Complaint Review: Buy-Rite Video Games

First thing: DO NOT ORDER FROM THIS COMPANY!! you'll find hundreds of people that have been defrauded!!!

On August 18, 2004 I ordered two games from Buy-Rite. On their website one game, cubivore was priced at 6.99 the other was a new copy of Halo for 14.99. I never received an email confirmation but a charge for 39.94 posted to my credit card immediately. I hadn't requested express shipping such as FedEx or UPS two day, so there was no explanation for the price. I tried emailing them four time for an answer and got no response. I called a few times but the person that handles orders was always out that day, or had already gone home for the day (10:00 am their time).

I waited and didn't get a response or hear anything for two weeks. On Sept 2nd 2004, I began emailing (11 more) and calling again (3 more calls). As expected I received no replies to the emails, and the individuals at buy-rite always responded the same "He's out today", "He's gone for the day", "you have to email us", or "he's at lunch". I told the girl at buy rite that I was canceling the order and wanted a refund, I told the same to two men there on two subsequent phone calls. Just to make sure, I emailed this to them twice. I also called my bank and initiated a charge-back and fraud complaint.

Interestingly, on the 14th of September I received an automated email from Buy-rite informing that they had mailed my games. I thought perhaps that the fraud complaint had succeeded. Today I received the package from buy-rite, opened it and noted that it only contained one of the games that I ordered (Halo). The game wasn't even new as advertised, the case was the type distributed by game rental chains, with "not for resale" printed on the cover. This gets worse, I opened the case and there was no disc in it!

I contacted my bank about the claim, it seems that this isn't an uncommon tactic among fraudsters. They count on most people no pursuing a complaint, simply getting aggravated and giving up. When someone does complain, the fraudster mails an empty or incomplete package with a tracking number. Once you accept the package they have proof of delivery, and you have to go through a lot more to get your money back. I'm not giving up, I've filed a complaint with their State's Attorney General's Office, The Better Business Bureau, and of course here.

Protect yourself, avoid Buy-Rite video games!

Jack
Alpine, California
U.S.A.