Credit Card Services
Post Office Box 7092
Bridgeport, CT 06601
Account Number XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX
I am writing to dispute the following charge:
01/29 02/01 85456110031701887007089 MAD HAT INTERNATIONAL COLUMBIA SC 18.45
Before making this purchase, I contacted the merchant and asked specific questions about the product I was considering purchasing, to determine if it would meet my needs. The answers to my questions provided by the merchant were objectively, factually incorrect. If the merchant had answered correctly, I would have known that the product was not suitable for my needs, and I would not have purchased it.
On the day the product arrived, February 2, 2010, I immediately ascertained upon opening it that the merchant had provided me with incorrect information and the product was useless to me. I put it back in its packaging without using it and sent the merchant email complaining about the problem. He did not respond to my email.
I sent another email February 22, and once again, the merchant did not respond.
I sent a third email March 7 which read as follows:
Digging through my email archive more carefully, I see that I did send you a message about this on February 2, and you did not reply. Then I wrote to you about it again on February 21, and again you did not reply. That’s rather surprising, since when I wrote to you before I bought the trick to ask if what I wanted to use it for would work, you responded very quickly.
I tried to be civil about this, but I really don’t appreciate being ignored, so let me lay it out for you: I sent you specific questions about this product. You answered those questions incorrectly. I would not have bought it if you had answered the questions correctly. The product does not do what I need it to do and is therefore useless to me. I expect you to refund my full purchase price, including the cost of shipping to me and return shipping to you, because the only reason the product is sitting in my house right now is because you gave me false information about it. If you ignore this email like you have ignored my two previous ones about this, then I will have no choice but to dispute the charge on my credit card and initiate a charge-back.
The merchant finally responded today, March 8, as follows:
This is the first email I have seen from you since your purchase. I am very busy and I give information to the best of my knowledge. I get over a hundred emails per day and try to reply to all of them personally. My reply below was accurate and gave you the information on how the trick worked. Now I have more important things to deal with than a little boy crying over a $5.00 trick. I am sorry it did not fit your needs, but I described it as accurately as I could. Feel free to send it back in new condition and we will refund it per our return policy.
This response is entirely unacceptable for many reasons, but it is a waste of time to enumerate them , so I will simply reiterate that I paid $18.45 for a product I did not want only because the merchant misled me, and as such, I expect for the full amount of the purchase, including shipping, to be refunded, and for the merchant to pay the cost of return shipping.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Kamens
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You are incorrect. Both refunds originated from us, NOT THE CREDIT CARD COMPANIES. Check your records.
My records say you’re wrong. See this comment for details.
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I had the same problem.. BILL is a crooks and liars.. I bought one product and received a totally different, cheap product.. told me to return the product and a refund and I will recieve a refund, but I never did.. I have called and he told me he never said that he will give me a refund.. he stole $150 from me!!…to anyone who wants to buy ANYTHING from MAD HATTER MAGIC SHOP.. DONT DO IT!!
Really Nick, who is the liar? Are you claiming I stole $150 from you? Should I send this post and our bank records showing your refund to a lawyer? I would advise you to tell the truth.
I can understand Jonathan Kamiens. It’s obvious he is a nut job from reading his blogs. He believes he is entitled to special privileges wherever he goes because he is Jewish. Examples: He should be allowed to bring his own food into Fairs, and should not have to pay admission to museums. When he is not given SPECIAL privileges that no one else gets he smears them on his blog…….GET THE PICTURE.
You (Nick) on the other hand have flat out lied. I have evidence to the contrary. Care to recant?
Mr. Groome,
I do not know whether Nick is lying.
What I do know is that you lied to me about a product you sell, and then refused to take back the product and refund my money when I complained.
I do not expect special treatment. I expect decent treatment, and I expect honesty, and I expect people to take responsibility for their words and their deeds.
What I also know is that with your comment above, you have proven yourself to be an anti-semite as well as a liar.
Way to improve your on-line reputation.
Jonathan,
My post is above. Where did I say something anti-Jewish?
You also received a refund, yet you deny it. Who is the liar? Also, I notice anything pro-Madhatter is deleted. Wouldn’t you consider this a smear campaign? I have let this go a long time but you are pushing the envelope my friend. There are laws and remedies against this type of behavior.
My post is above. Where did I say something anti-Jewish?
My complaint against you has nothing to do with my religion, and yet you pulled my religion, and antisemitic stereotypes, into the discussion. My readers can judge for themselves whether my accusation of antisemitism is justified.
You also received a refund, yet you deny it.
I note with detached amusement how you worded the sentence above passively so as to avoid explicitly lying.
You are correct that I “received a refund,” and I have never denied it.
My complaint is that I did not receive a refund from you. You refused to give me a refund when I requested one. The refund I received was from the credit-card company when I initiated a dispute by sending the above letter.
Just out of curiosity, was the refund you claim to have given to Nick also the result of a credit-card dispute? Because if so, then what he wrote above appears to be perfectly accurate.
Also, I notice anything pro-Madhatter is deleted. Wouldn’t you consider this a smear campaign?
This is not a public forum. It is my exclusive right to decide which comments to publish and which ones to remove.
I have removed comments from this blog posting that are irrelevant. These are the facts: you gave me objectively incorrect information about one of your projects; you ignored several email messages I sent you complaining about it; when you finally responded, you insulted me and refused to issue me a refund; and one of your employees defended you here without revealing that she works for you.
The fawning comments about your store are not facts, they are opinions, and they are irrelevant. A thousand comments here from happy customers will not change the facts of how you treated me. I don’t publish irrelevant comments on my blog.
I remove irrelevant comments from my blog pretty quickly, and I’ve removed only a few from this posting. If you know about those, then either (a) you put people up to posting them or (b) you are obsessively watching this blog posting. Which is it?
I have let this go a long time but you are pushing the envelope my friend. There are laws and remedies against this type of behavior.
I will address your asinine threats in a separate posting.
The trick was billed as turning a cup of sugar into a cup of candy or a cup of tobacco into a pack of cigarettes.
I wanted to use it to turn a cup of plastic toy “jewels” into candy, after having the audience members put the jewels into the cup.
I asked if that would work, and Bill said it would. Only it won’t, for two reasons I probably can’t say without giving away more than a magician is supposed to about how tricks are done. 🙂
Lol at spotting the obvious “employee to the rescue”.
Out of curiosity, what was the incorrect information?
Hi Angie!
It’s not terribly surprising to see that the people who work for Bill treat customers the same way he does.
Oh, wait, did you forget to mention that you work for him? Nice.
Seems like a lot of fuss over nothing. Looking over your blog, looks like you fight with a lot of people. Grow up!
I told the merchant that I was going to post about his treatment on my blog, and he responded, “I would be careful about your Public Blog, slander will cost you in court.” What does he think this is, Usenet? LOL!