Protocentral.com - horrible customer service

avi

Skilled
The way people behave and treat customers pisses me off x_x

On 30th of May I ordered a breadboard along with several other products from this site: Protocentral.com. Yesterday I received all the items and to my surprise the breadboard was a generic brand and wasn't of the company it mentioned.

So called them evening around 5. The guy picks up says, 'yes sir, we are sorry. Sparkfun has stopped selling breadboards and we do not have in stock. So we sent you something different'. I said, 'why you didn't you notify me this earlier'. And he says, 'sir this is some simple breadboard it doesn't matter if its sparkfun or generic. Its only of 150Rs. So it doesn't matter. As its low amount, dont worry. This breadboard also works fine. The quality of breadboard is good, it has aluminium' And then I said, 'no I paid hoping to get sparkfun and I want it. Or else refund my amount'. And he says, 'oh, my boss will scold me sir. the breadboard is okay, please use it'. I say, no I want refund. he murmurs something and then he says, 'okay send us an email, my boss will see and decide what to do.'

So I send them an email in the evening. I am sharing the whole conversation here. At first they were not ready for refund, then they agree, but they don't want to pay for shipping. And then they agree for paying for it, buy say its a small amount why are you making big argument out of it.

I feel like a big idiot now. How does it matter whether its small amount or big amount? Shouldn't they honor it regardless?

Hi,

As we spoke on phone, I am sending you this mail.

Order num: FBIYEZKXH

The bread board I received is NOT from Sparkfun which I expected to be. This is a generic breadboard.

Do let me know what can be done in this regard.

Thank you,

Dear Mr. XXX:

The breadboard that we have is the one from Sparkfun only. Please note that Sparkfun does make its own breadboards, they sell only generic breadboards.

You can check their site if you would like to, following is the link:

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12002

If you wish, you can even contact Sparkfun and check with them.

With Regards, ProtoCentral Sales

Its not from spark as I have used it in past.

It's a generic chinese made, something like this: http://www.aliexpress.com/item/5pcs...ransparent-crystal-Breadboard/1772147446.html

and yes, even your employee to whom I spoke with phone, agreed that its not sparkfun. He clearly mentioned that Sparkfun has stopped sending that and you had to send something different. He also mentioned that it was a mistake that website is not updated and still mentions it as sparkfun.

Thank you,

Dear Mr. XXXX:

Please note that Sparkfun buys these boards from different suppliers each time, so there might be small changes in the look of the breadboard. Also, there are big differences in quality between what you mentioned and this breadboard that you have purchased. What our employee mentioned is that the breadboard is not made by Sparkfun.

If you do not wish to use this and buy directly from Sparkfun instead, please return this to us and we would refund the money to you.

With Regards, ProtoCentral Sales

Thank you. Please explain me how refund process works.

Dear XXX:

Please return the item to us at the address give in the below link:

http://www.protocentral.com/content/10-contact

Once we receive the unused item, we will issue a refund for the amount paid for the breadboard only (Rs. 159) to the same mode in which the payment was originally made.

With Regards, ProtoCentral Sales

Hi,

Will I be covered shipping charges as well?

We will reimburse shipping charges only if the shipment is defective. Since this is not the case here, we would not be able to pay for the shipping.

You sent me a wrong product thats why I am asking for refund. I am even okay with replacement if you can send me genuine sparkfun breadboard.

However I don't see why I have to pay for shipping. It will cost me around 50. Then whats the point of getting a refund?

You did a mistake of sending wrong product, so you should rectify it.

Thank you,

This was not a wrong product. We have shipped exactly what it says on the product web page. You had made the choice before ordering. We cannot pay for shipping.

Yes, its a wrong product. Its I ordered expecting to be from sparkfun and its not.

and I now I see you have changed the changed the product model. Earlier you were very sure and saying its of sparkfun, but then why change now?

The current link: http://www.protocentral.com/components/686-breadboard-self-adhesive-white.html Old link: http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...adhesive-white.html+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=in

Isn't this plain cheating with customers? It would be easier for both of us if you accept your mistake and settle this matter.

Thank you,

We do not have time to argue over such a small amount. Please ship it back and we would pay the shipping too.

But in future I request that you check with the manufacturer before accusing anyone blindly. Why don't you order from Sparkfun and see what you get? We had to change the part number since we do not want to have arguments like this anymore. We are in this business because we are interested in furthering the cause of open source hardware and not to cheat customers as a lot of other sites do, we hope you understand that.

I request that you please not order from us anymore.

Its not about small or big amount. Amount here doesn't matter at all. And if you do not have time, then you shouldn't have screwed up at all! You should have sent me the correct part or should have updated your website earlier. It would have been okay if you had notified me about it when I placed the order, before shipping.

You are one of the sparkfun distributors and thats why I ordered from you. And if you are selling some different product then why you use sparkfun's name?

And the reason you are giving for changing the part number isn't valid at all. If you really have genuine product, then mention it one the page! We are having this argument at first place because you did not send me the correct product!
 
mostly I am gonna sue them in consumer court for false advertisement.

will be taking help from Akosha. Costs only 600 bucks anyways.
 
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kitsnspares is another problematic site. there are plenty of online electronic stores to mention here. most of them don't have a payment gateway setup; so the process is a bit stone-age. good ones charge min Rs 99 as shipping charge.
 
there are plenty of online electronic stores to mention here. most of them don't have a payment gateway setup; so the process is a bit stone-age. good ones charge min Rs 99 as shipping charge.
Agreed. You have to do NEFT and keep waiting :S
 
Thats why I order from FK, even if it requires me to wait for a week + pay 3-5% extra.
Yes same here. I had super slow service from amazon.
Besides i already had a very good experience from FK. Best part was they honor the 30 days return policy without any questions asked and give you a new item. they would come and collect it from your house.
Also Once i had ordered a set of books and the Post office misplaced it.
Fk received order Receipt Status as recieved from postoffice.
But then when i told FK that i had not recieved the books, they immediatelty sent me a new set of them.
Again no questions asked. Perhaps they saw my previous track record. I had been purchasing a lot of items from them since 2009.
Even though their prices for some products are bit high, but then i get peace of mind.
The last product i ordered was N7 2013 32GB LTE version. It was available for atleast 1 k less in other sites like amazon, but I still ordered from FK.
 
But at the same time I've been informed by a few people that they do mess up their pre-orders(gaming) almost routinely.
 
I asked my friend, local lawyer here. The company is from Bangalore, however their T&C, they come within legal jurisdiction of India, so I can sue them in my local court itself. However, like normal court procedures, everytime both the parties have to be present in the court. So, these guys have to travel from Banaglore to my city, every time (around 12 hours). Well thats a good start.

According to my friend I can sue them for false misleading advertisement, selling counterfeit goods, cheating customers and treating customers badly/insulting them.

He is asking me to file a case for amount of 1 lac. I was like :O He says, court simply will give you 1 lac, but once it settles, you will probably end up with 30-25K. Not bad. And it will be a good lesson for them.

anyone here would like to give some inputs?
 
I asked my friend, local lawyer here. The company is from Bangalore, however their T&C, they come within legal jurisdiction of India, so I can sue them in my local court itself. However, like normal court procedures, everytime both the parties have to be present in the court. So, these guys have to travel from Banaglore to my city, every time (around 12 hours). Well thats a good start.

According to my friend I can sue them for false misleading advertisement, selling counterfeit goods, cheating customers and treating customers badly/insulting them.

He is asking me to file a case for amount of 1 lac. I was like :O He says, court simply will give you 1 lac, but once it settles, you will probably end up with 30-25K. Not bad. And it will be a good lesson for them.

anyone here would like to give some inputs?

Sorry for the noob question, but will the court give you 25-30k in damages for a product worth 150 bucks? I understand you can add mental anguish etc to the case but 200 times the actual amount? Also, what about lawyer fees? Your friend is going to be doing it but is he willing to do it pro bono?
 
no no.. I meant Protocentral has to pay some fine if found guilty (and it will be) and also I will be paid damages from that money. Court will not pay from their packet. And yes, I do end up with big amount as I will be spent 8-9 months in the case I have to pay something to my friend, howeever we haven't spoken anything about it... I wouldn't mind sharing half the amount. Its not exactly about money, its about sending a message.

Once I file case, I have to spend 8-9 months minimum, sometimes the case may close early, or else it can go on for 1-2 years. So I have to think whether its worth my time or not. Thats the only thing stopping me.
 
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But another lawyer friend told me that consumer court cases got to max 3 months . Sometimes finished in a week . Company will appeal thats for sure so will prolong . But nobody comes to your city to fight it out . They will appoint a lawyer to fight on their behalf in your city and will not come to your city each time
 
@avi I have bought electronics items from a few online stores. EmbeddedMarket.com, ventor.co.in and a seller on eBay(forgot the name. If you want, will look him up).
For small stuff like breadboard, resistors, popular IC's/microcontrollers, I visit my local electronic market.
 
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