"Note: This is a review regarding the Dealtree managed Best Buy Trade-In program.

I wish I had stumbled across this site prior to utilizing the Best Buy Trade-In program. As another reviewer wrote, "I should have known this was a too good to be true program".

I purchased a new HP laptop from Best Buy on Thanksgiving Day. Found the Trade-In program and decided to send in my wife's 2-year old Lenovo laptop. Based upon the trade-in calculator, I was to receive a $152.00 Best Buy gift card. After using DBAN to wipe the hard drive, (a process that took 10 solid hours to complete), I packaged the unit, printed the pre-paid shipping label, and sent the laptop to them. So far, so good.

Now the problem begins. A day after Dealtree receives the laptop they claim the unit has $0 trade-in value because it is not working. They state the unit is "intermittently powering off". Impossible given that I had just run a 10+ hour disk drive wipe on the system without any power problems.

I called Dealtree and asked to speak to a manager. Instead, I was routed to a voice message system. Left a message, suprise, no return call.

I e-mail them and request that they ship my laptop, (note that this is still my property), back to me. They indicate it will cost me $27.00 to have the unit returned to me. Classic "bait-and-switch". Now they are holding my property hostage and refusing to send it to me until I pay their ridiculous shipping costs (sounds like extortion to me). What is more interesting is that one of the replies I received via e-mail from Dealtree customer service implied that "they don't have to return the unit to me since it is now their property". Umm... no, read section 8 of the Best Buy Trade-In Terms & Conditions... it clearly states that the device does not become the property of Dealtree/Best Buy until we reach agreement on a trade-in value. I clearly disagree with $0.00.

Despite multiple attempts to speak with a supervisor, nobody ever calls me back and I am never allowed to speak with a supervisor. I paraphrased the latest reply I received from Dealtree below:

Dealtree Customer Service: "I have spoken to the Trade In Manager and she informed me that you were emailed previously in response to an email you sent them. Here it is again. Please do not call us again regarding this unless you are calling to make a payment."

Those are their exact words as contained in an e-mail I received. Note that I received this e-mail immediately after speaking with this Dealtree customer service person requesting to speak with a supervisor. After I gave this gentleman my contact information for the 4th time, I proceeded to ask when I should expect a return call. I was met with a "click" and then a dialtone.

I hope others stumble across this site and this review before attempting to do business with Dealtree. Based upon all the other reviews here, it would appear that my experience is anything but an isolated case. Very disappointing.

Lastly, they do business on eBay, (selling the items others are trading in), as dealtree-auctions and 2ndturn. I wonder how many of their items are devices like mine, where they essentially held the unit hostage.

Seller (and buyer) beware. Recognize that once you send your hardware to them, you lose all leverage. There is nothing to prevent them from "finding any defect they so choose", refusing to give you the value they quoted, and then forcing you to pay to get your hardware returned to you.

Don't make the same mistake I did. I'm still fighting to get my laptop back."

"To my knowledge, I've only had one interaction with Deal Tree--a small purchase of a used hard drive through eBay.

For $8.00 + $7.50 shipping, I was to received a used drive that "appears to be in working order." A week later I got the drive. I spun it up, partitioned it, but it would not take a format. I informed Deal Tree that the drive was junk, and asked what I should do.

It was then that I noticed a small remark in the auction: "NOTE: UNIT WILL NOT FORMAT." Arghhhh! Shame on me for not noticing that, but shame on them for equating "appears to be in working order" with "will not format." I sent this note:

| This hard drive is dead. It is not "in good working order" as your item
| description states. Admittedly I missed your note about not being able
| to format the drive. However, saying that a drive appears to be in good
| working order when you know it cannot be formatted is an obvious lie. I
| can't believe you chose to dispose of this junk through eBay, and that I
| bought it!
|
| Refund my bid and shipping ($15.50 total) and I will pay to send this brick
| back to you.

I feared that this would be my first time getting ripped off on eBay. You have to expect it will eventually happen, but I had thus far avoided it.

To my surprise, they responded:

| We apologize for any inconvenience that we may have caused you in regards to your
| purchase.
|
| Because it does not make economical sense to have the item shipped back, please keep
| or dispose of the item. We recognize that this is our mistake. We have authorized a
| full refund, including shipping, to be credited to you via the same manner you
| paid. Depending on the method of payment and your banking institution, this credit
| should reflect in your account within 5 business days of this email.

Hooray for customer service.
"

"WORST Seller on Ebay, I bought a DVD recorder from best buy outlet and they didn't take my paypal, asked for a money order, after money order was received they didn't send item nor refund I'm still waiting... Customer service is very bad, they don't want to solve anything."

"Avoid them at all cost.
It has been a month and a half since I paid in full for a PC and still no refund or PC.

Paid in full for 2 PCs and a DVD recorder on 9/19. They shipped 1 PC and the DVD recorder and asked for more money for the other PC. Emails to their support are a waste of time. They only responded after a PayPal dispute is filed. Then they ship me a broken PC that is not even what I ordered. I returned that and they lie about having sent me a refund.

They do business on eBay as 2ndturn.

"

"There's three things you can assuredly expect to receive when you associate with Dealtree:

1) Poor Service

Their support is non-existent, as is communication with no attempts made via e-mail or by phone to help resolve my issues. They are rude, unprofessional and unresponsive.

2) Incomplete Product Shipments

The PS3 I purchased from them was missing a USB cable and came in a box that looked like it was run over by a bus.

3) Faulty Products

The PS3 they sent me played neither Blue Ray discs or games as advertised despite the fact the description on Ebay said the product had been "tested" and was in "good working condition."

I purchased my product via EBAY in the Best Buy Outlet Store and I would not recommend this to ANYONE! How Best Buy EVER got in bed with this company is beyond me but my guess is that it won't last much longer."

"A TOTAL SCAM!!! I sent them 2 phones in working condition recently and it was estimated that I would receive a $76 gift card. I just received emails stating that both phones hold no trade-in value. They stated that both were not working or could not be activated. I cleared both phones of any phone numbers, etc right before I sent them to you. I charged the Razr a little to do this as the battery was completely drained and it did charge (they stated that it said it would not hold a charge). I put in my SIM card and it registered with the network and I was able to access the phone memory. I also sent you a Krzr on #112422 which had almost a full charge when I sent it. I inserted my sim card and it too registered with the network and was working. I also had indicated that the Krazr was in poor physical condition and now you say that because it has a cracked screen that it holds no value. I plan on registering a complaint with Best Buy, the Better Business Bureau and plan on contacting my local television network that exposes such scams. I knew this system sounded too good to be true! "

"This review is for a TRADE-IN, not for a PURCHASE. In december 2006, I sent my refurbished Canon Rebel XT to dealtree.com. Note, even though my camera looked new, I ranked it as "used, excellent" -- just in case someone over there might think a few scratches means "false representation." This way, they had no excuse to downrate the camera.

Within 5 days, they credited my paypal account with the exact amount specified in the original trade-in estimate. Paypal.com took a 3% cut from the amount (I was annoyed at this, but it's not dealtree's fault. Since I was receiving a payment from dealtree, the transaction qualified as a 'sale' by me, and therefore, I was charged 3% in accordance with paypal's premier-account rules.)

To be honest, after reading the stories here, I'm shocked at how terrible other people's purchasing experiences are... my trade-in deal was buttery smooth!"

"My issue was that I sent in my HDDVD player with 2 movies. Dealtree decided that the player would start up but the player wouldn't open the tray. Every one knows that HDDVD players take FOREVER to start up and open the tray. (Check the reviews) They simple said that I didn't pack it correctly. I had the original box. Not only that the DVDs must have been damaged too. Funny how these DVDs are posted on their web site. I complained to Best Buy and they are willing to give me the $50 gift card. Which helps with the $999 BR player I plan on buying from them...now. I'll spread the good and the bad. I just wish I would have Googled "dealtree issues" before I went through this long ordeal."

"This was the 2nd purchase from this company. I bought a Nintendo DS back in December for my daughter. I live in the area (Dallas, TX) and I was able to pick it up for a $6. fee which I thought was better than waiting for it to ship. The item was described as working and missing a pixel in the top screen. It was exactly what I got. I paid $50 for it and it still works great. (except for the missing pixel)
I bought another DS (crimson and black with brain age bundle) and I got MORE than I paid for. It came with Brain Age 1, 2 and DS High Stake Poker. The item came in a shoe box (not in original box) . I paid $97 for it and it looks brand new.
I am happy with both purchases and you have to realize that the items you buy are used items.(I heard they get the returns from Best Buy and Circuit City and sell them) If you want a new item, don't buy from them. They are the Scratch and Dents of the electronic industry. "

"the worst customer service i have ever seen they string you along refuse to communicate with you except by auto reply emails. i will never buy another product that goes through companies like this i dont care how good the price or product is . you get better customer service through dell or microsoft .

if i ran my company like this i would be out of business quick. these guys need to go back to school and learn what service is. i guess that they are trying out for that new show about being smarter than a 5th grader. you are on your own when you deal with these guys. god help you if you had any trouble with what they send you. you would think after 15 emails that they would get the point but you would be dead wrong. then theres the "on line chat help" what a joke! they must be in some country that they have a translator telling them what to say. helen keller could have been more helpfull finding my missing stuff. then theres the main office no phone # or email address to talk to someone. i cant believe that these guys have the rating they have. you order is like the titanic waiting to arrive. you these guys have the mushroom theory down pat"

"Worst online purchase experience ever!!!!! Do not purchase through Dealtree!! They had claimed my address did not match with credit card and made me jump through a dozen hoops to correct the problem that they themselves caused. Worst customer service. Product still has not even shipped yet!!! Horrible!!!!"

"I ordered a refurbished PlayStation 3 60GB gaming console on 12/28/2007 from Deal Tree from lot number 1731173, which was described as "Like New".

I had previously made a purchase from them on June 1, 2007, which went fine, and the item arrived as described, so I figured this was a reputable seller.

I received my refurbished 60GB PS3 on Jan 3, 2008. The package arrived double boxed, which I thought was a good thing. Strangely enough, the inner box that contained the PS3 had shoe prints all over it, which was disturbing, because it made me think that more than one person has used the product box as a stepping stool.

Once opened, the PS3 was COVERED in scratches, like somebody took fine sand paper to it, and every port (USB, etc) had caked in dust/gunk. The controller even had buttons that made a small crunching sound when pressed initially (like dirt/gunk was being crushed), but that went away after a few button presses. The controller's analog sticks were not smooth in their movement, like there were grains of dirt in the joint.

I hooked up the unit and turned it on thinking that as long as it works, I'll settle with what I got, even if it wasn't in "Like New" condition. I put in a PS3 game, and it worked. Next, I put in a PS2 game (Jak & Daxter), and the system hard locked. I tried other PS2 games, but every one of them locked the system up. The 60GB PS3 has PS2 hardware in it, so this told me the PS2 hardware had a problem. I chose the 60GB PS3, because I have a large library of PS2 games that I (and my son) still want to be able to play without having both the PS2 and PS3 (and their accessories) all hooked up at the same time.

Inside the box was a pink piece of paper describing my 30 day warranty, and if there were any problems, that I must call the number listed on the paper. I emailed Deal Tree, but I figured they would tell me to do what was on the included paper. I spoke to the folks at the number, a company called IWB in California, and they agreed to let me send it to them to "check out", and they would either fix or replace it. After shipping it to them via FedEx Ground, I got an email from Deal Tree.

Deal Tree told me they issued an RMA number and for me to send it back. I explained I had already mailed it to the people on the piece of paper, so they asked for a tracking number and explained that they would have given me a shipping label. Given that they said they would have paid for shipping, and given I sent it ground (the cheapest), I asked if they would reimburse me for the shipping cost, since it was defective out-of-box. In 3 emails asking that question, they have not yet responded to that question, but they have been helpful in answering my emails and explaining everything else.

They told me they would either replace the unit or refund my money that I paid for the unit. I mailed it to California on January 7 and am awaiting their receipt of it.

I am very disappointed that a system described as "Like New" arrived looking like it was old & mistreated, as well as having a feature defective out-of-box. I am optimistic that they will take care of me though. I will update this review with the outcome of this tale.

Update: The company IWB sent me an 80GB PS3 replacement, which while technically an upgrade in the minds of some means all the hassle and expense I went through trying to get a 60GB for the built-in PS2 hardware ended in failure.

DealTree (Eric) claimed ignorance about the pink piece of paper that told me to send it to IWB if I had any problems. When I scanned it and emailed it to him, he stopped responding to my emails and had a guy named Samuel email me saying that they couldn't help me and to try calling their support number instead. (After a week of emails.)

Bottom line: DO NOT buy from this vendor. You might get lucky and get what you are intending to purchase, but if you do not, you will deeply and truly regret giving them your business. I ended up with a refurb PS3 without the PS2 hardware built-in and technically was given an upgrade, since the Hard Drive capacity was bigger, but I did not buy it for the capacity.

Note that the upgrade came from IWB (the guys that refurbish PS3s for DealTree). DealTree did not want to help me. They also did not refund my money for the ground shipping I paid to ship the defective unit off, even though their policy is to send you a shipping label. DealTree will never get my business again, and I will spread the word of this experience with others."

"I received this radio on 12/5/07. We didn't open it up immediately because it was a Christmas gift for my son. When I got ready to wrap it, I did open it up and when I found that there were none of the original items which should have accompanied the item, I realized that it really wasn't factory packaging as the auction stated. As a result of that, I attempted to check the operation and discovered that the only thing that did work was the display. None of the controls work at all. You cannot set the time, turn on the radio, tune a station in, nothing!
The auction stated "Functional Condition: Factory Sealed, New
Cosmetic Condition: New
Testing Notes: This item is working. This item is in the original box.
This item is factory sealed with no apparent damage. Any originally provided parts, manuals, accessories etc that were provided with the unit, will be contained in the original packaging.
Factory sealed items in the original box contain all manufacturer supplied accessories." All of which were out and lies.
When I contacted them and politely pointed out these problems I was told that "as over seven since the sale had elapsed they would do nothing".
I emailed them again asking for an exception based on the circumstances and their blatant misrepresentation of the product and was unceremoniously informed that their policies are rigidly enforced and I was out of luck.
I think that it is ludicrous for these people to be allowed to trade on Best Buy's good name. These people are nothing more that crooks posing as honest merchants.
The auction also states " Your purchase is 100% guaranteed. If you are not satisfied with your purchase for any reason, please contact us using this form BEFORE leaving feedback and we will be more than happy to immediately assist you. At Best Buy Outlet, our customers are the #1 priority, and we make every effort to ensure your shopping experience is a great one." Wonder why that policy isn't rigidly enforced? ? ?
I've done business with Best Buy for several years and always been happy. This is turning into a very bad experience which could get very ugly.
I'm going to follow up with every legal remedy that I can.
This operation could really hurt Best Buy's image and sales............"

"Purchased Sharp HDTV model LC20SH20U from DealTree for my son for Christmas (via eBay from BestBuy Outlet). Item was DOA making only a high frequency noise, DealTree refused to issue an RMA saying I waited to long (reported item DOA 12/26/2007 since they did not answer the phone on Christmas Day). This company is the worst, I'll have to take them to small claims court to get my money back adn force them to take back their fraudently advertised item. BEWARE of DealTree !!! Well, if you are at this site, you already know they are thieves.

"

"These guys have horrible, nonexistant communication. Won auction, waited to pay pending a callback for problem resolution - they never called (thus I didn't pay), but did take the time to issue unpaid item strike instead of calling back. I contacted them AGAIN to complete the transaction, and they told me to pounhd sand! They suck BAD. Unworkable, untrustworthy, and of no regard for their own word. AVOID AVOID AVOID at all costs!"