Ripped off by internet retailer? What should I do?

[Tingkai]

I need advice about how to deal with an internet retailer that may have ripped me off.

I order goalie pads from an Internet retailer. The pads arrived yesterday and there were three problems:
1) I was charged US$100 for shipping, but the shipping bill on the box said it cost US$64 to ship it.
2) The pads did not have a thigh protector, a small peice of padding that is tied onto the pads.
3) The pads have cloth straps with plastic click-in buckles instead of leather straps with metal buckles.

I called the company and they said
a) they'll look into the shipping costs
b) Thigh protectors are optional
c) leather straps are optional

The company's website did not list a full description of the pads and the web page for the pads is no longer on the site. They were a discontinued model so maybe the pads are sold out. Other websites list the pads as having thigh protectors and photos show the pads appear to have leather straps.

I did get a good price on the pads: US$299 compared to other websites that sell them for $550 - $600. Buying the thigh protectors and leather straps will cost about $175.

So what should I do? How does a consumer fight back against internet retailers?

[mrmitchell]

If they took down the page, see if you can get a Google cache of it. Dunno what it will do other than enhance or deny your suspicions, though.

[Urban Ranger]

Do they have a brick-and-mortar outlet?

[mrmitchell]

If they never specifically said what they sold, you're probably screwed. Unless (and I don't know about goalie pads) ALL pads come with a thigh protector (like all cars come with a seat) etc. then I don't know how you can recoup any of your money.

[notyoueither]

Buyer beware. If the price is too good, maybe you are not getting the thigh protectors and leather straps that the others are including for $250 more.

[Frozzy]

Caveat Emptor - Let the buyer beware.

If it's too good to be true, it probably is

[Tingkai]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
Do they have a brick-and-mortar outlet?

Yes, but they're in the States.

[Tingkai]

When I was ordering them, I was worried about the whole: if it is too good to be true then it isn't.

But, these are a discontinued model so I figured that they were selling off old stock at cost. They only had one size and in one colour.

[notyoueither]

Well, would it be too hard to pay for the thigh protectors and leather straps? It seems you still would have got a bargain.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Yeah, but that ain't the point, nye.

Tingkai, you'd need some confirmation you were getting the other stuff. Sucks, I know, but without that there is no proof . But if they **** you on this, get on the phone and yell at them. You know what they say about the squeaky wheel .

[:) Smiley]

While were at this, what's the name of this retailer so the rest of us can avoid it?

[notyoueither]

But that is the point, Imran. Too good to be true. If the price was sooo low, something had to be missing, unless he had some assurance that those things were not missing.

If they represented the pads as including the options, but shipped him the wrong stuff, then he has a reason to howl. What he has now is $300 worth of goalie pads that can be brought up to his standards for $175, which is still less than the $550 that the other companies offered them for.

caveat emptor.

[Imran Siddiqui]

caveat emptor

Unless the company promised something else than our friend Tingkai found desirable . The point is NOT that he got a bargain on his pads, the point is that he thought he'd also recieve other goods for his purchase and he did not recieve that.

If he believed he was buying something else than he got (and pads usually come with those things that are 'optional'), then 'caveat emptor' doesn't apply, and this is pure fraud.

[notyoueither]

Boo hoo. Yes it does. If they are 'options', and the retailer did not expiciltly offer them, then they are not at fault.

Kind of like not enquiring what options that steal of a deal car has when the local dealer offers it for a great price.

[Imran Siddiqui]

If they are 'options', and the retailer did not expiciltly offer them, then they are not at fault.

But Tingkai is saying that they did offer them and then changed it in the end. The website isn't there, but it seems that the pictures showed both the thigh protectors and the leather straps. If the picture showed one thing and he got another, that's fraudulent.

Furthermore, I'm less inclined to trust the company seeing as they really overcharged him for shipping.