"Back in March, I bought a 26" monitor (model #K-2626MDHWB) made by this company through Provantage.

Regarding the monitor, basically it's as advertised. It's big, bright and has relatively quick response times. For TN technology, the price of roughly $300 was not a bad deal. The monitor came with one dead pixel, but those are the breaks and my issue (I'll get to it in a moment) isn't really with the hardware itself at all.

I read many reviews before buying the screen and opinions seemed to differ on whether or not it was suitable for use with any photo editing. So I took a chance and am sorry to say it's unfortunately true that it definitely is not.

So I called Provantage a few days later to inquire about my options and was told that, per the manufacturer's policy, it would be necessary to contact KDS directly to get their authorization for an exchange or refund. This was the problem, and the reason for this review.

Over the course of the next month or so (the limit on exchanges/refunds is 30 days), I made numerous attempts to contact KDS customer service to no avail. They are available only during normal business hours and, with each attempt I made at contacting them, I was greeted electronically and placed on hold. Hold times were usually for a period of at least 20 minutes before I was forced to hang up since I was calling from work and eventually I gave up and attempted to contact them via email.

On April 10th, after three weeks of trying to reach them by phone, I sent an email to KDS customer support (****@****), informing them of the problem and asking them to contact me. To date, I've never received a reply.

Bottom line is that I took a chance based on the reviews and, for that, I'm stuck. That's life and it happens. As far as customer service goes, however (and their site claims KDS is a "leader in customer support"), it is simply non-existent with this company, based on my experience.

So, word to the wise: if customer support is important, look elsewhere. You won't find it with this company.

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