Stylus Deals All State Electronics False Advertising, Dishonesty, Bait and Switch, Brooklyn New York

My husband bought what he assumed was a brand new underwater digital camera for $99 from this StylusDeals.com First came the extra charge for the battery. Then the camera arrived in a plain white box with a black and white label, not in the original box that a new one would come in. They also sent him several items he didn't order and charged him for those, for a total of $168. When he called to say he wanted to return the camera because it was refurbished, not new as he was led to believe, they told him they'd have to receive it in two days--and it was a Friday afternoon.

So we disputed the charge with the credit card company. It was resolved in their favor because Stylus Deals told Discover they'd give us a full refund if we sent the camera back. All we had to do was call and get a return authorization number and the address.

I have never been through so much grief to make a return. When I called, I was informed that no, we would have to pay for restocking and shipping, what they'd written to Discover ("We aren't chaging the cardholder a restocking fee..") referred to how they'd have handled it if we'd returned it in August when my husband bought the camera. Furthermore, before they'd give us an RMA number, my husband had to sign a form stating that he would not dispute those fees with Discover. 

He signed the form and we emailed the PDF to them. They said they couldn't open it, so I had to drive to the UPS store and pay $2 to fax the form to them. Finally, we got the RMA number and sent it off on Nov. 9. UPS verified that it was delivered on Nov. 11.

When no refund was given, I contacted Discover on Nov. 28. They connected me with an "agent of the company" who said the package arrived Nov. 23 and we'd be getting our refund Dec. 2. There was no refund, even though they had agreed in writing to issue one and had acknowledged receiving the returned item. Discover has since given us a courtesy adjustment for the full amount.

It was obvious that the people at Stylus Deals intentionally misrepresent their merchanidse, charge for additional items without customer authorization, and then make returns extremely difficult, expecting customers to just give up and take the loss. That's how they make their money. Certainly not through return business.