Complain about a product or service

Belkin

Monique of Mt. Airy MD (1/16/03):
Our Belkin Surger Protector comes with a $35,000 warranty covering damage to equipment that Belkin's product fails to protect from power surges or spikes. The past December our computer went dead and we called in a professional computer technician to evaluate the problem. His anaylsis was that the harddrive was damaged from a power surge.

We called the number on Belkin's warranty paper which directed us to the website for filing a claim. They only give 15 days for filing and if you only have one computer, filing online can be a problem. Luckily we had a second but the form would not submit because one line in their form would not let a date be entered. I then tried calling again to get someone to take my claim over the phone not wanting to miss the deadline.

I couldn't get anyone live, a gentleman by the name of Jamil returned my call, took down prelimary information but said that my claim would have to be taken by his manager Dorothy and he gave me another number to call (the one listed above). I've left repeated messages at this number with no Dorothy ever returning my call and the 15 day deadline came and went.

Eventually I found that my computer manufacturer, Compaq, still had a hardware warranty in effect for my computer and they helped me resolve the problem. I now have a working computer again but am frustrated that Belkin has offered a warranty that they have no intentions to live up to. If one is interested in purchasing their products, it's very easy to get a live attendant, but to file a claim, nothing but endless voicemail with no return calls.

Should my computer suffer damage from a power surge after my Compaq warranty is up in April 2003, I am not confident that Belkin will stand behind their warranty. What can I do differently to ensure that I can file a claim and have my rights reserved if in fact their product fails in protection?

Alejandro of Chicago (10/24/03):
On 6/25/03 I purchased a Belkin Wireless Router from Microcenter with a mail-in rebate for $30. They provide a phone numbe (1-800-615-2732) for the status of the rebate. The rebate has been approved for nearly 12 weeks but the check has not been mailed. When I called the number, I was told that even though everything was approved they were only a third party company and could not issue my check simply because Belkin had not paid them. They also said there was no estimated time for this to be fixed.

I purchased an article under the false promise of getting $30 back on the mail. Hence, I believe I deserve the $30.

Aaron of Ann Arbor MI (9/6/02):
They claim I did not send in the UPC label. That is a complete lie. I know I sent it in, I have a box with the UPC cut out. They are asking for a photocopy of the UPC, which I don't have.

I'm just ticked off at being played around with. Maybe if you get enough of these complaints you'll see a trend and can do something about it.

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