TELeasy Coporation - Adcom Systems Sold nonfunctioning machine, breach of contract ripoff Dallas Texas

Hello BBB, the following information is a letter I wrote to TELeasy in an effort to find a fair resolution. I am making some modifications to the letter to include a few more problems I have experienced since the date I sent the letter. If for any reason you would like the original copy I sent them I still have it. This letter, I believe will be adequate in helping the BBB understand the problems I have faced; however, if it is not clear please contact me and I will explain myself better. To start let me simply say that I purchased a DVD machine for $12,649 that doesn't function as it should.

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Here is the letter:

TELeasy Corp.
David Finer
508-509-4780
davidfiner@aol.com

Dear David and TELeasy Corp,


My name is Jake and I am a current a TELeasy customer. I recently purchased a DVD Rental Kiosk from you that has been a serious burden to have. I have had one problem after another. I am writing this letter to help you understand my position and the issues I have confronted in hopes to find a fair and quick resolution. Below I will provide in bullet format a list of the problems that have been resolved and problems that still await resolution.

The first problem I ran into was a delivery issue. I was told the DVD kiosk would arrive before a certain date and it arrived two weeks late because of manufacturing issues. I even verbally confirmed the delivery date with my sales rep so that I could be assured I could purchase my DVD inventory without having my movies idle and going out of date.
Not only did the machine arrive late but it has been (and still is) inadequate for public use do to several problems that should have and could have been resolved earlier.
When I first received the machine I wanted to test it, of course, but I was told I could not because my internet was too slow. So I was forced to put the machine into operation at the University of Wyoming before I could properly test it. However I was consoled with the thought that TELeasy surely tested their product before it left their facilities to make sure it was fit for public use.
After a semester of endless problems with the machine I was forced to take it back to our office. I again hooked it up as before when it first arrived for testing purposes of course it didn't work again because it thought it wasn't hooked up to the internet because my internet was too slow however, when I called TELeasy to do some work on the machine they said the problem wasn't because my internet was too slow as they did before. They told me to enter a different address for the machine to ping so that it would know it was hooked up to the internet.
I did that and it worked (meaning it would let me try and rent a movie. What this means is that I could have tested the machine when first received it at our office and saved my self countless hours and thousands of dollars. Had I known the machine didn't function when it first arrived I could have not accepted the goods and sent them back but I was never granted a time to deem the goods acceptable because I couldn't test it.
I had told my sales rep where I was putting the machine (at the University of Wyoming) in which case I should have been warned of the networking and firewall issues that would arise. I was only told I needed an internet connection. I was never informed that this machine needed specific ports to be opened in order to operate.
I have only recently received approval to have port 1433 opened so the machine could download movie information from TELeasy's data base. At this time the email port is still closed and will not be opened making email receipts unable to be sent to customers. Had I known I would need to make special arrangements to get through the Universities network and firewall I could have done so months before I received the machine. The University also has policies against DSL on campus forcing me to go through their network. I had no idea that the network issues I have been dealing with were ever going to be problems. I was simply told I needed internet access.
Once the machine was operating and able to be tested I found other problems with the software and the mechanics. As for the software, it works sporadically. I would often have to close out of all the applications because the machine wouldn't allow me to upload DVD's. The doors would open but the lever wouldn't come down for the DVD. I would push the open button to lower the lever but it wouldn't work. Sometimes it would tell me whereto place the DVD (Bin and slot), but the lever wouldn't come down or the Bin would be in the wrong spot. After restarting the application I can generally get things to work but that shouldn't be necessary.
I also rented a movie but when I tried to return it the machine wouldn't recognize the bar code making it impossible to return.
I also noticed that the machines really are not criminal proof. This is partly because the doors occasionally don't close but primarily because the doors (or guards) can be held open allowing the user to scan the movie and take it back making the machine think it was returned when it really wasn't. (This is a minor concern at the moment)
Port A malfunctioned for some reason. The motor broke and would continually run making a constant rattle. When the door was in the open mode it would rattle very load and only open part way. I have received and replace a new motor and it appears to be working fine; however port C only closes of the way making me suspicious that I will shortly have a problem with that port.
A major concern for me is the method used to dispense/return of the DVD's. As I tested the machine 1 out of five movies would jam in some way during the rental and return process. That would mean ever other customer would have a problem if every customer rented three DVD's. Those are terrible figures. The idea of a kiosk is to avoid man power and labor expenses. According to these figures I will have to hire some one to be next to the machine all day to open the door and help customers rent and return their DVD's. As you are a ware this is unacceptable and frankly surprising.
I am beginning to wonder if the machine was even tested. As I looked into the situation more trying to see why the DVD's would catch I noticed 2 main reasons. First is because the cases are not completely round. It seems that the thumb tab and hinge on the DVD case's would hang up some how when they roll down. The tabs also catch in the loading process because the lever is so weak. If there is any resistance at all the lever is unable to fully load the DVD putting the bin out of order or unusable.
In other words the lever needs to be stronger and needs to fully place the DVD in its location and not rely on gravity so much. The lever only goes of the way when there is any kind of resistance. The cases also need to be completely round with out any edges or bumps to catch on. Another reason the DVD's do not load or dispense is because the DVD cases next to the case being dispensed often touch during the process. Though that kind of resistance is minimal in seems to be enough to make the lever inadequate to dispense or return the movie completely. (need new cases and a stronger levers to load and unload the DVD's)
I was told that TELeasy had some new cases they were using that would resolve the problem. I asked them if the cases had been tested and they said they had. I received them and they don't even fit in the door. They are about too big for the machine. The cases also collided with the internal frame so I had to knock out some of the tabs to make room for the larger cases.
I purchase a dual screen unit. One touch screen is used for customers to rent movies, the other screen is used to watch trailers and advertisements. Right now the trailer screen won't play trailers like it should. The trailers play like they would if they were being downloaded with a slow internet connection. They skip and generally have a 2 second delay between each image. They said that the problem might be because I have too many movies loaded; however, I deleted all of them accept one and it still didn't work smoothly.
I have talked to a few software writers about the machine and have showed them the processes I have to go through to add a movie and add a trailer. They said (and I fully agree) that if they sold a product that worked like this they would be fired and in a law suit. The software used to import movies and load trailers is extremely difficult. You almost have to be a computer genius to figure it out and considering they don't even have a user manual to teach you everything made it even more difficult.
I have had their software continually jam up on me and other users. It would freeze on some screens rendering the machine out of order. Sometimes it would freeze during the check out stages so customers wouldn't know if they where charged for the movies or not. The only way to fix this would be to reset the machine. That is kind of hard to do every other day when you live 400 miles away.
Credit card processing- I had multiple complaints that the machine would read customers credit cards. TELeasy told me that it wasn't their fault. They said it would be because customer's cards are overdrawn and not approved. When the machine was returned to our offices after the first semester we tested it and found that about 2 out of 8 or so cards worked meaning about 75% of my customers couldn't use the machine because the software used to perform the transaction would reject the cards even though they were good.
I ran a promotion for free rentals- the machine often jammed up on customers. The software would then give the customers a refund of my standard rental price meaning I was paying customers to rent movies if the machine jammed up on me.
Customers where being charged for movies they never received. They were also charged a second time for the entire value of the movie because the machine thought they still had it even though the movie was never dispensed.
Customers don't receive there email; consequently they never know how much they where charged.
I have also had problems loading movies into the machine. After I gather all the info and uploaded it into there web site at teleasy.com I have to download it all again into the machine. I would have problems with movies not showing up when I down loaded them. I would also have problems when I load a movie into the machine all the info would be deleted from the machine. Even though the picture and info are there when I browse the movies as a customer would when I go my database it would be there.
I often lose movies in the machine. For some reason the movie wasn't registered in any location making it impossible for me to find the movie. It looks like the movie is rented out when you are browsing but it really isn't.
When returning a movie the machine will often not read the barcode even through the barcode worked when I loaded it.
I was told that TELeasy provided reports to help me see how things were going; however, they are now going to charge me for those monthly reports. Well I don't need the reports but I do need to be able to upload movies to their web site so that I can download them into the machine from their database. Well, since I don't have access to their web site any more my machine is completely useless. It won't even rent the movies that I already have in the machine let alone allow me to upload the new movies.
I was told by my sales rep, David, that TELeasy was already in the process of making a website that would allow me to rent, reserve, and view current movies online with user/personal profile accounts. I was told it would be ready 1-2 weeks after I was supposed to receive the machine. It has been over a year and it is still not operational nor does it have the features we talked about.

I appreciate your concern and help on this matter. Please respond as soon as possible and let me know the course of action that would be best. I look forward to having a good business relationship with your company in the future and hope that I will be able to purchase more machines from you shortly. Please call if you have any questions.

Regards,
Jake
Office Manager

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To BBB,

I hope that letter clearly expressed some of the issues I have had with this company. Frankly, I feel like I have been robbed. As of today the machine is in a maintenance mode and incapable of being used. I seams like the software always malfunctions in some way or another creating inconvenience for me and my customers. When I purchased a DVD machine I expected it to do what it says it is designed for.

It is like a purchased a car that doesn't have wheels and the engine only runs some of the time. I have called up other DVD kiosk manufactures who have affirmed that they have received calls from other TELeasy customers that are in my same situation I am. I have been very congenial with TELeasy fort the last year in trying to work through the bugs they have, but the fact of the matter is that they can't fix them. Their machine simply will not work as it needs to.

I have asked for a refund on multiple occasions but have been told to give them a little more time to fix things. I have ruined my customer base at the university of Wyoming and I am about to do the same in my home town at Conoco because the machine continually malfunctions in dispensing and retrieving DVD's; along with the fact that the machine is miss-charging/refunding customers and not telling them because the email function doesn't work.

My main problem with all of this is that I signed a pretty poor purchase agreement and we simply do not have the money to higher a lawyer to get our money back. I truly hope that the BBB can help me get out of this mess. I know I deserve far more than a simple refund; however, I would be content to have just that. Please call me if you have any question and please let me know what course of action you will be taking.

Best regards,

Jake
Cody, Wyoming
U.S.A.

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