Customer Service? Not from BlueProton!

Friday, 2007.10.12

I know that life often hands one a spate of screw-ups--usually in threes, if superstition is to be heeded--from time to time. I'm certainly not immune to that little scrap of knowledge in the least.

Recently, our family had some problems in an area of life that we rarely have problems with: The receiving of online orders, shipped to our residence. Now, mind you, this isn't an area of life in which we have little problems and say that we don't have problems because it doesn't amount to much more than a sting of minor irritations; this is an area of life in which we have had virtually NO PROBLEMS at all.

We always seem to get packages without a problem...Like I said, "Until recently."

Where we have encountered problems--that's only on three occasions in the past 3 months--two shippers have immediately resolved the issue with us, and the third one has yet, even after the passage of 30 days, to ship me all the items that I paid for.

ValleyGrow of Defuniak Springs, Florida and Amazon.com of Seattle, Washington have set themselves apart as being organizations which actually practice the basic tenents of customer service.

ValleyGrow:
I ordered some supplies from ValleyGrow of Defuniak Springs, Florida, and they didn't arrive within the stated window for delivery. I contacted ValleyGrow by email and was told that a replacement shipment would be sent as soon as possible. It was sent the following Saturday, and received the Monday following that. It was something less than 10 days from order date to having the shipment in my grubby little hands.

Amazon.com
My wife bought some books for the kids from Amazon.com, and those did not arrive in a reasonable time-frame. This one waited quite a while, before I realized what was going on; however as soon as my wife sent a single email to Amazon.com to mention this fact, Amazon immediately re-shipped the order.

Now, get this:
Both the ValleyGrow and Amazon orders...the original USPS shipments, mind you...showed-up a couple of weeks after we received the replacement shipments. Weird. But it happens, I guess. We sent back the Amazon.com order, and I paid ValleyGrow a second time for the goods they shipped me, because what happened wasn't their fault, so I paid for what I actually received. Amazon later sent my wife an email stating that we had refused the shipment and they were going to credit our account for the cost of the items, (Yikes! Don't do that!) so Annie had to get on top of things to explain to them that they were to take the stuff back because it was a DUPLICATE of what we already received; but they were not to give us any money back.

The Third Case

BlueProton, of Manhasset, New York, has very little clue of what customer service is, much less how to get it right...not to mention their giving every appearance of running the "gouge the customer on unethically-inflated shipping charges" scam, popularized by scum-ball eBay sellers.

Oh, I'd be saying, "Don't get me started..." but *they* already did; and here's how *that* little fiasco began...

On the 15th of August, I placed an order with BlueProton for 3 items, through BlueProton's Amazon.com storefront interface; and the complete order arrived in the afternoon of 2007.08.20. You and I will agree that this is the way it's supposed to happen; except for how much they charged ($5.99 per line item) to send a padded mailer envelope, weighing less than 2 ounces, via standard USPS. They *might* have paid as much as a couple of dollars to send me my stuff, but they hit me for $11.98!

Here's a copy of that August order, straight from the Amazon.com email, by the way:

==================================================
Order Details
==================================================

Date:                15-August-2007
 
Amazon Order #:      104-8084028-2183108

1 of BlueProton USB 2.0 MicroSD / TransFlash Card Reader Writer, $3.95*
1 of Sandisk MicroSD 2GB (SDSDQ-2048, bulk) & BlueProton USB 2.0 Card 
Reader Writer (Translucent), $24.33*

*above item(s) sold by and shipped from BlueProton Consulting 
---------------------------------------------------------------------
               Item Subtotal:  $28.28
         Shipping & Handling:  $11.98
 
                       Total:  $40.26

                Paid by Visa:  $40.26 
 
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks for shopping at Amazon.com.

On the 15th of September, I placed a second order with BlueProton, this time for 4 items, through BlueProton's Amazon.com storefront interface--thinking that, since things went well the last time I ordered from them, everything was going to be OK this time around. Yeah...well...where BlueProton is concerned, don't waste your time and energy hanging onto warm, fuzzy, optimistic thoughts. Today is the 12th of October and I still have yet to receive the completed order.

Again, from the Amazon.com email to me, here's a copy of the September order:

==================================================
Order Details
==================================================

Date:                15-September-2007
 
Amazon Order #:      105-4236982-4780419

2 of BlueProton USB 2.0 MicroSD / TransFlash Card Reader Writer, $2.95*
1 of Sandisk MicroSD 2GB (SDSDQ-2048, bulk) & BlueProton USB 2.0 Card 
Reader Writer (Translucent), $23.34*

*above item(s) sold by and shipped from BlueProton Consulting 
---------------------------------------------------------------------
               Item Subtotal:  $29.24
         Shipping & Handling:  $18.97
 
                       Total:  $48.21

                Paid by Visa:  $48.21
 
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks for shopping at Amazon.com.

Uh...did you happen to notice that Blue Proton increased the shipping charges to $6.32 per line item, while dropping the cost of each line item by about a buck? Did these items suddenly get heavier as the price dropped, or is this just a bad example of creative bookkeeping?

At any rate, on 2007.09.17 I received the following notice via email:

Today BlueProton Consulting shipped item(s) in your order, placed on 
15-September-2007.

==================================================
SHIPPING DETAILS
==================================================
 
The following items were sold by and shipped from BlueProton Consulting in 
package 1 of this shipment:

2 of BlueProton USB 2.0 MicroSD / TransFlash Card Reader Writer
1 of Sandisk MicroSD 2GB (SDSDQ-2048, bulk) & BlueProton USB 2.0 Card 
Reader Writer (Translucent)

Shipping Carrier: 

Ship Date: 17-September-2007
Shipping Speed: Standard

        Your shipping address:

    {NAME MASKED}
    {ADDRESS LINE 1 MASKED}
    {ADDRESS LINE 2 MASKED}
    Long Beach, CA {ZIP-CODE MASKED}
    United States

Delivery estimate: September 20, 2007 - September 25, 2007

If you have additional items in your order, you will receive an e-mail 
when those items have shipped.

QUESTIONS? 

If you have questions about this order, including the status of your 
shipment, you can either visit http://www.amazon.com/wheres-my-stuff or 
e-mail amazon@blueproton.com to get in touch directly with BlueProton 
Consulting.

**************************************************

Fine, it's coming via Pony Express, and will be here on the 25th, at the very latest.

Uhhhhhhhhhhh-nope.

The 25th came and the carrier left the usual addition to our bill load in the mailbox, but no squishy, white, envelope from BlueProton; so I dropped them a note and asked them to trace the package. Their reply came later the same day (I'll give them that much) as follows:

Label/Receipt Number: {MASKED}
Status: Delivered

Your item was delivered at 9:39 AM on September 20, 2007 in LONG BEACH, CA {ZIP-CODE MASKED}.

It seems this is a business address, please check with your mailroom.

Thank you!
BlueProton Sales

Excuse me to H-E-DOUBLE-HOCKEY-STICKS and back! Our USPS carrier never even hits this street before noon on weekdays, usually hits our place after 15:00; and this is certainly NOT a business. Check with my mailroom, indeed! Something's rotten in Denmark, and it almost looks like I'm out $48.21 with nothing to show for it.

I remained polite but firmly persistent in requesting that BlueProton do something about my not receiving what I paid for and, on the 27th, finally received this terse reply (you get some of the headers to give you an idea of exactly how terse the reply was--accounting for the fact that they use a sigline):

Subject: RE: Third request for resolution
 Date: Thu, 27 Sep 2007 23:14:55 -0400
 Message-ID: <063301c8017d$bfa68440$3ef38cc0$@net>
 MIME-Version: 1.0
 Content-Type: text/plain;
  charset="utf-8"
 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
 X-Mailer: Microsoft Office Outlook 12.0
 thread-index: AcgBVSez/lNsTNVJRvOqB1p+1Up10wAKHmfA
 Content-Language: en-us
 X-Provags-ID: V01U2FsdGVkX1+bcEzxhzWL1PzZj1NjQ/qBi2pfDodeaXt/wA/
 XR87BTxlpKjsrnSUmoyVSJ/5ooi4QJjJ9jdrG9tATzwgCjjhZa
 IcySV5woAzH9BEX3H49bdeza6yuDtGs
 Status: RO
 X-Status: RAC
 X-KMail-EncryptionState: N
 X-KMail-SignatureState: N
 X-KMail-MDN-Sent: N 
 
We will ship out a replacement order.

Thank you!
BlueProton Sales

Gee! Thanks, kids. Was it too much trouble to mention exactly when you were going to get around to shipping out the replacement order?

That was the question they refused to even respond to, until 2007.10.02:

*** SHIPMENT CONFIRMATION - PLEASE PRINT AND RETAIN FOR YOUR RECORDS ***

Hello,

Your WebEntry order #RPL1159729 has been processed and shipped via Standard mail on 10/2/2007.

The following items are being shipped:

     Title                                     Shipped  Price
     ____________________________________________________________
     BlueProton USB 2.0 MicroSD / TransFla...      1    $0.00

     
     Order Total:                                        $0.00


Domestic Standard shipments are expected to arrive within 2 to 8 business days after shipping
(they may take as long as 14 business days).

Uh...yeah. That's nice and all that, but exactly what was shipped? Since the quantity column shows only 1 item, it almost looks like they are going to piecemeal this one out to me...if I receive it at all; so I was rude enough to ask them to clarify that point for me. They responded the following day:

These were the items shipped out:

2 of BlueProton USB 2.0 MicroSD / TransFlash Card Reader Writer, $2.95*
1 of Sandisk MicroSD 2GB (SDSDQ-2048, bulk) & BlueProton USB 2.0 Card Reader Writer (Translucent), $23.34*

...and then followed-up with a USPS tracking number.

I was surprised to see the postman at the door on Saturday, 2007.10.06...just a few minutes before noon. How very odd! But, he had an envelope from BlueProton in his hand, which felt thick enough to be what I ordered from them, so I scampered-off to follow-up with the BlueProton folks and confirm that I finally received my September 15th order.

Then I opened the envelope around 20:30 (8:30 P.M.) that evening, only to discover that BlueProton had shorted the order by one card reader. I notified them immediately, via email, and waited.

No reply.

On 2007.10.09, I sent a second request for resolution to BlueProton, and received the following reply, 6 hours later:

Subject: RE: SECOND NOTICE: WebEntry Order #RPL1159729
 Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 09:32:09 -0400
 Message-ID: <222a01c80a78$cbf95ed0$63ec1c70$@com>
 MIME-Version: 1.0
 Content-Type: text/plain;
  charset="UTF-8"
 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
 X-Mailer: Microsoft Office Outlook 12.0
 Thread-Index: AcgKRf8pMK08ewaqQdOo/9uVwFP8/AAMsILg
 Content-Language: en-us
 X-Provags-ID: V01U2FsdGVkX190rDxDbH9xXWwM/7lQaDz9SUDuxDaXdBMrbdB
 x9FkKRhIqo1P9TOnZcFSLZHkt01oE/zegNCfmznoIZr2YiE3rV
 dIWvSCPXvQQG8VEMrRf9SIQoFdrYr1Y
 Status: RO
 X-Status: RC
 X-KMail-EncryptionState: N
 X-KMail-SignatureState: N
 X-KMail-MDN-Sent: 
 
We will ship out the missing card reader shortly.

Thank you!
BlueProton Sales

Back to terse, and no mention of when, either.

I usually reckon "shortly" means a matter of hours--definitely the same day--but you can never tell with some people, so I gave them a couple of days, over which I heard absolutely nothing from them.

I figured that I might as well know when they plan to do something about it, so I asked that very question this morning:

Subject: Re: SECOND NOTICE: WebEntry Order #RPL1159729
 Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2007 08:26:59 -0700
 User-Agent: KMail/1.9.3
 
 Would you please tell me when you plan to ship the missing card reader?

On Tuesday 09 October 2007 06:32, you wrote:
> We will ship out the missing card reader shortly.
>
> Thank you!
> BlueProton Sales
>
>

Who's betting that I won't hear squat from these people?

*My* hand is already raised.

The track record Blue Proton has with me is that they did OK on a single order, but over-charged me by at least $9.00 for shipping costs. They so seriously screwed-up the second order that I received a partial order fulfillment only six days ago, probably won't see the rest of the order--ever, and was charged probably something on the order of nine-times the actual cost of shipping for a properly delivered order (which never happened).

As far as I'm concerned, BlueProton is running a shipping charges scam, using Amazon.com as a front to do so; as well as not delivering goods paid for. They raise barriers to resolution of problems like this, perhaps to wear-down customers who would complain or ask for their money back; and certainly enough to tick me-off to no end.

For $18.97 S&H, they could have over-nighted the order to me.

For your edification:

The United States Postal Service offers both a Flat-Rate Priority Mail Envelope and a Flat-Rate Priority Mail Box that costs $4.70 to send to anywhere in the United States, and allows one to send up to 2 lbs weight of envelope/box contents. Plenty for the 2 ounces-worth of I ordered, and at a fraction of what I was cheated out of for shipping.

The United States Postal Service also offers a Flat-Rate Priority Mail Box; which, for $8.95, one can ship a reasonably unlimited weight. USPS representatives have told me that the box can be filled with 70 lbs maximum weight and shipped to any destination within the United States for just $8.95; so BlueProton is obviously running a S&H scam on their unwitting customers, as far as I'm concerned.

Now, before you go off on a crusade, telling me that I'm full of it, because of what I just told you, you'd better look at this page and this page first.

At this point, I'm pretty-well convinced that BlueProton never did ship the order of 2007.09.15 until after I complained about it--that they deliberately intended to cheat me out of the products I purchased. I may be dead-on right, and I may be completely wrong, but how am I supposed to know? This is the impression BlueProton has bent-over-backwards to create in me. That took as much work on their part as it would have to do the job right the first time, and charge a fair price for the service.

I will never order anything from BlueProton again, and suggest that you steer clear of them too. Opt for a company that charges an ethical price for shipping a couple ounces of product from Coast to Coast. Opt for a company that actually delivers the goods in a timely manner. Opt for a company that actually knows what customer service is, and practices it--particularly when things screw-up.

It's now Friday afternoon, and I just sent BlueProton this final request for resolution:

From: Allan Gabston-Howell <{EMAIL ADDRESS MASKED}>
 Organization: {REFERENCE MASKED}
 To: "BlueProton" <orders@blueproton.com>
 Subject: Re: SECOND NOTICE: WebEntry Order #RPL1159729
 Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2007 16:36:48 -0700
 User-Agent: KMail/1.9.3
 References: <E1Icc8t-0006TL-V5@localhost.localdomain>
             <200710090028.45109@{NODE AND DOMAIN MASKED}> 
             <222a01c80a78$cbf95ed0$63ec1c70$@com>
 In-Reply-To: <222a01c80a78$cbf95ed0$63ec1c70$@com>
 X-KMail-Link-Message: 140971201
 X-KMail-Link-Type: reply
 MIME-Version: 1.0
 Content-Type: multipart/signed;
  boundary="nextPart5187455.ahBlLSoN6t";
  protocol="application/pgp-signature";
  micalg=pgp-sha1
 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
 Message-Id: <200710121636.52789@{NODE AND DOMAIN MASKED}>
 Status: RO
 X-Status: RSC
 X-KMail-EncryptionState: 
 X-KMail-SignatureState: 
 X-KMail-MDN-Sent: 

At almost a month since originally placing my second order with you, I am 
still awaiting a resolution to this issue, and have had a difficult time 
believing that you are not running a scam.

I also believe that I have been more than patient.

This page
http://www.gabston-howell.org/rants/customer.service.not.shtml
will go live on Tuesday, at noon, and will be linked from the Amazon.com 
vendor feedback entry regarding this order at the same time--unless I have my 
completed order by Tuesday morning.

Links to the page will be circulated through the tech-press and weblog 
circuits on Tuesday evening, and I will be filing interstate mail fraud 
complaints with Amazon.com and the Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday 
morning.

Until that time, I will be sprucing-up the page appearance, mirroring it at 
several of my other web sites, and awaiting some sort of communication from 
you that indicates that I don't need to bother with this asinine bit of 
vindictiveness.

The ball is now in your court.

Would you please tell me what do you plan to do about it?

On Tuesday 09 October 2007 06:32, you wrote:
> We will ship out the missing card reader shortly.
>
> Thank you!
> BlueProton Sales

We'll see what good--if any--it does.

Saturday Morning - 2007.10.13 (06:52 GMT-08)

This just arrived:

Return-path: <doug@blueproton.com>
 Envelope-to: {EMAIL ADDRESS MASKED}
 Delivery-date: Sat, 13 Oct 2007 06:51:53 -0800
 Received: from {MASKED} by {MASKED} with local-bsmtp ({MASKED})
        (envelope-from <doug@blueproton.com>)
        id {MASKED}
        for {EMAIL ADDRESS MASKED}; Sat, 13 Oct 2007 06:51:53 -0800
 X-Spam-Checker-Version: {MASKED} on {MASKED}
 X-Spam-Level: 
 X-Spam-Status: No, {MASKED}
        {MASKED}
 Received: from mout.perfora.net ([74.208.4.197])
        by {MASKED} with esmtp ({MASKED})
        (envelope-from <doug@blueproton.com>)
        id {MASKED}
        for {EMAIL ADDRESS MASKED}; Sat, 13 Oct 2007 06:51:43 -0800
 Received: from ZEUS2 (static-71-167-42-174.nycmny.fios.verizon.net [71.167.42.174])
        by mrelay.perfora.net (node=mrus0) with ESMTP ({MASKED})
        id {MASKED}; Sat, 13 Oct 2007 10:51:42 -0400
 From: "Doug Gauld" <doug@blueproton.com>
 To: "'Allan Gabston-Howell'" <{EMAIL ADDRESS MASKED}>
 References: <E1Icc8t-0006TL-V5@localhost.localdomain> 
             <200710090028.45109@{NODE AND DOMAIN MASKED}> 
             <222a01c80a78$cbf95ed0$63ec1c70$@com> 
             <200710121636.52789@{NODE AND DOMAIN MASKED}>
 In-Reply-To: <200710121636.52789@{NODE AND DOMAIN MASKED}>
 Subject: RE: SECOND NOTICE: WebEntry Order #RPL1159729
 Date: Sat, 13 Oct 2007 10:52:16 -0400
 Message-ID: <115d01c80da8$a70aaa60$f51fff20$@com>
 MIME-Version: 1.0
 Content-Type: text/plain;
  charset="utf-8"
 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
 X-Mailer: Microsoft Office Outlook 12.0
 Thread-Index: AcgNKMVLwRkhcxl8QMuI7AFK2za6kgAf6zww
 Content-Language: en-us
 X-Provags-ID: V01U2FsdGVkX1+XUQykczpPcWRW9TsDKya58TFTVK3ePKzkpH2
 yGDr/yyh0/1xLO7rFDrICpMsJLKGZMr07s4S1oE+OpmmRDWCk2
 764IxhBSLooYcuUsiVGmek85m3SeiSn
 Status: RO
 X-Status: RC
 X-KMail-EncryptionState: N
 X-KMail-SignatureState: N
 X-KMail-MDN-Sent: 
 
Im not sure how or why this fell through the cracks, 
however I have gone ahead and refunded you the $2.95 
for the card reader that you are missing. Additionally, 
I will make sure that you still receive the missing 
card reader - it will be shipped out on Monday.

Thanks!
Doug

-----Original Message-----
> From: Allan Gabston-Howell [mailto:{EMAIL ADDRESS MASKED}] 
> Sent: Friday, October 12, 2007 7:37 PM
> To: Doug Gauld
> Subject: Re: SECOND NOTICE: WebEntry Order #RPL1159729
> 
> At almost a month since originally placing my second order with you, I am 
> still awaiting a resolution to this issue, and have had a difficult time 
> believing that you are not running a scam.
> 
> I also believe that I have been more than patient.
> 
> This page
> http://www.gabston-howell.org/rants/customer.service.not.shtml
> will go live on Tuesday, at noon, and will be linked from the Amazon.com 
> vendor feedback entry regarding this order at the same time--unless I have my 
> completed order by Tuesday morning.
> 
> Links to the page will be circulated through the tech-press and weblog 
> circuits on Tuesday evening, and I will be filing interstate mail fraud 
> complaints with Amazon.com and the Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday 
> morning.
> 
> Until that time, I will be sprucing-up the page appearance, mirroring it at 
> several of my other web sites, and awaiting some sort of communication from 
> you that indicates that I don't need to bother with this asinine bit of 
> vindictiveness.
> 
> The ball is now in your court.
> 
> Would you please tell me what do you plan to do about it?
> 
> On Tuesday 09 October 2007 06:32, you wrote:
> > We will ship out the missing card reader shortly.
> >
> > Thank you!
> > BlueProton Sales

Of course, that "whopping" $2.95 *was* refunded, according to Amazon; which pretty-much tends to confirm my suspicions of the reasons underlying BlueProton's rate changes...S&H is never refunded, since it's considered an overhead cost. Since Mr Gauld charges a ridiculous price for shipping, I have yet to be impressed by this refund.

Date: Sat, 13 Oct 2007 07:09:26 -0800 (PDT)
 From: "Amazon.com" <payments-messages@amazon.com>
 Reply-To: "Amazon.com" <amazon@blueproton.com>
 To: "Allan Gabston-Howell" <{EMAIL ADDRESS MASKED}>
 Cc: "payments-mail@amazon.com" <payments-mail@amazon.com>
 Subject: Refund confirmation for BlueProton order #105-4236982-4780419

Greetings from Amazon.com. 

We are writing to confirm that we have processed your refund in the
amount of $2.95 for your Order #105-4236982-4780419 from BlueProton. 

This refund is for the following item(s):

    Item: Sandisk MicroSD 2GB (SDSDQ-2048, bulk) & BlueProton USB 2.0 Card Reader Writer (Translucent)
    Reason for refund: Account adjustment

Your refund is being credited as follows:

Visa Credit Card [ending with {MASKED, OF COURSE}]: $2.95

Total refund for this order: $2.95

Have questions about our refund policy?
Visit our Help section for more information:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/537794

Thank you for shopping at Amazon.com.

Like I said, "Since Mr Gauld charges a ridiculous price for shipping, I have yet to be impressed by what certainly appears to be nothing more than shady business tactics."

You wanna impress me, Doug? Let me tell you how:
I paid you $11.98 for S&H on my first order with you and $18.97 for S&H on my second order.
That's a total of $30.95 that you've gouged me for S&H when you and I both know that you actually paid no more than two bucks shipping each sub-two-ounce order from Manhasset, NY to Long Beach, CA. (I'm actually being overly-nice on this count, because I took the mailing envelope to the Downtown USPO on Friday, and they told me that you didn't even pay a dollar and a-half to send that last envelope to me.) Bump it up to two bucks to cover the cost of the envelope, a label and some abused minimum wager's time to pick the product and stuff the envelope for you.

You with me so far?
We're at $2.00, right now, so take an extra $3.00 for your "Saturday Night Hiney Fund" on each order, and call it $5.00 S&H each.
That's $10.00 for S&H, between the two orders, and that's more than a fair-enough deal for you--particularly considering the fact that I paid $37.44 S&H to ship a 46.7 lb. Viewsonic CRT monitor to my home from "Back East".

Still with me on this?
Basic Math: $30.95 - $10.00 = $20.95

Refund the remaining $20.95, through Amazon.com, to my VISA card.

I wonder if you even have the chops to be *that* ethical about it?

At silly times like these, I even wonder if pigs might, one day, attain self-powered flight.

Then I saw this:

...and realized that there's no point in even wondering. Gauld really doesn't have the chops, and is probably playing a lot of "Where's the taxable income?" games with the IRS.

Gauld *has* forestalled my ability to claim interstate mail fraud against him, because he refunded the $2.95 for the missing card reader, and probably will ship out that card reader I never received anyway. Despite the fact that this represents a near-zero loss for him, his doing so speaks of a certain amount of business and/or legal smarts.

Having enough saavy to get oneself out of possible hot water with the government over screw-ups like this generally means that the saavy is also present in sufficient quantities to keep situations like this from ever evolving in the first place. Normally missing from scammer types is the simple inclination to prevent fires BEFORE they occur.

Monday Morning - 2007.10.13 (07:15:29 GMT-08)

I admit that I was expecting this:

*** SHIPMENT CONFIRMATION - PLEASE PRINT AND RETAIN FOR YOUR RECORDS ***

Hello Allan Howell,

Your WebEntry order #SS1159729 has been processed and shipped via Standard mail on 10/15/2007.

The following items are being shipped:

     Title                                     Shipped  Price
     ____________________________________________________________
     BlueProton USB 2.0 MicroSD / TransFla...      1    $0.00

     
     Order Total:                                        $0.00


Domestic Standard shipments are expected to arrive within 2 to 8 business 
days after shipping (they may take as long as 14 business days). 

If you have any questions or concerns about your order, 
feel free to email us at orders@blueproton.com.

Thank you for your order,

BlueProton Customer Service

Yeah. Something has been shipped, and I really don't care what it is anymore. I'll see it next week sometime, and that'll be soon enough for me.

So, Why you PO'ed, Anyway?
It involves more than these Bozos appearing to be just another den of Noo Yack scammers. I can deal with people looking like scammers without a problem, and the best proving ground for developing that level of tolerance has simply been living in Long Beach for something approaching 15 years.

One would expect a company like BlueProton to do more than dangling products in front of peoples' noses, and dancing off with a per unit shipping charge (on every item in the order shipped in the same envelope) that isn't only unjustifiable--it's obscene. One would expect a company like BlueProton--particularly whilst doing business under the Amazon.com Marketplace umbrella--where combining shipments to save on charges is the norm--to charge a realistic S&H fee for getting product from point 'A' to point 'B'.

BlueProton not only doesn't do that. They are, without question, over-charging for shipping, and they hide-out when things go wrong. It is not, at the very least, a mature way to run a business.

Miniature Coolness
These are extremely small flash card reader/writers (26mm x 13.5mm x 5mm) and, with a card inserted, can serve as probably one of the smallest jump drives you'll ever lay your hands on. Have a look at one, with a 2GB Micro SD card installed in it, and sporting a fully-bootable Linux installation; so I can take my work and files with me on the go, and never have to dirty my hands on a windoze machine.

They are manufactured by Singim, International Corp. (under part number SG039SR112), aren't much larger than a USB connector housing, and are designed for use with up to 8GB Micro SD/TransFlash memory media. BlueProton certainly isn't the only distrbutor for these reader/writers, as I have found several domestic and international suppliers offering very competitive pricing...along with many color variations.

The Bottom Line

I had hoped that, as an Amazon MarketPlace participant, BlueProton would have panned-out to be a more ethical business player; but, it seems, that isn't to be the case--at least, not as far as I'm concerned. It looks like pricegrabber.com readers know this fairly well, too. BlueProton isn't going to get any more of my money, and they shouldn't get your money either.

Unless you plan on buying in bulk, I recommend that you give DealExtreme your Micro SD card reader/writer purchase dollars.

Thursday Afternoon - 2007.10.18 (13:14:54 GMT-08)

Mr. Gauld's little package arrived today, which finally gives me what I ordered from BlueProton more than a month ago.

This ends my involvement with BlueProton--what has to be one of the worst suppliers out there--for good.

Since Mr. Gauld did not meet my time table, this page will be linked-to from the Amazon.com Marketplace vendor feedback record for this purchase; and you folks get to read about how bad it can get.

Not only do I not recommend buying from BlueProton, I recommend that you DO NOT BUY ANYTHING FROM BlueProton. At the very least, you'll be severely gouged on postage. At the other end of the spectrum, you may never receive what you paid for.

Buy from DealExtreme instead.

Saturday Morning - 2007.10.20 (07:28:41 GMT-08)

I've been watching the hits roll-in to this page ever since posting my Amazon.com feedback regarding my purchase experience with BlueProton, and you can see the exact feedback I submitted below:

"They act like S&H scammers. Despite being charged $18.97 for S&H, it took many emails and days of hearing nothing to get the situation resolved. I only received the last item in my order today (2007.10.18). This seller is *so* bad that I just had to warn others about them; but the real story is longer than 400 characters: http://www .gabston-howell.org /rants /customer.service.not.shtml"

The idea was one wherein you are supposed to remove the spaces in the URI to the page, and lots of people figured it out all by themselves--even the folks over at BlueProton and Amazon.com; as you can see by the following screen shots:

BlueProton figured it out--amazingly enough.

Next, somebody over at Columbia U. joined the party.

Then, Amazon was brought into the loop, probably with a bunch of whingeing along the lines of, "Looka wat dis joik be seyin' 'bout us!"

Notice that I said that "They act like S&H scammers." Not that they *are* S&H scammers. And, given my own objective evaluation of them, on a number of points, I have to concede that BlueProton does conduct business so fast-n-loose that their motives are subject to serious doubt, and their methods are questionable--at best.

Like I said, I watched the hits roll-in, and this page picked-up more than 1100 hits before Amazon.com deleted my negative feedback about BlueProton. That happened this morning, and I knew it because I was expecting it and watching for it.

Thus emerges another facet of scammer behavior; which, in my opinion, applies to BlueProton: they can't stand the truth spoken about them, and must silence it--probably, in this case, with retaliatory threats against Amazon.com.

So...this:

morphs into this:

Obviously, Amazon.com crumpled and pulled my feedback...none of which was inappropriate to my experience with this seller. None of which is, in the least sense, inaccurate.

If I were you, reading this, I would be given to the conclusion that Seller Feedback may be meaningless, and Amazon.com knows this to be fact.

Wednesday Afternoon - 2007.10.24 (14:27:32 GMT-08)

I don't trust Amazon's seller ratings in the least, now; and wonder how many other negative feedback ratings have been deleted to get BlueProton that low-90's positive rating...or has BlueProton been spamming its own customers to get them to assist BlueProton in skewing its positive feedback numbers?

You be the judge:

Uh....Gee! Isn't there, like, some sort of Amazon.com rule that protects consumers from being harassed by BlueProton? Maybe even a rule against SPAMming your customers?

Maybe there's a rule against leading solicitation of feedback?

Then again, maybe not.

Hey, Peter! BlueProton's customer sat results are unquestionably biased; because, not only do they solicit feedback in such a way as to make it clear that your complaints aren't welcome, they delete negative feedback--or, rather, have Amazon.com do it for them.

Of course, BlueProton cant delete (or have deleted) all their negative customer feedback, because that would stand-out like a sore thumb:

...and that's just the cost of staying in (IMHO) the scamming business.

Not everybody is a willing and silent patsy, y'know.

*That* is why you are reading this page. THAT is why BlueProton deleted my negative feedback about them. THAT! is why BlueProton came back here two days-ago.

That is why I've reported BlueProton to the New York state authorities as well as the FTC.

If you have had any negative interaction with BlueProton Consulting, you need to complain to the commerce regulation authorities in the State of New York.

Monday Morning - 2007.11.05 (07:27:32 GMT-08)

I just checked the server logs...this page is getting some serious traffic.

I also just checked the Google rankings...WOW! It's not on the 10th or 50th page of returns anymore.

For a search key of BlueProton Consulting, this page has skyrocketed to first position on the first page of hits--ahead of BlueProton Consulting itself. For a search key of just BlueProton, this page is first position on the second page of hits, if you are accepting your returns on pages of 10 hits per. If you're taking your hit returns a hundred at a time, then this page slips to 13th place.

While glancing over the hits, I happened to notice that others have had similar bad things to say, regarding BlueProton and abusive S&H charges. Here's just one example:

Over at Ben Strawbridge Dot Com Consulting, you will find a couple of comments that mirror my own observations. Problem for blue proton is this: There are two negative comments out of 12 total comments; which puts BlueProton at a 16.7% negative feedback with 1 out of 12, or an 8.3% neutral feedback.

This leaves BlueProton with only a 75% positive feedback in that particular venue, and all negative comments regarding the shipping S scam that BlueProton is pulling on their customers. It kind of makes you wonder what BlueProton is doing to keep their numbers so high, over at Amazon.com, doesn't it?

OK...it doesn't make me wonder what's wrong--Amazon.com is in on the scam, as far as I can tell. I wonder how many Amazon.com shoppers are loading up a shopping cart and finalizing an order, never aware at how badly they've just been scammed on S&H by BlueProton, because their order total is so high?

Rating: 1 out of 5 stars - RIPPED OFF BY BLUE PROTON!!
"Don't use one click ordering if the vendor is Blue Proton. You might only pay a few bucks for the chip but the blue meanies will hose you for big bucks for shipping. The micro memory cards work as advertised but avoid Blue Proton."

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars - NO DEAL HERE!!!
"I ordered 10 of the Kingston Technology 512 MB MicroSD Memory Cards at $2.64 a piece. I thought this was a great deal and figured that the shipping might be high. I figured I might pay as high as $52+ because of the low price, so I used the one click order method. Boy was I wrong! Shipping for each of these items is over $5 a piece. My $26.40 became $77+ with shipping. When I e-mailed BlueProton, I included my e-mail address and phone number, so we could negotiate the shipping price. I also said that if they would not come down on the shipping and handling costs, that they could cancel the order, which they did without contacting me. So, I gave them a 2 instead of a 1. BEWARE!!!!!!!"

An interesting side-discovery is that a lot of people are searching for address and telephone number information on BlueProton; but, it seems, you won't find anything on BlueProton, the company. You will, however, find info along these lines:
DOUGLAS GAULD
32 MORA CT
MANHASSET, NY 11030
but no phone number listed at all (Mineola must be where Gauld's ISP pops out of a b-router). I wonder why?

Would you do business with a company that is hiding from its customers like this?

BlueProton lists no telephone number. They list no address. They list only an email address which seems to be sporadically checked. Annie did some checking of Amazon.com marketplace participants in this consumer electronics product segment, and discovered several company names that have similar S&H price-gouging practices, along with the identical absence of what I consider to be the absolute minimum of seller accountability information: A street (non-PO Box) address, and a telephone number (preferrably a toll-free number). It also appears as though this...this...well...I think of him as a "huckster"...is cheating people under multiple company aliases. Either that, or it looks like it's open season on consumers in the Amazon Marketplace

Let me show you what I mean:

and

Here are two Amazon.com Marketplace sellers who are, in my opinion, scamming their customers on S&H charges; and don't you even be foolish enough to bet that those shipping charges apply on a per-pound basis. That's what you're getting charged per item--even if each item only weighs a single gram. Notice that no phone number is listed? How much do you want to bet that these businesses aren't being run out of somebody's garage? My money is on the presumption that they are.

Now, here's an Amazon.com Marketplace seller that I have dealt with, and will cheerfully deal with again and again:

Please notice their S&H charges. Also notice that you have an 800 number to call if and when something doesn't go right. J&R is certainly not a scammer.

I don't think that BlueProton is worth the risk, and I think that Amazon should bar Gauld from doing business through its marketplace portal, as his practices besmirch their otherwise generally-good reputation.

If an Amazon seller does not have a contact telephone number listed, don't buy from them.

If an Amazon seller has S&H charges listed like BlueProton and JoWow does, instead of S&H charges similar to J&R's disclosure, don't buy from them.

As a matter of fact, not only should you not buy from them, you should complain to Amazon.com; and demand that such sellers be barred from participation in the Amazon.com Marketplace.

If you feel that you have been "burned" by BlueProton, please:

File a complaint with the New York State Attorney General's Office.
File a Mail Fraud Complaint with the United States Postal Service.
File a complaint with the Federal Trade Comission.
Contact the Better Business Bureau and complain.
The New York State Consumer Protection Board also accepts complaints.

If I missed an agency which you feel should be included here, please let me know by using the email links at the bottom of the page.