If it sounds too good to be true...

[thistlechaser]

Grrr mumble. My 17 button MMO mouse arrived today, woo! I opened the shipping box and found... the mouse. Loose. No mouse-box, no paperwork, nothing. Just the mouse loose in the box. A quick bit of googling showed it does indeed come in a box (and a rather spiffy one at that). So, confused and a tad annoyed, I emailed the company it came from. It's refurbished. Used. >< They claim it was stated in the ad, but since the company does "one day specials" and the next day that special changes to something else, I can't go back and check the page to see if it really said that or not.

Bah.

$50 ($45 + $5 shipping) for a used mouse. Blah. I can get a brand new of this same mouse from Amazon for $70. Mumble. I emailed them again asking for their return policy (their FAQ only mentions returns for defective items). I suspect I'm not going to like what they say (otherwise why would they not make the info easy to find?).

This is the second time I've gotten screwed over because someone on my flist said WOW LOOK AT THIS SALE. Never again. I'm sticking with Amazon from now on.

Edit: Wow. So never, ever, ever buying from Woot in the future. On returning items that are not broken:

No. See, figuring out whether you want a product is your job. We lay out the specs, open up the forum to opinions and reviews, and encourage every wooter to do as much research as possible. If you do all that and make a bad decision, we recommend selling your unwanted woot on eBay. You'll probably wind up making a profit on the deal. Of course, if your product is broken, or not what you ordered, contact us and we'll take care of you. But our cold, hard hearts have no sympathy for victims of buyer's remorse.

Edit2: Wow, not just a bad company, but full of assholes:

Will I receive customer support like I'm used to?

No. Well, not really. If you buy something you don't end up liking or you have what marketing people call "buyer's remorse," sell it on eBay. It's likely you'll make money doing this and save everyone a hassle. If the item doesn't work, find out what you're doing wrong. Yes, we know you think the item is bad, but it's probably your fault. Google your problem, or come back to that product discussion in our community and ask other people if they know. Try to call the manufacturer and ask if they know. If you give up and must return it to us, then follow on to the next FAQ entry [linked back to the first email, edit #1].

Comments

[achika-soladia.livejournal.com]

Ah, word of mouth. One of the true absolutes of business.

Noted for future reference. =)

Speaking of which, didn't you have some opinion of godaddy.com? Someone did and I want to make sure before I consider changing webhosts again cause I'm po'.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I've been using godaddy for, um, many years (7-ish?). I have no real opinion on them (which I suppose is a good opinion!). They contact me once every few years for money, I pay them, my domain name continues to belong to me. That's a 100% satisfying relationship to me!

[achika-soladia.livejournal.com]

Alright. It's entirely possible that what I read was about someone switching to them from another one and my wires got crossed. If you're happy with it, I'll probably switch because they're cheaper than my current web host and I have little money and I can't convince myself just to not have a website for my friends.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'd call me happy with them. "No news is good news" when it comes to something like this. I never hear from them, I keep my domain names. (I don't do hosting through them though, just domain name registration.)

[achika-soladia.livejournal.com]

You use Dreamhost for your hosting don't you? That's what I'm currently using right now. I like them, but at this point in time I just can't afford their prices.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yep! Not that I use much at all, I just use it for my WoW screenshots...

[veloxe.livejournal.com]

Ah, word of mouth. One of the true absolutes of business.

Another being black denim jeans.

Anyways, thistle, I'll love my sexy mouse and it's awesome box extra hard for you.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

You're too kind! <3 How are you liking yours? I'm getting thumb cramps from trying to use the side number pad to move!

[veloxe.livejournal.com]

Well, mine is far simpler then yours but I do enjoy it. The only downside I have found is that the push down button on the scroller is so hard to push down that you end up scrolling by accident. Other then that, the button to switch the scroller from click scrolling and "frictionless" gliding is on the bottom of the mouse so if you wanted to switch you have to lift the mouse up to do so, which is weird.

[voidmagus.livejournal.com]

I've bought a number of things from Woot. If refurbished, then not happening. A lot of their deals are new stuff, but the "Holy shit!" electronics deals are usually refurb. I see woot as the Aldi (budget grocery store) of the internet - a stripped down company that is little more than a warehouse and a few guys throwing crap in boxes. The reason they can sell stuff for cheap is minimized overhead - no customer service, no possibility of return, possibly shitty product. If I'm fine with those conditions, I buy.

Given woot has a new product every day, and a few hundred during a woot-off, I've bought maybe a dozen items in the past 5 years.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

a stripped down company that is little
more than a warehouse and a few guys throwing crap in boxes

That's totally what they seemed like, yep.

[firebyrd.livejournal.com]

Amazon's not the only good company out there. Newegg is where I buy almost all my computer stuff and they're awesome.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm sure! But I get 100% free shipping on anything from Amazon, two day delivery, so that usually decides it for me.

[firebyrd.livejournal.com]

Except it isn't free, because you're paying $80/year to get that. :P

[pure-trance.livejournal.com]

Even more reason to use it whenever possible lol

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

My friends list is full of good points! :D

[pure-trance.livejournal.com]

x)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

*laughs* Good point! Is it $80? I don't even know anymore! I order from them endlessly, so it's still worth it.

[pure-trance.livejournal.com]

Ahh yeah I've only used Woot once to get Noah's carseat, otherwise they have had jack shit I wanted and I didn't like that sometimes if they had say 5 plushies for sale you could get doubles and had no say in which ones you got. Also the refurbished thing.

For great kid deals with a similar business I use mamabargains.com anyways, they are much better. I only really buy things for Noah from those deal sites anyway.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I had never heard of Woot until I saw a post on a WoW comm! I had a little twinge that maybe it wasn't a good idea to order from a company I knew nothing about, but went for it anyway. I should have listened!

I'm glad the seat purchase came out okay though!

[pure-trance.livejournal.com]

I do think they are a reputable company, it's just that their practices aren't exactly great and they are douchebags who think they are SO funny.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yeah. In the WoW comm post I called them a fly by night company, but that's not really true. They've been around for years and Amazon is buying them, so there has to be something there. Just not something for me!

[pure-trance.livejournal.com]

Exactly~

[peppygrowlithe.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Thistle, it's your fault the mouse is used and doesn't have a box! We'll let it slide this time, but watch yourself in the future.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yessir. ; ;

[veloxe.livejournal.com]

I'm making a mark on the chalk board on this one personally. Gonna have to work to get it removed.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Not another mark! I will work very hard. ._.