DRL Outlet

Review: I purchased a 13 x 13 pop-up canopy from this store. It was advertised as "new in box" but when I got it home, there was a sticker on the inside that said "damaged" and a small plastic piece that had clearly broken off of the frame was loose in the bag. I put the canopy up, trying to determine where the piece was from. I found additional damage in that one of the velcro pieces that holds the canvas to the frame was missing. Within 24 hours of putting up the canopy, the metal frame was bent and had snapped in one place. It is now completely unusable and will not stand. I spoke with the manager requesting a refund. He told me they cannot do refunds unless an item was defective. I explained to him about the "damaged sticker" and broken piece and he asked me if I could bring it into the store so that he could verify it. When I said I could, he still refused a refund, offering only store credit. This is unacceptable,as this is the only canopy the store sells and is too poor of quality to simply exchange for another, and I have no interest in purchasing anything else at this store. The item was sold as new, it clearly was not, and it was defective. The manaer told me that they had set up each of the canopies before. Either they ignored the damage and sold it as new anyway or failed to check this particular frame at all. either way, the store sold me a defective item and refuses to make good on it. Store credit is useless to me, and I need to the refund to purchase a canopy elsewhere.Desired Settlement: Store credit is a scam. I have no confidence in this store's merchandise or practices and have no need for anything else that they sell. I want the $79.99 plus tax that I paid refunded to my credit card immediately.

Business

Response:

Every product is tested. I was personally in the backroom while my staff was setting up each canopy. I am confident this product was in perfect condition when it left the store. The agreement on the receipt says that all sales are final and there are multiple signs posted throughout the store encouraging customers to reinspect their item before purchase. I have personally opened 3 other pop up canopies for customers who wanted to check their item before the sale. All were in great condition and all canopies were sold.

I attempted to help the customer by offering even the potential of store credit. The customer indicated that she was also able to assemble the product correctly, but when she saw it the next morning it was bent. I asked if she left it up over night as the valley has had multiple wind / dust storms the last few nights that would easily bend the sides of a pop up canopy. She replied by saying her house doesn't get the wind storms. I then asked if she could bring the product back so I could look at it. Being able to see the product would give me a better idea if there truly was something wrong with the product or if it was caused by storm damage. The customer indicated that in its current condition she wouldn't be able to bring it back. Typically, if the damage is that great, it wouldn't be caused by a flaw in the design. The canopy was sold in a small case. Even if it could no longer fit back into the case, it should not be a condition to make it impossible to transport given the customers complaint. Even with that in mind, I still offered for the customer to bring in the item so I can see it. I confirmed that I would only be willing to offer store credit if there was pre existing damage and not storm damage. She demanded a cash return regardless. When I refused she called me "useless", hung up the phone, and has never returned the product.

Obviously I have not issued a full cash return for this product. Nothing was returned or any damage verified. All sales are final and it has been far too long to offer any sort of exception. Had the item been returned with a preexisting flaw as discussed over the phone I would have been willing to offer store credit to make up for the mistake. I now consider this a non issue and stand by condition of the item as it was first purchased. I trust in the process we have in place to test every product and protect our customers.