Complaint Review: Half.com - Internet

Where do I begin with Half.com?

First, I bought a book from one of their sellers for several of my college courses. I usually purchase my books from campus, Amazon, or Alibris, but I thought Id give them a shot, specifically because they were listed as an option on my colleges bookstore for used books, and also because I read their buyer protection plan. The plan supposedly guarantees that your
order will be in as described condition or Half.com will refund your money. The policy also does not explicitly state that they require the book to be returned. I will never buy from them again, and here is why.

All of my books came in good condition except for one: my Developmental Psychology book. It was described as in very good condition with some highlights and no markings. I paid approximately $80 for the book, and boy was I surprised when it showed up.

Not only was the cover in bad shape (it has dents all over the cover as though someone used it for a writing desk), but the binding is torn. In addition, the book has excessive pink highlights to the tune of 60 plus pages. That is far from some highlights. The book also has markings inside, but worst of all, the book smells like someone smoked weed around it
for years. God awful smell. Smells so bad it could get even get an Arkansas law enforcement agent who burns marijuana fields high. Therefore, I contacted the seller, but the seller was uncooperative about giving me a substantial discount
or issuing me a full refund. Therefore, I filed a claim with Half.com.

Half.com sent me a message that they would contact me within 72 hours to resolve the problem but almost 10 days later, I still had not heard from them. So I searched on their website in order to find a customer service number, a physical address, or even an e-mail so I could find out the status of my claim. No such luck.  Despite my searching, over an hour of
searching to be exact, I could not find a number, an address, or an e-mail for Half.com.

So I began to search online, and I finally found a physical address for Half.com listed with the California Secretary of State. To date, I have not found a phone number that links you to a live person, and I only found a service e-mail address that bounced originally, stating it does not accept e-mails from customers.

More than two weeks later, I finally received a reply from Half.com. Apparently they did receive my e-mail sent from theservice e-mail address, despite the message to the contrary that this e-mail does not take replies, etc. They are failing to honor their buyer protection plan as advertised on their site, and they are demanding that I send the book back in order
to receive a refund, since they cannot determine the condition the book is in, which seems to defeat the wording in their buyer protection policy. Half.com clearly has communication issues. In addition, they seem to not hire people who
know how to clearly read e-mails and respond to customers, since they keep referring me to their refund policy and not their buyer protection policy.

As much as I d love to send this piece of trash back, my classes start in about a week, and I do not have time to send the book back, to wait for a full refund (which with some merchants takes 30 days or more), and then to order a book
that is in very good condition or better. To do this would put me behind on my reading material, and getting behind at the beginning of the semester is simply not an option if I want to keep my GPA over 3.5.  I would even be happy with a partial credit, since the book is worth maybe $40 on a good day after it is aired out.  So as of now, I have filed a complaint with the BBBs office of Silicon Valley, the Attorney Generals office of California, and the FTC. Maybe this will get someones attention that is literate with Half.com, and then I will be happy to send pictures of the book to all of the mentioned organizations.