Beware of BRWeldingSupplies or BRWeldingSupplies.com

Beware of BRWeldingSupplies, BRWeldingSupply, BRWeldingSupplies.com, BRWeldingSupply.com

I recently purchased a welding foot pedal on the BRWeldingSupplies website. I already had a hand controller that worked perfectly, but decided a foot pedal might be easier in some situations. When I recieved the foot pedal I tried it out and it didnt work. The BRWeldingSupplies website return policy looked favorable but required a return authorization number. I emailed BRWeldingSupplies to let them know of the problem, but I received no response from them. I then called BRWeldingSupplies and got a very rude customer service rep. I told him that I had a defective pedal, and he said "nope, its not the pedal". I told the BRWeldingSupplies representative that my hand control worked perfect, why would it be my machine? He paused and then said "take it to a service center". I told him it wouldnt be worth my time to try and fix it and asked him if I could just send it back for a refund. The BRWeldingSupplies rep said "no, we dont do that here". He then asked me "if we sent you a defective welder, would you send it back for a refund or take it to a service center?" I said, yes I would want to take it back. The BRWeldingSupplies customer service rep then told me, "that is not how electronics works." I purchased this on 4/29/08 and made the call this morning at 5/13/08 and shipping was appoximately 1 week. The BRWeldingSupplies return policy stated that there was a 30 day complete satisfaction money back guarantee. When the pedal arrived, BRWeldingSupplies sends a totally different return policy saying "no refunds on web purchases". The BRWeldingSupplies rep referred me to that line when telling me why he couldn't do a refund. I said that I didnt have that piece of paper when I purchased this and thats not what it says on the BRWeldingSupplies website. He said, "oh well".

The BRWeldingSupplies customer service rep gave me countless reasons why they could not return the defective pedal. He said "the pedal is now used". I replied "I plugged it in and it didnt work, I wouldnt constitute that as being used". The BRWeldingSupplies rep said, "we are just a service center". If your just a service center, why do you pose as an online store complete with a checkout? Eventually he shifted his attitude to "whatever" and there was no reasoning with the BRWeldingSupplies at that point. I had to tell the BRWeldingSupplies customer service rep that I had no choice but to go through my credit card company for a refund and he said "thats fine with me dude" in a very loud and rude tone.

I have better things to do with my time than filing for a refund, writing up this page and contacting the better business bureau, but I just cant let BRWeldingSupplies get away with doing this to another customer if I can help prevent it.