Medison customers will have money back in three months, if product not supplied
By Jonathan Schlaffer
The Medison Celebrity laptop was supposed to be a low cost Linux alternative to mainstream laptops and with only a $150 price tag, how could things go wrong. Things have gone wrong and Medison will supposedly be giving returning that preorder money to customers if it can’t ship the laptop within three months.
The laptop itself features a Celeron M 1.5GHz processor, 256MB of memory, a 14″ display, VIA integrated graphics, a 40GB hard drive, 802.11b/g WiFi, a CD-Rom/DVD combo drive and comes preinstalled with some flavor of Linux at only $150 it appears to be on the scam side of the fence.
Medison is blaming the unexpected response and large number of preorders for the delay that requires a “shift in the timeframe.” It still smells of a scam but the company promises that the laptop will ship in three months or you will get your money back.
More likely, you won’t get the laptop, the company will declare some kind of financial trouble and won’t return any of the money.
I’d like to give the company some benefit of doubt but honestly, $150 for even that laptop seems a bit too good to be true and if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and smells like a duck chances are good it’s a duck or in this case a scam or at least scamish. Let’s wait and see, shall we?
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Stumble It!
July 27th, 2007
Medison won’t receive any money until buyers receive what they are buying and are happy with it. 2checkout.com is the authorized reseller for the Medison Celebrity; as with all it’s vendors, 2CO does not release any funds to the supplier until the product is delivered. If the company cannot provide the product, 2CO will refund the buyer.
Here is a statement from the 2Checkout.com site:
We have received an enormous amount of feedback, both positive and negative relating to the Medison Celebrity Notebook. We would like to take this time to address customer concerns relating to our handling of the product, the buyer protection we offer, and our own capacity and vigilance relating to the situation.
I would like to begin by briefly explaining 2Checkout as a company. 2Checkout is an authorized retailer/reseller that provides turnkey e-commerce solutions to thousands of business customers around the world. As a merchant account / credit card processing alternative we allow business customers large and small to market their products to end-user customers worldwide. 2CO’s proprietary technology supports back-office functions including financial reporting, tracking, fraud prevention, affiliate tracking, customer service and sales tracking.
Our customers are our business, and we would like to assure you that your thoughts, as well as the overall web reaction in regard to this product have been closely monitored. From the earliest posting on slashdot and engadget to the wide breadth of current discussion, we have been keeping abreast of the marketing spread of the suppliers product, as well as the responses the campaign gathered. We understand the importance of viral information dissemination, as well as the value of the consumer investigations and feedback. Your warnings, excitement, and apprehension have all been noted and we are taking steps accordingly to ensure that your concerns do not go ignored, and to protect both your interests and ours.
Medison itself seems to be the source of the greatest customer concern. The company, while only recently a licensed business entity, has been in operation since 1996. All information we have received from them has been thus far verifiable and free of major discrepancies.
As a reseller for thousands of vendors multinationally, we are unable to maintain a personal, on site style of oversight of every account and seller. We do not require a company to provide an extensive, unquestionable groundwork of business experience to market their products via 2Checkout. Nor is it even feasible to do so without alienating the individual or small business reseller, who are most in need of a turnkey services such as ours. However we do have a detailed process of checks and balances, as well as active monitoring procedures, in place to ensure that in the event a supplier is unable to fulfill their obligations. Our end user customers will not bear the brunt of any unfortunate activity. These practices have of course been amplified in this particular case due to the scope of the vendor’s activity.
We have nothing to gain from working with a non-reputable supplier, and in insulating our customers from abuse, are indeed the only ones with something to lose. Conducting honest, risk free transactions in all our resale activities is indeed as important to us as it is to you, and we strive for it at every turn.
2Checkout maintains strict shipping policies to ensure that no funds are removed from the buyers account before a product has been marked as shipped within our system. This ensures that not only will the supplier not be paid before the item has shipped, the customers card will not even complete the transaction, the funds will only be held in an authorized state. Furthermore, until the initial run of orders has been fulfilled and received by the customers, any deposited funds for products en route will be held within the vendors account pending receipt from the buyer.
It has been theorized that the Medison business model may be a pyramid style operation where an initial customer base will receive their shipments, the funds from the units on the following tier used to pay for the loss on the first run of products. This would cause the customers from the final runs to go without a product when the buyer influx dies off. Buyers are protected from activity of this sort by our rolling reserve system, which holds back a scaling portion the suppliers profits for use in covering non-delivery of service. With a huge initial run that would lead to dwindling returns, the amassed funds from the larger order cycles would be sufficient to cover any losses that may be incurred from an inability to meet demand further along a receding cycle. Additionally, payment suspension can be immediately imposed in the case of an undesirable number of refund/non-delivery complaints.
As a reseller, there is no way we can 100% guarantee the veracity or delivery of service from a supplier. In the end, it is their duty to supply the product. As a retailer however, we can guarantee that a purchase from us is safe, and will be handled with the utmost care and attention to customer satisfaction. It is our goal to conduct our business in a way that is profitable to our business customers and risk free for our end-use customers. You face no financial loss for ordering a product via 2Checkout; in the worst case scenario you retain your money, and walk away with no gain, but no loss.
Given the pricing and presentation, your doubts and concerns regarding the Medison Celebrity are understandable and we sympathize with your apprehension. If you are unsure about your purchase you may well be better served to stand by see how the situation plays out. Doubts regarding the integrity of 2Checkout or our desire to provide safe, simple, service oriented online transaction are without merit however, and even if you choose not to purchase this product we hope for future opportunities to provide you with an e-commerce solution you can trust for both your sales and purchases online.
2Checkout.com
July 28th, 2007
BUY IT!
August 1st, 2007
なんとしてでも、地球を死の惑星にはしたくない。未来に向かって、
地球上のすべての生物との共存をめざし、むしろこれからが、
人類のほんとうの“あけぼの”なのかもしれないとも思うのです。