A recent story about Toshiba trashing a customer’s trade-in laptop led to a number of interesting comments from readers about what recourse customers have to such arbitrary actions on the part of vendors.
A number of readers thought the customer should take the vendor to small claims court. "I had a friend who went through this with Ameritech several years ago," wrote one reader. "She made a payment in an overnight deposit box at an office that was shut down the next day with no announcement. They didn't clear the deposit box for three weeks, so her payment was never received and they shut her account off. They finally got to the box, cashed the check, and then neither credited her with it nor restored her service. After jumping through several hoops to recover either, she took them into court. Sure enough, Ameritech didn't bother to show ... so the judge ruled in her favor by default. A $200 phone bill turned into a $5,000 award."
Some readers felt that there’s really not much you can do when trade-ins, rebates, or similar offers go wrong. "I think with rebates and things like this you take a risk, and if it turns out to be bad, well you are unlucky and you have to move on," wrote another reader. "For example, if you are scammed on eBay, you can't demand money from eBay."
But another reader took exception to that comment. "If a company promises a rebate or trade-in program and then doesn't honor that promise, it is not ‘unlucky’ -- it is thievery and against the law," the reader wrote. "Don't give up on this!! If you keep calling and writing, you will win."
In the meantime, the reader with the original run-in with Toshiba succeeded in speaking to a Toshiba America executive about his situation, only to be told that there’s nothing Toshiba can do. "I was told by my contact at Toshiba corporate that the TradeUps program was run by an outside service, not Toshiba, and therefore Toshiba does not have any involvement with their activities. I find this hard to believe. I plan to let everyone know how I was treated by Toshiba. No one should have to undergo what I just went through. Where’s the meaning of customer service? Warn your readers!"
12:23:34 PM 
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