A2chromepeacock wrote:Hi all,

Update on the grinder purchase: I was able to speak to Gary Horne, who is the head of Mahlkonig USA. He stood pat with what he told the vendor: he cannot imagine that the shot count is that high, as this particular grinder has never been out of the warehouse. He's asked me to send the grinder back to him, and he'll send me another new one. He's paying for shipping both ways, and leaving the (bystander) vendor out of it.

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Gary is a great guy! I would at least have them check the grinder for physical damage before shipping.

Marshall wrote:Just to be clear, my post was sarcastic. Words like "fraud" and "crime" should not be thrown around to describe things that could be simple mistakes or honest disagreements over commercial standards. No one here knows enough about this transaction to use those words.

From the original poster's description, this thing went beyond a simple mistake long ago. There should have been NO pushback from either the distributor or the manufacturer, ever.

As someone who's been directly in the retail trade, the only acceptable posture from either the distributor or the manufacturer should have been:

"My God, I have no idea how we shipped you a used machine. Here is the tracking number for a brand-new one that is on its way to you. Please print out the enclosed shipping label and send the used unit back to us, at no charge to you. Please also accept our coupon for a $50 credit on any future purchases from us."

The original poster should not have been placed in this position once (when he was shipped the wrong color unit). Twice is beyond understanding (when he was shipped a used unit as new). Three times crosses the line into criminal (when both the distributor and the manufacturer tried to blame him for their incompetence).

Personally I think the vendor dropped the ball, as it is with them that money changed hands. Now you have to do the running around to get it sorted out? I wouldn't do business with them in the future, they've shown their brand of 'customer service'.

Share the vendors name, I'm interested in knowing who.

I hope that it's all sorted at this point. The vendor has been professional and helpful from the very first moment, and the manufacturer has been polite as well. I don't want to give the vendor's name to the board because people may remember them in a negative light due to the frustration of this post. They've done nothing wrong per se and have been helpful and very easy to communicate with.

The only points of frustration were the delays from wrong or used units and the manufacturer's disbelief in my reports of what I received--requiring me to prove it by sending the unit back each time. That's their right, I think.

They've always paid for shipping back and forth (without discussion) and they're doing what they can, now, to make it right.

I'm very glad that it didn't (or hasn't yet) gone to a situation of withholding payment via my credit card company, etc.

Resolution post.

I returned grinder #2--the one with a high shot count on arrival--directly to Mahlkonig USA. They paid shipping. Grinder #3 was then sent to me and arrived new. It had all of the correct packaging, accessories, documentation, and "remove before use" stickers in place. 1 single shot and 9 double shots were on the digital shot counter. Gary Horne was professional with the return and re-send. I didn't receive any communication from him about what (the heck) was up with the second one, but that's fine--that's between him and his warehouse.

As for the vendor, they offered a discount from their full retail price with a formal apology for the troubles detailed above.

I appreciate all of your advice.

Glad it worked out for you. I had a chance to try the K30 a couple weeks ago and really liked it, so I'll probably be picking one up fairly soon. I'd love to see some grinder porn with the GS/3