ULTIMATE ELECTRONICS DECEPTIVE PRACTICE & FRAUD St. Peters Missouri

We were enticed to the company by being "invited" to a "preferred customer" sale where products purchased would be 10% to 15% off. We spent a total of 4 hours in the store and picked out over $10,000 in sales. The salesman had another customer waiting "for the past hour" and needed to call us later with "a few little items" such as cabling and connectors for the two surround sound systems purchased. He called a couple days later with a total of an additional $2,400 in sales. We did not consider $2,400 to be "a few little items".

We put the brakes on the sale right then, and took a good hard look at our invoice only to realize that he neglected to add a DVD player to the first purchase when he should have. An honest mistake? Okay, fine. But what we did not realize at the store was that we DID NOT RECEIVE ANY "preferred customer" discount as represented. When we called the store manager, he agreed that we should have received discounts on some items, but not all, since some were already discounted. We were not EVER told that the discount only applied to selected items, but were lead to believe it was storewide. It does happen that stores discount further already discounted items at the end of a season to move old merchandise, which is what we were lead to believe.

We requested via the salesman that he remove several items from our invoice and send us a new invoice. He sent a new invoice with some of the items removed, but still "upsold" us for items we requested be removed. He did this 3 different times. We were finally so aggravated with this store that we cancelled our entire order, except for a $2,000 television. This store went from sales of near $13,000 to $2,000 because they "just didn't get it." Don't scam us and make it right when you did wrong!

Well, then, when it was time to get the television, it did not fit through the door by 1/2" on the first delivery, and we needed to remove the frame so it would. We still had no invoice on the total, and called the store AGAIN for a corrected invoice. No invoice came (via fax), and we called again. In the meantime, we had a delivery scheduled for Sunday between 12 and 3. I arranged this reschedule with the store manager. Sunday came and no tv.

I called the store after 3 that day, only to find out Ultimate Electronics does not deliver to extended deliveries out of 10 miles from the store on weekends, EVEN THOUGH the store MANAGER scheduled it. No, to the contrary, the delivery manager CANCELLED our delivery AND failed to notify the store or us! This was a store policy, but not one of the employees caught this. To the store's credit, the manager on Sunday arranged for the delivery the very next day. However, we are to receive a rebate on the delivery charge and have no paperwork to do that with, so again, I have to call for and chase that down.

This company deceived us by telling us we would receive a discount on our purchases but failed to honor that representation, they changed the "terms" when challenged on the deception by claiming it was only on certain items, though that was never disclosed to us, they "upsold" us constantly by adding items to the invoices we specifically asked to be removed, they ignored our requests to remove those items consistently (stupidity or what, we don't know why), they failed to provide a final invoice in a timely manner, and they failed to give us the rebate information.

I have written the store, the president of Ultimate Electronics, the Missouri Attorney General, and the Better Business Bureau, and felt compelled to post my complaint here for more exposure to this company's ineptness. Though no one is perfect, and mistakes do occur, our situation has been one "mistake" after another. There is no excuse except for a total ineptness that must be inherent within that store's management and sales tactics. I'm sorry that we ever walked through their doors and would not recommend any large purchases or installations with them whatsoever.

Scott
St. Peters, Missouri
U.S.A.

STOP! ..before you think about using the Better Business Bureau (BBB)... CLICK HERE to see how other consumers were victimized by the BBB's false or misleading information. Don't be fooled! It has been reported, when there are thousands of complaints and other investigations underway by authorities, the BBB has no choice but to finally give an UNsatisfactory rating to a BBB member business that is paying the BBB big membership fees every year. When a business is reported that is NOT a BBB member, BBB files WILL more likely show an UNsatisfactory rating, then reportedly shake down that company to become a member of the BBB. One positive thing about the BBB is, either way, if a business has an unsatisfactory rating with the BBB, you can be sure, the business is bad. But what about all those BBB member businesses that had complaints filed against them? Consumers never get to hear about them. What about the BBB advertising to the public? Is this a false and misleading perception they are giving about consumer confidence when dealing with a business? Click here to understand more of what consumers and business alike are saying about the BBB. You decide. ..Remember. The BBB membership is not earned, its paid for!