I recently purchased a product online from the website of the company that makes the product; the site had a standard online checkout system and I used my credit card to make the payment. When I received the item in the mail I soon found that it was defective and thus no use to me. This was not at all an inexpensive purchase (I paid $785.00 for it) so I obviously want that money back since the product arrived defective. The company’s website says that they will issue a full refund for any defective merchandise if it’s returned within 30 days of purchase and that the first step in order to do this is to call or e-mail them for a return authorization number. So I called (during their business hours), but no one answered. I left a message and then also sent them an e-mail. Two business days later, still no response to the voicemail I left them or the e-mail I sent so I tried calling again and still no one answered, it just rang and then went to voicemail. I tried calling again and again that entire day about once every half hour from 8AM to 5PM but no one ever picked up. I left more messages and sent a second e-mail and it’s now been an additional 6 business days and *still* no response to any of my calls or e-mails.

Their site explicitly states that you can’t send anything back or get your money back without a return authorization number and the only way to get an RA number is by contacting them…so what am I supposed to do if they never answer? It’s now been 12 days since I first attempted to contact them for a refund, 13 days since I received the product and 19 days since I placed the original order. My concern is that I’ll never be able to get ahold of them or they’ll wait until 11 days from now to answer my calls and then at that point just say “well, your 30 day warranty is up so no refund.” What can I do to get my money back?

I’m laying in bed crying…just like I do a good 4 or 5 times a day. I’m so freaking fed up with my “life.” When in my teen years, I had my plan for what I’d be doing in my twenties all figured out. I was gonna have a job, be in college, finally be away from my nightmare family that abused me and made me miserable all throughout my life as a minor when I couldn’t leave, hopefully dating a great guy and enjoying going on fun weekend trips places. Then in my senior year of high school I started having health problems that have just gotten progressively worse over the year. I spent (and still spend) every waking hour worrying that I was dying because all my symptoms pointed to a brain tumor (which led to me avoiding doctors and doing a lot of praying b/c I didn’t want to have brain surgery). I think that either the constant worrying led to me developing panic disorder or the anxiety attacks I now have all of the time are just another symptom of the brain tumor or whatever’s wrong with me. I can’t even go to the effing grocery store without going into full blown panic mode and feeling like I might pass out or have a heart attack, so I just lay in my bed all day and cry and/or do the best I can to distract myself with the internet. I do go to college in the spring and fall b/c my dad would kick me out of the house otherwise, but he doesn’t have a clue how much hell it is for me to be in school…there have been numerous times during class where I all of a sudden felt like I was going to pass out and bolted out of class in the middle of lecture, a few times where I had to beg a professor to let me take an exam at a later date because my hands were shaking so bad that I couldn’t write.

I just don’t see my life going anywhere positive. I have all this stuff I want to do, but I’m trapped inside my bedroom like a prisoner because of these darn panic episodes. The things that I CAN do, I have no motivation to do. Like, I do have an online job that I do to make enough money to buy food (most of which is fast food from drive-thrus because, like I said, going to stores is a nightmare), but I very rarely do it because I’ve lost all motivation to do anything. Even talking to my “friends,” feels like a chore. They text me, and I return 2 or 3 word answers because quite frankly, I don’t care to hear about how wonderful their lives are and how easy it is for them to do the simple things I wish I could do. Even if I weren’t afraid of leaving my house to see a doctor or psychiatrist, I have no money to see anyone.

I.can’t.take.it.anymore. I don’t have anyone in my life who I feel comfortable talking to about this. I’ve tried explaining to a few people before, but no one understands, not that I expect them to while they’re living normal lives. I’m tired of laying in my bed crying into my pillow wishing I had someone willing to hold me. I’m tired of being hungry and thinking “Well, I feel like I’m on the urge of a panic attack, so it’s a bad idea to try and get up and go buy food. I’m tired of people thinking I don’t go out and party and do the things people my age normally do because I don’t want to. Just. ugh.
woops typo: over the years. Not year. This has all been going on for 5 or 6 years.