Very bad service from tequipment.net

[divemetric]

I know tequipment.net is a sponsor of the eevblog, and a lot of people order from them because of it. Including me. Unfortunately it didn't go well at all for me. Hopefully this will help others avoid some headaches.

My first and only order was a disaster. They never sent an order acknowledgement or shipping notice, so I emailed to ask for them. I finally got a response 3 days later! All it was was an order acknowledgement, and no shipping notice. This led me to check and I noticed one of the items was on backorder, so I asked to partial ship (It would have been nice if they had told me about the backorder). The multimeter finally came 2 weeks after order. Upon first try, it didn't work.

I chatted with customer service and they told me to call the manufacturer and they wouldn't RMA it until then. And it would take 48-72 hours to process the RMA!!! I complained that had been 2 weeks already just for a broken piece of equipment and I would just like to get this over with.

They finally sent me the RMA and told me to give them MY shipping tracking number.  What? No prepaid shipping label?  They sold me a broken piece of equipment and expect me to pay to ship it back to them just so I can get a refund? So it'll cost me $10-$12 to end up in the same place I started, only with a few headaches. Thanks tequipment for wasting my time and money. And they still haven't cancelled the backorded item like I requested.

This customer service is an absolute joke. It's been a long time since I've seen it that bad. Probably since they get so much free business thrown their way from the blog, they feel they don't have to work to earn it or maintain it.

Sorry for the rant, but hopefully you can avoid similar problems by knowing what you're in for.

[mswhin63]

RMA's are really what let down a company. Verifying a fault is not a major issue as they need confirmation. As far as delivery cost TEquipment is a retailer not a manufacturer or distributor. I think only the manufacturer or distributor is required to provide postage cost but not sure on this one. The concept of buying through the Internet is the major problem as the requirement for delivery is on the onus of the buyer as they chose to order from a interstate or overseas seller instead of local. I know as I have studied heavily on the responsibility of the fair trading act in relation to warranty.
For me it is different I have to provide postage cost to and return because I do not provide local collection in the Perth area where I operate, but I usually get it sent back directly to the distributor anyway.

If it was an obvious fault and not a firmware related or can be clearly discussed on the phone that it is an obvious manufacturing fault, this I do where possible and sometime involve SKYPE to ensure that what I see is a problem. It is easy for me as my business deal predominately with the Deaf and Hard of hearing.

So in your situation you have some gripes especially time related, anything over 24 hours is bad, but I cannot justify your issue relating to delivery to the retailer.

[cimmo]

I chatted with customer service and they told me to call the manufacturer and they wouldn't RMA it until then.

It pisses me off when RETAILERS try to repudiate their legal responsibilities and obligations.
They are more than happy to act as middleman (and markup the price in the process) when it comes time to sell something from a manufacturer, but on the first sign of something wrong, they run away and try to get the customer to do all the work.

The solution is to buy direct from the manufacturer and cut out the middlemen, since they do nothing but increase the cost for no benefit.
So why can't we do that?

[divemetric]

Thanks for the input and for letting me rant.  I totally agree with you Cimmo.

I have to give credit where credit is due...This morning they sent a shipping label and cancelled the rest of the order. I wonder if this post was seen?

Anyway, it's 16 days later and I still have no meter.  And I'm out $10 for the original shipping.

[rx8pilot]

The solution is to buy direct from the manufacturer and cut out the middlemen, since they do nothing but increase the cost for no benefit.
So why can't we do that?

I am not sure why we are stuck in the past. As a small manufacturer for the past 10 years, I have had various relationships with distributors and dealers. All they really accomplish is adding cost and complexity to the transaction in my case. The increased sales volume does not add up to the discounts they require to operate. I ended up being the lowest paid person in the chain. All the while, I have no direct contact with the real customers.

I only sell direct now and it is better for my business and my customers. I know them and they know me. I get great feedback for future improvements. Best of all, I don't have to manufacture nearly as much stuff to make the same money. Less complexity.

[tequipment]

This is Evan.  I'm one of the owners at tequipment. I happen to be at dinner right now when I saw this.  Can you pm me your order number. I'll refund your shipping plus 25 dollars.  Also I want to go over this order with my customer service manager on Monday to understand it fully.  As for not providing value we are not a typical distributor.  One small note 55 percent of rma's are user error.  Do ask some to also verify with the manufacturer. This helps more than you might think.

I look forward to hearing from you.
Thanks
Evan
TEquipment.NET

[mswhin63]

If the original poster can verify this but if the fault is obvious, a learned retailer should know how to determine this before sending them to contact the manufacturer.

Important though I did not get the impression of the fault before the original poster said about contacting the manufacturer. Maybe he can enlighten us on the fault?

One small note 55 percent of rma's are user error.

[Zero999]

RMA's are really what let down a company. Verifying a fault is not a major issue as they need confirmation. As far as delivery cost TEquipment is a retailer not a manufacturer or distributor. I think only the manufacturer or distributor is required to provide postage cost but not sure on this one.

It depends on the jurisdiction. Here in the UK, the seller is obliged to pay for return postage on a product if it's faulty or not sold as described. The buyer only has to pay return postage if there's nothing wrong with it and they're only returning it because they changed their mind.

[AlxDroidDev]

I second divemetric's rant about TEquipment.

I've had nothing but trouble with TEquipment.net, and my order was a mess. To me, the impression left is that they are quite disorganized. I'll make a post about it as well, detailing my problems with them.

[Shock]

I second divemetric's rant about TEquipment.
I've had nothing but trouble with TEquipment.net, and my order was a mess. To me, the impression left is that they are quite disorganized. I'll make a post about it as well, detailing my problems with them.

It's Christmas time, I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive them and their 6% discount.

[AlxDroidDev]

I second divemetric's rant about TEquipment.
I've had nothing but trouble with TEquipment.net, and my order was a mess. To me, the impression left is that they are quite disorganized. I'll make a post about it as well, detailing my problems with them.

It's Christmas time, I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive them and their 6% discount.

Shock, I don't know if you've done busines with them, but their 6% discount is just not worth the trouble and annoyance that is having to deal with their customer support every single day just because their warehouse staff can't handle an order properly or give accurate info on stock.

[jmegar324]

I'm still waiting on that discount code lol 

[jmegar324]

Did we just become best friends? ... Yep

[tequipment]

Hey you have an owner here at 12:42am looking and this.  Please drop me a PM with any issues and we will fix them right away. This kind of service is how we stand behind our customers.
Thanks
Evan Cirelli

evan@tequipment.net
Vice Preisdent TEquipment.NET

[HackedFridgeMagnet]

Well divemetric has a grand total of two posts in the forum and hasn't even responded in his own thread for over a month. Let alone given details of the fault.
Wonder what his problem is?