1/5

posted Jan-28-2009

I did not end up ordering from 1 Way - I managed to cancel the order I placed when my gut told me something was not quite right. This site reaffirmed my suspicions.

I placed an order online on the 1/26/09 for a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H50 Digital Camera. The next day I received email and voicemail from "Adam" telling me that I need to contact 1 Way "to provide a verbal confirmation so that we can ship out your order". So far so good - I liked the fact they that were verifying my identity.

I tried to contact Adam several times, was placed on hold for unacceptably long periods and finally reached him. At this point, things started going downhill. Instead on just finalizing my order, he stated asking me if I wanted to buy different accessories: I was told I really needed the battery because the battery that came with the unit was basically a one-time charge and could not be reused or recharged without a stand alone charger. I was told I needed a high-speed memory card because the one they came with it was lousy. I politely declined because I had these items only to be told that I really needed this stuff because it was just going to cost me more someplace else. When I wouldn't buy accessories, the sales pitch changed to acquiring an extended warranty. I politely declined this as well only to be told that this was a "import unit" and that all the menus and the manual would be in Japanese. When I challenged him on how was an extended warranty going to fix the language issue, he changed sales tactics again and began to try to sell me something else.

At this point, I decided to balk and told him to just cancel my order. He turned the hard sell on again and this time offered me the USA version of the DSC-H50 with all the items (and then some) he had been trying to sell my for about $50 more than I was planning to originally pay. This seemed like a good deal at that moment and I agreed. What can I say, Adam was a good salesman and very convincing.

He went through and began totaling up the order and quickly told me that a 7% shipping insurance fee was be added to the order. I asked him what that was all about and I was told that it was NY State Law and added to all orders. I thought this was odd but agreed to it as NY frequently does things differently.

After I hung up, the whole experienced began to bother me and after a Google search on this mysterious shipping tax, I called back to challenge Adam as this tax was not listed on my original internet order receipt. He said that charge was for 3rd party insurance and that all orders had this tacked on. I told him I resented having to pay for insurance on top of what I was already paying with UPS shipping and he agreed to remove the charge if it would prevent me from canceling the order after I threatened to do just that.

I thought that I would be happy about this deal but something kept bugging me. After running an errand and mulling over my poor experience with 1 Way, I decided to check the internet for company reviews and came to this site. I was shocked to find that their lifetime rating was less than 1 of 10! I immediately called their customer service department and was able to cancel the order before it shipped and avoid having to pay their outrageous 20% restocking fee for refusing a delivery.

Overall, my experience was pretty bad although I lucked out and avoided paying any kind of financial penalty. I usually buy from the internet so I can avoid pushy sales people so this experience was very unpleasant. I would not even consider using them in the future and would tell perspective buyers "Caveat emptor!"

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