gpodio
Premium Member
First off I don't want this to be taken as a negative thread, I have been and will continue to be a satisfied customer of MD, they have served me and several of my family members very well. In my last order however, I ran accross a minor issue that I am bringing up in the hope that it can help improve the way DOA items are handled.
In my last order I had a bunch of small items including a GFCI power adapter which I wanted to add as a further layer of protection seeing my son is starting to venture more and more around the tanks. When it arrived I read the warning printed on the back to test the unit periodically and to not use it if the test button does not trip the unit. Well unfortunately the test button was dead and power remained on regardless of what I pressed. It did eventually trip it once but after playing with it for 10-15 minutes, didn't do it again since. So no big deal, certain MD would send me a replacement and make arrangements to have the dead one sent back, I called MD.
To my surprise I was initially asked to contact the manufacturer to verify if the unit was still operable or not. I responded that based on what the warning says on the back and the dead test button I would not feel safe using this item regardless of what the manufacturer may say. I assume that if the test button does not work the circuit may not trip in the event that a problem arises. The reply I got was "Not necessarily".... OK so perhaps that's the case but I'm not willing to take the risk, not with the family, I take plenty of risks elsewhere but this is too close to home to consider. So luckily the person on the phone said that within the 30 days of purchasing they do take responsibility for faulty equipment and to go ahead and send it back to them for evaluation. After it has been evaluated and judged faulty, they would send me a replacement.
Although I knew the policy on returning goods (restocking fees and paying for the return shipping) I did not realize that the customer is also responsible to cover costs of returning DOA merchandise! This came as a shock to me as other online sources have sent replacement items immediately (charging my CC of course) including pre-paid return sticker to have the DOA item returned to them. After that, the charge was credited once they receive the item and verify that it was indeed faulty. Perhaps it is wrong to assume this would be the case eslsewhere, but I have been lucky to date to have had this kind of treatment from every online store I have purchased faulty goods from.
Now that I am back on my feet (been ill), I have this piece sitting on my desk and between boxing it up, bringing it to the post office, paying 50% of the item's original cost to send it back for a hopefully good unit... I don't know.... I'm ready to just go get one at home depot and forget the incident. I mean if the next one comes in DOA I'll have paid twice the price to get another one shipped to me! I've had a DOA 400W MH setup delivered last year by another vendor and thank heavens they handled it the way they did, shipping that puppy back would have been expensive for me!
Luckily for me this is an inexpensive item I can get anywhere, I only added it to my basket seeing I was ordering other items. Whether I do decide to send it back or just throw it out it's not a big loss, and honestly I'm starting to have doubts about the quality of this item and think I should probably just pay more for a better unit considering it's intended purpose... However it does bring up concerns in regards to future orders which may contain oversize or heavy items. I mean if I get a dead light fixture or pendant setup from MD, I am going to be out of some serious money to get it replaced! This is where I have concerns and may have no alternative but to look elsewhere for large or heavy items.
I hope one day MD will review this DOA policy and perhaps make special policies for oversized items or something that may help customers not incur any costs for DOA items. Personally I don't mind spending a little more to have this kind of insurance, if providing such service means a slight price increase I'm one of the ones that would welcome it arms open.
Again, please do take this as constructive criticism and nothing more. I think you have one of the best online retail stores in the business. Seeing there is always room for improvement this could be an area worth reviewing.
Best regards and thank you for taking the time to read all this.
In my last order I had a bunch of small items including a GFCI power adapter which I wanted to add as a further layer of protection seeing my son is starting to venture more and more around the tanks. When it arrived I read the warning printed on the back to test the unit periodically and to not use it if the test button does not trip the unit. Well unfortunately the test button was dead and power remained on regardless of what I pressed. It did eventually trip it once but after playing with it for 10-15 minutes, didn't do it again since. So no big deal, certain MD would send me a replacement and make arrangements to have the dead one sent back, I called MD.
To my surprise I was initially asked to contact the manufacturer to verify if the unit was still operable or not. I responded that based on what the warning says on the back and the dead test button I would not feel safe using this item regardless of what the manufacturer may say. I assume that if the test button does not work the circuit may not trip in the event that a problem arises. The reply I got was "Not necessarily".... OK so perhaps that's the case but I'm not willing to take the risk, not with the family, I take plenty of risks elsewhere but this is too close to home to consider. So luckily the person on the phone said that within the 30 days of purchasing they do take responsibility for faulty equipment and to go ahead and send it back to them for evaluation. After it has been evaluated and judged faulty, they would send me a replacement.
Although I knew the policy on returning goods (restocking fees and paying for the return shipping) I did not realize that the customer is also responsible to cover costs of returning DOA merchandise! This came as a shock to me as other online sources have sent replacement items immediately (charging my CC of course) including pre-paid return sticker to have the DOA item returned to them. After that, the charge was credited once they receive the item and verify that it was indeed faulty. Perhaps it is wrong to assume this would be the case eslsewhere, but I have been lucky to date to have had this kind of treatment from every online store I have purchased faulty goods from.
Now that I am back on my feet (been ill), I have this piece sitting on my desk and between boxing it up, bringing it to the post office, paying 50% of the item's original cost to send it back for a hopefully good unit... I don't know.... I'm ready to just go get one at home depot and forget the incident. I mean if the next one comes in DOA I'll have paid twice the price to get another one shipped to me! I've had a DOA 400W MH setup delivered last year by another vendor and thank heavens they handled it the way they did, shipping that puppy back would have been expensive for me!
Luckily for me this is an inexpensive item I can get anywhere, I only added it to my basket seeing I was ordering other items. Whether I do decide to send it back or just throw it out it's not a big loss, and honestly I'm starting to have doubts about the quality of this item and think I should probably just pay more for a better unit considering it's intended purpose... However it does bring up concerns in regards to future orders which may contain oversize or heavy items. I mean if I get a dead light fixture or pendant setup from MD, I am going to be out of some serious money to get it replaced! This is where I have concerns and may have no alternative but to look elsewhere for large or heavy items.
I hope one day MD will review this DOA policy and perhaps make special policies for oversized items or something that may help customers not incur any costs for DOA items. Personally I don't mind spending a little more to have this kind of insurance, if providing such service means a slight price increase I'm one of the ones that would welcome it arms open.
Again, please do take this as constructive criticism and nothing more. I think you have one of the best online retail stores in the business. Seeing there is always room for improvement this could be an area worth reviewing.
Best regards and thank you for taking the time to read all this.
