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geekhack Community => Keyboard Keycaps => Topic started by: Gerk on Mon, 10 October 2011, 13:01:23

Title: Warning: eBay seller qdigit_mart selling keycaps that are not what they appear to be
Post by: Gerk on Mon, 10 October 2011, 13:01:23
I ordered these items from the ebay ad, pictures all showed nice white fonts on the keycaps and they looked pretty good.  When they actually arrived they were actually a dark brown'ish (i.e. laser burned -- and even at that poorly done).  It took 25 days to get them in the first place.  When I noticed that they were not as advertised I inquired with the seller if they had them with white lettering and after waiting 5 days they finally responded and said that no, all their keycaps had the dark lettering.  The contrast is terrible and at standard distance from the keyboard they are almost impossible to read unless there is really bright light shining directly on them.

They are advertising things that they do not have, apparently all the keycaps have the dark lettering on them (and all the pictures show white lettering). They offered to give me a refund of the purchase price if I returned them, but not for any shipping. That would end up costing me more money than I paid for the keycaps in the first place.

I counter-offered that they could refund me the FULL purchase and shipping price including return shipping and I would return them, or they could refund me the purchase price minus the shipping and I would keep them (and honestly probably toss them, they are that bad), or I file a dispute with PayPal and give them negative feedback. I gave them 48 hours to respond.

BUT at this point, I would strongly caution people to avoid this seller. They are obviously falsely advertising their keycaps in hopes that people won't be bothered to try and do the return/refund.

The seller: qdigit_mart
http://myworld.ebay.ca/qdigit_mart

The keycaps themselves:
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/230632602539

When I ordered there was even a specific question and answer asking if the lettering on the keycaps was white and their response was that yes, the lettering was white. They have now removed that from the ad and upon closer investigation they don't even have the "items may not be as pictured" disclaimer that most do, so they are still technically falsely advertising what the keycaps actually are.  I'll post pictures soon of what they were supposed to look like and what they really look like, but in the meantime I wanted to give everyone here a heads up that it's not what it appears to be.
Title: Warning: eBay seller qdigit_mart selling keycaps that are not what they appear to be
Post by: pitashen on Mon, 10 October 2011, 13:05:55
Thx
Title: Warning: eBay seller qdigit_mart selling keycaps that are not what they appear to be
Post by: insilica on Mon, 10 October 2011, 13:18:07
Thx for the heads up, to think I've been eyebaling their offerings ....

No nonsense - wait for his response (48hr), that way he has no excuse - file dispute with paypal or ebay (preferably paypal imo - but only one of them, I had a v. bad experience against a chinaman - I filed both ebay and paypal and got burnt so I resulted to screwing  paypal and reverse charged the CC) - anyway - be honest, but do not withdraw your complaint until they+chinaman resolve your problem (you will not be able to reopen), he may try to lie to you about how paypal is disabled and how he can't refund you- don't listen to this- he can issue you a refund (if web is disabled, he can call them) - file dispute under "Item received but not as described"

Sorry if I state the obvious :), I wish someone had done that with me.

Good Luck
Title: Warning: eBay seller qdigit_mart selling keycaps that are not what they appear to be
Post by: Gerk on Mon, 10 October 2011, 13:21:24
Thanks for the advice insillica, it's appreciated.  I'm going to wait the 48 hours and then file the dispute with PayPal and I won't settle for less than satisfaction.  I hate getting ripped off, even if it's just a few bucks, it's the principal of it and the fact that they are still falsely advertising them.
Title: Warning: eBay seller qdigit_mart selling keycaps that are not what they appear to be
Post by: eRRePe on Mon, 10 October 2011, 14:15:36
Could you upload some images please? I was considering to buy those.
Thanks
Title: Warning: eBay seller qdigit_mart selling keycaps that are not what they appear to be
Post by: isp on Mon, 10 October 2011, 14:19:34
show me, don't tell me
Title: Warning: eBay seller qdigit_mart selling keycaps that are not what they appear to be
Post by: Gerk on Mon, 10 October 2011, 22:48:22
As advertised in the ad:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]28338[/ATTACH]

The reality:

First with 'good' lighting, meaning enough light to get an ok photo with an iPhone (and way more light than I ever use when working at keyboard)
[ATTACH=CONFIG]28339[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]28340[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]28341[/ATTACH]

And with a more normal lighting situation.  The contrast is well ... missing LOL.  
[ATTACH=CONFIG]28342[/ATTACH]

Any kind of reflection on them at all and you see nadda.
Title: Warning: eBay seller qdigit_mart selling keycaps that are not what they appear to be
Post by: kraise on Mon, 10 October 2011, 23:07:48
I would definitely file a dispute over something like that. And thanks for the heads up as well.
Title: Warning: eBay seller qdigit_mart selling keycaps that are not what they appear to be
Post by: IvanIvanovich on Mon, 10 October 2011, 23:14:15
You definitely would have been better off with the pad printed KForce caps their pics show on the listing. Those do look quite bad. The legends looks crappy enough there may be hope to sand them down so its blank, as that would be an improvement.
Title: Warning: eBay seller qdigit_mart selling keycaps that are not what they appear to be
Post by: hashbaz on Mon, 10 October 2011, 23:28:29
I have a set of the white-on-red pad printed KForce caps pictured by the seller, if you're interested.
Title: Warning: eBay seller qdigit_mart selling keycaps that are not what they appear to be
Post by: nokcha on Tue, 11 October 2011, 01:23:28
I ordered a set of blue keys from him and they came with white lettering o.O.. I'll post pics if requested.

P.S. I do admit that the keys are not of superb quality... letterings are not perfectly centered on mine.
Title: Warning: eBay seller qdigit_mart selling keycaps that are not what they appear to be
Post by: Gerk on Tue, 11 October 2011, 12:29:14
They responded and I got a refund (and am keeping the crappy keys, which honestly I'll probably toss).  They also said that they are returning all the keys with black lettering to their supplier and will only sell ones with white going forward.  I'll still never buy from them but at least they made it right without me having to file a dispute.
Title: Warning: eBay seller qdigit_mart selling keycaps that are not what they appear to be
Post by: spuckz on Wed, 12 October 2011, 15:21:34
I've ordered myself a set of caps from this seller a few days ago. Atleast they send you new ones without further complication, thanks your that infomation. Hopefully I don't have the same trouble o_O
Title: Warning: eBay seller qdigit_mart selling keycaps that are not what they appear to be
Post by: Gerk on Wed, 12 October 2011, 18:42:55
Quote from: spuckz;429700
I've ordered myself a set of caps from this seller a few days ago. Atleast they send you new ones without further complication, thanks your that infomation. Hopefully I don't have the same trouble o_O

They didn't send new ones as they said they didn't have any with white lettering at all.  The gave me a partial refund (keycaps + some of the shipping).
Title: Warning: eBay seller qdigit_mart selling keycaps that are not what they appear to be
Post by: spuckz on Mon, 24 October 2011, 09:10:35
Hej all..

My order has arrived and I have to say, the keys are ok for that price. No issues with brownish lettering. I made some pictures from the caps so you can judge by yourself. I think they are fine for gaming, I use them for wasd because they seem to have slighly more grip than the standard filco caps. By the way, with the keycaps came with a keypuller, when I remember right, they didn't mentioned that on ebay.

I can't post the pictures here, don't know exactly why, but I uploaded them in my public album!
Title: Warning: eBay seller qdigit_mart selling keycaps that are not what they appear to be
Post by: Gerk on Mon, 24 October 2011, 14:23:59
I think you need a certain amount of posts before you're allowed (not sure of that).  The keys look ok, glad it worked out for you.  It certainly didn't for me!
Title: Warning: eBay seller qdigit_mart selling keycaps that are not what they appear to be
Post by: bootstrap on Mon, 24 October 2011, 16:23:14
Quote from: Gerk;428969
They responded and I got a refund (and am keeping the crappy keys, which honestly I'll probably toss).  They also said that they are returning all the keys with black lettering to their supplier and will only sell ones with white going forward.  I'll still never buy from them but at least they made it right without me having to file a dispute.


Glad you got your refund. Every time I hear a story like yours, my blood begins to boil. And thanks for the heads up, this seller is not someone I want to deal with even if others' keys were alright.
Title: Warning: eBay seller qdigit_mart selling keycaps that are not what they appear to be
Post by: slueth on Mon, 24 October 2011, 16:29:37
I think the seller did the right thing, he gave you a refund, he probably didn't notice that the keycaps were not the right order. He is now correcting it by returning the keycaps to supplier, I don't think it is warrant to smudge the sellers rep.
Good warning though :D
Title: Warning: eBay seller qdigit_mart selling keycaps that are not what they appear to be
Post by: Gerk on Wed, 26 October 2011, 11:26:12
Quote from: slueth;438333
I think the seller did the right thing, he gave you a refund, he probably didn't notice that the keycaps were not the right order. He is now correcting it by returning the keycaps to supplier, I don't think it is warrant to smudge the sellers rep.
Good warning though :D

While they did (sort of) the right thing, they didn't do the right thing by falsely advertising them in the first place.  They apparently knew that the lettering was no longer white as when they replied they told me that they no longer had any with white lettering (which means that they knew that they were falsely advertising).  The onus is on the seller to sell what they are advertising, not to fix it up after the fact.  I waited weeks for the keys to arrive, another week of messaging back and forth, and still am out money on the shipping.  If they were a retail outlet (at least here in Canada) they would have broken the law .. here's it is called "bait and switch" and can carry some serious consequences.  Luckily for them it was on ebay which is more like the wild west and you can do anything you want to do and sellers think that they can just fix it after the fact.

Regardless of how they handled it after the fact they were in the wrong and it tarnishes their reputation in my eyes.  If they did this with one item who is to say that they won't do it again with other items?  Even if they have resolved the issue now it's too little too late in my eyes.  I won't ever buy from them again and I can see that others feel the same way, which is why I posted this warning.
Title: Warning: eBay seller qdigit_mart selling keycaps that are not what they appear to be
Post by: whiskerBox on Thu, 27 October 2011, 17:35:45
Quote from: spuckz;437923
Hej all..

My order has arrived and I have to say, the keys are ok for that price. No issues with brownish lettering. I made some pictures from the caps so you can judge by yourself. I think they are fine for gaming, I use them for wasd because they seem to have slighly more grip than the standard filco caps. By the way, with the keycaps came with a keypuller, when I remember right, they didn't mentioned that on ebay.

I can't post the pictures here, don't know exactly why, but I uploaded them in my public album!


I think those look pretty cool man, if nothing else they are a nice color.