Not A Happy Camper
Lexington,#2Consumer Suggestion
Wed, June 24, 2009
Almost the same thing happened to me, only with my son's hand held gaming systems (a DS lite and a DS console). Prior to shipping these items to Dealtree, we first took them into Gamestop and were given a quote of 120...but because he wanted to buy his new game system at Best Buy we opted to go with the BestBuy/Dealtree option. The online quote was 69 for the DS Lite in excelllent condition (which Gamestop agreed it was in "great" condition- Gamestop was giving $70) and the DS was quoted at good condition for 65 (gamestop only was giving $50)...but Dealtree asked for 1 to 3 games with each handheld game to get that trade-in value. When Dealtree got the items in hand, they claimed there was a HUGE crack in the hinge and that that made the DS unit NOT WORKING and it was worth 0.00 (there was a small crack in the hinge that did not impact function - nor value according to Gamestop)...they ALSO claimed the pristine DS Lite was only in GOOD condition and was only worth $63. I had shipped the units to them in one package - and wanted to reject the offer. I was willing to pay for the return postage; however, they would not budge on the return fee...40 to return the two small units! Terry at Dealtree said that is what UPS charged them to ship the DS units. I emailed and asked to have a supervisor call...they emailed back to call the customer service number. I asked to speak with a manager, and was told they were all in meetings...I offered to hold, and was told that I would be on hold for several hours. I send another email, left a message (both very concise, very civil, very nice) including email address and cell phone numbers and have yet to have any response back, 72 hours later. I offered to send a prepaid UPS label so they could ship the items back at my expense...they said this was a supervisor call...but were unable to allow me to speak with a supervisor. I believe this is classic "bait and switch". Offer one price, get the item in hand, and then make it so cost prohibitive to get the item back that you MUST accept their offer. They keep saying that in the Terms and Conditions I signed away any right negoiate the price and it is a courtesy to return the units, however, that isn't actually what the T&Cs say...they are twisting the words I actually have to agree if the verified condition is different...I wonder how many of those 0.00 value items show up on Ebay? Wish the California Attorney General would look into this company's business practices. Whether it is illegal or not, it is certainly unethical!
Lane
Framingham,#3Author of original report
Fri, February 20, 2009
I wrote the report about Dealtree & Best Buy Trade in. After a long experience with Dealtree Inc and Best Buy, I was able to get something out of them. They are sending me total value of my trade-ins that I was quoted. They offered to ship back my trade-in cameras at my expense. I said NO. Dealtree responded, "We will send you the original quoted value for your cameras for customer satisfaction". I am still not totally satisfied but at least they made up for it. I did not feel comfortable using other third-party services (like ebay or craigslist...) for the trade-in.
Lane
Framingham,#4Author of original report
Fri, February 20, 2009
I wrote the report about Dealtree & Best Buy Trade in. After a long experience with Dealtree Inc and Best Buy, I was able to get something out of them. They are sending me total value of my trade-ins that I was quoted. They offered to ship back my trade-in cameras at my expense. I said NO. Dealtree responded, "We will send you the original quoted value for your cameras for customer satisfaction". I am still not totally satisfied but at least they made up for it. I did not feel comfortable using other third-party services (like ebay or craigslist...) for the trade-in.
Karl
Clovis,#5Consumer Suggestion
Sat, February 07, 2009
Dealtree will sell your cameras on Ebay so why didn't you sell them on Ebay yourself? Dealtree buys used merchandise for as little as they can and then resells it. It is simpler to just sell the cameras yourself.