Beware Meritline

[daywalker71]

Meritline,

I have to direct this post to you because you directly spoke on my post (which you state are claims).

I am happy to forward you the emails exchanged and unanswered by Meritline to back all of this up a swell… or if you prefer… and if you have nothing to hide, I am more than happy to post them here…lol

But here are my concerns:

#1 My issue happened about 2 Months ago. Is a company like Meritline and of it’s size via your claims, “Meritline ships thouands and thousands of orders a day” really going to claim “growing pains” is the reason what happened to me happened? Really? I should hope you … err Meritline would have just a tad more accountability than using an EXCUSE such as that. Especially because you are already so BIG according to your statements.

#2 >>> Any assertion that we hold onto credit card or paypal payments for interest is
based on lack of knowledge of the credit card monopolies function.<<<<

Okay, then riddle me this…

A) Why would you charge my card BEFORE the item shipped… no, excuse me… Why would you charge my card when the items I ordered were out of stock… no excuse me again…. Why would you charge my card over $700 knowing there are Ritek shortages and you did not have any in stock to ship?

B) Why, upon realizing YOUR mistake, would you not take every step possible to remedy the situation as fast as humanly possible? One little Fax to a number I provided you… what… let’s call it 5 whole minutes of customer service time and effort to release my funds back to me in a timely manner… seeing as it was YOUR mistake. Or was that growing pains too? So, given that info… what advantage does Meritline have to hold my money for 11 days? You tell me I am very interested in the answer.

C) Why when I called customer service 5 different times in one day to find out (5 days after my order – oops did that slip out) why my order had not shipped, did it take me that many calls for your customer service rep (singular as I got the same one every time I called) to come clean and tell me the items I ordered were out of stock… even on the day I ordered them?

D) In this day and age, why the heck would a company like Meritline, who by your own admission “Meritline ships thouands and thousands of orders a day” not spend the money or do the work to directly link their supply to their website so people do not order out of stock product? I mean heck, I know of sites and companies FAR smaller than yours that seem to be able to do it. OR at the very LEAST not be so greedy and wait until an item is packed for shipment before charging the card? You know… just to be sure it is in stock before charging someone for something they do not have?

Feel free to answer the above.. though I am sure I am too far gone to believe you, it will at least give you a chance to justify the company’s actions… if possible.

Again, I am big enough that I just went over to another company and ordered the same amount of things from them, which got here before you even refunded my purchase (UPS Ground no less). However, I decided to test Meritline and lead them to believe the over $700.00 in working capital you had tied up was the life or death of my company. I wrote in depth emails to as many people as I could get to listen there… Not ONE response. If that had been the bulk of my working capital (in this economy that is the case for a lot of little guys) you would have seen me go under before releasing my funds 1 second earlier than you were required to by law.

As I said, in this economy when it comes to online businesses, the margin for some, is very very slim and the difference between being in business and out of business is a few hundred dollars or a few days of lost time… your company… err Meritline may not be the best person to order from… in my opinion. I stated the facts, and a couple of opinions, and a warning… because unlike the displayed attitude of Meritline that I saw, when it comes to smaller companies going under… I do care, because some of them buy from me too.

Andy

[jomo]

even one thing is a lot funny, I am not sure if you all had noticed. Meritline.com had posted a big logo of Ritek on their website stating themselve as "authorized Ritek reseller or exclusive" but the question is they never had products on hand, and they would never call you when there is back order. Attension all ecommerce shopper, don't spend your money on this big time cheater company. By the way, here is the companies that you all have to be awared with because they are all owned by Meritline.com


cddvdrmedia.com
supermediastore.com
allmediaoutlet.com
meritline.com

[txpharoah]

Maybe the standards bodies (DVD Forum, etc.) need to create some kind of mechanism where the media codes themselves are copyrightable. That way any factory that makes e.g. MXL-coded media without a license can be sued by the original manufacturer or by consumers for fraud.

They are. (Actually the term here would be "trademarked".) And from the rumors I've heard, as in the TDK cases, legal action is being sought. However, this is diffcult since the companies that do the deceiving are often fly-by-night operations in Asia. This is another reason a company like Meritline has changed it's description to eliminate any references to Maxell, as that opened THEM up to legal actions as well had they continued to sell the forged items.

Meritline does have drawbacks, speed and order follow-through being on one of them.

Jomo, you have no idea what you're talking about. MANY, MANY companies operate out of the places in California however that does NOT mean all the blank media companies are owned by the same person. They are not.

And daywalker71, the reason you now have so many issues with PAYPAL is because EBAY owns them. EBAY is a PURE CRAP COMPANY. They make up their own rules as the go along. Most sellers have horror stories concerning Paypal and/or eBay. The CEO, Meg Whitman, is an embecile and needs to step down. Both Paypal and eBay are like run-down daycare centers that have taken on too many kids with not enough management, and what they do have is not qualified. The place is a mess, and I no longer use them for any of my freelance services. Visit www.ebaysucks.com and www.paypalsucks.com for quite a few cases and complaints. Until Meg and her cronies leave, I don't see that company going anywhere. And they're starting to become a haven for underground and illegal exchanges and sales. Uncle Sam needs to go and stir them up with a stick, maybe regulate a bit. The company is too big now, and they are not able to control any of it on their own. It's sad. At one time, it was a really good company.

[Ruffrob]

I used Meritline for my blank DVD purchases,and have been nothing but,
happy. Once they didn't have some cases in stock when I checked my order,and they promptly changed the order to something I was very happy with. But I'm not so sure about the alliance with others in California
who also sell DVD blanks. Those guys you mentioned all seem to have the same or similar addressses as does CDRDVDRMEDIA.com. Smells like that board game with the little man in the tophat......MONOPOLY!!

[Meritline]

Hello,

Thanks for the comments, especially fair ones.
This section of the form is hopefully going to be on topic, which is MEDIA soon.

First let us clear some misconceptions :

Meritline.com
Meritline.net
Cdrdvdrmedia.com
Ezlabel.com
AbcInk.com

ALL are owned by the Meritline MEDIA group.
There is absolutely no secret about this.
Similarly : download.com =shareware.com=freeware.com

We have several domains that MARKET to different consumers differently.
NO affiliation with the following sites:
LINKYO : supermediastore.com/dvd-rwmedia.com
COMPUEXPERT :allmediaoutlet.com, blank-cd-cdr.com

On the payment allegations, you may not have a full understanding of paypal, yahoo store systems and visa systems. If you did, you would understand, and even have some compassion for our frustration in getting fast service from these monopolies.
Good and bad, with all things exists.

Thanks and happy shopping.
-Mline

[robrosen]

I have used 100 of Meritline's DVDPro* 1x discs with zero problems so far. Just my 2 cents.

*Princos?

[rastoma]

I've ordered many times from Meritline and while they have fast shipping times they care nothing about customer service at all. One one order I ordered a 50 pack of 4x media (can't remember brand off the top of my head) and I received 45 discs in the package. 3 emails were ignored.

I've since received in 2 different orders discs that have been wrote on with a marker with lot numbers and such... which I think I have 8 that were marked on. 2 emails ignored about this. 8 discs is not a big deal out of a couple hundred but it's almost $10 worth (4x printable discs).

[Multiscan]

I've ordered many times from Meritline and while they have fast shipping times they care nothing about customer service at all. One one order I ordered a 50 pack of 4x media (can't remember brand off the top of my head) and I received 45 discs in the package. 3 emails were ignored.

Is it really weird that they only miscount disks in less?
I am just wondering if someone got more disks than one ordered.
Seems like less is default mode.

[Meritline]

I've ordered many times from Meritline and while they have fast shipping times they care nothing about customer service at all. One one order I ordered a 50 pack of 4x media (can't remember brand off the top of my head) and I received 45 discs in the package. 3 emails were ignored.

I've since received in 2 different orders discs that have been wrote on with a marker with lot numbers and such... which I think I have 8 that were marked on. 2 emails ignored about this. 8 discs is not a big deal out of a couple hundred but it's almost $10 worth (4x printable discs).

Hi Rastoma,

We do care our customer services. Could you forward your un-answered emails to me (william@comptree.net), I would like to see who and why your emails did not get replied. According to our policy, all customer emails should be replied within 24 hours. About miscount discs, you can write to us for credit.

[Fresh One]

Meritline's inability to link their site and front end with their warehouse and backend is cause for real concern for any small business. This inability causes one to be charged before Meritline even knows if they can fill an order.

I feel your pain DayWalker71. I had a somwhat similiar problem.

I ordered some Verbatim DVD-Rs which the Meritline website claimed were in stock. The order went through and I received an invoice via email. I waited 5 days for th package to arrive. When I did not receive the package, I emailed Meritline looking for some tracking info on my package.

They then admitted that the DVD-Rs were not in stock and would not be for several more days (little did I know that they had already charged my credit card 5 days earlier). I asked for them to cancel my order and I bought the DVD-Rs locally. Meritline confimred my order cancelation via email the next day.

In around 8-10 days, two packages show up on my doorstep from Meritline. Come to find out they shipped the DVDs, even though my order was confirmed canceled. When I asked them about it, this is when it was uncovered that they had already charged my credit card the day I placed my order.

Meritline said "no problem" just send them back and we will credit the DVD-Rs back. I shipped the spindles of DVD-Rs back (at my expense) to Meritline. 2 weeks go by and no credit and no contact from Meritline. I email them that they have 1 week to produce a credit or I will dispute the charges.

I disputed the charge with my credit card company, but somehow Meritline convinced my credit company to refund my original amount minus almost $20 (for shipping). I had emails showing they confirmed my cancellation before the package was shipped.

So I am out around $7-10 to ship back their DVDs and $20 for original shipping. At this point, I am just tired of dealing with the mess and just let it go....

I will NEVER order anything from Meritline again !!!!

Also note that this incident happened in July 2002, well before they were "recently swamped with orders".

[quantum_red]

The last time I ordered from them, which was many months ago, they did not automatically provide tracking numbers. Is this still the case?

[Lobe]

Is there any legal action being taken against Meritline for this(fake "Maxell" media)? Yet?
anything in the works? Does the Attorney General's office have any sort of investigation going on? Best place to file a complaint? Seems like there may already be something going on so I thought I'd ask here.

thanks.

[Lobe]

Question, has Meritline themselves ever answered the Maxell question? They seem to avoid it at all costs. Even via emails saying their media sold as MAXELL was fake, from Maxell.
So Meritline, as you post here please clear things up. Did you knowing sell fake Maxell media, or did you find out about it later and contact everyone you sold it to and let them know they did not receive what they paid for? And offer a refund or replacement with ACTUAL Maxell media.

Meritline, it seems will be liable for damages from data loss incurred by using a inferior media, as verified by Maxell.

Anyone at Meritline want to address this?

[hrdc69]

I have written Meritline several emails as well as called them to no avail. They did issue me a refund, but hit me with a 15% restocking fee plus charged me for postage and of course I was out postage sending the "Maxell" DVD's back to them. Considering total postage costs and the restocking fee, I was out about 25% on this order, not to mention the time and hassle of burning defective data.

Its my opinion Meritline clearly knew what was going on, as little as 3 weeks ago when I finally spoke to a oriental sounding man in "customer service" he claimed to have no knowedge of this issue. He said it sounded like a problem on my end with either my computer or DVD recorder. And all this while several weeks earlier Meritline has sort of acknowledged the problem due to massive posts here and elsewhere. In fact I would say 2 months ago knowledge of this problem was widespread all over the Net.

After this sad performance by Meritline, I will never order anyting from them again and have told everyone I know the same. There is no excuse for such poor customer service. At the very least Meritline should offer everyone a refund on the 15% restocking fee and postage fees, and some sort of credit for their troubles.

In you read this and other forums, you will see numerous custoemr service problems reported with MEritline and their sister companies (Shop4tech etc). All of these companies are located in the same city, and used to ship from the same warehouse. I would avoid all of them like the plague.

Good luck if you expect to see a post from Meritline on here addressing the problem. More than likely they will ignore it hoping age will kill this thread. However I am sure you will see a post from them saying they are no longer associated with those other companies as they now ship from a different warehouse. However a search of WHOIS shows all are owned by the same holding company.

[Savant]

It's amazing that people are still replying to this thread. Unfortunately, some individuals just don't get it. For a moment let's forget this issue with Meritline and Maxell ever existed. OK?

Now, who is to say that ANY disc called Maxell is actually MADE by Maxell? Do people honestly think that just because Maxell made one batch in a certain way that they will always do so? Look at Verbatim. They used to be known for making reliable discs and now some people buy Verbatim marked packages and get discs made by CMC.

While in this case the discs were supposedly not made by Maxell, (while they deny it, can anyone here PROVE that Maxell is telling the truth!?! I haven't seen any signed affidavits stating that Maxell denies having made them, only third-hand hearsay.) what would you have done if Maxell said they were responsible for the discs? Would the situation be any different than it is now?

No. You would still have the discs and they would still not work for you.

DVD media is still in its infancy and as such there is a WIDE variety of media qualities out there. The ONLY way to assure yourself that what you're getting will work is to buy a SMALL quantity and test it. Meritline is one of the only places that I know of that will actually sell people 'sample packs' of media so you can do exactly that. They have also been working with the ADVDVDINFO program author to sponsor the development of a better DVD media program.

I've spent thousands at Meritline over the past couple years, and while I did have one problem with a bad batch of discs, once I got in touch with the right person at Meritline I was able to get my returned processed.

Some people are far too naive when it comes to DVD media and they seem to think that just because there is a certain name on it will mean a certain level of quality. Sorry, that just isn't true.

hrdc69 wrote:

when I finally spoke to a oriental sounding man

Let's try not to be racist please. Rugs are oriental, people are Asian.

Regards,

Savant

[Tommyknocker]

Let's try not to be racist please. Rugs are oriental, people are Asian.

Sorry, Savant. But Merriam-Webster begs to differ:

Main Entry: Oriental
Function: noun
Date: 15th century
: a member of one of the indigenous peoples of the Orient

-- Merriam-Webster New Collegiate Dictionary.

Strong arguments, though.

[Savant]

Yeah and I can find the n-word in Websters but that doesn't make it any more appropriate.

Some terms are no longer used because they are considered offensive. Whether the term exists in the dictionary does not migate that fact. (he didn't even capitalize the word "oriental")

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition:

Asian is now strongly preferred in place of Oriental for persons native to Asia or descended from an Asian people. The usual objection to Oriental meaning “eastern”is that it identifies Asian countries and peoples in terms of their location relative to Europe. However, this objection is not generally made of other Eurocentric terms such as Near and Middle Eastern. The real problem with Oriental is more likely its connotations stemming from an earlier era when Europeans viewed the regions east of the Mediterranean as exotic lands full of romance and intrigue, the home of despotic empires and inscrutable customs. At the least these associations can give Oriental a dated feel, and as a noun in contemporary contexts (as in the first Oriental to be elected from the district) it is now widely taken to be offensive.

Hopefully this clears it up.

Regards,

Savant

[Tommyknocker]

Sure, but you also find the term "Offensive" next to such words. Meaning, proceed at your own risk. If an Asian says he does not want to be called that, then case closed.

[Savant]

This isn't about who wants to be called what. This is about being respectful to people of a different culture. If you (or anyone else) want to treat people of a certain culture in a disparaging manner, then that's your business. Just don't expect me to agree with it.

Regards,

Savant

[LanEvo7]

I've never ordered from Meritline or one of their sister companies because of their rather poor ResellerRatings score. Some people have gotten great results from them, so they must be doing something right.

Anyway, regardless of whether the Maxell discs were actually Maxell made or fake, Meritline sold them and they fail to work. After numberous reports of it being duds, they reported that they've acknowledged the problem and have offered refunds to SOME customers.

What I want to know is why did they continue to sell these discs that they know have an EXTREMELY high coaster rate. They don't have the discs anymore, but even after the incident, they had continued to sell the discs under a different name. I think it was true 2x or something.

[Tommyknocker]

This isn't about who wants to be called what. This is about being respectful to people of a different culture. If you (or anyone else) want to treat people of a certain culture in a disparaging manner, then that's your business. Just don't expect me to agree with it.

You are not going to turn this around on me. You cannot. I used the word Asian, just as you did. I only said that grammatically speaking, the term was acceptable. And treating people in a disparaging manner is not just one person's business, it is everyone's business. And if you do nothing about it by tolerating it, but not imaitating it, you are condoning it by your inaction.

The dodo did not survive by sticking its head in a hole.

[Savant]

Tommyknocker wrote:

I only said that grammatically speaking, the term was acceptable.

Was my complaint grammatical in nature? NO.

I claimed the term was offensive. (and I also consider it racist) I never suggested it wasn't grammatically correct. You made that assumption, not me. Frankly I could CARE LESS if the term is grammatically correct, and I have said as much above. The term is offensive, plain and simple. If you want to argue the semantics of the grammatical use of words then I'm not interested. That was never my concern. I'm really not interested in debating this further since it's pointless. Let's get back on topic please.

LanEvo7 wrote:

What I want to know is why did they continue to sell these discs that they know have an EXTREMELY high coaster rate.

The problem is that there is no way to figure out what constitutes a 'dud'. If we go back to the beginning of 2002 I recall peple saying Princo discs were giving people as high as a 50% coaster rate. I bought 275 and had *THREE* coasters. What does that tell us?

It tells me there is more to this than the media.

The DVD burners are also a big part of the problem since many have not been properly tested. How much work would it be for a DVD burner manufacturer to buy discs from the dozen DVD disc manufacturers and test them on a dozen DVD players? Pioneer has gotten better, but they are still behind the times. Other burner makers are also lacking.

Then you have 'hacked' firmware which people use to burn at higher speeds on unsupported media and then they have the audacity to complain when those burns fail.

In my opinion dumping ALL the blame for DVD media playing failures on DVD media makers/sellers is not just unfair, it's irresponsible.

Regards,

Savant

[LanEvo7]

From what I've read, people were having something like 1 out of four discs worked. Thats not even 1/2 working. A product that has a 75% failure rate should not be sold. Granted I'm not saying that they reseller is totally responsible, but I still feel that if you sold a product that you KNEW had somewhere near a 75% failure rate, you should pull it off your inventory. Its irresponsible for a reseller to knowingly sell items that IT KNOWS will fail more than 50% of the time without at least some sort of disclaimer. You shouldn't just rename the item to rid your inventory of it.

[Savant]

That's the problem though.

Who DETERMINES the failure rate?
-Using what burner?
-Using what firmware?
-Using hacked firmware?
-Using what athoring software?
-Using what burning software?
-Using what blank media?
-Using what DVD player?

See what I mean? There are so many variables here that we can't arbitrarily say that just because one person has problems with a particular media that they are all bad.

I had BIG problems using BeAll media, less than a 50% success rate, but other people love them and have no errors with them whatsoever. Should Meritline pull the media based on my experience even if other people don't have problems?

Do you see the dilemma we have here?

There is no set standard for blank DVD media. Until there is, who's to say that a media is 'good' or not, and would such a declaration be truly objective?

Regards,

Savant

[LanEvo7]

There has been way more than ONE person stating they've had issues with these. If there is a bunch of people that have the same issues, its not a coincidence.

[Savant]

I agree, don't get me wrong, I wasn't suggesting that only one person complained about the Maxells in question. However, look at the issue with Princos. LOADS of people complain about them, but after burning 500 myself, I can count the coasters I have had on one hand.

It's not as cut and dry as it's made out to be, that's all I'm trying to say.

Regards,

Savant

[FT Shark]

It was not just Meritline that was scammed. I ordered these Maxell’s from allmediaoutlet. I was very suspicious about these and luckily I only bought 25 of them and not a 100+ like I do when I buy Ritek.

[Faustus]

I ordered some of those Fake Maxells also, but took precautions before hand. I made them promise to replace them 100% if I wasn't happy with the quality of the disc. The disc was horrible, and they replaced them fine, I was only out shipping back to them basicly.

On the same note a good friend of mine purchased 100 of them also, he finished burning them all a few weeks ago. Not one single problem, I leave a extra PC of mine at his house with my old 104 in it (it cannot burn cheap media any longer, no idea why. Pioneer assured me when I sent it in that nothing was wrong, so I got a 105 instead) and IT would even burn those Maxells. I think they were actually decent disc, but the quality control on them must have been horrible.

[Lobe]

flaystus, why the hell would you be out shipping, you never even received what you ordered! Maxell's! seems Meritline should pay return shopping, at least by any laws i've seen.
By law if you receive an item you did not order you are under NO obligation to pay for it, or return it. Correct?
They are freaky! avoid Meritline!!! seems they ripped you off...well, at least you paid for their scam.??

[Faustus]

Sorry I dont feel ripped off at all in the exchange. I paid for shipping, its the chance you take when you order online. I was charged no restocking fee which worried me much more then shipping did.

I was also promised I could send them back if I didn't like them, and I did.