Complaint Review: ElectroZone

On Feb 9, 2009 I called ElecroZone to inquire about a couple of 52" Samsung LCD's I'd previously seen advertised on their web pages. I spoke to a salesman by the name of Derek.

On their site they offered a Samsung 52" LN52A850 for $2295 as well as a Samsung 52" LN52A850S1FXZA. Both are 52" Samsung LCD's. So I wanted to know what accounted for the price difference.

Derek told me the difference was the the 52" Samsung LN52A850S1FXZA contained a Faroudja chip that upconverts standard digital channels to HD quality signals and a much crisper and sharper picture, whereas the 52" Samsung LN52A850 is the standard 52" model which has a good picture but no where near the sharpness and clarity of the model with the Faroudja chip.

I thought that was very interesting. Before I went any futher, I told Derek I was a little leery of spending this kind of money over the internet. He assured me of the honesty and safety in dealing with his internet electronics company.

He went on to tell me about the bundled deal that was available. The LN52A850S1FXZA 52' Samsung with the Faroudja chip, a 5yr. in-home warranty and a 5piece HDTV hook-up kit all for $3099 out the door as he said.

The same day Feb. 9th, I went to my local Wells-Fargo branch and wired transfered them the funds. On Feb 10th I got and email with confirmation they had received the funds and the TV was being shipped on Feb. 11.

I still have not received delivery of the TV. Today is March 2nd and still I wait. It's been one lie after another. First it was, it didn't ship on Feb 11 as I was told, it shipped on the 13th. Then last week I find out it didn't shipp until Feb. 24th.

That is not the half of it though. I've since found out by doing a little research that Samsung only makes 1 model in the 52" LCD. The model that Derek claimed had the Faroudja chip which accounted for the higher price of $2799 was a flat out lie. The pictures of the two models on their web pages indicated that the LN52A850 was the standard model for $2295 and the LN52A850S1FXZA was the upgraded model with the Faroudja chip for $2799, when in fact LN52A850S1FXZA is just Samsung's manufacturer's part number.

Now when I called and told them about the deception and misrepresentation and the delivery problems, and asked for a return authorization number because, frankly at this point I was going to refuse taking delivery, they refused to give me a return authorization number.

On their web site they have printed the return policy, so it's there for all to see. They claim as long as you follow that policy, retuns are welcomed if you want to retun an item. That's on their web site, but that's not the reality. That tells you something about a business when they are reluctant or flat out refuse to issue a return authorization number to return an item you have bought from them, especially if after almost a month you still don't have what you paid for

This company is disreputable, they misrepresent products on their web site, they lie and misslead, and then it's a hassle to get your money back and get some sort of redress.

Oh by the way, they no longer have the pictures of the LN52A850S1FXZA pictured on their web pages. It just magically dissapeared. In fact, had I not thought to go into my browsers history on the day I made the purchase, I would not have been able to find it. Thank goodness I made a copy the day I made the purchase.

If ever you want to buy electronics over the internet, stay away from this company. I've made a lot of purchases over the internet and never experienced any problem until now.

I read reviews about this company prior to making my purchase, and all were very positive, and like I said, I'd never before encountered a problem before buying on the net. For me, dealing with this company was a disaster. I'm just hoping I can get some help in getting my money back, or some type of redress.

I also hope this complaint helps and saves others that might want to make purchases from this company a lot of grief and headaches. Ask questions of this company and find out up front, in fact ask for a return authorization number even if you don't use it, just to protect yourself.
It has indeed been a nightmare.
Thanks

John
Lancaster, California
U.S.A.