Advice needed. (Moultrie not for me).
Howdy:
I'm new in these parts and I'm a little embarassed to be asking for advice in my first post but I'm not sure how to handle this situation.
I purchased two new D-40 Moultrie Trail Cams from a reputable ebay seller with 100% positive feedback. Both came factory sealed as advertised. Shipping was expedient. But upon examination, one of the units had a detached spring in the battery compartment and a loose terminal. The other unit just simply failed to turn on after I programmed it's parameters - the batteries are good.
I am not blameless in this issue since the auction did say "return policy not specified" - double-talk for "no return policy at all". In any event, I should certainly have asked about it first. But geeze, you'd think that if there was something amiss with a new unit the seller would go good for it.
Upon informing him of my disgust with the situation he emailed back, apologized for the inconvenience and sent me an 800 number with it's inherent "Your wait times may be considerable due to heavier than normal call volume" nonsense. The seller feels he has fulfilled the obligations stated in the auction.
Further communication with him indicated the following: 1) "We do not have a return policy on factory defect problems. You can contact the company, both the cameras have a 1 yr factory warranty. 1-800-653-3334 Also, as it stands we no longer have this model in stock at this time. Sorry for the inconvience", 2) "We do accept returns but each case is evaluated depending on the situation and the buyers attitude. This is a factory issue and again I apologize that these are not working", and 3) he has no intention of standing behind his auction or the product he sells.
Near as I can tell, I'm out $220 unless somebody has a suggestion. This is my first experience with trail cams, and likely my very last with Moultrie. It'll be Cuddeback next time regardless of the cost. I had some serious plans for these cameras over the next month or two trying to help a friend become established as a hunting guide.
What would you do?
Thank you. And again, I apologize for being such a leech in my first post.