The ad and owner's manual at the time that I purchased this product neglected to state that they do not include the required Marine battery (quite different than a car battery which it looks exactly like), and the generator after purchasing the $90 battery cannot support a REGULAR lamp BY ITSELF, much less a lamp, a TV, and a portable floor heater together. Regardless of what I am using the generator for, it powers down every 15 minutes or so. In the case of a lamp, I have to wait until the generator is recharged before I have light again. Seller wanted to stick me with what eventually proved to be a $130.74 return shipping charge and did not want to refund the cost of shipping for the product to me ($53.49). That's a total of $184.23 down the toilet! Then again, what's $184.23 to the average consumer in this current economy? Thanks to Amazon arbitration, the seller has changed his/her mind about sticking me with the initial shipping charges, but it still cost me $130.74 to return the darn thing. Unfortunately, Amazon was not willing to fight for me on the return shipping.Per an email I received in response to these concerns about the product and the owner's manual, the seller admitted that they knew about these issues with both the misleading advertisement and the lousy owner's manual. (The way it was written and the page numbers being out of order really makes a person cringe.) Based on what I know now and what I will explain further, I will never do business with Antares Sunstar ever again. Buyer beware! Due to the exhorbitant cost of shipping both ways, I filed a complaint through Amazon to avoid filing a Small Claims lawsuit against the seller, and Amazon has been great to deal with. However, it is difficult to file a small claims suit out of state. Meanwhile, I am grateful to be doing business through Amazon because I was extremely distraught as a result of the seller's attitude and manner of handling the situation, but they just did not go far enough on my behalf as regards the return shipping cost. Amazon's arbitration, in my opinion, was quite fair until they changed their mind about the return shipping costs being reimbursed by the seller because they looked at the facts and the evidence and took action based on what they had to go on. They were not partial, but when the return is due to misleading advertisment, then it is really not fair that the buyer should be stuck with the return shipping. They do not lean toward the customer or the seller but what they believe is the most appropriate way to handle the matter before them. In this case, I disagree with how they closed the case. Although Amazon was able to get the seller to reimburse me for the initial shipping, the seller required that I pay the return shipping in full rather than provide me with a pre-paid return shipping label. The fact that the seller is no longer going to be reimbursing me for the shipping with the facts presented, he/she is losing a good customer and is not going to get a good recommendation ever from me unless they reimburse me the full $130.74 in return shipping costs. That evidences to me that the seller really is not serious about staying in business, which I think is sad because the product line they sell is in extremely high demand and has extremely high profit potential. This review, unfortunately, may send all their potential business to their competitors who are many unless they make some positive changes. Rather than give such a horrible review, I would like to see some sort of reconciliation between me and the seller, but that is not the attitude of the seller, so the facts of this review must stick until something positively changes with the seller.
I am still interested in buying a few solar generators as my budget allows from a company that is trustworthy and demonstrates that it wants to stay in business, so if anyone knows of a reliable company that I can do business with, please leave a comment for me to refer to so that if the seller gives referral incentives, I can refer them to your comment.
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12/29/2012 Here is my attorney's response regarding the $130.74, which is unfortunate for those who rely on on internet sales revenue.
Hi Nolan
Your main problems are as I indicated in my original response: jurisdiction (location) and damages.
A California court may not be able to get jurisdiction over the seller unless you can prove ties to the state. Random sales through e-Bay, Amazon, OverStock, etc. may not be enough. And your damages ($130.74) makes filing anything other than a small claim action not worth it economically. It would cost you more to sue than you would recover.
In addition, even if you were to win a judgment against this company, you would still have to try to collect your judgment in Florida, if I remember where they are located correctly. That will cost you additional money which you may not be able to recover.
I understand your point in wanting some type of satisfaction. $130.00 is $130.00 and in this economy that can be considered a lot of money.
As to what I would do; I very rarely buy over the internet, unless I know the company and am 100% positive as to what their return policy is. And then I think twice about it.
One suggestion is filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau (although I am not completely impressed with them), the Department of Consumer Affairs in Florida and California, and/or one those consumer scam/fraud websites on the web. You may also send a letter/e-mail to the company itself outlining your dissatisfaction with their service. Sometimes that helps.
Good luck.
Sincerely,
[Attorney's Information]
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