Homeclick.com AKA AbsoluteHome.Com Buyer Beware! they may have the lowest advertized price - but... Edison New jersey

I searched online for a mini fridge for me and my office mates. After finding the model that I liked, I like any good web surfer started comparing prices. This company came in $35 less than everyone else (even after shipping!) so I put in my CC and paid, my shopping cart informed me that I paid $19.95 for shipping and my confirmation email said:

Thank you very much for ordering from AbsoluteHome.com. We appreciate your business, and we are glad we could be of service. The merchandise you have ordered is estimated to ship to you on or before 6/27/2008.

Please be advised that orders containing items from different manufacturers may arrive in separate shipments. Below is your purchase information (confirmation email):

"Your Order number is XXXXX

Product Qty Unit Price Total
GE: GE Spacemaker 4.3 Cu. Ft. Compact Refrigerator - GMR04AAM
Choose Color: Black on Black 1 $159.00 $159.00

Merchandise $159.00
Tax $0.00
Shipping $19.95
Total $178.95

Grand Total $178.95"

The shipment did not go out on 6/27.

I called customer service and they said: "its in-between systems " ours and the shipping companies"give it 24 hours"

I did - still nothing.

I called every day and finally on July 3rd I got a call from an indipendant shipping company asking me if I will be available on July 9th (!!!) for delivery. I said fine but before we hung up the shipping rep said: "by the way, you know that we don't actually deliver the item to your door " right? We drop it off on the curb"

I said that I had no idea about that and nowhere during the purchase, checkout, or confirmation did it mention anything like that our office is on the 11th Floor and the shipment was estimated to weigh in at 100 lb!

The shipping company actually told me that they mentioned it because this happens a lot with absolutehome.com !

I told the shipping company to forget it and not deliver the item, called absolutehome.com and explained the situation and told them that I am cancelling my order. They said: no problem.

A week (!) later I still did not get any refund from the company (I called several times each time they said that its "in the process")

Finally today a manager told me that they will refund me today but they keep 25% of the purchase amount as a "restocking fee" !!!!!

Restocking what??? I never got the product, the shipping company told me they didn't even pick it up from the companies warehouse!! Its absolute fraud!

I called Amex (the credit card I used) and they were terrific. Filed a complaint and took off the whole amount from my bill.

Bottom line:

Stay way way away from this company. They may advertise cheaper rates than everyone else but I now know how they make that difference up.

Jack
New York, New York
U.S.A.