I haven’t kept it a secret that I sort of love Buy.com, but I had another experience with them this week that cemented my love even further.
I’ve been shopping around for a new FM Transmitter for the Jeep. Despite being almost 5 years old, my Belkin still works great, but the position of my cigarette outlet puts it in an awkward spot. It sits right behind the shifter so when I’m in park, it’s touching the screen. I didn’t even have any minor scratches on the face of my dear Ripper until I moved to the Jeep, and now I have three. =( I can’t see the screen when it’s in park either so I can’t watch The Office in my Jeep during breaks at work, and that’s super disappointing. And the positioning is awkward enough that I can’t comfortably reach the “Next” button when Shuffle isn’t being friendly.
So two weeks ago I found one of the transmitters I’ve been looking at on the Weekly Sale page for a really great price. It was regularly around the $50 range, but it was on sale for cheap enough that I didn’t even have to think twice about buying it. I could skip fast food one night and justify buying it.
I couldn’t tell exactly how the hookup was set up, but it came with a remote, so I knew it was guaranteed to be better than what I already had.
I was sorely disappointed when it arrived. I immediately hooked it up and found that the remote just wouldn’t work for me. It had to be pointed directly at the unit, and needed to be within 3 inches. Pointless? Yup. And at times, the buttons would change functions– I’d be pressing “Next” for the next song and it would just start fast forwarding. I thought maybe I had pressed it a certain way to make that happen (no instruction booklet since it was mostly a self-explanatory unit) but then it started changing the FM station, which was supposed to be controlled by a completely separate section of the remote! I was annoyed, but the unit itself sat much closer to the dash and thus pulled my iPod away from the shifter so I decided I’d keep it and just chalk the remote up as a loss. I didn’t pay that much anyway, ya know?
And then the next day I got nothing out of it. I got so frustrated flipping through stations and when they’d sync up the station would go clear like it normally does but it wouldn’t transmit the iPod through. When I parked I just started trying random things with the remote and eventually I turned it off. The screen on the unit even read, “Off” and lo and behold, my iPod started coming through the speakers.
At that point I packaged it back up and jumped on Buy.com to start the refund process. When I pulled my order up, I read that since my item was purchased through a Marketplace Seller that I needed to contact them directly. I don’t know why, but this automatically put me in defense mode because I expected them to hassle me. I’ve never had a problem with Buy.com providing assistance so I don’t know why I was worried, but I was. I emailed them and kept it factual until the end when I told them I thought it was a, “glitchy piece of crap from China.” Oops.
Anyway, I was prepared to argue with someone about paying for the defective item to be returned and waiting two weeks for a refund, but I was shocked to find that within 24 hours I received an email from Buy.com letting me know that a refund request had been issued. I was confused because I hadn’t spoken with anyone about sending the item back! But moments later I got an email letting me know that they’d issued a request for a refund to me, they apologized for the (maybe) defective item, and told me I didn’t need to send it back.
I was pleasantly surprised by that! My email was pretty clear that the unit’s basic functions were working, just that it was being awfully quirky, so I’m surprised they told me to keep it! I’m leaving it in my kit in the Jeep to have as a backup if/when mine gives out.
So of course Buy.com and their Marketplace Sellers have solidified my love for them. I just wasn’t sure how picky they were about who they allowed to sell on the site, but now I see their sellers offer just as great customer service as Buy.com does.
So now I’m looking at this transmitter so I can raise the iPod above the shifter and turn it towards me. It also charges the iPod, which is an absolute must for me in a transmitter. I already know the shape will hold Ripper in place safely, I’m just not sure if I’m ready to try my luck with another remote control. I also can’t shake that, “you get what you pay for” vibe so the low prices are scaring me a little. lol I mean, I paid almost $100 for my current transmitter and it’s still going strong– I really want to find something like that again with an updated style to fit my new needs. What do you think?
