As I mentioned before those prices were likely because they were either open box or refurbished products. The email they sent me specifically stated "We have some more open box and refurbished deals coming next week too, so keep an eye out for those!". And that is why there would only be 1 of something at that price at least for the expensive stuff. I'm pretty sure that Radian had to be a refurbished unit since there would be no reason to sell it at that cheap of a price to begin with. There was also a Victron Quattro listed couple weeks ago below what dealers are supposed to sell them for so that was likely a return/open box.
Altestore.com clearance
- Thread starter seneysolar
- Start date
Also sort of strange they had them entered in a good spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NIkLMrOaIKz7y8IXlTlSyyynwKWp9vE9a8H8GRqd-Dc
Although I do see they have an "open box and refurbished" page.. so who knows: https://www.altestore.com/store/open-box-refurb-deals-c4482/
BEWARE. If you want to be treated like total garbage, become an altestore customer!
I placed an order for a GS8048A with alte on Saturday at 9 AM. I had no idea that it was part of some "sale", "clearance", or "closeout", because on the website it just looked like any other item for sale. (Same on the invoice. No mention that it was a sale or clearance item) On Tuesday morning they called me, and told me it was a "Fraud Prevention" call and asked me to identify what I was buying. I did so, and they told me it would ship direct from the factory and the call ended. But two hours later they called me back and said it was a clearance item, they would not honor the price, and also that they would not (or could not?) cancel the charges on my card! I would have to call my credit card company and contest the charges. Needless to say, I was quite upset, and they immediately hung up on me.
I immediately filed a complaint with the BBB. In their response, altestore claimed that they immediately told me it was a clearance item, which is a lie, since the first conversation I had with them was a confirmation that my order would ship. They also claimed that it was a clearance item, which was also a lie, because they when I filed my complain they still had the GS8048A listed for sale on their website (except now the price was double.) Since I have filed my complaint with the BBB they have delisted the Outback Radian GS8048A, so who knows what's going on, but this stinks.
After the fact I discovered that they sent on an email at 2:00 AM on Saturday that had a google docs spreadsheet with "deals". Well I guess those deals were extremely short lived since they would not honor my order that was placed on Saturday at 9 AM, a mere 7 hours later!
P.S. The person I spoke to on the phone also admitted that they will not honor warranties on kilovault batteries that are sold during this sale.
I placed an order for a GS8048A with alte on Saturday at 9 AM. I had no idea that it was part of some "sale", "clearance", or "closeout", because on the website it just looked like any other item for sale. (Same on the invoice. No mention that it was a sale or clearance item) On Tuesday morning they called me, and told me it was a "Fraud Prevention" call and asked me to identify what I was buying. I did so, and they told me it would ship direct from the factory and the call ended. But two hours later they called me back and said it was a clearance item, they would not honor the price, and also that they would not (or could not?) cancel the charges on my card! I would have to call my credit card company and contest the charges. Needless to say, I was quite upset, and they immediately hung up on me.
I immediately filed a complaint with the BBB. In their response, altestore claimed that they immediately told me it was a clearance item, which is a lie, since the first conversation I had with them was a confirmation that my order would ship. They also claimed that it was a clearance item, which was also a lie, because they when I filed my complain they still had the GS8048A listed for sale on their website (except now the price was double.) Since I have filed my complaint with the BBB they have delisted the Outback Radian GS8048A, so who knows what's going on, but this stinks.
After the fact I discovered that they sent on an email at 2:00 AM on Saturday that had a google docs spreadsheet with "deals". Well I guess those deals were extremely short lived since they would not honor my order that was placed on Saturday at 9 AM, a mere 7 hours later!
P.S. The person I spoke to on the phone also admitted that they will not honor warranties on kilovault batteries that are sold during this sale.
I see I'm not the only one that got treated like trash. I encourage you to also file a report with the BBB of Massachusetts.
400bird
Solar Wizard
Do you realize the BBB is a business and mostly a scam?
They will wipe away most any bad reviews if your business is a paying member.
They will wipe away most any bad reviews if your business is a paying member.
seneysolar
Solar Enthusiast
Somethings not right here. Merchants can reverse credit card transactions easily or issue a credit back to the card all the same.
I would never recommend that a customer file a dispute unless i fully intended on fighting it as the merchant.
Disputes resulting in fraudulent charges are harmful to the merchant and can get their processing agreement pulled. No way would that be beneficial for Altestore.
Do you have any other details we are missing here?
The only other detail is that later in the day, they sent me an email saying that they were able to refund my credit card after all. So they lied about that too.
seneysolar
Solar Enthusiast
Ahh there it is
Which is why I also filed a complaint with the Massachusetts Attorney Generals Office, and I'm considering filing a complain with the Federal Trade Commission and also seriously considering a drive to MA so I can file a criminal complaint. I'm kind of like, upset, ya know?
And before you say it, yes I know the Massachusetts Attorney Generals Office is an even bigger scam than the BBB. (See: Regulatory Capture)
That seems a little extreme
I think i've managed to do this without overly doxing myself or the guilty at altE. That bit about "after we disconnected" is code for "after I hung up on you." In all fairness, and setting aside my extreme anger and bias (difficult!) I think (emphasis on THINK, i'm not certain) that what she wanted, was to have me give my C.C. number over the phone to simplify the refund process, which I had no intention of doing. When she realized I was not going to cooperate in my own screwing, she told me to call my credit card company and hung up on me.
As for being a bit extreme, you have no idea what it feels like to first be told OVER THE PHONE that you ARE going to receive your much desired Radian GS8048A, only to be called back 2 hours later and told NO you ARE NOT. I was beyond infuriated. How do you treat customers that way and stay in business? How is that first phone call not a binding verbal agreement that the sale would go through? It's ROTTEN to the core. And this was on TUESDAY for an order placed on SATURDAY. What were they doing all MONDAY? Planning out which people would get screwed? Or maybe just filling the orders that the Boss's friend had placed?
Sorry for all the CAPS and it seems I use the word IMMEDIATELY to often.
Attachments
Look I'm just as disappointed (it was a steal of a price), BUT if they had no more inventory to sell, then what are they to do? They can't sell something that they don't have.
Yeah they could have handled it a bit better than they did, but...
Yeah they could have handled it a bit better than they did, but...
Well, as I explained in my BBB complaint, there a bazillion better ways to handle this. 1) separate listing. You create a separate item in your online store for the clearance item, (since seemingly they still intend to dropship full-price radians in the future) 2) limit sales in your online store. almost ALL online store software does (or should) allow you to set a limit on sales of an item. 3) don't call your customer and tell them BS lies that you are shipping them the product when you arent. 4) don't wait FOUR DAYS to cancel on your customer. 5) don't hangup the phone on your customer, 6) if you make a mistake, explain the mistake to your customer, and if possible, OFFER SOME KIND OF COMPENSATION. Could they have not agreed to sell one at cost, or at a hugely discounted markup? NOPE they just told me to pound sand and hung up.
It's just bad all around, and at this point, I hope they go out of business.
seneysolar
Solar Enthusiast
Well lets just be fair, your first story reads that the only solution offered was to dispute it with your cc company. This was not true as you mentioned.
What actually happened was you were offered a refund but you refused to give her the card details to process it back to you. You were not being screwed, they were trying to correct the problem by giving your money back.
Please make sure when posting a complaint about a company that all the details are presented, otherwise its just a biased rant.
It is, because it CLEARLY stated in that listing that they were being sold as "FINAL SALE AND SOLD AS IS" (their emphasis, not mine) - see post #3 of this thread, or here, I copied it.
This is not true. As I said, that was my ASSUMPTION AFTER THE FACT. At no time did she make that clear. I told her I did not accept the fact that they were canceling my order, and she told me that in that case, I'd have to call my credit card company to get a refund. I didn't understand what she meant by that comment at the time, but I do know that it only made me more angry.
