Overstock.com - trouble making monitor puchase - shipped laser jet printer by mistake - ongoing trouble getting monitor

Complaints.com received the following consumer follow-up message on October 21, 2002:

From:

RE: Overstock.com

{Hello, can you please add this to the end of my posting...? Its the results of my final contact with this company concerning my monitor... Thankyou for your time...}

Hello...

Well I finally received my monitor 7 days later and you wont believe what Overstock.com did to me... First let me explain about the way the printer that they originally had sent me was packaged... It came in a box with the printer itself wrapped & set inside of a bag, and then placed within the box. The box itself had individual bags that surrounded the printer... each bag had been filled with a liquefied foam that hardens into styrofoam, inturn keeping the contents secure within the box... When I went to remove the printer it was a simple matter of removing each of the individual bags of hardened styrofoam, and then removing the printer... Nice & simple.

Now let me tell you how I received my monitor...

I opened up the box and found that the top piece of bagged styrofoam was easy to remove... but then what I found can be only taken as being "Deliberately Done"..! Instead of having the monitor surrounded by individual bags of hardened styrofoam. The monitor itself had been placed inside of a bag and then "THE ENTIRE SURROUNDING AREA OF THE BOX HAD BEEN FILED WITH THE LIQUEFIED FOAM, SO THAT ONCE IT WAS HARDENED IT WAS GLUED TO THE OUTER EDGES OF THE ENTIRE BOX AND INTURN, HAD FILLED IN ALL THE GROOVES & CREVICES OF THE MONITOR SO THAT THERE WAS ABSOLUTELY "NO-WAY" TO REMOVE THE MONITOR WITHOUT HAVING TO TOTALLY RIP THE BOX APART AND CUT AWAY THE HARDENED STYROFOAM!

AFTER 20 MINUTES OF TRYING TO CUT THIS HEAVY-DUTY BOX & STYROFOAM APART AND I REMOVED MY MONITOR I FOUND THAT THE ENTIRE FRONT SECTION OF THE MONITOR WAS BROKEN APART FROM THE BACK SECTION OF THE MONITOR!!! BUT NOW BECAUSE OF ME HAVING BEEN FORCED TO CUT THE BOX APART, ASWELL AS THE STYROFOAM I WAS, ACCORDING TO OVERSTOCK.COM'S RETURN POLICY, UNABLE TO RETURN THE MONITOR TO THEM BECAUSE IT STATES THAT ALL RETURNS HAVE TO BE SENT BACK IN THEIR ORIGINAL PACKAGING AS IT WAS SENT OUT OR THAT IT WOULD BE SENT BACK TO THE PURCHASER AND THE REFUND WOULD BE DENIED!!! MAD AS HELL, I CALLED THEM BACK TO FIND OUT WHAT THE JOKE WAS AND I WAS TOLD THAT THEY WOULD TAKE THE DAMAGED MONITOR THAT WAS SENT TO ME. BACK...

BUT THAT I WOULD HAVE TO GO OUT AND FIND SOMEWHERE THAT "I COULD PURCHASE" A LARGE ENOUGH BOX TO HOLD THE MONITOR, AND WOULD HAVE TO PURCHASE SOME SORT OF PACKING MATERIAL SO THAT THE MONITOR IS HELD SECURELY IN PLACE AND THEN I WOULD HAVE TO DROP IT OFF AT UPS, AGAIN,.. AND ONCE THEY RECEIVED THE MONITOR. THEY WOULD THEN SEND ME ANOTHER MONITOR OUT...!!! SO NOW I'M IN THE PROCESS OF HAVING TO SPEND MORE OF MY MONEY & TIME INORDER FOR ME TO BE ABLE TO SEND THEM BACK THEIR BROKEN MONITOR, AND THEN WAIT, AGAIN, FOR MY MONITOR TO GET HERE... I'M EXPECTING A WASHING MACHINE THIS TIME... WHAT A JOKE THIS COMPANY IS!

Complaints.com received the following consumer message on October 14, 2002:

From:

RE: Overstock.com - trouble making monitor puchase - shipped laser jet printer by mistake - ongoing trouble getting monitor

This was my first attempt at an "Online Purchase", from any company... I wish I had not decided to make my first attempt with "Overstock.com"... My wife & I had decided to try buying a new or in this case, a refurbished monitor... After looking long an hard I finally decided to go with "Overstock.com"... What a mistake! First off, when I ordered my chosen monitor it had a discription of "Nokia 21" 445xi Plus". And then after I made the purchase with my credit card and I later recieved my comfirmation via email I found that the "Plus" in the discription had been dropped. I immediately attempted sending them a reply to the comfirmation inorder to see what was going on. After 3 emails over the next 24 hours I hadn't heard a word.

Then all of a sudden I get a reply letting me know that my monitor had been picked up by FedEx... I immediatly called them to see why they hadn't answered my inquiry into the monitors discription change... I was told that they don't see any mention of a "Plus" version on my monitor offered on their site and that I must have been mistaken... Whether or not it was a good decision or not I wonder now, but I said Ok, maybe I misread something. Then 4 days later my monitor finally arrives and excited as I was I signed for it and continued to bring it in my house an open the box... "To find a Laserjet Printer" instead! I immediately called them to find out what was

going on and was told that their shipping area must have made a mistake...ooops, sorry... Then when I asked them what was going to happen now I was told that "I" would have to box the printer back up, and "I"

would have to drive the 15 miles to the nearest UPS to drop it off.

And then when I asked them what I was suppose to do about a package label I was told that they would email me an RMA number followed by a UPS mailing label that I would have to print out and tape to the box. Then I explained to them that where as I was suppose to be getting my new monitor today, that I sold my old monitor the day before inorder to try an put some money back into my account where as I had been laid off for that last 6 monhts...

It was suggested that I borrow one from a neighbor. Well once I found a neighbor that was willing to let me borrow their monitor I went online to check my mail just to find an email with an RMA number like I was told... But when it came to the UPS shipping label I was told that I would be recieving the label within the next few days! I called Overstock.com back to again see what was going on.

They told me that it was out of their hands and that it should be there soon. I then asked for a manager and explained to her about the fact that my computer was my only means of getting money into my house for my family and that I had sold my monitor ect, and that I needed the monitor that I paid $322. for. She then told me that I could purchase a new one if I wanted and it would be sent out by the next business day...at a cost of another $322. I then told her that I could barely afford the one I already purchased, and that there was no way I could afford another one.

She then told me that they wheren't going to send me my "Purchased" monitor until they recieved the printer!

that they mistakely sent to me... which wouldn't be for another 4 - 5 days. And then it would be another 4 - 5 days before I recieved my monitor.

Then when I said that I had enough, and that I needed a monitor "NOW" so that I can get some cash in the house,.. and that I just wanted my money refunded to my credit card, they then told me that they wouldn't be able to "Begin" the refund process until they received their printer back, which again wasn't going to be for atleast 4 - 5 days. And when I asked them what they ment by "Begin" the process. I was told that once they had the printer that they would put me in for a refund and that it would take anywhere from 10 - 14 days before my credit card would be credited!

By this time I was so mad that I again asked for a manager and was given the women that I spoke with earlier, I can't remember her name, but she was at extension # 3488. She then told me that she spoke with the shipping manager who's department screwed up my order and they came to an agreement with me where by the shipping Manager would send out my monitor "Immediately" once the printer was shown to be "In Transit" with UPS. I said, Ok... that would work. When I got back from my trip to UPS to drop off the printer I had the Tracking number for the printer and proceeded to call OverStock to let them know. The woman at extension 3488 then told me that she would call me first thing in the morning with my new "Tracking Number" information ect... and that I should expect a call before lunch, Mountain Time. Where as she didn't think that the printer would be in transit till the next business day. The next day came, and so did lunch time, Mountain time... I waited till 1:pm "Their Time" to recieve my call. I finally ended up having to call an find out what was going on. The woman at extension 3488 told me that it does show that the printer is in transit and that my monitor should be sent out "Later This Afternoon..." I then

informed her that according to UPS's online tracking information, that the printer was "IN TRANSIT" at 7:PM (their time) the night Before, and reminded her of our agreement to have to monitor shipped "Immediately"

upon notification of such and that it had been in transit for "18 Hours" already.

She then told me that she would contact the shipping department and give me a call back before she left for the day, which was in a couple of hours. 4:PM came and being that 3 hours had gone by since my last contact, I called again, just to find that she had left for the day. I then was given the number for their shipping department an was told "again" that it should be out by later this afternoon and that, "again", I would get a call from them as soon as it was shipped.

Now came 6:PM and I still hadn't heard anything so again I called, and again, I was told that they had gone home for the day. Now this being Friday. If I hadn't found anything out, I was mostlikely going to be waiting till Monday to find out anything so I demanded to speak to someone in charge. I was then told that my monitor had "infact" been shipped and that as for a "Tracking" number, that they would send me

one "Later". Its been 3 days now and I still haven't heard a word, whether it be from a phone call, or email... This morning, 3 days since my last contact, I went as far as to call FedEx aswell as UPS in Witchata Kansas which are the depo's that would have picked up my monitor from Overstock, and I was told that "Neiter FedEx nor UPS" had gained posession of Any packages with my address as the destination... I've called Overstock again about the lie's and I've been told that "I'll get my monitor, when it gets there...sorry for the inconvience..." And they hung up the phone...

Based on my experience and personal opinion:

"I WARN ALL POTENTIAL OVERSTOCK.COM CUSTOMERS... .. DO SOME INTERNET SEARCHING FOR COMPLAINTS AGAINST OVERSTOCK.COM... THE MORE I SEARCH, THE MORE I FIND..."