Does This Behavior by Mike Zhang and AirSoftMegaStore Constitute Fraud?

[SiliconJon]

Today I received a notice from my credit card company - AirSoftMegaStore contested my charge back after Mike insisted they would not (and I have it in writing). He kept on talking about changing my review here at RR, and while he was indirect about it I had the feeling if I didn't nix my negative review he would go back on his word as the people at this place have a corporate culture saturated with dishonesty from my own experience.

http://www.resellerratings.com/forum...store-com.html (OMG, my nighmare with AirSoftMegaStore.com)

I wouldn't be at all surprised if they were digital shills to boot...

[SiliconJon]

In AirSoftMegaStore's reply to my credit they claimed:

The gun was not in used condition
They offered to pay for a return shipping label but I refused
I agreed to remove the negative reviews in exchange for the refund! YES, they said that!

Why can't I attach files anymore?

[SiliconJon]

Here are some verbatim bits from Jane Pan's of AirSoftMegaStore contest of my chargeback...

...We promptly responded to his emails and assured him the gun was brand new. After additional discussion we were eager to resolve his concerns and offered to send him a pre-paid shipping label...However, the customer opted to send the products back on his own and did not accept our offer to pay for the return shipping.
...
Furthermore the customer has since posted several negative postings online although we have made every effort to resolve his concerns. We reached out to the cusomter in a last attempt to work with him and offered a refund for the disputed amount ... on condition that all negative posting were to be revised or removed given that we did offer and tried our best...But customer refused to with with us...

And more I'll save for later.

Jon,

Oops! Sorry about the erroneous link. I must have copied and pasted it from a previous review I was trying to reconcile.

I won't tell you what to think; however, please do understand that I am trying to proactively rectify the situation. Unfortunately in certain cases (this seemingly being one of them), we were unable to fully erase the amount of collateral damage done by the poor experience you received and for that, I sincerely apologize once again.

On the point about the refund of purchase price/chargeback, standard procedure involves a few other steps but in this case I will be seeing to it that we do not contest the chargeback and do not write our rebuttal per protocol but rather simply release the funds in agreement with your chargeback regardless of the circumstances observed on our end.

Best regards,


Mike Zhang | Chief Executive Officer
Airsoft Guns at Prices Guaranteed Lower than other Airsoft Stores and Airsoft Websites
Direct: (818) 495-6502 ext. 7005

Bringing Airsoft to the MassesTM


-----Original Message-----
From: "Jon Silveus"
Sent: Tuesday, August 30, 2011 11:43pm
To: mike@airsoftmegastore.com
Subject: RE: Store Credit + Review Link

Actually, I am not ProMike - that appears to be someone else who had a nearly identical experience, except your customer service provided him with a return shipping label while I was refused a return shipping label (minus the extortion attempt) and also refused reimbursement for that cost which it appears I will have to suffer as a loss for having tried your company.

I am SiliconJon on that website, unless you are referencing my comment to ProMike's similar rating.

SiliconJon - User Profile page at ResellerRatings
http://www.resellerratings.com/forum...store-com.html (OMG, my nighmare with AirSoftMegaStore.com)

Do you really think a refund of my purchase price and a ten dollar in-store credit I'll never use is proper correction for a two month hassle and my loss of return shipping cost and would thus justify any change in my satisfaction level?

Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2011 20:07:06 -0400
Subject: Store Credit + Review Link
From: mike@airsoftmegastore.com
To: [Jon Silveus]


Hi Jon,

Thanks for taking the time to speak with me. I sincerely apologize for the mishap that caused your dilemma, and appreciate your patience in working the situation out with our customer service team.

I know you insisted on not receiving the credit, but I decided to move ahead and issue anyway IN CASE you grant us a second chance to serve your Airsoft purchasing needs (the amount was bumped up to $10 FYI).

Here is a link to the negative review you posted: promike - User Profile page at ResellerRatings

I would certainly appreciate your editing both the Reseller Ratings review and Forum post (at your convenience) to reflect a more positive experience with Airsoft Megastore, but again, please do not feel obligated in any way to change the review if in fact you are still 100% dissatisfied with our service, as I'm only seeking your revision if you genuinely believe we've made a difference in satisfactorily resolving your issue.

Thank you again for your business. If you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me directly at the contact number below.

All the best,

Mike Zhang | Chief Executive Officer
Airsoft Guns at Prices Guaranteed Lower than other Airsoft Stores and Airsoft Websites
Direct: (818) 495-6502 ext. 7005

Bringing Airsoft to the MassesTM

[SiliconJon]

A quick reminder, I was originally going to accept a new replacement be sent to me...until they mentioned repairing the item and returning it. I was already concerned I could receive another used and/or damaged product given their insistance that is was entirely impossible I received anything but a new product, but to save money versus a higher priced local retailer and give ASMS another shot I was willing to move along until they snuck in the mention of repair as an option at their discretion.

Shortly after repair was mentioned I called my credit card company, spoke of what happened, and was advised that starting a chargeback claim was a reasonable idea and that I could cancel it if the retailer decided to make good on our purchase agreement. It's only gone down hill since, and I'm not too happy with my Citibank customer service telling me to fork out the money to ship the item back when general understanding of FTC & consumer protection laws state that items received that were not ordered (and I most certainly did not order a used and broken item) are not the financial responsibility of the receiving party, and then kick me while I'm down by releasing the chargeback request. I returned the bogus goods as a good faith measure for both Citi and AsMs and so far I have been treated with seemingly no honesty or good faith in return.

[SiliconJon]

Today's examination of a quote from Mike in the above fully quoted email : "regardless of the circumstances observed on our end"

This is claiming that this series of events, and the negative repercussions thereof, are apparently my fault. It was my fault they sent me a dirty, used, damaged, and defective gun (rental perhaps? or maybe they like to long-term field test some of their goods). It was my fault that once they slipped in a mention of repairing instead of replacing I called the credit card company who then confirmed a chargeback would be reasonable, and that I could cancel it if the vendor resolves the issue. It's my fault the vendor then refused to deal with me any further until I dropped the chargeback, and then later changed their mind (eventually coming around full circle), and then later said I refused to deal with them the whole time despite my repeated attempts to get it resolved before I was willing to drop the chargeback, which I assured them I would do once the issue was actually resolved. It's my fault they have two Terms pages so they can use the more restrictive one when fighting against a customer (which apparently they just love to do). And now it's obviously my fault I was not satisfied by this whole fiasco, as I should apparently have just bent over and took it you know where (the shoe man, the shoe) ...