Complaints

This profile includes complaints for Outdoor Solar Store's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see Find Local Branches.

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  Outdoor Solar Store

  9 Commercial Dr Unit D Hampden, MA 01036

• 

  Outdoor Solar Store

  98 Lower Westfield Rd STE Pmb3 Holyoke, MA 01040-9403

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:12/02/2022

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  RE: Infinity Solar Lights and The Outdoor Solar Store Order #****-ISL dated 11/13/2022 for $90.00.To date the order has not been shipped or refunded. The business has stopped responding to my voice and email attempts to contact them.

  Business Response

  Date: 12/02/2022

  This order was refunded yesterday. You were sent an email notification. We have been responding to you, and we responded to your email this morning with tracking information for the order. It has already shipped and will be arriving soon.

  Screen shots have been provided of the refund and the email. 

  The tracking for your order is UPS tracking 92612902711620573000804759

  So now that you have been refunded, the question is: will you be sending this back or paying for the product?

  Customer Answer

  Date: 12/02/2022

   
  Complaint: 18491396
  
  I am rejecting this response because: The order was only shipped 12/1 after the business received multiple communication attempts by me that went unanswered. They did respond slowly to a few attempts to communicate but failed to respond to the majority of my attempts. Finally after sending them a somewhat aggressive wessage 12/1 they did respond. Previously I had asked for the order to be cancelled if it had not left their warehouse. It had been shipped at the time of that request however they did go ahead and ship it regardless of my asking for it to be cancelled.My payment has been refunded however now the business is asking for payment or the return of an order that I cancelled and  they had not shipped at the time of my cancellation request. I am fully willing to return the product as soon as I receive a prepaid return shipping label from the business as long as I receive the shipping label within 72 hours of confirmation of delivery. I have attached the entire email string I have exchanged with the business and I believe any reasonable consumer would conclude that the business did not fulfill their website shipment commitment, failed to respond and/or did not respond to my communication in a timely manner and only shipped the order after receiving an aggressive email from me.
  
  ***********************
  
  ***************************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:11/01/2022

  Type:Delivery Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I ordered 2 solar lamp posts, total cost $750.00. They arrived, boxes badly damaged and the box stipulated 270 lumens for the light output. When advertised, and I only wanted, lights with 300 lumens output for recommended light. I emailed the Outdoor solar Store and sent them pictures of the condition of the boxes and told them about the advertising discrepancy in the lumens. They asked me to open the boxes and look inside at the lights. I did not want to open the boxes as they were very badly damaged and since the lumens was not as advertised, I no longer saw the need to open and count pieces. Not that I would know, I had hired an electrician to install. No need to call him now. They are refusing to send me authorization for return, saying that I must pay return fee and restocking fee.

  Business Response

  Date: 11/01/2022

  To all, 
  Unfortunately this customer has decided to escalate a situation that was still in discussion. I will run through the issues at hand...
  The customer received a package that had visible markings on the box. These are heavy packages and it isn't abnormal to see some marking on the boxes. We also know that within the shipper box, is another heavy duty cardboard box, within that is the product which is secured incredibly well. 
  Lets walk through the image provided - first you will notice some minor markings around the box and oddly some extra tape. Most of this damage (all that is visible) is surface level markings. Notice the corners are not dented or damaged and there are only 'scratch' marks. Again due to the heavier weight of these packages this can happen in transit, and while we don't like it either it does occur. 
  Our initial response to the customer was asking if she had opened the package and observed damage to the product itself. She responded that she did not. So we then are working from the assumption that the product received is perfectly fine and has no damage. We explained that if she did not want to open the package and see if the product was fine or not, we had to treat it as if there was no damage, and our shipping policy clearly states that in these situations the customer is responsible for shipping and may be charged a restock fee. We know that this is not ideal and as a small business we essentially need to cover ourselves as we are shipping large products that require a significant amount of money to ship (by the way we offer free shipping on all orders). 
  The last piece to note on the image and in response to the customer is the claim of 270 lumen vs 300 lumen... this product is in fact 300 lumen. Here are the specs:
  Specifications 
  Model: GS-94B-D
  LED Color: 2700K
  Technology: 2 Solar LED Light Bulbs
  Lumens: 300 (150 Per Bulb)
  Total LEDs: 22 (11 Per Bulb)
  Battery: ***ion
  Voltage: 3.2
  Battery Capacity: **** mAh
  Power Source: Mono-Crystalline Solar Cell
  Light Duration: Up to 12 hours
  Measurements: 9x9x93
  2 Year Manufacturer Warranty
  
  Notice on the box there is no annotation of any lumen count. Next consider - if the customer did not open the box and there is no annotation on the brown shipper box, then where did they conclude this observation? Perhaps they saw somewhere that the LED color is 2700K (this is the only number that contains a 270 anywhere on the product) and got confused. This is fairly normal as people who do not deal in lighting often can misinterpret what they are viewing. 
  
  So we are left with a product that we have no reason to believe is not working. Advertising that is 100% accurate. And a customer who wants us to pay to ship product around and not even open the box. Ofcourse we do not value these types of situations, and in business they inevitably will occur. We pride ourselves of on customer service and high quality products. We always respond promptly and work to come to amicable conclusions whenever possible.
  
  Had this customer opened the box 1 of 2 situations would have occurred -
  1) They open the box and find the product is perfectly fine and there is no issue at all. Everyone is happy.
  2) They open the box and realize something is in fact broken. We promptly provide a return label, and offer a new product or full refund. Customer is happy. 
  If you purchase solar lighting from Outdoor Solar Store, please understand we value you as a customer and want nothing more than to ensure that your outcome is beyond satisfaction... in the unfortunate circumstance where there is some damage or an issue arises we will do everything we can to fix that issue for you. We DO need you to reciprocate on a minor level though, and this is why we (along with 99% of all other eCommerce stores) have policies around these events which are readily accessible for you to read on our website. 
  
  If you made it this far, thank you. To this customer, I am sorry you are displeased with the outcome. If you would like to continue this discussion please respond to our previous email chain. 
  
  Thank you,
  
  *****************************, Outdoor Solar Store

  Customer Answer

  Date: 11/01/2022

   
  Complaint: 18340251
  
  I am rejecting this response because:  The box is not slightly damaged as shown very clearly in the photo.  Also, I have attached a photo showing the label on the outside of the box reads 270 lumens, each light head on the double post is only 135 lumens at maximum light output.  I wanted what they advertised, which was 300 lumens total, which was the recommendation for light around the pool.  I have attached the label and the advertisement from their website.  I would like labels to ship the product back to their warehouse, this is not the product I ordered from the website.  I would also like a full refund since the product is not the advertised 300 lumens.  I am very sorry I ever did business with this store; I wish I had seen the Facebook page in re:  Outdoor Solar Store.  This is bad business practice; a customer should be able to return a product that is not as advertised or up to specifications.  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *******************************

  Business Response

  Date: 11/02/2022

  The box making the claim of 270 lumen is news to us. We are a retailer for this product and we ship it directly from the retailer. While we have experience and carry many of their products on hand, this is one item that we have not had in our own warehouse. Gama Sonic is a leading manufacturer of solar lighting and we have worked with them for a long time. They are known for being high quality and trust worthy products. This is a massive misstep for them and one we will be reviewing in depth regarding the rest of our products associated with them. 

  The Gama Sonic website, and all of their documentation for us, all claim that this light is 300 lumen. 

  This is their website link to this item: https://gamasonic.com/product/victorian-bulb-solar-lamp-post-w-gs-solar-light-bulb-double-lamps/

  For this we do apologize! I have reached out directly to the team at Gama Sonic, we are getting an update as to the true Lumen output of the product and trying to understand why they would directly making to competing claims regarding their product.

  Again I want to reiterate that while you did not receive the immediate response you requested this could have easily been handled through our continued email communication. 

  We do not false advertise, but we are advertising the claims of the manufacturers. We only act as manufacturer to some of the items in the store and we are a retailer for the majority of the products. We will process your refund on the basis of competing advertising claims made by the manufacturer. There is a possibility that the product has been updated and old packaging is being used, and this has occurred previously, though not with Gama Sonic. 

  I do sincerely apologize for the confusion, and thank you for bringing this to our attention. 

   

  Customer Answer

  Date: 11/02/2022

   
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *******************************