"I ordered Talkswitch system and Talkswitch phones through Amazon.com which this Telco Depot was supposedly selling.

I received totally wrong items.

When I called initially, I was told that the person that handles the Amazon account was not in the office and I was asked to call after 2 days.

When I called after 2 days, I was told that the sales person is not in the office today and therefore, the technical support person is handling the calls. But he does not know anything abou the orders.

When I called the next day, I asked why I was sent the wrong products. He said that the products I ordered have been discontinued. I asked why you have listed them at Amazon.com then. He said that he will take them up to the management. (He simply meant that he does not know and/or does not care). I asked if the product is discontinued, why you would you send me totally different products, when I specifically ordered something different. He had no answer. Should anyone even ask me whether I needed some alternate products? I demanded that I would like to return the products I didn't order. He said that someone would contact me later about returning the products. Eventually, I received the return label. I immediately shipped the products back to them. I was over 10 days but still didn't hear back from them about the refund. I called numerous times and they had multiple excuses. I finally received an email from Amazon.com that my refund would be processed. However, they are not refunding me the shipping fees (refunding only $4.99 when they charged $32.95) even though it is their fault. In any case, I am yet to receive any refund. Hopefully, it shows up soon in my credit card.

I would never buy anything from Telco Depot and I would not recommend anyone to deal with Telco Depot.

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My response on 12/13/2012


1. Accusing the reviewer of hiding behind a username is completely unfair allegation. All the users on the internet who post comments have to choose a username. And almost all of them choose a random username.

2. I have never complained about any delays associated with Hurricane Sandy. False allegation.

3. Telco Depot’s response is quite misleading and meant to hide the real truth.

I specifically ordered TalkSwitch 488 VS because I needed TalkSwitch 488 VS. If I needed Fortinet products, I could have just ordered from Fortinet itself which is what I have done earlier or ordered Fortinet product.

Fortinet’s current products are simply not compatible with TalkSwitch 488 VS. If the company is saying ‘The same great product’, it does not mean both products are the same. (You have admitted yourself in your reply that they are not the same) or even compatible. That sentence simply means that Talkswitch was great product and Fortinet is great product too. I have confirmed with Fortinet about the incompatibility by calling them.

I needed 488 VS as a back up to my current system. Therefore, if two products are not compatible, I can’t use one as a backup for another and I can’t link them to work together either. Even if they are compatible, don’t send me something I didn’t order. If you don’t have a specific product, there is no reason to mislead the customers by sending something they didn’t order. Even if you had no intention to mislead people, you were simply unaware of the technical details of the products you sell.

After placing several calls into Fortinet, I found out that Talkswitch 48VSX product is compatible with both 488 VS and the current Fortinet phone system. Therefore, I should try to get 48 VSX and they don’t stock that any more.

I contacted Telco Depot again and inquired whether they specifically had 48 VSX. That shows that, in spite of what happened so far, I was still willing to do business with them. I was told that they do have Talkswitch 48 VSX and they would offer it to me for around $1400+.

I enquired with another reseller and they told me that 48 VSX price is around $750. I contacted Telco Depot and asked them about so much discrepancy in the price and I was mislead once more. I was told $750 system must be 48VSX – NFR while they have actual 48VSX. I asked what the difference is. They said NFR system is for demo purpose and they are not fully functional models.

I really doubted that some reseller would really sell such crippled product. Therefore, I called Fortinet again. They told me that 48VSX and 48VSX-NFR are identical products with identical capabilities. NFR stands for Not For Resale. They send such systems to resellers to display in their show room and can’t be resold and they are given to resellers at lower cost.

Therefore, I contacted that reseller again and asked whether they had 48VSX or 48VSX – NFR. And they said they would send me only 48VSX. Therefore, I ordered one for around $750. I received that system and works perfectly. After that I ordered one more system from that reseller as a back up, again for around $750, and both of them work perfectly in sync with my existing system.

This shows that they tried to charge me double price and mislead me about another reseller by spreading incorrect information about them.

4. After I posted the review on this web site, Telco Depot flagged my review as fake and blamed me that I never intended to business with them. And my review was taken off. After that, I was contacted by this web site and I provided them the proof of payment over $2100. How did I exactly not intend to business with them? My review was promptly put back online.

5. At this point, Telco Depot called my office several times harassing me to take down the review. My review is very accurate and therefore, I had no reason to take it down.

6. Determined Telco Depot, at that point, sent me a cake and phone, as a bribe, to take down the review. I threw the cake in garbage (it was full of sugar) and I still have that phone with me as a proof of bribe. I have not tried it yet to if it works.

In any case, my original complaint has not been about the phone itself but about the phone system. Therefore, Telco Depot’s allegation is again wrong that Fortinet-70 is compatible with Talkswitch 488VS and only meant to confuse people. Whether that phone works with my phone system or not has nothing to do with one phone system’s compatibility over the other. Therefore, I would suggest they do more studies, call Fortinet and learn themselves that two systems are not compatible.

7. Few days after sending the bribe and seeing that review is still online, they looked at my Linked In profile and asked one of their friends who happens to be remotely connected with our industry to send me LinkedIn connection request. Not knowing the Telco Depot’s connection with this person, I approved connection request.

Couple of days later, this gentleman who works for Aetna sent me an email asking me to take down the review. I don’t see any reason to take down honest and accurate review of this company.

As few days have passed since then and review is still online, Telco Depot has posted this kind of response alleging me of several things not true. Their response at point says they made a mistake and at another point says the products are compatible. Please make up your mind.

I would suggest Telco Depot that instead of constantly harassing me about this review, spend some time improving your knowledge about the products you sell and customer service and get some ethics training.





"

"I bought the XBlue X16 Bundle. Was easy to install. Ran into a major headache but was the service provider's issue. Once we resolved that the system works like a charm. Thanks Telco "

"Very professional and helpful. Thank you"

"Excellent, always prompt and helpful. The service has consistently been of high quality."

"Telco Depot is very pleasant to deal with and their delivery is prompt. We are very pleased with both the product and the service."

"I am extremely pleased with Telco Depot. Their product selection is great, the delivery is always much quicker than I expect. However, the greatest benefit I have had is their knowledgeabe, friendly support staff. They have helped me make excellent decisions for: PBX, headsets, long handset cords. I would highly recommend them to anyone who values excellent service, a fair price, and before-time delivery."

"Excellent and professional. The phones arrived in a few days. We were very pleased."

"Excellent. There were some minor blips, none of which can be charged against Telco Depot, but more the result of not reading the various guides supplied with the phone system. Overall, the Telco staff and its various techical support people were extremely effective in providing the patient hand-holding we needed in installing the new system. The Telco people have always been responsive to our needs even whether it involved a complicated question on how to use effectively the auto attendant or the more basic on how to access voice mail."

"Overall good product and support."

"Very satisfied with service and price. Very responsive customer service. Received order in two days. This is a company that obviously seems aware of how important customer service/satisfaction is to the long run success of a business."

"The phones arrived a day before I expected them, VERY convenient and at a better price than I could get them anywhere else.

Excellent packing, no over-stuffing and wasting of packing material.

I will be ordering from you in the future."

"Great experience and fast shipping! Thank you!"

"Everything arrived as expected. Thanks!"

"They were very knowledgeable and helpful in choosing a new phone system for our offices.
"

"Excellent, easy website to negotiate. I was happy and so was my customer with the phone system I purchased from you "