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Dealing With Vendor Abuses and Deceptive Practices

Sometimes, no matter how hard you try to amicably resolve a situation with a vendor, you fail. Some vendors aren't interested in happy customers, and even after you take specific pains to try to reach a solution, they will choose to protect their short-term financial interests rather than act honorably. If this occurs to you, then further attempts to resolve the matter with employees of the firm are likely to be futile; you will have to go outside the company for resolution.

There's little that's more unpleasant in the computer world than dealing with an intentionally abusive or fraudulent vendor or manufacturer. Your best protection from these companies is to avoid them through careful research, but anyone can be surprised at times--I am certainly no exception. If nothing will resolve the issue then you will have to take further steps to protect your interests.

In this section, I talk about what to do when things go very wrong with a vendor. First, I discuss some of the issues that arise when you run into a vendor that has treated you unfairly and won't respond to efforts at reconciliation. I then describe some of the methods you can use to obtain either a refund of your money, or at least some satisfaction after you've had a bad experience. Even if you can't get the matter resolved, you may be able to at least help ensure that others avoid a problematic company.

Next: Giving Benefit Of The Doubt

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