It Doesn't Always Work, Part II

A short time back - August 22 of this year to be exact, I posted in this blog that I would be buying a SanDisk 1-gb secure digital card for our Canon A620 camera from an outfit called dz-tech, and that it would be coming by mail. Well, I waited, and waited. It failed to show up. I wrote to dz-tech through pricegrabbers.com, and wondered where it was. It was supposed to arrive by 1st class mail, and usually took 5 days (or less). It was now 4 days overdue. It was, however, insured. I paid enough for the shipping, handling, and mandatory insurance. I didn't mind paying over $9.00 for shipping, since, coupled with the price, it was only $23.90 for the whole thing, cheaper than I could buy the memory card anywhere else. The only caveat here is if I don't receive it at all.

I didn't hear from dz-tech the first time I wrote, so I emailed them again, only this time, I said that I would like them to send out another unit, at no charge, as the original was insured, and would obviously eventually be paid for by the USPS. I also said that if I didn't receive one soon, I would have to cancel payment through PayPal. The next day I got a phone call from dz-tech. They said they would send out another unit, and I guaranteed them that if both of the memory cards finally showed up, I would mail back the second one I received. Well, the one they sent out 2nd, showed up first, and the one they sent out first arrived a few days later. I knew they told the truth, because the postmark verified they had.

I decided to keep both cards, and contacted them and asked if they would accept a PayPal payment for another $23.90 for the second card, rather than mail it back to them. I reasoned that I would have to package the card in another envelope, drive it to the post office, insure it, and mail it back. Then I would have to hope that it arrived or I would be on the other end of the stick. Besides, it is a great price on this card, and two of my pro cameras can utilize this type of card, as well as compact flash cards. It was a win-win deal: they were happy to oblige. They were honest. I was honest. And we both got what we wanted. I was happy to leave positive feedback for them on pricegrabber.com.

Moral: Don't be afraid to contact a company if you think things aren't working, and use credit cards, or PayPal to make payments. These are your leverage to get what you want. They are not payment - they are a promise to allow payment. You'd be surprised what you can do with that leverage.