BaitAndSwitch.com -- I mean -- Overstock.com -- I won't shop there again!
Written: Jul 31 '02 (Updated Jul 31 '02)
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I found the deal of a lifetime -- or so I thought.
Overstock.com was selling the Palm Pilot I wanted for $50-$100 LESS than any other website I could find. They also had coupons available to take $10 off my order, and I could go through ebates (a rewards program that pays you a rebate for shopping through their portal) to place my order.
At first, I pondered it, but then I thought this was far too good of a deal to pass up.
Now I'm not so happy I jumped on it.
I usually read about good deals on other websites. I read about this one on both www.fatwallet.com and www.anandtech.com. Reading it on Anandtech made me feel good, since they're all computer geeks over there. They thought this was a good deal too.
I kept watching the threads on those two boards to see if anyone had gotten theirs yet. I was so excited about my purchase, and I wanted to read about people raving about their purchases, and commenting on what "extras" they found to go with their palm.
Within a few days, things started looking bleak. I read about someone getting her Palm, only it wasn't new. Not new? But Overstock.com didn't say they were selling products that were not new. How could that be?
Then worse reports. One member got a Palm that was programmed in German. People were not getting the accessories that Overstock.com was promising them. The instructions were Xeroxed copies, and the software was burned onto a CDR.
I panicked. I wanted to cancel my order, but of course, it had already shipped. Then I checked their return policy. Yeah, I should have done that ahead of time. I was even more upset when I read about their restocking fee on all returned items. Great. So they're going to sell me a product that is less than advertised, and make me pay to send it back to them? I wanted to do something, but I figured I'd wait and see what came in the mail before I tried to do anything.
My Palm, which I was once so excited to own, came today. It came in an unmarked white box. All of the pieces were wrapped in plastic, and looked new. The Palm itself had a large white sticker that said "OEM" on it. OEM, you ask? That stands for "original equipment manufacturer". It means it was not designed for sale to the public.
My theory is that Overstock got their hands on these when Palm discontinued the Vx. If your Palm was warranteed, and you had a problem with it, they would have sent a replacement. Now that this line is discontinued, they don't need to have spares on hand for replacement. My theory is that they sold these to Overstock, and Overstock is just trying to unload them.
That would be fine, if I knew that when I bought my Palm from them. But what they claim I should get, and what I actually got are two different things.
I received my Palm Pilot in good working order.
It was supposed to come with a screen protector. It did not.
It was supposed to come with a Palm Vx case. It came with a GIGANTIC Qualcomm case, which is way too large for the unit. This case will be of no use to me.
It came with the cradle and AC adapter. It did not come with the serial port adapter that a new unit is supposed to come with.
They promised software and instructions -- I only received COPIES of each of these.
As my unit is an OEM, I cannot register it. The distributor establishes warranty. In other words, if I have a problem, I can't go crying to the manufacturer. I have to fight it out with Overstock.com.
Right now I'm not sure what to do. They got my money by tricking me. I don't like that. A buyer assumes that a product is new, unless it is otherwise stated. All emails with Overstock thus far have them insisting that the unit is "new." Well... technically, it is. But it's OEM, and I would have thought differently about the sale had I known that fact.
Overstock.com is waving the restocking fees on this to customers who are unsatisfied. They're also providing return packaging. Too little, too late guys. Especially when they now have the opportunity to rectify their mistake.
After people received their OEM Palms, and Overstock.com was notified that they were OEM and that the website did not state that fact, they had the opportunity to fix that "oversight". However, instead of coming clean for future customers, Overstock decided to only mention that unit will come in a plain white box. They went to the trouble of editing the site to mention that fact.
Ok, plain white box is one thing. But come on! Tell the truth here guys! You're selling an OEM product, and you pieced together a package that will make this Palm functional for the buyer. That's it. It cannot be warranteed, the accessories are not Palm accessories, and the instructions and software are mere copies.
I'm so happy to have my Palm, and I do think it was a good price. Therefore, I am not planning on returning it (barring some problem). However, I won't be ordering from Overstock.com again. Their product was not as advertised, and they did everything in their power to "snooker" buyers.
If you want to order from Overstock.com, go ahead. But be warned, I am not the only one they snookered, and they have a long history of snookering customers in the past. If this was an honest mistake, I could forgive it. However, this is no mistake.
Buyer beware -- especially if you are buying electronics, or anything that may need a warranty.
Recommended:
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magenta321
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Location: Connecticut
Reviews written: 258
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I am cool and that is it, and everyone else is full of...
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