Thursday, March 21, 2019

Kind of a Puzzle

A couple of weeks ago, when I ordered a new carry-on travel bag (hi, my name is ccr and I have a bag addiction*), I also ordered a mobile power bank/charger thing, which they were cross-promoting with it. I figured that for traveling, it would be good to carry some extra juice for the tablet (I can remember trying to find a plug at the airport in California before getting on the plane, and it wasn't easy). They arrived, the bag looks handy, and I didn't do anything with the power bank right away.
*Seriously, though, how cute is it? It hangs on the plane tray table! No more rooting around for a bag on the floor**, or for things in the seat-back pocket, or having something slide away down the side of the seat!
**I know, sometimes I'll want the tray down, but I think this will be handy otherwise. It satisfies the "place for everything and everything in its place" concept.

The other day, though, I decided to play around with the charger, and make sure it worked the way I thought it would before traveling with it next month. I plugged the tablet into it, and at first it was charging it, but then it stopped charging, which made me wonder if it had a problem or if I was doing something wrong.

The thing didn't come with a user's guide or manual, and looking around online, I couldn't find one for the exact model, which seemed weird. I went back to the website I ordered it from, to see if they had anything, and hey, what I got doesn't look like what they picture there, what gives?

So I emailed them yesterday, with a photo of what I got, and asked, basically, what gives? What happened, is this the same as what I ordered, and can you send me a manual?

And today, they replied. The message, in its entirety:
We are completely sold out of the Genius Pack mobile charger and it will be restocked in May.  We are confirming we have refunded the charger and please do not worry about returning this item.
I appreciate them refunding the cost*, but I have a few questions on this. One, they didn't actually explain what happened, and not that they have to tell me just how they screwed up, but I am curious. It's the only one they carry, if you believe the website anyway, so it's not like someone packed up the wrong model.
*Though, yeah, I am going to check my credit card account and make sure that goes through.

Two, as of a few hours after that email, their own website says it is in stock; if I were to order it (again) now, would I get another of the wrong one? Not that I'm going to order it today, but I'll probably look again tomorrow and see if that updates, just out of curiosity.

Meanwhile, anyone want a mystery power bank? With no manual or any other info?

1 comment:

  1. Well, that really is poor customer service, isn't it? The upside is if you get a refund (the site has it for $28) you can get something quite similar on Amazon for less than that.

    Alternatively, can you access the manufacturer's web site and ask them for an operations manual?

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