var json_comments = new Array("
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Mr_Human
September 15, 2009 5:17 PM
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Screw me once, shame on you; screw me twice, shame on me.

Reply
6 replies
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humphrmi
September 15, 2009 5:39 PM
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@Mr_Human: I'm confused, So you're saying it's your fault that Brandon got screwed?

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Cupajo
September 15, 2009 7:37 PM
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@humphrmi: I'll say it. I think it's his fault. Maybe not the first time, but definitely the second. If your first experience was so god-awful, why on earth would you ever do business with them again? Sorry, that's just basic.

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Mr_Human
September 15, 2009 5:56 PM
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@humphrmi: Of course not -- it's a play on an old saying.

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MostlyHarmless
September 15, 2009 5:19 PM
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@Mr_Human:

Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice -- you cant fool me.

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Parapraxis
September 15, 2009 5:46 PM
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@MostlyHarmless:

goddammit Bush, get back in your playhouse!

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squinko
September 15, 2009 5:20 PM
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While I feel for the OP in the first instance, he should've known better than to do business with them a second time (even though a credit card lock pick kit sounds sweet as hell). Hopefully he'll be able to get a refund on both items at some point.

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2 replies
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GitEmSteveDave_AteABadCerealBar
September 15, 2009 6:48 PM
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@squinko: You can make your own from the metal in windshield wiper blades, and use a free Black&Milds cigar case to store them in. Or so I have heard.

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squinko
September 15, 2009 7:25 PM
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@GitEmSteveDave_AteABadCerealBar: Are you sure you want the lab coat just to look cool, and not to hide an assortment of thieves' tools?

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GitEmSteveDave_AteABadCerealBar
September 15, 2009 9:12 PM
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@squinko: Yes I am. I never carry my \"tools\" around with me anyway. I keep them safely locked up. Of course, then I lose the key....

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squinko
September 16, 2009 12:07 PM
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@GitEmSteveDave_HasANewiPodTouch: If you had bought the credit card lock pick set, you wouldn't have to worry about losing keys.

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Changed my name to \"I like potatoes\"
September 15, 2009 5:22 PM
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I've always wondered about the whole \"mystery box\" thing. I'm just too practical, I guess. When I pay for something, I want to know what I'm getting.

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6 replies
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katsuyakaiba
September 15, 2009 10:52 PM
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@changed my name:
A boat's a boat, but the mystery box could be anything. It could even be a boat! You know how much we wanted one of those!

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korybing
September 15, 2009 7:12 PM
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@changed my name: I've seen a few catalogs offer this too. Archie McFee has both a small and a large grab bag of random crap, but there's not a lot of chance of disappointment since it's filled with bizarre Archie McFee chotchkies.

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kaceetheconsumer
September 15, 2009 5:50 PM
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@changed my name: I can see it for things like craft supplies, so maybe you get a box of random beads and then have to use your artistic brain to do something cool with it. I even get it for food because I know people who love the challenge of coming up with new meals/recipes based on a seasonal box of produce each week (I'm too fussy an eater for that myself).

But random electronics or gadgets? Nah. That's more like gambling than shopping to me.

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HiPwr
September 15, 2009 5:47 PM
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@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?

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selianth
September 15, 2009 6:16 PM
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@HiPwr: It makes more sense on Woot. You pay $3 for the \"bag of crap\" (and $5 shipping so $8 altogether) and usually get far more than $8 worth of stuff. And they have been known to send people large screen TV's in their \"bags of crap.\" So there's much less risk and more potential gain.

Not in a million years would I pay $46 for a \"mystery box\" from an unknown website, though.

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K-Bo
September 15, 2009 5:58 PM
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@HiPwr: Usually there is a guarantee of MSRP, but that's not so helpful if it ends up being something of no value to you, unless you are willing to risk having to sell it.

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post_break
September 15, 2009 5:24 PM
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I can vouch for 1saleaday.com which is a woot like website. I've ordered a few things from them. Got my unlocked dumb phone in a few days. And no I'm not paid by them, I've posted on consumerist before. As for deadly deal I'll have to stay away from them.

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3 replies
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MostlyHarmless
September 15, 2009 5:36 PM
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@post_break:

\"[...]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.

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post_break
September 15, 2009 7:37 PM
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@MostlyHarmless: If only my life was so secretive and exciting.

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MostlyHarmless
September 15, 2009 7:41 PM
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@post_break: Actually that sounds like a pretty lame job. Though I dont mind getting paid for commenting :P

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Follower46
September 15, 2009 6:39 PM
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@MostlyHarmless: lol, so true.

@1saleaday.comFan: I substitute your reality for my own! ;-)

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doctordan
September 15, 2009 5:25 PM
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Hate to throw salt on the wounds, but I picked up 3 of those Mr.Clean car wash thingies clearanced out at $4.98 at Big Lots 2 months ago.

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3 replies
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EtherealFlame
September 16, 2009 1:55 AM
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@doctordan: MMMMMMMMMM Big Lots. I loved the one we had in california. The one we have here, eh..not so much. I remember when Big Lots was \"pic'n save\" then \"McFrugals\" now Big Lots. What next? McBig Pic'n?

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Stubtify
September 15, 2009 5:26 PM
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I don't even see where his logic comes from,

\"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.

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2 replies
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Trai_Dep
September 15, 2009 6:54 PM
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@Stubtify: \"I thought I couldn't go wrong. After all, Abraham Lincoln was a more than satisfying President. And that other guy: I so would have a beer with him!\"

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RedwoodFlyer
September 15, 2009 5:33 PM
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@Stubtify: Wtf are you talking about? I'm really, really happy with my car from BMW. According to your \"theory,\" my assertion that, based on my dealings with BMW, the Fiat ownership experience will be perfect is invalid.

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willdude
September 15, 2009 5:32 PM
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Hah! \"...And then I got an email from a Nigerian prince, asking me to help him out in exchange for some trust-fund money. So I thought, hey, I like music by Prince, and I've put my money in banks before, so maybe I should trust this guy too!\"

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2 replies
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JulesNoctambule
September 16, 2009 1:56 AM
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@willdude: This is even funnier to me because today at the post office, the clerk was dissuading a young man from trying to express mail a package to Nigeria. She spent some time explaining the scam, and when he expressed disbelief that a Paypal email could be faked I stepped in and backed her up. The young man seemed astonished, but he believed us and told me he'd go home and read up on the subject like I suggested. Couldn't believe it!

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Red
September 15, 2009 5:33 PM
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Is there really any use is trying to help anyone this stupid? Let darwinism run its course.

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1 replies
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Scrutinizer
September 15, 2009 5:49 PM
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@Red: Help? I thought we were thinking of ways of getting the rest of his money.

I can vouch for internetsatisfaction.com that for a small up front fee will get you a refund.

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stryper2000
September 15, 2009 5:33 PM
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yes Deadly Deals is a little shady I think. I have bought a Mystery Box from them(turned out to be a snorkel set).

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1 replies
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Coles_Law
September 15, 2009 9:41 PM
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@stryper2000: Same here. And same for everyone else. At least it was only $5.

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jflash972
September 15, 2009 5:37 PM
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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.

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RedwoodFlyer
September 15, 2009 5:37 PM
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Not to, in any way, pick on the OP...but this is why I NEVER use PayPal when there's another viable option! Even if you paid with a credit card through Paypal, doing a chargeable is risky! I had a PayPal account tied to my eBay selling account... then one day, I bought an \"as is, for repair\" iPod that advertised that it would power up but show a sad face. Well..I got it, and the thing was hollow! It was just the casing, someone had gutted it.

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.

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2 replies
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Saboth
September 15, 2009 6:24 PM
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@RedwoodFlyer:

Let me guess, the \"sad face\" was your reflection in the iPod's screen?

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Easton21
September 15, 2009 6:02 PM
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@RedwoodFlyer: Of course they did. You should've transferred your $500, waited until it was gone, and then initiated the chargeback. It wouldn't hurt to report the cc tied to the account as stolen too, just to ensure that they can't get their money back using dubious means.

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humphrmi
September 15, 2009 5:42 PM
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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! ;-)

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1 replies
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dohtem
September 15, 2009 6:35 PM
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@humphrmi:

\"There's a sucker born every minute\"

- P.T. Barnum

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bayank
September 15, 2009 5:42 PM
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omg have you really lost all excitement offered by life that you have to buy a box of mystery? let alone $46 for the mystery which might suck!? mystery boxes are just a vendors way of getting rid of shit that's been sitting in a stockroom for a while and need some fancy shmancy marketing to move it out. next time, know what you're buying. and if you've had 1 bad experience with a seller why deal with them again??

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Hooray4Zoidberg
September 15, 2009 5:50 PM
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I got fooled by a $5 mystery box(brown lunch bag actually) when I was 8 years old at a flee market. I sort of learned my lesson then, I figured for most people over 18 would have learned the same lesson at some point. Mystery boxes are excited concepts, but let's face it, they're never going to contain keys to a Porcshe.

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2 replies
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mianne
September 16, 2009 5:09 AM
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@Hooray4Zoidberg: You never know... \"Congratulations!\" reads the keyring on the set of keys, \"These are genuine keys to a Porsche 924 Roadster!\"

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.

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MostlyHarmless
September 15, 2009 5:53 PM
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@Hooray4Zoidberg:

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!

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HiPwr
September 15, 2009 5:51 PM
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This Mystery Box purchase sounds like a great idea. Maybe it will be filled with gold and jewels!

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2 replies
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dohtem
September 15, 2009 6:49 PM
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@Saboth: \"A boat's a boat Lois, but the mystery box could be anything. It could even be a boat! You know how much we've wanted one of those.\"

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Shaftoe
September 15, 2009 5:56 PM
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A credit card Lock Pick?????
Why would anyone be watching for that?

Reply
1 replies
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Saboth
September 15, 2009 6:23 PM
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@Shaftoe:

\"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!\"

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dbg1970
September 15, 2009 6:08 PM
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deadlydeal also has a bit of a history of selling Chinese
dvd sets of things that aren't actually out on DVD. I can recommend thingfling and yugster from personal experience. Not that a lot of what they sell isn't junk, but they don't mislead you about what they're selling
[www.resellerratings.com]
I use this site to check out any unknown vendor before ordering from them
(I have no relationship with any of the sites mentioned above aside from being a customer)

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meltingcube
September 15, 2009 6:11 PM
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\"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.\"

Thats like saying you expect the same level of customer service from BestBuy as you do Newegg.com.

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GHETTO.CHiLD
September 15, 2009 6:31 PM
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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.

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2 replies
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sakanagai
September 15, 2009 6:33 PM
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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.

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5 replies
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Révolution
September 15, 2009 7:00 PM
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@sakanagai: How does it take a month. When I buy from DealExtreme, another Chinese store, their stuff arrives in 7-14 days, unless backordered, or if it's flash memory.

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

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EtherealFlame
September 16, 2009 1:47 AM
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@Révolution: I'm curious as to why you shouldn't buy FM from DX? Everything I ever bought from DX, with the exception of a sd card, didn't work or worked for such a short period it wasn't worth the wait it took to get it.

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shepd
September 15, 2009 8:15 PM
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@Révolution:

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. :)

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sakanagai
September 15, 2009 7:10 PM
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@Révolution: It may depend on the shipping method (surface vs air) and the contents, which have to be declared for international transit.

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dohtem
September 15, 2009 7:08 PM
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@Révolution: +1 for dealextreme. I got my PSP, um... *cough* liberation tools *cough* from them.

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dohtem
September 15, 2009 6:33 PM
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Why does OP compare them to Woot?

Because of the vaguely similar business model?

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hoppychris
September 15, 2009 6:54 PM
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I think I'm going to blame Brandon on this one. You've got to pretty much be a jerk to buy a mystery item and then return it. Seriously, was it not what you were expecting? Good, that's what you paid for, it's a mystery item.

Also, doing business again with a company you have decided you didn't like is just asking for trouble.

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coren
September 15, 2009 7:08 PM
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Oddly, almost no one has touched on this. Not that he didn't make the smartest move assuming the mystery box would be AOK just cuz woot is awesome. But that he tried to RMA it - you paid for a mystery box. Woot calls it a bag of crap (well, they filter the hell out of it for great humor, but the idea is the same). The rules of the bag of crap say that you don't get to complain because you're buying crap, and should expect crap. (Last time I got woot off Lights and two 5 dollar off coupons - SATISFIED CUSTOMER) Returning crap because you don't like what crap you got shouldn't be an option.

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.

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1 replies
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hoppychris
September 17, 2009 4:00 PM
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@coren:
Totally in agreement. The only acceptable reason for returning a mystery box is that you knew what was going to be inside, in which case it is not a mystery but you probably shouldn't have bought it if you didn't want it.

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jp7570
September 15, 2009 7:08 PM
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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.

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M3wThr33
September 15, 2009 7:57 PM
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I've oredered from Deadly Deal before and it worked out...

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SacraBos
September 15, 2009 8:09 PM
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[www.lockpickshop.com]

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italianscallion33
September 15, 2009 9:19 PM
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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]

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2 replies
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jacques
September 16, 2009 12:31 AM
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@italianscallion33: Welcome to the Internet! Contrary to popular opinion, the Internet is not a series of tubes, nor is it a big truck you can dump things in. If you look to your left you'll find sarcastic Internet humor, look to your right and you'll find Internet \"web logs\" or as we call them \"blogs\", and if you pick up your foot you'll see 4chan stuck on your soles. If you need assistance sending Internets, please contact the fmr. Hon. Sen. Ted Stevens.

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katsushiro
September 15, 2009 9:34 PM
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ok, so here's my mistake in the original submission. the words \"guaranteed to satisfy\" were from Deadly Deals website.... the guaranteed satisfaction on the mystery box, or money back. I understand it's just backstock that they want to get rid of, but they guaranteed $46 worth of stuff. the $30 retail was at time of sale, I have seen the much lower prices for the item on woot, which did serve as salt, thank you very much.

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billy
September 15, 2009 9:40 PM
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But isn't the whole issue here that the mystery box is \"guaranteed to satisfy.\" That means if he's not satisfied, he should be able to return it, right? I realize that this is the OPs recounting of the tale and he doesn't show where he was given a guarantee (though some other mystery boxes on the website show a guarantee for mystery items). The point is that if he is not satisfied, the company should accept the return.

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.

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1 replies
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billy
September 15, 2009 9:50 PM
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@billy: Oh, I wrote my above-post as katushiro (the OP) was writing as well. Consumerist should have stressed more that it was the issue with the guarantee.

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Bruce
September 15, 2009 10:31 PM
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I don't usually bag on the OP's but come on!

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?

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BBF_BBF
September 16, 2009 1:21 AM
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DeadlyDeal also censors their comments section. Any posts that say negative things about the product they are schilling or the company itself are deleted.

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1 replies
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BBF_BBF
September 16, 2009 1:25 AM
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@BBF_BBF: Oh, btw, I've purchased a cheap mystery box from them and had no problems with it being delivered. It was just the fact the mystery items were really bad that ticked me off... since there was no guarantee on that box, I just learned my lesson and decided never to deal with them again.

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EtherealFlame
September 16, 2009 1:43 AM
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I've dealt with them as well. I ordered something and it never came, I never got the confirmation email or anything. So I filed a complaint through Paypal and gee look what shows up in my mail box two days later. My item. I will NEVER EVER do business with these people again. woot, retailkiller, thingfling, dillyeo, hell even yugster is decent. But that place is one of the worst out there.

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nstonep
September 16, 2009 6:01 AM
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Wow...go back to the guy who raped you (in spirit)...yeah you pretty much deserve it. I bet you have a weekly subscription with freecreditreport.com!

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Mr T
April 19, 2010 12:46 PM
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They're obviously not a very reputable company, as it is shown on this as well as just about every other board that I have visited today. I personally am about to have an issue with them and sadly I did my homework after the fact rather than before...I was seduced by what appeared to be a great deal and I bit, but now it has been quite a while with no item delivered and I have gotten no responses to my emails whatsoever, so after reading up on them, I too am expecting the worst...this is certainly not Woot, Shnoop, Yugster or any of the other totally reputable deal of the day sellers.

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