eStarland

Review: I do business with this store through their website. Recently I accumulated a large amount of store credit that I am saving for a large ticket item - a video game system. The item in question has been out of stock for more than 6 months and to my knowledge this site does not even stock this item or other game systems yet their website says that is is "currently out of stock." I have sent repeated emails to the business' customer service department and have gotten the same response - They don't know when they will get stock in and they can't give me a time frame.

This, to me, is a deceptive business practice. I have a accumulated over $530 in store credit from trading in merchandise with the intention of applying said credit to the item I have been waiting for. But it has become clear to me, having bought and sold things to this store for more than 5 years that this business lists game systems for sale - but always list them as "out of stock" with no intention of having them for sale. They probably don't make much of a profit from new game system sales as its clear that the majority of their business in done through the sale of used products.

I have requested a full cash out of my credit to the sum of $530 but the business refuses to give me full credit, only offering 70% value for cash from credit, only $371 of the full $530 - essentially holding my full credit hostage until they have product that I want in stock. I think this is deceptive since I traded in goods on the assumption that items they list will be available to purchase at some point. Not that they would take my goods and never have the item I want, forcing me to use my credit on other things.Desired Settlement: I would like a check for the full amount of my credit - $533.15

Business

Response:

[redacted],

Review: This refers to an online purchase - order [redacted]. Relevant dates to clarify the issue:

- I did the payment on 20-Feb using PayPal

- eStarland sent me a backorder notification on 16-Apr

- I sent a request to cancel the order on 24-Apr as there were no further advances. On the same day eStarland sent an email confirming cancellation of order.

- I did further follow ups on the status of refund for payment to [email protected] on 24-Apr (after cancellation confirmation) and 01-May and only excuses that "accounting department" is processing the refund.Desired Settlement: Given the business has confirmed cancelation of my order, they should refund amount charged to my PayPal account - they are holding the funds for more than 10 calendar days.

Review: see Attached documentDesired Settlement: see Attached document

Business

Response:

Roger,

We did not receive any notification regarding the defective item until this message through the Revdex.com. A replacement game is being sent to you today.

Consumer

Response:

See attachment or check attachment tab.

Business

Response:

We received no correspondence from Mr. Hargrave prior to receiving the returned item. Our policy requires him to receive an RMA prior to returning items to us. Because an RMA was not issue prior to receiving the return, a reimbursement of the Media Mail rate was applied to Mr. Hargraves eStarland account. No additional amount or items can be send in regards to this issue.

Review: On May 1, 2014, I started a 5 order trade in process, which went smooth, on the 6th I placed several orders that came mostly without issue, but those were solved that were problematic. However, May 9th I went ahead and placed a cash-out for $256.81 after a ludicrously high 30% cash penalty. It is June 20th as of the date of this complaint, and still I have not received a cent back from this. I have contacted them on several occasions about this, starting with an email I received from them around June 6th stating the following:

[redacted],

We do apologize for the fact that your cash out order has not been processed yet. The head of accounting, the employee who handles cash out requests, has been made aware of the situation and we are working towards having this issue resolved for you as soon as possible.

Thank you,

eStarland Team

This was after the allotted 3 week turn around where they usually get things done by. After another week has passed by I messaged them again asking for update on status, didn't hear anything back from them except for them stating that they strive for excellence, which is not true considering the past experiences I had from them. It looked like they totally forgot about me and threw me in to the June 2014 pile. June 16th I got this email from them:

[redacted],

We thank you for your continued patience as we continue to process your cash out request. Unfortunately we have experienced a higher than normal number of cash out requests lately and this is slightly delaying the processing of your request. We are working on issuing these payments as quickly as we can and yours will be processed in the order it was received.

I have yet to hear anything from them after telling them I needed the cash no later than the 26th of this month for a vacation where I owe plenty of money on, hence me doing the cash out knowing it can take 2-3 weeks. This is there policy which is copy and pasted from their services website:

Cash

What if I want to receive cash?

For the convenience of our customers, we offer cash payments instead of credit at eStarland. However cash payments are only 70% of the credit value of any item. For example, an item that is worth $10.00 in credit would only be worth $7.00 in cash. To receive a cash payment in exchange for trade-in items, you must first mail us the items for an assessment. Once they have been verified, we will be able to pay you for these items. You may also cash out any credit that you may have built up.

What is "Cashing Out" ?

-Check Payment by Mail

-[redacted] Payment

As an account holder of eStarland, you have the option to cash out your standing credit balance. If you have any credit that has built up from previous transactions, you can receive a check for 70% of its value. For example if you had a credit balance of $100.00, it would be worth $70.00. The minimum value that can be cashed out is $20.00. Cash-outs only apply to items that we have assessed, so any items traded in for Instant Credit must be received and verified before they are cashed out. All checks are mailed via USPS First Class Mail (Default Option).

If you want to receive your payment to your [redacted] account, please let us know your [redacted] email address by using "My message to eStarland" section of checkout page or you may contact us after placing your cashout order.

Cash-outs may take up to 2-3 weeks to be completed varies by number of requests per week.

I am in a huge bind here as I did not receive any cash, I keep getting run around and quite frankly, I don't believe I should have any penalties now that I have waited 6 weeks for something that should have taken 3 weeks, maybe 4 at most. It looks like I will not see any of this money until July, which will cause a major, and I mean major problem as I have to make the payment for vacation by the 26th. I should receive full value and no penalties for having to wait this long. This is not the first time I have had problems with this company, an incident in 2010 was so bad that I received this email from October 2010 from another order:

**. [redacted],

It has recently come to my attention that you have been unsatisfied with your most recent order with us. I have reviewed your video and I can clearly see that the way your order was handled was unsatisfactory.

In regards to the [redacted] Courtside, we do apologize you received the game in that condition. It is truly unacceptable that a game in that condition was available for sale. As soon as I was aware of this, we held a meeting to review our quality standards and I can assure you this will never happen again. We are sending you another copy of [redacted] Courtside, this one in a condition we can stand by.

As for the multiple package issue, there was an issue with the shipping department. When your order first shipped out, the shipping department accidentally incorrectly updated your order so you did not have a clear idea of when the second package actually shipped.

Again, it’s embarrassing that so many mistakes happened in the process of your purchase. I’m glad you mentioned your concerns and it helps us improve and continue to strive to provide our customers the best experience in retro gaming.

Thank you,

[redacted] Assistant Webmaster

eStarland

3150 Spring St Suit B

Fairfax VA 22031

www.eStarland.com

Phone: ###-###-####

The cash out after penalties is $256.81. I would like to file a complaint for waiting this long to have this paid without penalties which would make the total $333.85Desired Settlement: For waiting as long as I have and how I have been thrown like a rag doll, I would like all my penalties removed from the cash out and to have this check sent out immediately, before the 26th of this month. I need to have this paid off. I made the request on May 9th, and under usual circumstances it should have been paid out no later than June 1st. I didn't even start asking for an update until well after that date. I also mentioned to them in my last email, if they have issues like this they should let them know that delays are going to be insanely long. They do not inform customers of that, and for the second time in my 4 years dealing with them with cash outs, that a delay has gone to the point where I needed to go to the Revdex.com or come very close to do so. I want to be treated like a respected customer, not an after thought, and if they are that strapped for money, they need to revise their policies and not take trade ins for specific periods of time. There are a lot of customers, and there are a lot of trade ins, that is understandable, but having multiple issues is not good when this company has made loyal customers. I like this company, but this is not acceptable at all. Fix this immediately!

Business

Response:

Review: order# [redacted]

I bought 2 games off this website. the discs cames lose in shipping got damaged. I contacted there support they said no problem just return them and u will get a full refund. so I return them. they never bothered to contact me back when they got them. then when I contacted them to find out why they haven't refund me they refuse to provde me with the full refund promised saying that they think they discs are to badly damaged. well of couse they are damaged they came lose and were moving around in the shipping process.Desired Settlement: I want them to provide the full refund they told me that they would.

Review: I have started a cash-out process (order [redacted]) on 01/15/2013, in Estarland website. The estarland support said to me that the money would be in my paypal account ([redacted]) with at most 3 weeks. I waited the 3 weeks, but the money wasn't there yet. So, I sent a email to estarland support on 02/08/2013 and they responded me that the deadline for cash-out had changed and it was now 4-6 weeks. I waited again, and, yesterday made 6 weeks that the money is still not in my account. I sent another email to estarland support and all they answered was "We will forward your complaints to billing so they may process your order more quickly.". Not even a explanation about why the process is taking so long. It's just disrespectful for me a company that have a deadline and do not fulfill it. I have waited patiently, but now I'm really worried about they won't complete the cash-out process.Desired Settlement: My cash-out to be finnaly completed and the money in my paypal account.