Ordered VS, can I trust the retailer?

[TheMerk]

I ordered a VS pump last night. I had spent the last week researching pumps and prices and settled on the Waterway Power Defender 165.

Looking around at various retailers, I saw a guy on eBay with good reviews at the low end pricewise, a well respected site that I have ordered from before on the high end, and another site that gets good marks on here in the middle. I went with the middle retailer, even though I have never ordered from them before. I’m from Utah and they’re in Ogden, so I figured I could trust them.

I don’t know why I didn’t do this before, but I just looked that site up on Yelp and they have gotten TERRIBLE reviews lately. People are waiting weeks or months for delivery. Ugh. I supposed I’ll wait until early next week to see if there is any order status update. If not, I’ll cancel and go with another site.

 

[ajw22]

Did you charge it to a credit card?

Keep an eye on your CC account and see if they charge your credit card before they ship the pump.

 

[TheMerk]

I did use a CC. So far there’s just the authorization.

 

[TheMerk]

I called them and they are playing a recording saying that they're not accepting calls due to COVID-19, and that I should email them.

So I emailed them, and got an auto-response that said they are getting crushed with business due to COVID-19, so response and shipping times may be slower than normal. It also says that all of their phone reps are working from home.

None of this adds up. The phone system says they're not answering calls but the email says phone reps are working from home, and looking at the Yelp reviews, these bad reviews started many months before the pandemic.

I did some googling and found that they filed for bankruptcy April 2019 and it was granted last fall. Sigh.

I don't necessarily want to name the retailer, but I think anyone familiar with them can figure it out. If I do end up cancelling my order, I'll certainly name them so other TFPers don't also fall for this.

 

[GDN]

I've had a major issue with that retailer just recently. Won't say any more as I had a review of them deleted from here. I would say start the dispute with your cc company now. That is the only recourse they gave me. Reach out with a DM here for any more details.

 

[Chappie]

For what it's worth, you should do a little research on Yelp. They build a ton of bias into their system, and like all on-line reviews, should be taken with a grain of salt. Though it looks like they were on the money in this case.