Probe Industries

Hi all ,

I regret having to have to do this.

DO NOT BUY ANYTHING FROM PROBE INDUSTRIES.

They sent me an unauthorized shipment of connecting rods earlier this year as something got screwed up with their computer system. They charged my credit card $ 577.49, WITHOUT my authorization. I immediately called them and spoke to Galen (don't know his last name) and Manny Maldonado, both customer service guy's. I informed them of the mistakenly sent package. I did not even open the box, just the packing slip on the outside. They said no problem and then sent me a pre paid return shipping label. No problems right ? Well when a month or so passed I did not see a credit on my Visa statement, so I gave them a call.

Then they tell me the box only had 1 connecting rod in it and their records indicate that it weighed equivalent to 8 rods when it left, so they can't credit my card ! Well I pleaded with them, "look I never asked for the rods and you charged my card and sent them to me anyway". Doesn't matter to them, they basically told me to F%#K O**.

I will never ever have anything good to say about them, they stiffed me for 577 bucks.

Oh and the two cust. service guy's have the typical left coast "Dude don't worry we'll get to it tomorrow man" laid back, slack attitude.

Remember Manny.. "The customer makes your paycheck possible"

Can't do anything with Visa either as my cc# was on file and they charged it. All Visa says it can do is "protest"

If you are going to buy rotating assembly parts, skip Probe and look elsewhere.

S

Hello all,

Well some good news, and damn it was quick !

A very fine gentleman from N.Z., who is a member here, PM'd me and gave me the owner of Probe Industries name. He suggested that I contact him with this problem and see if he couldn't work something out.

Well I immediately called and spoke to the owner. He was courteous and apologetic for their mistake. He assured me my credit card would be credited ASAP.

As soon as it does they will get the thumbs up and a retraction from me.

A HUGE THANK YOU TO MY MATE IN NZ ! I OWE YOU ONE. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CALL IN THE RETURN FAVOR WHEN YOU NEED ONE.

S

Scott,

It is unfortunate when anyone has a bad experience as have have experienced. I hope the thing ends with a positive as you indicated......

.........however, if that fails to happen, their may be something else you can do. I am not sure what the State Laws are in New England. Here in Oregon, a person with a bad experience such as yours can log onto the Secretary of States web site, and can submit a consumer complaint against the company in question. Once they recieve the complaint, the SoS contacts the company and investigates the issue. It usually gets resolved, and if more than one complaint starts rolling in against the same company, the SoS office has a way to step in to help the company see straight again.

You may not need to take this step in this case, but you may wish to surf the New England State Web Page, and become familiar with the process. That way, in the future......if you need it, you got it in the old memory banks. (Well, in my case,....old memory banks).

Good Luck!!!!

Thanks Gary,

I have a feeling those memory banks of yours are still razor sharp.

Cheers,
Scott

In the US, if company sends you a box of stuff that you didn't order, it's a gift. If they try to charge your credit card, you can call your credit card company and challenge the charge.

As someone else said, if the company won't act responsibly, contact the consumer affairs department in your state's Attorney General's office.

In Massachusetts, it's: http://www.ago.state.ma.us/sp.cfm?pageid=2373

Sorry to hear that you are having problems, hopefully the owner will sort things out for you and make sure that this kind of thing doesn't happen again to somebody else. Over here in england if we get these problems then we contact can Contact The Trading Standards People, they dont always do a lot but its the best we can do, but you tell the company that you are going to contact them it normally scares them quite a bit which normally gets them to do what they should of done in the first place.

In a situation like this which Secretary of State or AG's office should the customer contact, the office in their state or the vendor's?

I hope this works out for you Scott. I am surprised that the credit card company wasn't more help.

Charlie

Thanks for the best wishes guy's. Hopefully the owner of the company will stand by his word.

Cheers,
Scott

In the future, here's how to handle unsolicited delivery of goods. Number 1 follow the procedure of your credit card company and despute the charge. Tell then you did not make this purchase. They will contact the billing party and request conformation for the purchase. At this point the billing company will more than likely tell the credit card company it was a mistake and cancel the charge if the goods are returned. Now they are on record with your credit card company. They will also more than likely request a return of their goods from you in writing. Return their goods after the statement is cleared of the charge.

The bottom line is don't set up an acount with vendors with a credit card. And if you must use a card with a low limmit.

Well some good news !

Probe has refunded my money in FULL.

THANK YOU MARK O'NEAL.




Cheers Russ !!!!

Glad to hear it worked out Scott.

Charlie

That is good news Scott. Pleased to be able to help.

Cheers

This is hilarious... Manny and Galen...the exact same 2 guys that screwed me out of a track weekend earlier this year. I got the wrong oil rings with my rotating assembly, which of course I didn't catch until I went to install them. I called and got Galen...he promised the new rings would go out that day 2nd day air. This was necessary in order for me to get the engine to the dyno as scheduled and keep evrything on track. The next day I call to get the tracking number, and Galen says they didn't go out because he was waiting for the original rings to be returned. WHAT???? So I ask for the manager...I get Manny. He says he'll handle it, and ship them next day air to meet my deadline. OK, says I, but are you going to cover the difference in cost between next day and 2nd day air? No, says he.
OK, whatever. The next day I call to get a tracking nuumber and get brain dead Galen again. He can't even recall the previous day's call nor find my order. I leave a message for Manny, who isn't there, and finally call back late that day and get thru to him. He can't get me a tracking number because my rings STILL had not shipped. Apparently he FAXED my order to their supplier, but didn't bother to follow up and find out if they had shipped. And after all that, the rings were shipped GROUND. I'm pretty sure this was either intentional, or these are 2 of the dumbest people I've ever come into contact with.
When I talked to the "owner" (woman) about it, all she kept saying was what did I want her to do about it...

Howards response is the way it should be handled. You have to react as soon as possible. You have 60-90(not exactly sure, its on your statement) days to dispute a charge. Follow the directions on your charge statement to the letter. Then you are on record and it can always be withdrawn. Most company's should have some sort of confirmation of the purchase,shipping info etc. that should have been sent to you. If they can't produce it, it is part of the dispute argument on your side. The second steep is to lookup the officers of the company. If they are a publicly traded company a Google search should help. This is public record and you will find their direct numbers as well. Then place a call if things go south. Most CEOs will work things out as it their reputation as an individual and a company are at stake.

Bill