August 21, 1998

Orignial Article

We received a note from Bruce Miller complaining about very poor service at Zauction.

He purchased a TI610 notebook computer for $819 on May 18, 1998 using a Debit Card. Zauction never delivered the goods, nor would they respond to his repeated e-mails (twice a week for two months), phone calls (more than 5), or certified letter.

After much frustration, he e-mailed us to warn others.

This was a serious complaint so we decided to investigate it on August 17, 1998. We were not able to reach a customer service operator at the number given - (818) 878-6576 - even with more than a dozen phone calls.

Using a trick (dialing in random extensions in the voice mail system), we were able to speak with someone at Zauction. Amber, at x112, looked into Bruce's problem, and claimed that Bruce was already scheduled for a refund, but due to problems in the accounting department it would be delayed for up to 30 additional days. She said this after he has already been waiting for three months.

eSmarts finds this level of customer service unacceptable, and recommends avoiding Zauction.

We will check back with Zauction periodically to see if they start answering their customer service line, and report the results here. We will consider changing our opinion of Zauction after six months of good service.

There is another lesson to be learned in this story, NEVER use a debit card when dealing with an Internet store. If Bruce had used a credit card, he could have disputed the charge and received his money back.