Starting to get bad taste in mouth for Autotoys...

3430 Views 24 Replies 13 Participants Last post by adam1991, Sep 16, 2001

nyvram

Discussion Starter · Sep 13, 2001

I have tried to reach them through their cryptic maze of webpages & emails for almost 2 weeks now just to get an RMA for that bad Poron unit. Its incredibly frustrating and I feel like the only way I can speak my mind & be heard is to post on a public forum such as this.

There's no excuse for not responding in this amount of time in some form (other than automated response email). I just spent $700 with these guys and I feel I'm at least entitled to a response.

I know that being located in NJ they are close to the events of Tuesday but I submitted my request long before that for a simple RMA # and have gotten no response.

Calling on the phone doesn't help either as its an automated answering machine that refers you to the website.

Anyone else care to comment on their experience? How long does it honestly take to answer a simple email especially when I've sent several trying to get some type of human response. I cannot even post to their forums because my autotoys ID is invalid when I go to the forums page (another customer service email I sent).

[This message has been edited by nyvram (edited 09-13-2001).]

See less See more

1 - 20 of 25 Posts

nyvram

Discussion Starter · #2 · Sep 13, 2001

On the other hand...

Just got off the phone w/ PoronUSA and they were *incredibly* helpful. I think they're going to take care of me and this way I can avoid the autotoys customer service issues completely.

If there's something useful to come out of this post, its that Poron itself is a good resource to use if you have problems with your detector. The guy who answered the phone was the one who helped me; quite technical and gave me some additional testing ideas to isolate the bad component. He also said that he would ensure that I got exactly what I need, no charge, to get the unit working properly even if its a replacement.

ckonarske

· #3 · Sep 13, 2001

That's great news!

I, too have a helluva time navigating around Autotoy's site. If they paid anyone to design that site, they got ripped off.

------------------
Chuck
Click here for Ody pics, mods and fixes on FotoTime.

sinbad

· #4 · Sep 13, 2001

Ditto. I was unable to find the PIAA 7440 backup lamps in that labyrinth, and ended up going to http://autosupermart.com/. (Note this is not the same as www.autosupermarket.com, but I am not sure why.) Someone said: The taste of poor quality (here, service) lingers on, long after the sweetness of low price has been forgotten.

adam1991

· #5 · Sep 13, 2001

I agree. Their web site SUCKS.

(Remember the IBM commercial that compared having some teen-age kid design your "e-commerce" web site with flaming and dancing graphics vs. having IBM handle all your e-commerce needs professionally? Autotoys found some 13 year old kid with a new copy of whatever web site software was the "latest and greatest" and took whatever he gave them. Suckers.)

Not only their web site, but their customer service is also lacking. I saw the web page with their speaker and light installations and thought that would be nice to do; so, I navigated through the UTTER HELL that is their web site and managed to contact them. I said that I was interested in a quote from them on all that stuff.

Here's their lame, non-customer-service response:

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Thank you for your interest in our products.
Our company has a no pressure sales policy.

Our storefront : http://store.autotoys.com

To reply, REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE from the original email address you wrote from.
=================================

The current prices:

Go to http://store.autotoys.com

Search under 1655
Search under 1086
The 4 inch foam baffle is located in our SPEAKER department under FOAM BAFFLE

All in stock.</font>

I asked for a quote, not a training class on searching their hostile web site.

I dumped them and moved on.

groupset

· #6 · Sep 13, 2001

I agree with the comments about their web site -I was griping about their site back when they were a sponsor of this forum (anyone notice their ad is gone off the top of the page??). And who is "Tire Rack"? Anyone order from them yet?

------------------
David
'01 GG EX-NAVI
Classic Soft Trim leather kit; Audiovox entertainment system; Gentex auto dimming compass/temp rear view mirror; Pioneer speakers front & rear; leather steering wheel wrap; splash guards; cargo tray; cargo liner; power door mods; Helm manual; Honda litter bag.

nyvram

Discussion Starter · #7 · Sep 13, 2001

tirerack..mmmmm....

(visions of wireless tire pressure monitoring sensors come to mind...)

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/accessories/smartire1.jsp

Tirerack is *huge*. Take a look at the latest copy of motorweek or car & driver; they've usually got a 10-15 page ad going w/ rims, tires, etc...

[This message has been edited by nyvram (edited 09-13-2001).]

ody

· #8 · Sep 13, 2001

nyvram-your experience mirrors my own earlier in the year! I have vowed NEVER to buy from them again due to their complete disregard for customer service

Lots of people have had a bad experience with autotoys from what I've heard...

------------------
On the waiting list for my '02 EX Nav in RED!

See less See more

Jim F

· #9 · Sep 13, 2001

Click on the Tire Rack banner as often as possible. LOL It's a per click deal.

They have been selling wheel/tire packages for ages. Great service. I've actually used them before.

------------------
Jim
'01 GG EX w/stuff
'93 Nissan Sentra SE-R with more stuff

Jim F

· #10 · Sep 13, 2001

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by groupset:
(anyone notice their ad is gone off the top of the page??)</font>

I couldn't get in touch with them to see if they wanted to continue to sponsor us after their ad time expired. Go figure.

------------------
Jim
'01 GG EX w/stuff
'93 Nissan Sentra SE-R with more stuff

johnkalajian

· #11 · Sep 14, 2001

I purchased a $45 amplified tv antenna for the jensen unit back in July, and just installed the antenna last labor day. The amplified antenna unit simply didn't work-it was easy to prove too-because when you disconnected the power leads to the "amplified" antenna, it made no difference at all in the picture quality. The first thing I did was call the tech support number that was included with the antenna for the manufacturer. I spoke with the tech support for the tv antenna manufacturer who confirmed to me that the unit was defective. Mfg. told me to contact retailer for replacement. I sent two e mails to autotoys, including my customer number, my invoice number, and all the other info they requested, outlining everything I did and why the unit was defective. After about a week, autotoys finally sent me a response, saying, "exactly what is wrong with the unit?" Sent them additional email and waited about another week. Hadn't heard anything as of today, so I tried calling their phone number listed on my copy of the credit card authorization. Only voice mail response, no humans to talk to, if you want customer service, you are referred to their web site (which is terrible). I called again and tried to connect to their "order desk", hoping to speak to an actual human. On hold a long time, then told, "all reps are busy". Then looked up the web site on networksolutions.com (who is? search engine), and tried calling that number-it was busy all morning. Then I sent toyman an email today, complaining about their customer service. Finally got a response (not from toyman, but from autotoys), which I received later this morning (don't know if e mail to toyman was the reason or not). Autotoys sent me a five page return authorization form which must be filled out and faxed back to them BEFORE they will authorize any return at all or provide any merchandise return authorization. If you don't fill out the form and fax it back to them and then ship the product back to them within ten days, then you forfeit your right to return their defective stuff. Plus they charge you a sliding scale "processing fee" for the priviledge of returning their defective merchandise ($7.00 for my $45 antenna). If it isn't returned double boxed, and insured, in the original packaging, they add on another $20.00, which they say they will charge to your credit card used for the original order. If you don't include every screw, bracket, wire, etc., that came with the original unit, you are charged an additional fee. You have to wait for them to process the five page return authorization and then they will send you a return authorization number before you can actually ship the defective product back to them. I faxed them the return authorization application this morning, but haven't heard anything back from them as of tonight. Assuming you jump through all their hoops and get a return authorization number and ship the stuff back to them, they won't even process your return until "its your turn" based upon whatever other returns they have to do first (you can pay an additional $20 rush charge if you are in a hurry). Then they will test the product and determine based upon their own testing, and absolutely within their own discretion, whether to replace the product. They claim they have to have these policies because dishonest customers are returning defective merchandise they buy off ebay, or the like, but I get the vibe that this is just their way to deter any customers from returning bad merchandise.

All in all, I'd say this outfit has a pretty crappy customer service policy and if you purchase anything from them, you are doing so at your own risk. Read their shipping documents that come with the stuff they sell-everything they sell is sold as is, no warranty, no nothing. Plus its going to cost you a bunch of money to ship the stuff back to them, jump through a bunch of hoops that don't really seem reasonably related to any legitimate business purposes, and then wait around till they get around to doing the adjustment, if they do one at all.

I'd say that anybody who does business with these people thinking they are going to be doing you any favors as members of the odyclub.com forum are going to be very disappointed. They say on their web site that they have made thousands of "friends" over the years. I don't need friends like them. Buyer beware. Pass it on.

See less See more

nyvram

Discussion Starter · #12 · Sep 14, 2001

Good lord.

Obviously it isn't worth another second of your time to fool around with this. You've spent more than $45 of your own time just trying to get in touch with someone.

I wasn't going to say this earlier; but the guy at Poron didn't seem surprised by my dilemma. He said he's had numerous customers who haven't been able to get in touch with these guys to return products.

I want to give them the benefit of the doubt..especially after spending $700, but I'm quickly starting to feel like I'm on my own with anything I've purchased from them.

Buyer beware indeed!

PS That story about eBay doesn't jibe either. C'mon. You still have to have a customer ID, invoice #, etc. So what they're saying is that people are going to the trouble to order the same product from them and eBay & trying to send them the eBay product. I seriously doubt this is a big problem and if it is, it goes to show what type of customer they're attracting.

[This message has been edited by nyvram (edited 09-14-2001).]

[This message has been edited by nyvram (edited 09-14-2001).]

See less See more

errol

· #13 · Sep 14, 2001

Hi maryvyn,

Sorry to hear about your troubles with autotoys. I've documented my troubles with them in the back sensors thread.

When I was shopping still, I contacted poron directly. A John Lee responded. He asked that I call him at 800-869-8866. Didn't get to do that since I had already ordered the poron from autotoys.

Hope you get your poron system fixed/replaced.

Thanks,
Errol

------------------
Keohi Web Design
Keohi HDTV

[This message has been edited by errol (edited 09-15-2001).]

See less See more

stevenk40

· #14 · Sep 14, 2001

You could report them to their local Better Business Bureau.

------------------
Steve

2002 Red Ody EX.

shindog

· #15 · Sep 14, 2001

Yowsers. Indeed very bad. I chimed in on the Autotoys experience thread awhile back with my positive experiences, but seems they've gone down quite a bit recently. Sorry to hear about everyone's problems. Their lack of customer service is apalling.

Is Toyman even out there these days? I remember posting something awhile back about a question I had submitted via email, but did not get an adequate answer.....

Things that make you go hmmm......

-SJ

------------------
DEP '01 EX no-navi

toyman

· #16 · Sep 16, 2001

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">
There's no excuse for not responding in this amount of time in some form (other than automated response email). I just spent $700 with these guys and I feel I'm at least entitled to a response.

I know that being located in NJ they are close to the events of Tuesday but I submitted my request long before that for a simple RMA # and have gotten no response.

[/B]</font>

Sorry to hear about your problems. Our email management actually sits on a Microsoft Server. I believe they decided to change the IP address of that server recently and it was inaccessible to us for about 6 days while changes were made with Internic, the IP address is now different. Also, with the fact we were closed for several days over Labor day week, this caused an enormous amount of backlog for our operators. We receive typically about on average 75-150 emails per day.

If you do have a problem with your Poron unit, we will exchange it or you can go through the warranty procedures (as explained on the warranty card included with the unit), your choice.

------------------
****

Here to help

toyman

· #17 · Sep 16, 2001

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by ckonarske:
That's great news!

I, too have a helluva time navigating around Autotoy's site. If they paid anyone to design that site, they got ripped off.

</font>

Our site is quite huge. Over 8,000 products in our storefront, dynamic pages, wishlists, etc. Our tech section delivers over 20k GIGABYTES of bandwidth per month, this is enormous. Our development work is outsourced to multiple outfits.

If you have a portfolio of a company that can undertake our projects which can be within our budget, please pass on the information. We revise out site almost every year. There has been many firms that believed they were able to handle the size of development for us, but were later resigned due to the lack of resources.

------------------
****

Here to help

toyman

· #18 · Sep 16, 2001

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by adam1991:

Not only their web site, but their customer service is also lacking. I saw the web page with their speaker and light installations and thought that would be nice to do; so, I navigated through the UTTER HELL that is their web site and managed to contact them. I said that I was interested in a quote from them on all that stuff.

Here's their lame, non-customer-service response:

I asked for a quote, not a training class on searching their hostile web site.

I dumped them and moved on.</font>

A quote on what? The prices for the products are listed with the products. Since our site is dyanmic, it is company policy not to give you prices via email but redirect you to the site. This is especially important because if you do receive a price via email, it could be greater or lesser than the actual price posted in our storefront.

If you had a direct question on the products 'other' than a price quote, repost the original email and I will answer it. If it was just a price quote, yes, I would need to ask to you visit the storefont. Our search engine is quote powerful. Punching in those model numbers will bring up the products instantly with pricing. You can also at that point bookmark the product to your customer id #.

In addition to this, the contact link is listed on almost EVERY page in our storefront. It is not hidden, it is easily accessible so I did not understand your comment about finding contact links.

------------------
****

Here to help

toyman

· #19 · Sep 16, 2001

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by nyvram:
Good lord.

Obviously it isn't worth another second of your time to fool around with this. You've spent more than $45 of your own time just trying to get in touch with someone.

I wasn't going to say this earlier; but the guy at Poron didn't seem surprised by my dilemma. He said he's had numerous customers who haven't been able to get in touch with these guys to return products.

I want to give them the benefit of the doubt..especially after spending $700, but I'm quickly starting to feel like I'm on my own with anything I've purchased from them.

Buyer beware indeed!

PS That story about eBay doesn't jibe either. C'mon. You still have to have a customer ID, invoice #, etc. So what they're saying is that people are going to the trouble to order the same product from them and eBay & trying to send them the eBay product. I seriously doubt this is a big problem and if it is, it goes to show what type of customer they're attracting.

[This message has been edited by nyvram (edited 09-14-2001).]

[This message has been edited by nyvram (edited 09-14-2001).]</font>

The RA forms are standard and boiler plate. It protects us and also lets you know exactly what the return procedures are. If you had any questions about them, you can send us email at any time.

You will NOT believe what people do in returns.

We receive electronic products back with a new shell and the inner parts have been exchanged with broken parts (different serial #s than originally sent out), products with circuit boards removed and replaced with a circuit board from years (generations old).

It seems that because there is a degree of anonymity from buying over the web (no face to face contact), it also gives a small portion of the population a degree of bravery to pull these 'crimes' against us.

The forms are there as boiler plate, if your product is defective, it will be replaced or repair, it is that simple.

------------------
****

Here to help

See less See more

toyman

· #20 · Sep 16, 2001

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Is Toyman even out there these days? I remember posting something awhile back about a question I had submitted via email, but did not get an adequate answer.....

-SJ

[/B]</font>

I believe I need to recant my original statement that I will be able to visit these forums regularly. Periodically I will drop by as I have in the past to answer specific question on our products and off-topic discussions (I tried my best to chime in on all discussions), but my visits will be less regular. I apoligize, but I will try my best to visit as often as I can.

------------------
****

Here to help

1 - 20 of 25 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.