Tigerdirect post mortem

(Update: If you’re going to read this, you should also know that TigerDirect, or at least someone who works for the company, apologized to me in May ’08. Better late than never.)

It has been three months now since I vented about bad, bad, bad customer service from tigerdirect.com. I never did get around to writing CEO-Man Carl Fiorentino, directly, to ask why the company was unable to act or communicate in a forthright way about an issue I had with a video card that failed and warranty information that was false. They did ultimately correct the information online about the card I bought, and the warranty. I think they stopped talking to me on about the fourth email, when I indelicately but quite accurately started using the word “fraud” to describe their behavior and to characterize the transaction in question.

Today, I remembered that I was going to try, one more time, to somehow return the vid card in question before the one-year manufactuer’s warranty expired. Lo and behold, on the product page at TigerDirect, there is warranty information from the actual manufacturer of the card (as opposed to the company that TigerDirect originally had said made and supported the card. I’m not naming the new company here because I don’t hold them in any way responsible for TigerDirect’s fuckups. Yes, the card failed within the warranty period, but that happens. It isn’t their fault that TigerDirect’s ineptness kept them from helping me.

And help me they did, I think. At least, I got to talk to a real person who sent me an RMA form. So presumably, I’ll return the card and get a replacement, which I no longer really need all these months later. But having a spare is not a bad thing. And I’ll be glad never to think of this again.

But I’ll still never buy from Tigerdirect.com again, or recommend them to anyone. I don’t trust them. Too bad, since they often have great prices on good stuff … and it’s a good place to shop. But only if nothing goes wrong, and sometimes it does, huh? Buyers beware.

Update: May 2, and the UPS guy just walked in and handed me my replacement vid card. Galaxy Technology, the Hong Kong makers of the card, took care of my problem quickly and efficiently. They understood my e-mail. They issued an RMA. They took the card back and shipped me another one, from an address in Illinois. I am happy with them. It isn’t their fault TigerDirect is incompetent. I’d buy another KFA2 card, no problem. But not from TigerDirect, which remains on my shit list for six months of aggravation.