadgets? Nah. That's more like gambling than shopping to me.
]]>I can vouch for internetsatisfaction.com that for a small up front fee will get you a refund.
]]>@changed my name: First I've heard of this. People pay for a "box" that may, or may not have something useful or valuable in it?
]]>goddammit Bush, get back in your playhouse!
]]>I've got all kinds of old junk laying around my house, and this has given me a great idea on how to get someone else to pay to help get rid of it. Thanks, Consumerist! ;-)
]]>@Mr_Human: I'm confused, So you're saying it's your fault that Brandon got screwed?
]]>PayPal ruled in the sellers favor, since they marked the $100 item "as is" - they didn't bother with the whole false description thing.
Long story short, I did a chargeback, and they immediately froze my PP account..and the $500ish in it.. for 180 days! In the end, they let me have my money - minus the $100s and a $45 charge back fee - back.
]]>I bought three of the car wash starter kits (for gifts) from Woot in early July for $2.99 ea, plus the usual $5 shipping charge. All new and unopened, of course.
He really did get taken.
]]>"[...]I've posted on consumerist before."
You are just a sleeper agent sent in to simply build credibility and an alibi and just wait till something like this pops up to further your agenda.
]]>Is there really any use is trying to help anyone this stupid? Let darwinism run its course.
]]>@MostlyHarmless: Fool me - you can't get fooled again!
]]>"I thought I couldn't go wrong with a $46 dollar purchase (with supposed free shipping), after all, my dealings with Woot.com had all been more than satisfactory so far."
Being satisfied with woot and assuming it meant all other daily deal sites are the same is a pretty amazing jump. I'm almost shocked people could make a connection like that.
Lets review. Woot's BoC $8 shipped, three items. This is not only from another company, but is nearly 6 times the cost.
]]>Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice -- you cant fool me.
]]>