Christine of Staten Island, NY, writes:
I received a very unpleasant and unprofessional phone call on June 29th from Am-I-Pregnant.com, whom I am disputing a $179.00 charge with. I placed an order with this company on the internet and was sent the wrong item. I was sent an item which was three times the price of the item I placed an order for.

I mailed this item back to this merchant on June 9, 2000 through the United States Post Office. I mailed the item to the address that was printed on the receipt that I was given. I was phoned at work by this merchant and the person who called me was very rude and acted in the most unprofessional manner I have ever experienced.

The person said I never sent back this item back because they do not have a record of ever receiving this item from me. They said had they received this item, they would have had to sign for it. First of all, this item was sent to a Post Office box which is the only address that was printed on the receipt that I was given. I then questioned this person as to how it was possible that they could sign for an item that was sent to their post office box? I also asked if they had checked with their post office as to the whereabouts of this package that I sent back to them. She then claimed that regardless, I never sent this item back to them and literally said that I was lying and that I am purposefully trying to give their company a bad name. She then stated that she was going to dispute this situation with American Express and literally hung up on me before I could say another word.

I was left very upset by this phone call and immediately phoned American Express to inform them of this. This item was returned, and I am left speechless as to this person's behavior. Even a few days later after receiving this phone call, I am still very disturbed.

Over the weekend, I received an E-mail from this merchant now stating that they have a "strict" no-return policy and that American Express has agreed to cooperate with them. First of all, on the receipt I was sent when I received the package, containing the wrong item, it did not state anything about a no-return policy. If they have a "strict" no-return policy this should be stated on their customer receipts. I also choose to never conduct business with a company that has a no-return policy, especially an internet company. This information was not given to me when I placed my initial order and had I known of their no-return policy, I would never have placed an order with their company.

The ending to this story is that today I received the box I sent back to this company on June 9th, unopened and with the word "rejected and refused" written on the front of the box and dated on July 1, 2000 -- a day after I received the disturbing phone call. All along, this company kept insisting that they had not received the box from me, and yet they had. I am disputing this case with American Express, as I used my Amex card when I placed my intial order. However, American Express is stating that although I was not informed of the strict no-return policy, they are not liable for this. They recommended that I contact the Better Business Bureau for further assistance.

We did find a statement on the company site stating they do not accept returns and, obviously, no one would expect to return a used pregnancy test. However, if the kit was unused and unopened, the company is being unreasonable if it does not accept the return.

The company responds:
Please refer to: http://www.am-i-pregnant.com/products/process.cgi/category.html?categoryid=1.

Above is the url where it clearly states our return policy. As far as a phone call to this woman, I am not aware of any call placed to her. We contacted American Express about the matter, and were told she returned the item because she said it was "too big". They naturally assumed it was an item of clothing, to which we replied it was only a hand held fertility monitor. They asked us about our return policy, and we gave them the url right away without dispute.

There was no phone call placed, no e-mail, no contact whatsoever from Ms. Marciano telling us she was returning this expensive piece of equipment back to us. But Instead, we received a letter from American Express telling us she is demanding her money back and that she returned it a long time ago. We never signed nor seen this package to know if she ever ever sent it.

We find this allegation of abuse quite disturbing, and even more so that you were willing to slander us in this manner so easily. We are willing to seek legal counsel against Consumer Affairs and Ms. M for slander. We are in the right here, and you are taking one woman's word over fact.

If you choose not to remove this slanderous material off of your site, we will be forced to take action, it is our legal right to do so. You cannot go around doing this to companies without any proof. Did she furnish a receipt for sending back the product? Did you hear a tape of anyone calling her or her calling us? Did you bother to even review our return policy?

We are not responsible for products being defective, we are only responsible if the product is received damaged by delivery. Otherwise, they need to contact the company to discuss refund, since we do not manufacture these things ourselves. Ms. Marciano did claim damage whatsoever, she didn't like the size, claiming it was too big. (which again, is a hand held fertility monitor that fits in your pocket)

A. Kotatis
Web Developer

A bit later, the company sent an additional response:
We just reviewed the article on your web site, and cannot believe it's (sic) total inaccuracy. We have all hard copies of what she ordered. She did not order a pregnancy test, she ordered a fertility monitor. No one called her. She claims it was three times the price of what she ordered.. she ordered a fertility monitor that costs $30.00 less than most stores. You did not receive even half of a true statement, when we have hard copy proof of what was ordered and what was sent.

We have decided, since we have all the proof of Ms. Marciano's order, that we will contact our lawyers today to file charges. Slander is not acceptable. This was uncalled for on her behalf. You publish something on a whim without contacting us for evidence otherwise.

Considering that we contacted the company within hours of receiving the complaint and invited them to respond, we find the heated allegations of slander, calumny, etc. somewhat overdone, frankly. If these people are going to stand in the kitchen, they should get used to taking a little heat.

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