Name of our state: California.
We sent a watch to Texas for repair. The company either lost or stole the watch and appears to be running a scam. We’d like to take legal action and wonder which means would be best/most effective: small claims, class action or something else. If we win a small claims case, we might not be able to collect on the judgement from out of state. On the other hand, it might not warrant a class action, although there are lots of customers who have bad experiences not only for repair scams but also for merchandise scams; this is reflected on the local BBB website (wish we had checked it beforehand). The watch isn’t a high ticket item; it cost $200, but it has sentimental value, plus the model/style is no longer available. If legal action for money damages seems pointless and any ideas on how to get the watch back (even without being repaired)?
If the info above isn't sufficient, below is a summary in greater detail.
Tracking/delivery confirmation shows the watch arrived at the facility on 31 August. The company occasionally sends automated emails that say the watch has not been received; after replying to those and supplying the delivery confirmation and being ignored a number of times, we did an online chat (15 Sept) where the agent advised: “The item has been received in our warehouse already, however, our repairs team was reduced and this may cause some unexpected delays on the process, your item should be scanned by the end of this week, once it is done, you will receive an email letting you know.” No email to this effect arrived, and none of our emails requesting this info received a reply.
On 1 Oct, we phoned the company. The agent said the watch “hasn’t been logged in yet, which is weird." She contacted the repair dept and reported that although the watch is there at the repair center, it hasn’t been logged in due to Covid-19 delays. She said she would “submit a request for high priority” and that she would be in touch by email within a day. That email never arrived.
We called again on 20 October. (Each phone call takes an hour or more.) The agent reported that the watch “appears to be lost.” She spoke with her “team leader” a number of times, and it was agreed they would refund half the cost of the watch if we could supply proof of purchase by email to the agent. She issued a “ticket number” for this. We told her we would send the proof of purchase right away. She advised that we should not count on getting a response to the email with the proof of purchase attached as the company won’t get around to reading or replying to the email, but that we should send the email with proof of purchase anyway. We sent it to her within half an hour. No reply was received, but a week later a boilerplate email arrived with the same old text stating that the watch had not been received.
We sent a watch to Texas for repair. The company either lost or stole the watch and appears to be running a scam. We’d like to take legal action and wonder which means would be best/most effective: small claims, class action or something else. If we win a small claims case, we might not be able to collect on the judgement from out of state. On the other hand, it might not warrant a class action, although there are lots of customers who have bad experiences not only for repair scams but also for merchandise scams; this is reflected on the local BBB website (wish we had checked it beforehand). The watch isn’t a high ticket item; it cost $200, but it has sentimental value, plus the model/style is no longer available. If legal action for money damages seems pointless and any ideas on how to get the watch back (even without being repaired)?
If the info above isn't sufficient, below is a summary in greater detail.
Tracking/delivery confirmation shows the watch arrived at the facility on 31 August. The company occasionally sends automated emails that say the watch has not been received; after replying to those and supplying the delivery confirmation and being ignored a number of times, we did an online chat (15 Sept) where the agent advised: “The item has been received in our warehouse already, however, our repairs team was reduced and this may cause some unexpected delays on the process, your item should be scanned by the end of this week, once it is done, you will receive an email letting you know.” No email to this effect arrived, and none of our emails requesting this info received a reply.
On 1 Oct, we phoned the company. The agent said the watch “hasn’t been logged in yet, which is weird." She contacted the repair dept and reported that although the watch is there at the repair center, it hasn’t been logged in due to Covid-19 delays. She said she would “submit a request for high priority” and that she would be in touch by email within a day. That email never arrived.
We called again on 20 October. (Each phone call takes an hour or more.) The agent reported that the watch “appears to be lost.” She spoke with her “team leader” a number of times, and it was agreed they would refund half the cost of the watch if we could supply proof of purchase by email to the agent. She issued a “ticket number” for this. We told her we would send the proof of purchase right away. She advised that we should not count on getting a response to the email with the proof of purchase attached as the company won’t get around to reading or replying to the email, but that we should send the email with proof of purchase anyway. We sent it to her within half an hour. No reply was received, but a week later a boilerplate email arrived with the same old text stating that the watch had not been received.
