Quoted from Atomicboy:The above quote from this *severely edited* (and yes, it's deserved here pinside) is incredibly ironic to me. I had been one of the few Canadians having no issues with him for years, spending thousands and thousands there. I never really defended him in posts, but always piped up as one of the ones that noted no problems, which seemed very rare for anyone outside the US and at best 50% for anyone inside the US.
Last order I did, someone cut the cable near my home, and we were down for 2-3 days with no internet. In that time, two weeks overdue mind you from him, Mike sends the email stating on my $600+ order, an additional $7 was needed for shipping.
As soon as I'm back online, the first email at the top of my list was him stating he was restocking my order and returning my money. I tried to log in to replace the order only to find out he blocked mine. Thousands of dollars from a known buyer with a perfect history, closed off for two days of not hearing back for $7. I mean, the business model is exactly how everyone describes.
I signed up to another account, reordered, which I guess put him in a spot of some kind, as he then took my call, and complained about how he had to take everything out of the box and put away, and this was due to me not getting back to him... again for $7. Clearly the over $600 wasn't enough commitment I guess to assume I'm likely not going to have an issue with another $7, and given my past as a flawless customer taking his bullshit about why he is always late with his second email about shipping...
So after him bitching about this, and me having to sit there and take it (what else could I do, I needed some stuff only he had), he did the order, everything went fine, then he closed the new account and left the old one closed, despite telling me we were all good.
This guy isn't just a bad business man, he isn't just difficult to deal with, he has mental issues. It's known he has had lyme disease, and I really wonder if a lot of this has stemmed from it.
Funny, something very similar happened to me. I won't post the entire story, but here's the short version:
MAD is in NJ, very close to me. Dealt with them both through their web site and ebay. Orders always shipped quickly and extra shipping always refunded. He had great prices on some stuff that beat others...
Then the problem happened. I ordered something or other and before it shipped I realized it was incorrect. I immediately tried to cancel the order. Tried calling, emailing, and submitting it through the web site. No response. Product showed up and it took me weeks to actually get a response back and get it returned. He took it back and I said I didn't mind eating the return shipping. Figured all was good until I tried to place an order later. My account was blocked. Called and he answered. He looked up my email and gave me some story about me being a hard-case customer and he didn't need to deal with people like me and that was it.
Not a good way to do business. Shame because the parts were cheap and fast, but I don't mind paying a little more or waiting a little more to give my money to someone who actually wants my business.