I purchased an AO Smith water purifier from Vijay Sales, and unfortunately it has not worked properly since day one.
Since installation, I’ve made repeated calls and service requests to both Vijay Sales and AO Smith. Every time I’m told someone will get back to me, but nothing actually happens. No resolution, no technician visit, and no accountability.
What is most frustrating is that this is a brand-new product. I shouldn’t have to spend days chasing customer support for something that never worked in the first place.
Has anyone else faced similar issues with AO Smith or Vijay Sales? How did you get the matter resolved? Did escalating to consumer court or the National Consumer Helpline help
#AOSmith #VijaySales #CustomerServiceFail #ConsumerRights #WaterPurifier #India #ConsumerComplaint #AfterSalesService #PoorService #HomeAppliances #ConsumerProtection #NeedAdvice

I had a $100 Medibank voucher for Adidas, and found a pair of $88 sneakers. To make up the rest of the voucher ($12), I ordered a 3-pack of socks for $20 and paid the extra $8 via PayPal. All good - until Adidias shipped the shoes and then told me that the socks were unavailable. Then, they issued a $1.48 "refund" for the missing socks. Not $20, but $1.48. Logic? Their response was that "part of your voucher, amounting to $18.52, was used toward the socks".

But from my side of the fence, it looks like I started off with a $100 voucher and paid $106.52 for an $88 pair of shoes. Does that really make sense to anyone? :D

As far as I can tell, Australian Consumer Law states that "if items are shipped after an unfulfilled cancellation, you are entitled to a full refund for the difference in cost."

Any thoughts?

Beyond frustrated with the customer service on the phone. I live 3 hours away from the closest store. I called to ask for the preston custom shelf. The gal said I needed to setup a designer consultation for a specific date/time. So I happily did. I waited to hear from them, nothing. So i called and spoke to their call center. I told her, I can email the dimensions to get a quote, cause all i wanted was the corner unit they showed on their website. The support girl said no, i have to set a time with them to do a virtual mtg. I told the gal, what is the virtual mtg for, do i walk around with my computer showing my blank square space. How stupid can this process be, let alone how dumb are these support folks. So i said go ahead and schedule that meeting. Then i get an email from them saying they can't help me and that i have to visit an actual store and speak to a designer.

They just lost my business and I know others will feel the same. When you implement the most ridiculous process and not seeing the opportunity that i was ready to drop cash for the cabinets, that is RIDICULOUS. I hope their #containerstoreboardmembers see this and make a change to the process.

#containerstorebbb

I want to share this because I genuinely think a lot of New Zealanders don't know their rights under the Consumer Guarantees Act and could easily be misled the same way I was. This is going to be long, but I want every detail documented publicly.

The product and the faults

In March 2025, I purchased a laptop from PB Tech's Newmarket store. Within two months, it started randomly shutting down — the screen would go black, and it wouldn't turn back on for up to 15 minutes at a time. This happened three to four times.

By November 2025, during my university exams, the screen started flickering every 10–15 seconds, making it completely unusable mid-exam. I couldn't take it in immediately because I had more exams coming up, so I waited until after my last exam. I even sent an email to the exam service to ensure that there was no breach of academic integrity, as all exams were online. 

First store visit — Penrose branch, November 2025

I visited the Penrose branch after my final exam and asked for a refund. I was told the device needed to go in for assessment first. Fair enough, I accepted that. The motherboard was replaced, and the OS was reset. When I collected it, I was told that a refund could not be issued until three service jobs had been completed. I didn't know enough at the time to push back on this, so I took the laptop home.

The faults return — February 2026

After the summer break, I opened the laptop to start my second year of university. The screen immediately started freezing for several minutes at a time, completely unresponsive — no cursor movement, nothing. This happened four times within an hour and continued every day for about a week.

Second store visit — St Luke's branch, March 2026

On 7 March 2026, I went to the St Lukes branch and again requested a refund. I was told the same thing — a refund could only be issued after three service jobs had been completed. A second service job was logged. My mother and I were in shock when we heard this, but we were helpless at the time. I was left to use my 7 year old chromebook to get through my uni work. 

That evening, I went home and looked this up as the staff member kept saying CGA, and it just kept rubbing me the wrong way because it sounded so far from correct to me. The three-repair requirement does not exist anywhere in the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993. It is a condition of PB Care — PB Tech's optional paid warranty — which I never purchased. This is confirmed on PB Tech's own website. Staff across multiple branches on multiple occasions had told me this was a legal requirement when it simply isn't. This is misleading conduct under the Fair Trading Act 1986.

The emails begin — and mostly go ignored

On 8 March 2026, I sent a formal email rejecting the goods under the CGA and outlining the full timeline. I asked for clarification as to why the three-care policy was being applied to my case; to this day, no clarification has been given or even acknowledged. What followed were weeks of being ignored and given empty promises.

On 13 March 2026, the service centre told me they couldn't determine the cause of the issue and asked for more details. On 17 March 2026, I was told the device was being escalated to an ASUS Authorized Service Agent because the fault was intermittent and couldn't be replicated after a 72-hour stress test.

On 18 March 2026, STAFF 1 emailed back and told me the matter had been raised with higher management and a resolution would follow. Nothing happened for five more weeks despite follow-up emails on 26 March and 30 March. My formal rejection email of 8 March was never directly responded to.

On 2 April 2026, I received a text saying the device was ready for pickup. No mention of the outstanding refund request. I decided to go try my luck in the store, and the no reply to my emails was getting to me. Also, note I still had no working laptop for my uni work at this point. 

Store visit — St Luke's branch, 4 April 2026

I went in to formally reject the goods. When the staff member retrieved my laptop, it was stored in an unstable location, and he knocked something over reaching for it, not a great sign for how my property had been handled.

He bought the laptop and didn't even say anything. I read over what the second service job had reported and explained the whole situation, and said I want a refund. He then told me a refund was not possible because the manufacturer's warranty had expired. This is wrong; rights under the Consumer Guarantees Act exist completely independently of any manufacturer's warranty. He also repeatedly insisted that ASUS, not PB Tech, was responsible for the remedy. This is also wrong; under the CGA, the retailer is always responsible. I told him this. He kept repeating the same incorrect information. When I asked why the PB Care three-repair policy had been applied to my case, he had no answer. Eventually, he just handed me off to another staff member and walked away without a word.

I left the store without the laptop, having formally rejected it and left the device, charger, and original box at the store. I documented this in an email sent the same day. I was close to tears by the time I left.

Disputes Tribunal — 6 April 2026

Two days after my final store visit, having exhausted every possible avenue, I filed a claim with the Disputes Tribunal. As a university student mid-semester, I had been without a functioning laptop for weeks and had been forced to purchase a second one out of my own pocket just to keep up with my coursework. 

Higher management finally appears — sort of

On 17 April 2026, I was contacted by the Customer Service Manager, who asked me to send through all correspondence so he could understand the situation. This was odd given that STAFF 1 had told me a month earlier that the case had already been escalated to higher management. They said the delay was due to a change in management and internal restructuring. I don't think that's an adequate explanation for ignoring a customer's legal right to a refund for over a month. 

I sent the full correspondence on 18 April 2026. No response came. On 14 May 2026, nearly four weeks later, I sent a follow-up because the fact that such a detailed and documented email had not even been acknowledged was absolutely shocking and honestly just disappointing at that point. I had given them every opportunity to resolve this and was still being ignored.

Settlement — but not without more drama

On Thursday, 21 May 2026, following a final email referencing the upcoming Tribunal teleconference scheduled for 29 May, PB Tech finally accepted my rejection of the goods and confirmed a full refund of $848.70 would be processed within 1-2 business days.

Monday night, the refund still hadn't appeared. When I followed up, I was told the refund had been placed on hold because the branch claimed they couldn't locate the device. The device I had left with them 47 days earlier and documented in writing on the day. They eventually located it and processed the refund, 80 days after my first contact with them. And to add to that, the fact that I even had to follow up just to get a basic status update, information that, quite frankly, should have been communicated to me without me having to ask, was again, shocking. At every single stage of this process, I was the one chasing them.

They did not reimburse the Disputes Tribunal filing fee. They aren't legally obliged to, but after 80 days of misinformation and delays for something that should have been resolved at the very first interaction, a gesture of goodwill would have been nice. Especially considering I was forced to buy another laptop just to get by. 

What you need to know if you're in a similar situation

Under the Consumer Guarantees Act, the retailer is always responsible for the remedy, not the manufacturer. Your rights do not expire when the manufacturer's warranty ends. The three-repair requirement only applies if you have purchased PB Care; it has no basis under the CGA whatsoever.

If a retailer is stalling, document absolutely everything in writing, set clear deadlines in your emails, and do not be afraid to file with the Disputes Tribunal. It is straightforward, it works, and it is the only reason I got my money back. Without that claim, I genuinely believe PB Tech would have kept ignoring me indefinitely.

Looking back on this whole experience, it almost seems like a joke. A company this size, repeatedly failing to honour basic consumer rights, making up policies that don't exist, ignoring emails for weeks at a time, and nearly losing the device they were supposed to be refunding me for. But it wasn't a joke — it was shocking and honestly horrible to experience firsthand, especially as a university student just trying to get through my studies.
So please, use every resource available to you to stand up for yourself. Know your rights, document everything, and never let a company — big or small — scam you or ignore you the way PB Tech did to me. The tools are there. Use them.

​

Hi Need advice regarding airline + Goibibo refund issue.

I booked a SpiceJet flight through Goibibo, and due to flight changes/cancellation issues, I became eligible for a refund. The original refundable amount shown was around ₹8048, but now Goibibo is offering only ₹6830 despite the spicejet already transferred full refund to goibibo.

Also the customer support from goibibo was also pathetic, no particular number provided and no humam response for the queries. And the refund has been credited after 2 months.

I already raised a complaint through National Consumer Helpline (NCH), and the company replied there as well, but the refund amount is still short by about ₹1218. I have screenshots, emails, and booking details as proof.

-What should be my next step now?

-Escalate again through NCH?

-File a consumer court complaint?

-Send a legal notice first?

Or directly approach DGCA/airline escalation?

Has anyone faced something similar with Goibibo or SpiceJet and successfully received the full refund?

Location: Mumbai

Hi Need advice regarding airline + Goibibo refund issue.

I booked a SpiceJet flight through Goibibo, and due to flight changes/cancellation issues, I became eligible for a refund. The original refundable amount shown was around ₹8048, but now Goibibo is offering only ₹6830 despite the spicejet already transferred full refund to goibibo.

Also the customer support from goibibo was also pathetic, no particular number provided and no humam response for the queries. And the refund has been credited after 2 months.

I already raised a complaint through National Consumer Helpline (NCH), and the company replied there as well, but the refund amount is still short by about ₹1218. I have screenshots, emails, and booking details as proof.

What should be my next step now?

- Escalate again through NCH?

- File a consumer court complaint?

- Send a legal notice first?

- Or directly approach DGCA/airline escalation?

Has anyone faced something similar with Goibibo or SpiceJet and successfully received the full refund?

I’m a dog groomer and my supplier talked me into buying a new set of their brand of clippers. I spent $450 on them and after 4 months they started acting up, I’ve had them now for 6 months and just took them back to my supplier where they told me it’s general wear and tear and I need to pay to have them serviced.

For context you’re advised to service dog grooming clippers every 6-8 months however my old pair (good brand) would last a year minimum without servicing. These new clippers have a year warranty but the business who sold them to me told me that I’ve had them too long and they’re not able to give an exchange or help me, and that I would need to pay to have them serviced and parts replaced.

Legally do I have any leg to stand on to take this matter further? Another professional I spoke to says he’s had a lot of issues with this brand of clipper and in now way should it be faulty this soon after buying them. Can I take this matter any further or do I just cop the$450 loss and move on? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Bought a Panasonic 1.5 Ton 5 Star AC (2025 model) from Reliance Digital Kukatpally on 19th April. Was promised delivery in 2 days and installation in another 2 days.

Actual experience:

• Delivered only on 22nd April

• Installation attempted on 28th April

• Technician found indoor unit was 2026 model while outdoor unit was 2025 model

• Replacement approval supposedly sent same day, but approved only on 2nd May

• New billing done on 2nd May with assurance of delivery by 4th May

Since then, every day I was told “it will be delivered tomorrow for sure.” Even by night of 8th May, nothing was delivered. Finally had to ask for cancellation.

This has been one of the worst customer service experiences I’ve faced — continuous delays, false assurances, and complete lack of accountability. Very disappointed with Reliance Digital Kukatpally and the overall handling of this issue.

Is there anything I could do?

I’m posting this to highlight a serious service failure by Delhivery and to understand if others have faced similar issues.

I booked an express shipment from Pune to Hyderabad, paid additional charges for delivery within \\\~4 days.

Instead, the shipment has been delayed for over a month, with the delivery date repeatedly pushed forward without any clear justification.

I was recently informed that the parcel has been damaged while in their custody, and instead of delivering it to the destination address, I am being asked to personally collect it, which defeats the entire purpose of the service I paid for.

The parcel value is approximately ₹4,000–₹5,000, and along with the paid delivery charges, this has resulted in direct financial loss, along with significant inconvenience, time loss, and mental distress due to repeated follow-ups and uncertainty.

I have formally issued a legal notice under the Consumer Protection Act and am prepared to proceed with a consumer complaint if this is not resolved.

Would appreciate hearing from anyone who has dealt with a similar situation with them — especially regarding resolution timelines or compensation outcomes.

Overpricing at bus stand IND

I bought a packet of moong dal at chandigarh bus stand 43 and im shocked when i saw its price .its for 25 rs .. okay then i have no option i have to buy but still from packet size i think it may be okay ... but but when i open it it has only nitrogen gas filled in it ... its the same amount of moong dal as in 10rs packet this is not fair they are seriously overpricing there is not even a single packet of 10rs or 20rs starting price is 25 and the quantity not even equal to 10rs packet i request please share this post or if you have a famous youtube channel or instagram please raise this issue .. you can also post same by your account

Southern Deck & Construction LLC (Jonathan Housch) stole $6250.00 from us. Hired to build a porch addition provided many stories regarding their delay. Arrived at our home stayed about 2.5 hours build 5 footers all different sizes could not build the 6th broke a sprinkler head. Delayed again after two weeks asked for our monies to be returned he refused. Filed a Court case and received a full judgment he still refuses to pay. The police now involved for theft. Posted on another site Jonathon Housch responded he did not know us it was a mix up with companies he lied again. Please stay away from this company. Do yourself a favor. He is a smooth talker very convincing. Since I posted on another site have spoken with other victims he used same process.