acfactorystore.com Charges your card long before any goods are delivered... then delivers non-functional equipment, Internet
This is a long tale, but all statements are necessary to get the full effect of our nightmare purchase from acfactorystore.com!
We contacted acfactorystore.com in mid September 2009, looking for a specific mini split heat pump system (Mitsubishi Hyper Heat.) The company "had" the system we wanted and we agreed on purchasing for $6190 which was charged to our AMEX card. We were told the system would ship the next day (a Friday) and that we would receive confirmation of shipping the next day.
We called the next day and told that the system would not be shipped as they had "discovered" that shipping (which was to be included in the price) would be an additional $320. As the website advertises free shipping on orders over $500, we were not happy with the sudden additional charge.
We finally agreed to pay for the additional shipping as the system was very difficult to find and we were tired of going from company to company to find the system we wanted. I asked the merchant to cancel the charge and that we would then re-initiate the purchase, but this time it would reflect the price of the unit with the additional $320 shipping cost. I was contacted by the vendor and told that he did not cancel the first order, but would do so once we had re-ordered... they did not want to give up the initial charge until they were assured of the new charge.
We were told that the system we ordered had been reserved for us (they "had" 2 in stock) and would ship the following Monday... we were to receive a tracking number the following day. When we did not hear from the company with a tracking number on the following Tuesday, I called acfactorystore.com and was told that they had sold both units and would not be able to get me a system for a couple of weeks.
At this point, I attempted to cancel the order, but was asked to please be patient, the system was on it's way to the warehouse. I was told that they were "a big company and could get anything we wanted."
A week later, I found that my AMEX card had been charged for the amount of $6510.75 for the system, though it hadn't shipped, nor arrived at the warehouse. I had expected a pre-authorization, but not a charge before shipment! I then contacted acfactorystore and demanded that my card be credited. I was told that they could not credit my account as the funds had been necessary to get the unit shipped to the warehouse from Mitsubishi.
Not at all happy about the charge, my wife and I then decided that it was AMEX's problem and that we were protected by the use of the credit card. We were prepared to wait and see if acfactorystore would deliver.
Three weeks after ordering (and paying) we were told by Nick (the owner, and only person who answers the phone) that our order was at the warehouse. He was headed there to personally make sure the system was properly packaged for shipping and would see it shipped without issue.
We received the system (approximately 4 weeks after ordering) only to find that one piece of 2-piece system had been damaged. It had been shipped "on-end" on the pallet which was contrary to all markings on the box for proper shipment. Thinking about this later, it occurred to me that if Nick had personally packed the units on the pallet, he was responsible for the damage that occurred.
We had the FedEx driver make a note of the damage, then called acfactorystore. We told nick that the shipment had come, but was damaged in shipping and that we would contact FedEx and file a damage claim.
We filed the damage claim with FedEx and they were very helpful in expediting the claim. However, I got a call from Fedex the following day stating that there was a note that there was damage to the box noted on the bill of lading when the item was shipped. FedEx was denying the claim.
I called acfactorystore and told Nick that FedEx had denied the claim due to damage prior to shipment. I sent him photos of the damaged unit. He refused to take responsibility for the damaged unit It was at this point we filed a dispute of charges against acfactorystore.com with AMEX.
Once Nick was notified of the dispute of charges, he took action, contacted FedEx and somehow got them to accept responsibility for the damaged unit (I've no idea how!) We received a check for $1750 from FedEx for replacement of the damaged unit. At this point, we canceled our dispute of charges against acfactorystore.com.
We still needed a replacement for the damaged unit we received from acfactorystore.com. We checked multiple sites, but acfactorystore was, by far, the best price. We ordered a second unit from acfactorystore and was told it would ship out the next day... again, Nick would personally go to the warehouse and make sure that THIS unit would go out undamaged.
In contacting Nick the following day, my wife was told that he was unable to ship the unit because he was too busy dealing with cleaning up our dispute of charges with AMEX. He at this point verbally attacked my wife over the phone, questioning her character. I was so angry at this point that I sent him notification that this second order was to be canceled immediately and that we wanted no further dealings with acfactorystore.com.
Two days later, my wife had contacted Nick to make sure the order had been canceled. He said that we were to cancel the order "on our end." As this made no sense to us (how does a buyer cancel a charge against a credit card?) we filed a second dispute of charges with AMEX. Nick finally credited our account 3-1/2 weeks later.
We finally had our money freed up so could proceed with purchasing a replacement for the damaged unit. We purchased the replacement locally and were happy to be done with acfactorystore.com.
We had the 2 piece system installed the following week in mid November, 2 months after ordering the system from acfactorystore.com. When the installer was finished and went to fire up the new system, it became clear that the second piece of equipment from acfactorystore.com was defective... it would not start!
I, one last time contacted acfactorystore.com and demanded that they take the system back. A week went by before I received an email stating that he would not take the unit back, but would send a replacement part once I filled out the appropriate paperwork. As I am unwilling to ever do any business of any kind with this company again, I contacted Mitsubishi directly and am now trying to resolve the issue with the manufacturer.
We are now going on 11 weeks since ordering a heating system from acfactorystore.com. We have invested close to $8500 in purchasing the system, purchasing installation accessories, having it installed, and having an expensive diagnostic service call. We still have nothing working at this point.
I would not with the aggravation and many nights of sleeplessness I have experienced due to this vendor on anyone! He takes your money and only credits your account under threats from your credit card company. For $6510.75 acfactorystore.com will deliver to you faulty and damaged merchandise... the 2-2/4 months of wasted time, aggravation, and high blood pressure are free!
3 Updates & Rebuttals
SavvyBuyer
Portland,Oregon,
USA
"factory direct" is misleading
#4Consumer Comment
Wed, September 29, 2010
This company's website says they ship anywhere in the U.S. and free shipping on all orders over $500.
Though they state "with several warehouse locations in SW and East coat, we're able to ship within 24 hours" and the rebuttal they submitted to the original author's post stated "our warehouse" my experience shows this is not true.
The company's address is actually a residential address in Florida and the purchase do not actually ship from their warehouse. It is simply placing order in its company name from an unrelated HVAC wholesalers and have them drop ship to customers address in their company's name.
The actual wholesaler, when contacted stated that it only sells to licensed HVAC contractors and it has no affiliation whatsoever with acfactorystore.com, so the claims "our warehouse" or "factory direct", in my opinion, are deceptive.
landev
deary,Idaho,
USA
To whom it may concern
#4Author of original report
Wed, January 06, 2010
Attacking one's character for telling the truth is a rather low blow, but not surprising from this dealer.
All accusations stated in the original report are factual and have been documented with the Federal Trade commission and the Florida State Attorney General's office.
For clarification, the unit was indeed installed by a licensed contractor and the defective circuit board was noted by the installer at the time of installation. Thankfully, Mitsubishi has stood by its warranty and our system in now installed and working well.
I would highly recommend this unit for those living in colder climate. However, those choosing to buy from this dealer are forewarned to do business at their own risk.
Nick
Boca Raton,Florida,
United States of America
Responding to Mr Lance claim
#4UPDATE Employee
Tue, January 05, 2010
This is a formal response to Mr. Lance's ridiculous claims (for those of you who are interested).
Mr. Lance (the buyer) was told that we did not have the units he wanted and we cancelled his credit card charge. Here is his email:
Nick,
We will proceed with the order, but we will want to use our American Express card rather than the Visa I gave you earlier. Please cancel the Visa charge and give me a call when you get in tomorrow at 208--5523 and I will give you the number for the AE Card.
Thanks,
Lance
We (the AC Factory store) placed a SPECIAL order for him and it took a 4-days to be delivered to our Warehouse. We shipped it out as soon as we received it, on the same day. As is our policy (and as most of businesses do) we needed a payment for this special order and in this case Mr. Lance paid it by credit Card. I have no idea why he couldn't understand this simple process which we explained to him and is our company policy (it was been clearly written).
I asked Lance for help on shipping cost because these units are oversize and the location that he live in Idaho and he agreed.
We have never shipped out any damaged goods, we cannot, it was all brand new from Mitsubishi, if our goods were damaged, then the freight companies would refuse to accept it. Even I have personally told Mr. Lance about this and wrote him to suggest a best solution for him.
"Lance,
I have a suggestion for you. When you receive your Mitsubishi unit from FEDEX, please open the box for both units and view them carefully even the box looks undamaged. Since it is shipped over long distances. Tell the driver wait for you. DO NOT SIGN any paperwork until you check them personally. If there is any damage at all, then do not sign any papers ( or accept it ) and call me right away.
Nick"
Usually FEDEX is good with deliveries but from time to time things happened. That's why we usually remind our customers to check out the products before they sign the Bill of Lading. I have no idea why Mr. Lance initiately accepted that obviously damaged goods from FEDEX.
As the universal rule if a buyer signs the B/L from FEDEX, then the buyer takes full responsibility to make a claim with FEDEX themselves. Mr. Lance did not send any damaged photos to FEDEX and as a result was denied compensation. And in the same time, if item have damage , Mr. Lance should not sign for it eventually the item would return to us instead and we could send him a new one.
When I found out about this I helped him and called FEDEX, I sent them 4 Photos of damaged goods that Mr. Lance provided us and after only a couple of days I received a phone call from FEDEX to take a responsibility of the damaged goods and paid Mr. Lance the full amount of one unit that was damaged. I called Lance about of what I had done for him and he seemed to be very happy about it and thanked me. Why Lance said I verbally attacked his wife over the phone, questioning her character? I have no idea what he was talking about. What I said nicely was why Lance signed the paper and did not send any photo to FEDEX for his claims (I already told him that FEDEX was OK for his claims just wondered why)
The next day, Mr. Lance placed an order for a new unit to replace the one that was damaged. Two days later we planned to ship it out but discovered that Mr. Lance disputed both of the units with American Express for $6,190.
This created a major problem for us creating a $6K deduction in our accounts. I assumed Mr. Lance was playing both sides, getting the full amount refund from Amex and getting a new unit from us. In any case, Amex dragged their heels in dealing with this matter (which was created by Mr. Lance).
After four days he asked me to cancel the order AGAIN and I told him that he needed to do that on his own, since he complicated matters already. John from Amex also indicated that Mr. Lance was extremely troublesome and wasn't going to go out of his way for him.
After this incident, I told Mr. Lance that I did not wish to work with him in any capacity, and he got angry. In the course of my dealing with him, I found that he had already cancelled similar orders several times from other vendors.
In addition to this, we requested Mr. Lance to send us his licensed contractors name to install the unit; so we could send him the right parts. Also most air conditioning contractors are authorized by these manufacturers to service these units and obtain free of charge replacement parts for the term of his warranties and Mr Lance realized that very well because he had contacted Mitsubishi head quarter several times. This is an important stipulation since the units are guaranteed by warranty ONLY if a licensed contractor/installer installs the units. Mr. Lance was told this but decided to install it himself and of course damaged the unit. My recommendation to any vendors is not to sell to Mr. Lance, he is a problematic person who I perceive to have a developmental disorder, OR he is scamming vendors and credit card companies for his own benefit.
Be cautious if you deal with this person.