My wife, who is Russian, misses movies in her native language (we live in Nova Scotia, Canada). Her parents are visiting us for two special reasons: the holidays and to help with the arrival of a new baby. They brought with them 100 movies in Russian VHS format for their daughter; my wife was very excited.
Well, we needed a VCR capable of playing the Russian movies and the Samsung SV5000W fit the bill. We shopped around in Canada and the prices seemed a bit high, so we went to Ebay. We discovered a retailer in Brooklyn NY, Buy Rite Electronics, who had some for sale at $299 plus shipping; a fair bit cheaper than they were in Canada. Needless to say, we ordered it from them.
They mentioned nothing about the validity of their warranty in Canada (and yes, I should have asked...I guess that's how we learn...but they offered shipping to Canada so I figured I was relatively safe...why would the offer their products to Canadians if they weren't warrantied?)
It arrived a day or two before New Year's, and as New Year's is the BIG holiday in Russia(they don't celebrate our Christmas), my wife and her parents were ecstatic that they could watch the traditional holiday movies they were accustomed to back home.
Well, we put the first tape in and it "ate it". Once we untangled that tape from the unit, we tried another. Well, it didn't eat the tape this time, but it didn't play the audio and the video faded in and out. "Okay," we thought, "we'll try another tape"...the same; another tape...the same; another tape...the same; and so on. No mprovement.
Well, intentionally or not, we got a lemon. I sent
Buy Rite Electronics emails; at first polite, then
not so polite. Anyway, their story was that they were "unaware" of the null warranty outside of America (interestingly, after they told me in another email that the warranty was good worldwide). They offered an exchange; which would be great if I lived in New York City.
Unfortunately, I'm in a foreign country, God-knows-how-many miles away, stuck with a brand new piece of equipment with apparently no warranty, and certainly no support from the retailer. If they would pay the shipping that would be great; but they won't.
So I guess I have to take it to a Canadian Samsung service depot and pay for the repairs myself.
I'm dissatisfied with Buy Rite Electronics, Ebay (for faciliting this fraudulant transaction),
and Samsung for distributing their products through a questionable retailer. Most of all, I'm dissatisfied with myself; I should have known better.
Buyer definately beware!
P.S. It kind of ruined my wife's holiday; she was so looking forward to it, so excited, only to be cruely disappointed (moreso than usual, however, as she's 40 weeks' pregnant! :-)
She was also amazed that a retailer could get away with this; she said she would never have experienced this in Russia. What, better customer service in Russia? Yeah, I guess so!
If you compare the Entity Information filed at the New York Division of Corporations for 1. Buy Rite Electronics Inc. and 2. Buy Rite Digital Corp., there is some similarity in geographical location. Also, doing a WHOIS search of their domain names reveals the same similarity.
I'm not saying they're related in any way, but they both seem to be based in Brooklyn, NY, according to the above information.
Draw your own conclusions; I'm sure they're not related in any way, shape, or form, but one must be careful and investigate fully any online retailer when you're about to give them hundreds (or thousands) of dollars of your hard-earned money.
My opinion is to shop locally and pay a little more for the service one should expect
This review was modified by its author, natalia_berry, on
1/4/05 6:33 AM.