Hard Lesson Learned - Stay far away from Foto Connection

Because the theme of this move seems to be "the only thing you can expect is the unexpected", it is not utterly shocking to us that the events over the last few days regarding my dream washer and dryer that we purchased, have gone so utterly bad.

This is our first "real" washer and dryer purchase. We've either had them given to us, purchased used ones from family for next to nothing, or had them in our homes, such as we just did. For a year and a half now, I have been planning the purchase of the LG Steam Washer and Dryer in blue mind you.

A few weeks before we were to make our purchase, one of my friends announced proudly, that her LG Steam had arrived and that she loved it. In talking to her, we learned that they got it for about $300 less than we had seen anywhere else through Foto Connection. Their purchase experience was nothing out of the ordinary, other than having to get it into their home and hook it up themselves.

We decided great, we will order from them as well. No, I couldn't get it in blue as that would be $400 more, but hey, saving money was the key.

Annoyance #1 It would be 7 to 10 days for delivery. It did arrive, or rather something did, but it was not what we ordered. We received two pedestals that showed a price of $479 a piece which we never would've ordered knowing that the one's we wanted cost $199. Secondly, there was only one box and it was labeled washer. We asked the driver, where is the dryer? The invoice said we were receiving a washer and dryer, though the box just said washer and was obviously only the size of a washer. We didn't open it or accept the delivery, but immediately called the company. I could hear Rob explaining the apparent mistake. I couldn't tell what was being said, but Rob was apparently receiving an earful over the phone. When he finally got to speak I heard him saying things like this,

"Hey, calm down. I'm the customer here."

"Look this is not what we ordered."

"A 15% to 20% restocking fee for returning it?, but that's not what we ordered."

"Don't call me an idiot. Look ,what happened to the customer is always right?"

"Will you stop that so we can try to solve this?"

"Look, you're in business because of me."

My calm husband was clearly exasperated, but maintianing his cool. From my perch on the stairs, I said, "Tell him we'll call the BBB?" Apparently he heard me and said, "I don't care if you call the Attorney General (this later became an ironic response). Rob later told me that he said Rob should just get a truck and two guys and come pick up the order himself.

Having gotten no where with this "customer service person" we refused the product, and it went back on the truck. The guy promised to call us back so we could reorder what we wanted.

There was no call back of course and yesterday, Rob went back to work for the first time in a month. I'll write about that another day. It was one thing in our lives that went smoothly.

Believing that Rob had not been assertive enough, I was anxious to take over the process. Here's how two hours of my morning went yesterday. Call and get that guy's answering machine. It says press "0" to talk to someone immediately. He answers.

"Yes, my name is Traci and you were helping us resolve an issue with our order, I have my correct item numbers to give you."

"Hold on" Classsical music with "there are 9 calls ahead of you..." Finally, it rings. It's picked up and immediately, classical music again, "there are six calls ahead of you." Hmmm....I wait through it. The same thing happens again. I hang up and start over. This guy knows who I am and doesn't want to talk to me. I am persistant. After about the 6th call to his direct line, someone else answers. Same thing over and over again. Finally, he himself answers and before I can get two words out, I am blow away with a barrage of things said to me that no one has ever said to me before (at least not within earshot). To sum it up, I was told that both I and my husband were stupid idiots who don't know how to place an internet order. There were many other descriptive words used. My plan of action had already been set and so I began repeating calmly the same sentence each time he spoke. "I need to speak to the owner of the company."

"Why, because you're an idiot?"

"I need to speak to the owner of the company please."

"Why, so you can tell him how stupid you are and that you can't even place an order correctly? Do you realize you made me lose a $15,000 sale? You've called me ext. 16 times. You have to wait in line for your turn."

"I did. Someone kept starting me over in the phone que. Can I please speak with the owner?"

"I'll let you talk to the owner and you can tell him how you and your husband are such *ing idiots."

Sarcastically, "Yes, please give me the opportunity to tell him that."

"What!!!?"

"Can I speak to the owner please?"

I'll spare you the rest because this is getting long, but I have never encountered this sort of treatment in any purchasing situation. Rob and I shake our heads at the profanity and rude things said to us. It almost seems unreal.

Long story short, after another hour of haggling with more shady characters none of which were the owner, we will be getting our money back supposedly short of $750 which pays for restocking fees and $250 shipping both ways. Never mind, that the truck was headed back to the warehouse that night on it's own. As embarassing as it is to get taken like that (I later found all manner of complaints and a dismal BBB rating on the internet with just a few minutes research), I want to share this with as many people that will read it. Do not order anything from Foto Connection. It is a completely fraudulant company.

Our next move: We've begun filing our complaint with the New York Attorney General. Rob said that small claims court would be pointless as they are located in another state. Also, just getting the word out about Foto Connection in anyway possible.