Colburn Electronic Controls Chris Colburn Fraud, unethical, refuse contact, repair, theft Marion, Illinois

Look at the lengths I had to go through to finally get this business owner to respond to my requests.  For the past 3 weeks, I have telephoned and left messages on the apparent "24 hour customer service line" which is only an answering machine.  I have also sent faxes and daily emails to the business owner politely asking for the status of my order.  I had no reason to believe that anything was wrong, but after 3 weeks of no communication with this business...I became worried.

If this business had a problem with repairs or any delays, I would have appreciated just one email, phone call or anything stating that.... but I got nothing.  Nothing until, I contacted the local authorities to file a report, reported him to the BBB, wrote this Rip-Off report and contacted a supplier that he does business with.... all in an effort to contact him.  I guess it finally worked.  I did not want to go through drastic means to pressure him, but he left me no other choice. 

Was I just supposed to sit around and eventually wait for him to contact me?  Even after he has my money and my item?  When is enough, enough?

I understand the economy has affected everyone, including me.. but that is no excuse for bad business practices and poor customer service.

I don't know much about this company or it's experience at repairs, but as far as customer service goes.... it was horrible.

I hope this company takes this as a learning lesson. 

Customer

We apologize for the inconvenience.  Payment was submitted through the website before the board was shipped to CEC from California for repair, which obviously extends the turnaround time from the payment date. 

Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, we were closed Thurs-Mon, which obviously again added to the turnaround time for this repair.

The board was evaluated and requires parts that we cannot obtain any sooner than 2 weeks.

In the last 24 hours, we received (all from this customer) an introduction to this report, our first letter from the LA County Sheriff's Office, our first interaction ever with the BBB... in order to respond to her complaint, our first ever interaction with PayPal over the dispute they received from her, and the first call we have ever received from our Generator Supplier (not even the same brand as the board) indicating that they wanted my response to their complaint from this customer.

We are currently operating thin like many other companies currently affected by the economy, however we are strong and sustaining, and we have been performing these repair services since 1998 undergoing thousands of transactions... Regarding this particular customer, full credit has been issued and we understand their frustration, but our business is not a scam in anyway whatsoever and certainly not worthy of being posted as a warning on a consumer notice website like this.