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Review 11/23/2010
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I'm really astonished that these guys have been able to stay in business as long as they say they have. After my first unfortunate experience with them I will never make the same mistake of buying anything from them again. All of the boldface warnings on their website should have clued me in to the fact that they are totally NOT customer service oriented. Dealing with them has only confirmed it.
I purchased an outdoor light fixture from them, along with five bulbs. When the fixture arrived it was not what I ordered. I was able to adapt the fixture to work for me but the incompatible bulbs were useless to me. So I contacted them immediately for instructions on how I could go about handling a return. Even though their invoice screamed in bold, capitalized letters that I had to let them know of problems with the order within 48 hours, after I sent them an e-mail about the problem (again, they demanded DO NOT CALL, DO NOT E-MAIL, ONLY USE THE FORM ON OUR WEBSITE!!!) the confirmation e-mail told me they'd probably not be back in touch with me for 7-10 days.
The woman who responded basically ignored what I had asked about a return and thought the best customer service priority was to tell me that my order was wrong because I had clearly done something wrong. AGAIN, I asked how to set up a return. AGAIN she ignored it. By e-mail five she was willing to send me one bulb that would work with the fixture. I answered that that wouldn't work because I had bought and paid for FIVE. So finally, on the 6th e-mail, I said that what I the customer wanted to do was to either return the bulbs for a refund or exchange them for bulbs that would work with the fixture. What I didn't want was to exchange ten more e-mails for another week with no solution and if this was just going to drag out I was inclined to just call my credit card company and dispute the charge.
So then I got a voicemail message from Tom, the owner of the company. Despite a whole big blurb on his website about how customers are #1 to his company (something he apparently hasn't read) he left a really offensive voicemail message about how it is not their "fault" my order was wrong and how they can't be expected to "babysit" their customers who order the wrong products. I called him back and it was instantly clear that he is really not equipped to deal with retail customers. They should really stick with selling only to the trade because they have absolutely no patience at all for dealing with problems. They'll gladly sell you something. But god forbid they send you the wrong thing because it will be all your fault.
This experience ranks as one of the worst retail transactions I have ever had. It was a huge mistake to give this company my business because it is clear that their prime concern is their own profit and not what is good for their customers. More alarming, I have learned that they do not even have a certificate of authority to do business in Washington State which is required of all out of state companies who do business with Washingtonians. The fines for this oversight can be pretty steep from what I hear. I'll be reporting them to the Secretary of State's office as soon as I finish this post. Hopefully this transaction will provide them with an instructive lesson into how NOT to handle their customers.
It is my recommendation that you avoid these guys at all costs and shop elsewhere unless you want nothing but a hassle.
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