Rock & Soul Electronics Inc.

Review: I made an online purchase of a Odyssey FZ12MIX Flight Zone DJ Mixer Case that website stated had 12 in stock and ready for immediate delivery as well as free standard shipping anywhere in the continental United States. The vendor had none in stock and refused to expedite or adjust order and told me first it would be a week, then when I contacted them again they said it would be a minimum of two weeks. In addition there are banners all over their website that state "free standard shipping inside the lower 48 states" but I was also charged for shipping. I contacted the vendor to resolve the issue and even gave them several suggestions as to how they can resolve but they refused and even hung up on me when I told them their website and employees mislead me. Basically, their website/company is running a bait and switch. When I received their email stating they were out of stock I pointed out to them that the site still shows free shipping and lists 11 of the product still in stock. Also of note, one of their employees [redacted] admitted to me verbally on the phone that they don't actually have "free shipping" if the product is anything other than vinyl records. The website does not identify that fact at all. Again, he basically admitted that the free shipping is a scam.Desired Settlement: I want what I ordered and I want it shipped at their own cost. I want it shipped directly from the manufacturer at their own expense since it was there error (not mine) and I prefer it be deal with now...like today.

Business

Response:

This customer placed an order with us on the August [redacted], 2013. Within less than 24 hours of the order, we had realized the product had run out of stock in our store. At the time, we were transitioning over to a new website. Therefore, some of our inventory on that one was not up to date. Once it had come to our attention that the item was out of stock, we took the item down right away. Please understand we DO have a 5 day handling time, yet this customer was contacted less than 24 hours later. Also, the customer was never charged, His card was only authorized. The card isn't charged until the item is shipped, which obviously it had not. We wrote a polite email explaining the situation. We gave the customer the option of waiting a week until the item is back in stock, or to cancel the order and issue a refund. The customer replied in a very rude response, accusing us of lying, and demanding we send the product immediately. Then he called our store and continued to give our employees a very hard time. The answer was simple. We did not have the item in stock. We can not ship an item if it is not available. We even called our representatives at Odyssey to have this product drop-shipped to him, but Odyssey didn't even have the product in stock. We called multiple other DJ stores in the area, seeing if they can do us the favor of drop-shipping the item, and once again, no one had it in stock. We then offered a higher end case for $20 more, which would essentially be below our cost price. [redacted] continued to refuse this offer, as well as the refund, and demanded we send a product that we didn't have. In the end, to put an end to the harassment of emails and phone calls, we explained as nicely as we could that there was nothing further we could do to help, and then cancelled the invoice as well as the authorization.

This is a situation where we did EVERYTHING in our power to help this customer. I understand that this product was erroneously listed on our website, but he was contacted almost immediately after the order was placed. Unfortunately, no matter how hard we tried, there was nothing further we could do to make him happy. The amount held on his card was fully released within days of the order. I'm not sure what else we could have done at that point.

Review: I had purchased a Samsung Galaxy Young phone (model: GT-S5360L) ([redacted] at Rock and Soul on [redacted] May, 2013 for $160.00 USD. The phone had died on Monday* July I suspected due to very low battery. I attempted to the charge the phone numerous times as well as switch it on but to no avail. On Wednesday July* (around 4:30-4:40PM), I visited Rock and Soul and notified one of the staff, who seemed to speak very little English but was present at the date and time of purchase. He proceeded to attempt to charge the cellphone again and told me I would have to send the phone to Samsung. Perplexed, I continued to ask what that meant for me. The man then looked at the booklet (he took the Spanish version) that comes with the phone in the box to call Samsung, he then said that the Samsung office is closed and that I should come back on Friday (July *,2013) before 5PM. I went back to Rock and Soul on Friday July * at about 11:15AM until around 1:45PM. During that time I had spoken to four staff members. Prior to entering the store I had gone through at the booklet to look for the number that the man who I had spoken with on Wednesday (* July) had called and it has become apparent that there was no number to begin with. The man had pretended to call a non-existent number before he told me that their offices were closed and that I should return on Friday. The first man I spoke to on July, * said I should wait for [redacted] (sp?) to arrive. I am assuming [redacted] is the name of the man who sold me the faulty phone and therefore would be able to help me. A few minutes later he said that [redacted] would arrive in an hour upon which I proceeded to ask what the time was, and it was 11:15AM. About half an hour later I was told [redacted] is running late, and that I should come back in an hour, I was adamant in staying and waiting for [redacted] and told them that I would wait. A few minutes later another staff member approaches me to ask if they could assist me with anything, he then takes the receipt and speaks to a fellow coworker, he then comes back stating that I would have to wait for [redacted]. The same man then tells me that he did not want me to "waste my time" and told he may not show up, next I am told he may be sick. They then kept telling me to "come back tomorrow (Saturday) or Sunday or whenever you have time". I spoke to four staff members in hopes that someone would be able to help me, of which none of them would point me to a manager or authority when I requested one. One of the staff members also told me call a number on their receipt which I found strange given the situation. The last staff member I spoke to was a woman who told me the same as the others, that she could not do anything about it because it was past the return policy of 7 days and that they would not be able to take back "used phone". I continued to question them as to why I was to wait for [redacted] in order to be told to contact Samsung? I felt, there was a lack of consistency, consideration and no customer service at all. I also feel very deceived and lied to especially with regards to the gentleman who pretended to call Samsung. I am appreciative in advance for any help I may receive hereon.Desired Settlement: I understand that I am not entitled to a refund, I do however, feel strongly that I deserve an exchange for a non defective cellphone device.

Business

Response:

We sold this customer a brand new, unopened Samsung Galaxy Y. This was neither used or

refurbished. It is our store policy that all returns must be done within 7

days of purchase. If the device purchased is understood to be defective, the

customer then needs to take their defective device over to Samsung, as it is covered

under their warranty. We do sometimes try to work with the customer and offer

an exchange after 30 days. This was, however, purchased on May **, 2013. The

customer tried to return this nearly 2 months later on July [redacted], 2013.

Nonetheless, [redacted] tried to work with this customer to find out the problem

with the Cell Phone. He then tried calling an ACTUAL phone number, despite

the customer's accusations that it was a fake number. He attempted to call

Sicosun, our AUTHORIZED Samsung dealer. He called them to work with a

possible return or exchange on the product. Because this was a holiday week,

nobody answered. That is whe n he requested for her to return on July [redacted].

Customer returned on this day and unfortunately [redacted] was late to work due

to feeling sick. That is when I, [redacted], stepped in to help the customer

instead of having her wait around for [redacted]. I explained our policy and

suggested that she contact Samsung directly to issue a return. The customer

still wanted to wait for him. I called him multiple times to see when he will

get in. Unfortunately, he was too sick and had to call out for the day. The

customer then suspected that we were secretly telling him not to come in,

when this was simply untrue.

We later got in touch with Sicosun the following Monday, after the holiday.

We were informed from the dealer that he could not take any returns past the

30 day deadline. Therefore, we are simply unable to take back this phone

without losing the full value of the device. This customer is, however,

covered under a full warranty with Samsung. After 30 days have passed, it is

up to the customer to take this problem up with Samsung directly. All

information is provided on their website, where she can conduct the exchange.

Because she arrived with this problem over 30 days past the purchase date,

there is nothing further our company can do. We really did try to offer our

help, but she was unwilling to cooperate.