Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:10/30/2023

  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.

  I purchased a pickleball machine from the company and once it arrived, the first time I took it out to use, it did not work properly. I contacted the only person at the number listed and directly spoke to ************************* who asked me for videos of the machine functioning which I did. He stated that the "yoke" of the machine was not working and evidently was damaged somehow during shipping since the machine was only throwing the balls in one direction and hardly ever over the net. Arranged to send it back to which I myself paid $117 UPS to send back. I also asked **** to send me the shadow grey machine that was coming out in late September to which he verbally obliged saying, "Okay, I can do that for you." That was my way of not only wanting grey but also trying to ensure that the one I sent back which was supposed to be new and not even used, was not just repaired and sent back to me. However, *** ******** did not keep his word, and sent me mine back as a "repaired" machine. He basically did what he wanted to do and not what was my consumer right and what he had verbally agreed to do. Thus, being that I had already invested some money in it by a payment to affirm and shipping costs, I reluctantly tried using the repaired machine and this time upon first try again, it did not work properly. Instead, the balls just got stuck in the machine repeatedly after running for only seconds. *** ******** has not responded to texts for days at a time and has never responded to a message and inquiry sent from the website contact page about 2 weeks ago. *** ******** has proven himself unreliable, untrustworthy, and unethical. It is my high suspicion that he has illegal and unethical business practices, as he also has seemingly scammed me out of money, refused to answer consumer questions on policy, etc, as well as deliberately sending repaired merchandise instead of new merchandise paid for in exchange within the window period and agreed upon. *** ******** has yet to refund me. Please assist me in this matter. 

  Business Response

  Date: 11/12/2023

  Firstly, ***************** problem with the machine was reported only after our 30 return policy - he received the machine on Aug 8th and didn't call until Sept 9th. When he did call he indicated he had thrown away all of the packaging materials even though it clearly states when you open the box that all materials should be kept in case the machine needs service, obviously he either didn't read it or ignored it. Because the machine is 60lbs (machine + shipping container/packing materials, etc) we required that the original materials are used to return **** otherwise it is extremely likely it will be damaged by the shipping process. We sent him a new box and packing materials which he paid for. At this point the machine is under warranty and outside of the 30 days so we followed our documented process to handle the machine. I've attached our warranty and return policy.  

  As a note, I never said I would send him a grey machine primarily because we didn't have **** machines at that point. However I did tell him if we couldn't repair the machine we would send him a different one which we did, a black one like he originally purchased. We don't give customers new machines when they have a problem after the initial 30 days unless we can't fix the machine and we don't have a replacement machine available. We fixed the machine (adjusted Yoke gears which were apparently damaged during shipping), tested it and sent it back. We are now using ***************** machine as a demo machine in our shop because it works just fine after it was repaired initially.

  From the very first interaction with ************* (Alias *******, he has 2 different names on our site) I indicated we would allow him to return the machine for a refund - there was never a time where we told him he couldn't return the machine and receive a refund even though this was outside of the returns window. I responded to every single text message, email and voicemail generally with in minutes to hours after it was sent however I stopped responding when ** ****** started using harsh language and threatening us. My final response was letting him know he could still return the machine and we would refund him. 
  
  To be called unreliable, unethical, untrustworthy, scammer and a liar when we ignored our stated policies to try our best to resolve this is disheartening at best. *************/****** apparently never read any of our documentation or stated policies, these are published on our website and are very clear in terms of the process and related timing. We have 30 days to process refunds so again being called a scammer is just an awful thing to call someone.

  We will process **************/******'s refund as I said we would do from the first interaction to the last interaction. Furthermore, we won't keep the restocking fee that again is and has been published on our website (with a clear easy to find link), this can be anywhere from 5-25% depending on the state of the returned machine. We will not be reimbursing him for any shipping costs associated with returning ERNE, return shipping is the responsibility of the customer (again, as stated on our website). 

  It has been very difficult to communicate with *************/****** as he has three accounts on our system (****** and two *************************) and used direct eMail, website email, text and voicemail making it extremely difficult to keep track of what was happening with him. 
  

  I issued the refund a few minutes ago for a total of $1699.00 which is what he paid for the machine, we did not reimburse him for shipping as that is not our policy.