Complaint Review: Wireless Galaxy - Houston Texas

I purchased from Wireless Galaxy, an on-line cellular product company, what was advertised as a brand-new cellular phone and several accessories. The phone itself cost $199.99, and the accessories totaled $112.96. The shipping was $.99. The grand total I paid was $313.94.

Upon receiving the phone, I called my wireless service provider to program the new phone. There were several difficulties and upon the closing of the call, the phone was switched to my number but had yet to be programmed. Periodically throughout the day I tried to program the phone over-the-air to no avail.

It was during this time of holding the phone up to my face that I realized I had been SOLD a USED phone. The phone had a COLOGNE or aftershave smell on its surfaces. The phone had been packed in a box, so no handling of the phone itself should have occurred. None of the other components that I ordered had this smell. Whether I have allergies or not, it was clear the phone was NOT NEW.

Also, during the time when I was trying to program the phone as I toggled through the screens, several of the screens would overlay on top of another. The phone was, without a doubt, malfunctioning.

I called WIRELESS GALAXY that day to report what I had experienced and informed them I would be sending the phone back. The person that I spoke with immediately began to argue that the things I was complaining about were not the fault of WIRELESS GALAXY, but mine! I was told that the smell was merely an electronic smell and would go away with time. I asserted that I could tell the difference between electronic smells and perfume ODORS and could not accept the phone. I was then cautioned that if I returned the phone and there was over 20 minutes of talk-time I would be charged a re-stocking fee. Because I had not been able to talk on the phone at all, this was of no concern to me.

However, to satisfy my curiosity, I checked the call log on the phone to see how much time I had spent trying to program the phone. Although I did not check it upon receiving it because I assumed it was a new phone, the display showed the following:

Home Calls: 20 Calls 0:13:01

Roam Calls: 4 Calls 0:01:04

All Calls: 1090 Calls 0:14:05

I am unsure why the All Calls showed 1090 calls. I did not make 1090 calls that afternoon. Clearly, something was wrong. This phone showed serious signs of tampering and wear.

I returned the phone immediately to WIRELESS GALAXY via insured express delivery. About one week later I received a voice mail at my workplace from WIRELESS GALAXY and was instructed to give them a call. I had to replay the message five times because the number was given so quickly. That number is 713-782-####, I think. I'm still not sure.

Rather than having to pay for the call, I used their 800 number, 1-800-569-8486. I was told that I would be charged a 15% restocking fee on the return. On a $313.94 order, that comes to $47.09. I told them that any fee was UNACCEPTABLE because the item that WIRELESS GALAXY sent was defective, not-as-advertised, and unusable. SANA at WIRELESS GALAXY explained that she would forward my request to Customer Services. Customer Services would then determine if the 15% restocking fee would be waived. I told SANA of WIRELESS GALAXY several times throughout the call that if they decided that they were going to charge the restocking fee that they should notify me immediately so that I could take further action. I was told that I needed to state the reason why I was asking the restocking fee to be waived in an e-mail, even though I had included all the information in the package when I returned all the items.

I cheerfully complied in an e-mail which declared the following:

>>Dear Wireless Galaxy,

I would ask you to kindly wave the restocking fee that was recently brought to my attention because the product received was not as described. (Please see reasons for return below.) I greatly appreciate Wireless Galaxy bringing this matter to my attention! As we are all consumers, I'm sure you agree that it is clearly not acceptable to pay a restocking fee on merchandise that was defective to begin with.

Sincerely,

BG<<

Two days later on September 24, 2003, I received a reply via e-mail from WIRELESS GALAXY:

>>Thank you for your email. Your issue has being forwarded to the concerned department.

Best of Regards

Sana Hamid

eService Team

WirelessGalaxy.com<<

Today, October 2nd, while checking my bank statement, I noticed that WIRELESS GALAXY quietly credited my account for $266.01. WIRELESS GALAXY CHARGED A 15% RESTOCKING FEE ON DEFECTIVE PRODUCTS!

The amount of $47.09 would quickly be absorbed and overtaken by legal costs and court filing fees, but I am undeterred by this. Not only is it UNACCEPTABLE to pay a restocking fee, I should be reimbursed for the cost of returning the non-functioning and malodorous equipment! The cost to me for returning all the merchandise to WIRELESS GALAXY via INSURED MAIL was $12.70, plus the restocking fee comes to a total of $59.79.

I checked the Better Business Bureau of Houston, Texas, web site and found that WIRELESS GALAXY is a member, with only one complain submitted against them. As members of the BBB, WIRELESS GALAXY agrees to arbitration.

As of October 2nd, this issue remains unresolved.

BG

Arlington, Ohio
U.S.A.

Click here to see why we deleted either a phone number, link or e-mail address from this report.

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