NEVER BUY ANYTHING FROM THESE COMPANIES

All of us have had bad experiences over things we have purchased.  Most companies have made it very difficult to contact them in order to voice our complaints.  However, now that we have access to an endless amount of electronic resources, it seems to me that there should be easier ways to accomplish this, as well as to inform the general public about these useless products and companies.  With that in mind, I am sharing with you some of my own buying experiences which I have come to regret.  Some sell their products in stores, while others sell theirs online.  All of us have had bad experiences over things we have purchased.  Most companies have made it very difficult to contact them in order to voice our complaints.  However, now that we have access to an endless amount of electronic resources, it seems to me that there should be easier ways to accomplish this, as well as to inform the general public about these useless products and companies.  With that in mind, I am sharing with you some of my own buying experiences which I have come to regret.  Some sell their products in stores, while others sell theirs online.

1) Jupiter musical instruments:  I paid over a thousand dollars for a new Jupiter trombone and was astounded at the poor workmanship that was put into this instrument.  It performs no better than the junky student trombones one can find anywhere on Ebay or Amazon for less than two hundred dollars.  The tone quality was extremely poor, as was the intonation.  Worst of all, the slide action was absolutely horrible; I tried every conceivable type of slide lubrication on the market, and the slide still did not move freely; you can hold the instrument upright with the slide unlocked, and the slide will not fall.  I remember owning a King 2B tenor trombone back in the 1970s and experiencing the same problems.  I now realize from personal experience that Jupiters are even worse than Kings!  This company should be forced out of existence, and the best way for that to happen is to expose them for what they are.  I have never been so disillusioned with a highly-regarded company in my life as I was with my Jupiter trombone.  Caveat emptor!

2) Littleton Coin Company:  I collect Liberty Seated dimes, so I checked out what this company had to offer.  I found they were selling common dates in ordinary condition for $44 apiece, dates of their choice.  Considering that one may find common LS dimes on Ebay, Amazon, or just about anywhere else for less than ten dollars, it is obvious to me that this is yet another shyster outfit.  They prey on those who are not collectors and try to convince them to take advantage of their “special” offers.

3) Advantage for cats:  This is a highly-touted formula that is supposed to kill fleas on cats.  The first thing to be said concerns the ridiculously exorbitant price.  Since my sixteen-year-old cat had a serious flea infestation, I went ahead and paid over $43 for the treatment.  Worse was to come.  When I got home, I tried to open the package.  I was unable to do this!  I then noticed that the package had instructions on how to open it.  Instructions just to open the package!  That should tell any thinking person right off the bat that something is wrong.  If that were not enough, the instructions were poorly written and virtually indecipherable.  I went back to Petco and told the manager of the situation.  I told her in no uncertain terms that they should no longer stock this worthless product.  And, of course, trying to contact the Advantage company is virtually impossible as well.  I am still attempting to do so after two weeks!

4) Pet Champion: This company manufactures a product called “2-layer sifting Cat Litter Mat.”  This sounds like a good idea, but there is a catch: The  mat is smaller than the litter box!  Incredible as this sounds, Pet Champion never seems to have considered making the mat large enough to catch the litter that falls over the edge.  Is there any word other than “stupid” to describe such an oversight?

5) theconsignmenthub (and, by extension, Ebay): This is another online coin seller that has absolutely no ethical principles whatever.  They advertised an 1869-S Liberty Seated dime and showed a photo of it on their ad.  However, when I received the coin, it was obvious that it had been cleaned, giving it an unnatural look and greatly reducing its value; real collectors avoid cleaned coins like the plague.  The original ad made no notice of the coin having been cleaned (we collectors call such coins “whizzed” coins), and the photo that was used was highly misleading in that there was no possible way of discerning the cleaning, based on the image provided.  I returned the coin and waited for the refund, which never came.  When I contacted them again, they told me that I had not returned the coin within the permitted time frame, which was false.  I provided them with the actual date I sent it off, and they responded that they never received the coin.  I contacted Ebay and demanded satisfaction.  Ebay inexplicably sided with the dealer and not only closed the case but removed my negative feedback I had sent in.  I told both the seller and the Ebay officials that I never got either a refund or the coin.  My complaints were not even answered.  Apparently, dealing with a seller who steals from their customers doesn’t concern Ebay.  Obviously, theconsignmenthub kept the coin, possibly with the collusion of Ebay.  There is no other conclusion to arrive at other than that this seller is a criminal organization that not only advertises dishonestly, but has no intention on satisfying consumer complaints.  And Ebay is guilty not only of making an erroneous decision, but of arrogantly refusing to answer my emails proving the error of their decision.

6) mistzmop: This Ebay seller sold me an old photograph dating from 1890.  The shipping cost was way out of proportion, but as I really wanted the photo, I paid it.  Imagine how shocked I was when the photo arrived in a plain manila envelope with no protective padding!  When I opened it up, I found that the photo had broken into three pieces.  Clearly, this seller is clueless on how to ship fragile items and for this reason alone, should be avoided.

7)  Lindt chocolates:  I purchased their “85% Cocoa) chocolate bar, but found it to be utterly uneatable.  It is unsweetened and leaves a bitter aftertaste in your mouth.  This is without doubt the worst chocolate I have ever eaten in my life.  It was so bad that I threw out the bar after trying to eat two squares.  I haven’t tried any of their other products and, based on my experience with this one, have no intention of doing so.

8)  USS Iowa tour:  I went on this tour on the last day of March, 2018.  While the tour itself was memorable, there were some unforeseen difficulties.  The best way of explaining it is to read the letter I wrote to them, to whit:

To whom it may concern;

This is a multiple letter addressed to the people in charge of the USS Iowa, the Queen Mary, and the Aquarium of the Pacific.  I visited the USS Iowa yesterday, March 31, and I wish to register several complaints.

The first concerns the directions to the battleship.  If you look at the directions to the site, it appears easy to locate.  It tells you to take exit 1A off the 110 freeway, but there is no exit so named on the freeway.  So this error should be corrected ASAP!  Once we got off, there were no signs or anything telling us which way to the site.  We had to wing it, knowing approximately which direction we were supposed to go.  To fix the error, there should be signs posted to that effect.  There is no excuse for this complete incompetence regarding basic directions.  Hopefully, someone will take care of these major mistakes, one on the online directions and the other on street signs.

When we finally found the battleship, we bought tickets to both the tour and the admission to the Aquarium of the Pacific.  We naturally assumed the Aquarium was walking distance from the ship.  There were no signs posted informing us otherwise, and the person who sold us our tickets conveniently failed to disclose that the Aquarium is in fact more than ten miles away!  There were no directions supplied on how to get there from the battleship.  I am at a loss to understand why tickets to another unrelated attraction over ten miles away would be sold at the battleship site; any reasonable assumption would be that the Aquarium was within walking distance of the battleship.  But this was only the beginning of our problems.

When we left the tour, I asked one of the employees where the Aquarium is.  He didn’t know; at that point, I began to have serious doubts as to the competence of the personnel at the battleship; how could someone working for an attraction that sells tickets to another attraction not know how to get to it?

The next battleship employee we talked to gave us directions that proved to be erroneous.  That means there were TWO EMPLOYEES representing the battleship that didn’t have a clue on how to get to the Aquarium!  Again, we were left to our own devices to find the Aquarium.  The second employee had informed us that the Aquarium was “next to” the Queen Mary, so we drove to the Queen Mary and parked there.  An employee at the Queen Mary informed us that no, the Aquarium is not “next to” the Queen Mary, and she had no idea (here we go again!) how to get there.  After first informing us that we could exchange our Aquarium ticket for an admission to the Queen Mary, she then dishonestly changed her story and offered to SELL us a ticket to the Queen Mary!

At this point, we decided that we were simply wasting our time.  The Aquarium, if it actually exists, is impossible to find and no one working at either the battleship or the Queen Mary is competent enough to tell us how to get there.  But the main point is this:  Why would the Battleship Iowa sell admission tickets to something that is ten to fifteen miles away and not even have the directions printed out for guests to follow?  It makes no sense whatever.

One last event occurred as we were leaving the Queen Mary parking lot.  The attendant couldn’t even tell us how to get to the 405 freeway!  Fortunately, I was able to get to it via the 710, but surely this information should have been known to someone attending cars!  It was a ridiculously fitting ending to a day of complete incompetence.  I also found out later that there is no way of contacting the Queen Mary electronically to register complaints.  Unbelievable!

The bottom line is that we spent some fifteen dollars to get admission to a location we couldn’t even find and that no one was able to direct us to.  To the personnel of the Battleship Iowa, you need to stop selling tickets to something you have no connection to, something that is miles away, and something that your personnel know nothing about whatever.  To the personnel of the Queen Mary, you need to train your personnel so that they understand basic questions about nearby events and freeway connections.  And to the personnel of the Aquarium of the Pacific, wherever you are, you need to divest yourselves of these two other incompetently run attractions.

The incompetence and stupidity of all this is appalling.  I will be writing this up in my blog and informing everyone I know about the unnecessary problems we encountered on what should have been an enjoyable day for us.  I sincerely hope that all these multitudinous errors will be corrected and that employees will be better trained on how to deal with customers.

9) Montrose Candy Co.: This is a direct quote from my review which I posted on their website:  I recently bought five different chocolate brands at this store.  Each of them was terrible.  The dark chocolates were bitter and left an aftertaste, and the milk chocolates had no flavor.  The Warner Hudson “Finest Cognac Chocolates” were the worst of all.  They don’t even taste like chocolate, and left me gagging after attempting to eat one.  I took one bite from each of these, and promptly threw the rest in the trash where they belong.  If you want quality chocolates, your best bet is still See’s Candies.  These products are a joke, as anyone who has tried them will agree.  Your local 99-cent-store has better tasting chocolates than any of those I bought here.  Avoid this store like the plague.

10) BRIGGS AND STRATTON POWER MOWER: I purchased a Briggs and Stratton power mower on Ebay in April, 2018 and it arrived the following week. As soon as I removed it from the box, the troubles began. Most basically, nowhere on the manual were there any instructions on how to put the thing together. There isn’t even that most basic prerequisite, a page that lists the various parts by name, along with information on how to connect one part to another. Since it doesn’t tell us how to do so, I can only surmise that the manufacturers somehow assumed the bag would miraculously attach itself to the body of the mower without human assistance. There is also a rectangular shaped wire frame that I assumed is supposed to hold the bag in place, but there is no connecting mechanism whatsoever, and I searched in vain for something, anything, that would tell me how to attach the bag to the mower. There is no connecting mechanism for the bag to connect either to the wire frame, or to the “deck” itself. Most puzzling of all is the fact that neither the bag nor the wire frame reaches to the handles on the mower itself; they are about two inches short. In addition, there is a tag attached which says: “BEFORE STARTING, you MUST pull lower handle 8” out of deck.” I assume that “deck” refers to the main body of the mower, but I have no clue what is meant by “lower handle;” there is only one handle on the mower. There is also a bad illustration (one of many) which is supposed to help in some way, but it is badly drawn and completely indecipherable. So I found myself in possession of a brand new mower that provides no information whatever on how to assemble the bag and wire frame.

Next, the website. I have never been as frustrated by a company’s website as I was with this one. There is a “contact us” icon which does not provide any way of contacting them electronically. It only provides three phone numbers, none of which have anything whatsoever to do with the assembly problems I was having. Instead the website gives one phone number for Engines, another for Generators and Pressure Washers and a third for Standby Generators. Again, no phone number or email address is provided for someone needing basic assistance in putting their machine together. Why was this most basic, necessary information overlooked? Is omitting assembly instructions par for the course for today’s instruction manuals and company websites? It would seem to be so, as I’ve encountered similar problems in virtually every other item I’ve purchased that requires assembly. But Briggs and Stratton’s website and instruction manual is the worst I’ve ever seen; there is nothing useful at all to be found on either one.

The “Contact” site also has an Email newsletter sign-on icon, so I decided to sign up for this, hoping to find something helpful. All that is required to sign on is to provide a first name and an email address. I typed these in but, not surprisingly, the information failed to go through. I tried again several times, so clearly there is no error on my part. Why would Briggs and Stratton advertise an email newsletter that cannot be accessed by the means they provide? It is staggering to imagine how incompetence could have risen to such a level as it has for this company. The “troubleshooting” icon is also useless; the user is asked to select one of various “product types.” These include “air compressor,” “portable generator,” pressure washer electric,” pressure washer gas,” and “snow thrower.” I am not kidding; there is nothing there for anyone wishing to obtain information on “lawnmowers,” much less instructions on how to put them together. There is a section underneath for “questions/comments” but, not surprisingly, one cannot send the question out unless the “product type” section is also filled out. Unbelievable.

After searching for over an hour to find some way of contacting the company electronically, I finally located an icon that allowed me to submit a question, but only up to 255 characters. I wrote the following: “Why are there no assembly instructions included for my new power mower? Also, there is a tag saying the ‘lower handle’ must be pulled 8″ out of the deck, but this is incomprehensible. The drawing does not tell us where this ‘handle’ is located.” That night, I received two identical “responses” both of which said: “Thanks for taking time to ask a question. Below is a link to your question you can share.” No answer to the question(s), of course, only a link showing the question I asked. Not surprisingly, the link failed to answer the question I asked. Are these people so seriously deluded that they think that sending me an email showing a copy of my question but without any answer somehow constitutes help?

My final correspondence with Briggs and Stratton consisted of the following email: “This doesn’t help at all. This company is a joke, and I will be doing all in my power to discredit them and their shoddy business practices.” Their response was that my response will not be published on their website (what a surprise!) and that: “Our staff has read your answer and values your contribution even though it did not meet all our website guidelines. Thanks for sharing, and we hope to publish next time!” A form letter such as this clearly indicates that this company not only doesn’t care about satisfying its customers, but that it obviously doesn’t even bother to read its own correspondence!

Why any company selling a product needing assembly would fail to provide instructions on how to put it together in their instruction manual is beyond my comprehension. If you can’t put it together, what use is it? The only way of putting this mower together was for me to try and find someone who is experienced in such matters and is able to figure it out on their own. Fortunately, I was able to find someone and we were able to assemble the mower—without looking at the confusing and contradictory instructions and useless illustrations. He agreed with me that whoever put the instruction manual together doesn’t have a clue as to how to make it comprehensible.

Caveat emptor: Let the buyer beware!

11) DYSON VACUUM CLEANERS: I purchased this vacuum cleaner online and it lasted less than one week. The assembly instructions, as usual these days, are unnecessarily complicated and difficult to follow, something that is universal in today’s instruction manuals. When it was finally assembled, I vacuumed the living room and hallway and then attempted to clean out the canister. The canister comes off the body of the vacuum, but there is no way of cleaning the dust, dirt, and soot out of it other than to reach in with a knife or some other slim article and scraping it out by hand. I did this twice, with dust flying everywhere; so much for the company’s claim how easy it is to clean! After the second time, I re-attached the canister, but the cleaner no longer worked at full strength. It did go on, but the power was greatly diminished, operating only at about ten percent of the original suction strength. It didn’t even suck up the dirt, it merely re-distributed it nearby. Of course, the instruction manual says nothing at all about what the problem could be. Clearly, the motor is of inferior quality; there is no other possible conclusion to arrive at. Something this cheaply made should not cost three hundred dollars!

I sent a copy of my review to Dyson, a shorter version of this article, and received several friendly but useless replies. When I made it clear that I had no information to send them since I had discarded the cleaner and erased the online information about the purchase, the representative sent me an email stating: “Thanks for your reply and providing feedback. We are sorry you had a bad experience with your vacuum. Feel free to contact us again if you return to Dyson in the future.” This made me quite angry, prompting my final email: “Are you serious? Why on earth would I return when I just got screwed out of three hundred dollars?”

This company is a complete joke. If you pay three hundred dollars for a vacuum cleaner, or for anything else, it is reasonable to expect it to last longer than a week. And, there should be a way to clean out the canister without making a mess, especially when the company makes a false claim to the contrary about how easy it is to clean.

The company is a scam operation; the very fact that my cleaner lasted only a week, just long enough for me to have discarded the box it came in and thus cannot return it, speaks volumes about how Dyson regards customer service and satisfaction. Plus, their blithe comment about “returning in the future” after my negative review clearly indicates that the company doesn’t have any intention of satisfying their customers; for some unbeknown reason they seem to think that their dissatisfied customers will somehow return for more dissatisfaction.

Mine is not the only negative review; check out the others for more proof of the junk Dyson vacuum produces.

12) Paypal credit: This is a copy of the final letter I sent to Paypal Credit in February of 2018. You can imagine my frustration in dealing with these people. Fortunately, someone at one of the offices I sent a copy to was able to resolve the issue.

To whom it may concern;

For months, I have been trying without success to close my Paypal Credit loan account. I have met with nothing but frustration during that time. This letter will be my final effort to make things right with Paypal Credit.

In October, 2017, there was an item I wished to purchase but did not have the funds to do so at that time. The item cost over a thousand dollars. Paypal advertised a loan program that would enable me to make the purchase. When I opened the account, I tried to purchase the item but was informed that the credit was only good up to $250. Nowhere was this mentioned in the original ad. So, the ad was dishonest at the outset. This was the first error.

I attempted to close the ad once I found out that the credit was useless. Here is where the real issues began. I attempted to contact Paypal electronically; I sent no less than three emails and never received a response. In those emails, I told Paypal that I wanted to close the account, but these emails were ignored; I sent them to two different sites. There was no information listed detailing where I should send my complaints to. More errors on your part.

Instead, I began to receive notices of ever-increasing fees. I attempted to pay off the original fee, but the system would not accept my payments. This was the next error on your part. This was exacerbated by the fact that the emails asked for me to include my account number when making payment, but no account number was listed in any of the emails or in any previous or subsequent notifications.

I made a telephone call to end the service in December, 2017 and to correct the situation that arose due to the many errors on Paypal’s part. I was actually somewhat surprised that I was able to get through to anyone. The gentleman that I spoke to at that time informed me that he would make every effort to make it easy (his words) for me to make the payment and that the account number would be included in the next email. Not surprisingly, nothing changed after this conversation; I was still unable to make payment electronically (despite several additional efforts to do so) and continued to receive increasing payment notifications. And, of course, the account number still hadn’t been listed in any of these notifications. So, the man who I spoked to clearly lied to me; there is no other way to interpret this.

Here is a copy of the statement I received on January 8, 2018:

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JON NELSON-Your statement is available
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Your statement is ready

You have a new PayPal Credit billing statement available online for your account ending in ****.
Statement Balance: $135.91 USD

Minimum Payment Due: $77.00 USD

Amount to avoid Standard and Deferred Interest on your next statement*: $135.91 USD

Payment Due Date: February 3, 2018

You can also schedule automatic payments so that you never have to remember a due date.

Thanks for choosing PayPal Credit.

*What is the Amount to Avoid Standard and Deferred Interest?
The information used to calculate this amount is as of January 6, 2018. Recent payments and purchases may not be reflected. While you only need to pay the Minimum Payment Due on or before the Payment Due Date, if you pay the Amount to Avoid Standard and Deferred Interest, you will avoid paying interest for that billing cycle.

The Amount to Avoid Standard and Deferred interest includes the following amounts for this billing cycle:

• All of your Standard Purchases
• Cash Advances
• Deferred Interest Purchases expiring in your next billing cycle
• Monthly Plan Payments for your Easy Payment Purchase
Prefer to mail your payment?
Please send your check or money order (we do not accept cash) to: PayPal Credit, PO Box 105658, Atlanta, GA 30348-5658. Please be sure to include your account number on your payment.

Questions about your account?
Call us at 1-866-528-3733 Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern and Saturday-Sunday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Eastern.

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Notice that there is NO MENTION of my account number anywhere on this statement, despite repeated efforts on my part to contact Paypal Credit asking them to inform me as to what it is. Here is the response I sent upon receiving this email:

“This isn’t working. When I tried to make payment earlier, the person I called set it up and told me when I wanted to finish the payment it would be easy to follow the rules. You have changed the rules and I cannot make payment electronically. Please send a written bill and I will send it off that way. In the future, you need to make it easier to make payments electronically and stop changing the methods like you did.”

Two days later, on January 10, 2018, I received an “Annual Error Resolution Notice” which informed me: “that you can check out our Error Resolution Notice anytime by going to the section of our User Agreement “Liability for Unauthorized Transactions and Other Errors”. Following up on this, not surprisingly, proved futile, as did visiting the “help center.” The notice also informed me that if I needed further help, I could write them at the Omaha address, and to include my account number in the mailing (here we go again!). The email next noted: “We will determine whether an error occurred within 10 business days after we hear from you and will correct any error promptly. If we need more time, however, we may take up to 45 days to investigate your complaint or question. If we decide to do this, we will credit your account within 10 business days for the amount you think is in error, so that you will have the use of the money during the time it takes us to complete our investigation. If we ask you to put your complaint or question in writing and we do not receive it within 10 business days, we may not credit your account.” I sent another email informing them of their many errors, but again received no response, either electronically or by “snail mail.” Two days later, I received an email informing me that my December account statement was available, as if nothing I had written or said on the telephone had even been noticed, much less considered. At this point, I began to realize that Paypal Credit had no intention of being honest on this matter; they had ignored all my requests to send me the account number, and this email proved to be no help at all.

This conclusion was made obvious when, on January 24, 2018, I received yet another email informing me that: “You missed your Paypal Credit payment.” Although I had made repeated efforts to settle the account, either electronically or by telephone, this email blithely ignored all that and gave the same false information on how to make payment. Three days later, I received another “due date” payment notice; this one included the final four digits of the account number, but when I attempted (for the last time) to make some kind of payment electronically, I was (again) unable to do so.

On Saturday February 12 2018, I received a telephone call from a lady who informed me that she was calling to settle the account. I told her of the continuous problems I had been having. Despite everything I told her, she continued to insist that the account number was included on the emails that had been sent to me. It was like talking to a brick wall, so I hung up in frustration.

So this is the situation: I need you to send me my account number so that I can close this account, an account that was opened under false pretenses in the first place. I will make payments up to and including December, 2017. I will make no late payments after that date, since it was one hundred percent your fault that I was unable to do so. There is no error or mistake on my part; I have done my level best to settle this account; the failure lies completely with Paypal Credit. Do not send an electronic email. Send me written notice of the balance of the account up to December 2017, ALONG WITH THE ACCOUNT NUMBER, and I will make payment immediately.

I am sending copies of this letter to the Atlanta, Georgia office, the San Jose California office, the Omaha, Nebraska office, and the Timonium, Maryland office. Hopefully, there will be someone in one of these facilities that is able to recognize the errors and make things right.

This entire situation is a nightmare, and the fault lies entirely with Paypal Credit and its associates. The original ad was a lie. I was unable to make payments electronically. No account number was ever provided (the above copied email proves that). I continued to receive ever-increasing billings despite my honest efforts to correct a situation that was in no way my fault. I will pay for the never-used account up to and including December of 2017, but will not pay any late fees beyond that date. I have made every effort to correct a situation that never should have arisen in the first place. The next move is up to you.

Montrose Candy Co.

I recently bought five different chocolate brands at this store, located in Glendale, California. Each of them was terrible. The dark chocolates were bitter and left an aftertaste, and the milk chocolates had no flavor. The Warner Hudson “Finest Cognac Chocolates” were the worst of all. They don’t even taste like chocolate, and left me gagging after attempting to eat one. If you want quality chocolates, your best bet is still See’s Candies. These products are a joke; I cannot understand how any chocolate lover could conclude otherwise, unless they are personal friends/acquaintances of the owner. Your local 99-cent-store has better tasting chocolates than any of those I bought here. If all this isn’t enough, the prices are ridiculously high. Avoid this store like the plague.

THE HORN GUYS: