Complaint Review: Electronic Power Seller - Leviton Company - Santa Ana California

I am writing this in effort to prevent others from making the same mistake that I did in doing business with this company. I would've though of myself as pretty good at picking up a scam but these guys really got me.

I was looking for a hp media center computer to replace my current one like many my first place to look was ebay.

Ebay is where I the scam started. I found a suitable computer and entered into correspondence with the seller whom listed himself as Ebay user Id

electronic-power-seller

I entered into a dialogue with an employee of the company named Vic Abdul. "Vic" who sounds to be of Middle Eastern decent is surely an alias, however I had no reason to be alarmed at the time. I told "Vic" what it was I was looking for and he made suggestions and seemed pretty helpful so I was that much more comfortable. I spent quite a bit of time speaking with him and thought I had everything down.

When the package was "built" so to speak he informed me that he would send me a paypal invoice. I asked him 3 times to post a specific listing on ebay and I would end it and pay via paypal. He ignored the question and just said he'd send me a paypal invoice. I finally asked him if I would be afforded the same protection as others who made ebay/ paypal purchases if I simply paid via paypal without an ebay auction. He of course assured me I would and I thought, Paypal is Paypal. Unknown to me at the time Paypal will not protect the buyer in a " item not as described" dispute if there is no ebay listing to compare the item too.

This does make sense but one would think that Paypal would surely at least freeze the sellers money until the seller allowed for simply a refund, right, wrong.

So I agree with the paypal invoice like I have many times and paid the invoice and recieved a tracking number the next day.

At this point the seller has me right where he wants me because as long as he has a verifiable tracking number for a toothpick to my residence, he is clear and free.

What I received 10 days after paying was a useless, knock off, debranded system worth maybe $100 dollars. It is listed on the sellers site at a hefty price and can be viewed here, http://www.levitoncompany.com/hpdeco2duo111.html.

Please notice the cheap, globe stickers where it should read hp, its hillarious now in retrospect. What I agreed to purchase was this, http://www.levitoncompany.com/hpdeat64x252.html.

I contacted the seller the minute I opened the box by phone. I was greeted by Vic whom again assured me that he would dispatch Fed Ex 3 days from that day for a pickup. He said as soon as he could see what was sent to me was a mistake he would send me out the proper replacement or an immediate refund.

I waited the 3 days and 11 am. rolled around, the scheduled the time for the Fed Ex pickup. I wait until 3pm. and finally called Fed Ex and what do you know, there was never a pickup scheduled. It was simply a stall tactic by honest, helpful "Vic".

At this point I call "Vic" and am not nearly as nice as before. I accuse him of scamming me and of course he gives me a few reason's why that's not what he's doing. He then says he'll see what he can do and call me back. I'm an hour a way so of course I say okay. He never calls back. So I call the next day and he hangs up on me. I call over and over and of course he has caller id so he wont answer. I then get on the company website to sneak into a conversation with him using the live chat feature. Of course he promptly answers and tells me to hold on.

After waiting for approximately 20 minutes he comes back to me and tells me I can now return the computer minus a 20% restocking fee. Why in the world would I send the computer back -80 dollars let alone if they refunded me at all. However "Vic" knew that I could not do a paypal dispute so he really didn't care at all. He has $500 of my money, I have maybe 25$ worth of computer case and no leg to stand on.

However "Vic" I am born and raised in South Georgia and was raised with to always take a certain amount of respect especially when not given. I think one of my favorite things is to help another person learn these lessons. I currently reside in South Carolina so I'm sure your thinking that no way this guy drops by the store, asks for me, yanks me over a counter and proceeds to do far more than $500 worth of damage to my face while he's visiting his brother that lives an hour a way only to go home with his money and put "Vic" in a hospital. However "Vic" I'll be coming to see you real soon, you might want to use another alias but trust me I'll find you.

Jason

Charleston, South Carolina

U.S.A.