I purchased a MP4 Player that was advertised as new. Yet the player I received was defective and included an unsafe adapter which was noncompliant with US codes.

I returned the player, the replacement was in a sealed box with a different adapter. However two other functions didn't work. Further examination showed the replacement was the one I had in the first place.

I paid for a new player, received a used, defective, refurbished one which was replaced with the same used, refurbished player with additional defects.

Plus the price was high for an electronic gadget that had been on the market for 2 years already. uBid needs to screen their suppliers and fire the rotten ones if they want to stick around.

This company can zap a customer's credit card immediately for a purchase, ship a DAMAGED product necessitating a return (it was supposed to be refurbished), incur a major undertaking on customer's part to get an RMA issued, and then in so many words tell the customer that it will take a massive technical operation to properly refund the customer's funds.

Unfortunately, this has become a way of life in dealing with so many internet sales companies.

This company IS a member of the Better Business Bureau (don't laugh). According to the BBB, uBid has had 201 filed complaints over the past 36 months and 63 of those were closed over the last year. (They have still managed to maintain a satisfactory record with the BBB but of course those reports don't tell you how much time and trouble customers had to incur in order to receive rightful service.)

After some weeks of monkeying around with uBid (and getting the run-around), this customer finally got their attention by threatening to contact organizations including, but not limited to, The Better Business Bureau, the Attorney General's Office of customer's home state, the Attorney General's Office of Illinois (uBid's domicile), The Federal Trade Commission, and other regulatory agencies having jurisdiction over internet abusive sales practices. It also helps to tell them you will file reports on them with various consumer complaint boards (such as this one) and report them in applicable trade journals warning others of their shenanigans.

After convincing uBid it would be in their best interest to act on my return without further delay, they finally made due and proper refund. Of course the refund directly from uBid finally posted to my credit card account AFTER I had already officially disputed the charge directly with the credit card company. Then I had to go to the trouble of getting the credit card dispute reversed.

Such a shame customers have to work this hard and go to this much trouble to receive due and proper service.