1/5

posted Mar-28-2005

Where to begin… what a horrific experience. I was a fool to go with the lowest price, thinking I was getting the best deal. Hype Audio is an extremely fraudulent company. They operate under four or five different company names, all owned by A Heffco Company. They simply just lie to you.

I ordered a Large Screen CRT Rear-Projection TV from them via their website. Like everyone else, I immediately received order confirmation and a credit card deduction – at the time of order, not shipping (should have been my first clue). The next day, I received a call from a salesman “confirming my order”, but really calling to sell me the extended warranty. Hard selling practices (2nd clue). Next, their website continually said “Will ship within 2-3 days” for order status. 8 days later, no change in order status, and no email with tracking info as promised (3rd clue is the charm). I called “customer service” and managed to speak with a man named Rob. He assured me my order would ship the next business day.

So, when I received no email with tracking information and there was no status change on the website, I called again. Got Rob again. He said “I see your order as shipped in my computer system, but I have no tracking details. Let me check with the warehouse and call you back” Did you catch that… it had shipped, but he has no shipping details.

After a few hours and no call back, I called “customer service” again, and guess who picked up… Rob. Well, Rob informed me that my television was on backorder. I think what happened here is my television actually grew some legs and decided, I don’t want to be shipped, and walked back to the warehouse. The fact of the matter is, the product was never in stock, a common problem with the Heffco Companies, but they would not divulge this information.

At this point in time, I cancelled my orders, one for TV and one for extended warranty. I asked for an email confirmation and Rob said “we don’t do that.” What?!? Later that day, I emailed and faxed the company requesting cancellation with very detailed and specific information on what I ordered and what I was canceling. The next day, I called to make sure and Rob said he cancelled the order for the TV, but not the warranty. “I didn’t know you wanted to cancel that.” Needless to say, I got my RMA number.

In the end, I got a full refund, but I am lucky. I have read many bad bad bad reviews of this place and many unfortunate people are just plain ripped off. I have learned that the lowest price shop is not the best place to shop. Play a little extra to a reputable company and sleep easy at night.

Read reviews. That’s what they’re there for.

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