I usually hang back and mostly read the list, but I thought this would be interesting info about EZTelescope. I saw their website and ads on Astromart and ordered an artificial star. I paid with paypal, so payment was immediate. Paypal showed them as a "verified" seller, so I felt pretty safe. I also got an automated reply from EZTelescope saying they had received my order.
After about 2 weeks, I wondered what was going on, so I email them. No reply. Four or 5 days later I email again. No reply! I then called and left a message on their machine. No call back.. I called again in a few days, nothing!!
Finally, out of desperation, and being a littled p....d off, I contacted paypal with a "dispute" request. Paypal has a way of dealing with some of these issues for the buyer (kind of a buyer protection, I guess). I indicated that the reason for the dispute was "non delivery" of the product. Essentially, as I understand it, paypal can debit one's account and credit another, but I'm not totally sure about this.
Paypal sent an email to EZTelescope saying that the transaction was in dispute and for a contact to be made within 30 days. A few days later, I got an email from EZTelescope. Their comment was that my order slipped through a crack and was missed. They apologized and a few days after that, I received the artificial star.
No mention was made as to why my emails or telephone calls were not returned.. So, with this in mind, if you order from EZTelescope my only advice is to stay on top of them. Worst case -- who knows!!
Dennis
P.S. The artificial star is a white-light LED in a little plastic utility box. I think the cost of goods is about $10 or less and looks extremely easy to build. Basically, drill a hole in the utility box, put the LED in back of it, run a batter to a switch and you've got an artificial star. Their price is $49.95.
ComputerCOACH
PO Box 117727
Burlingame, CA 94011
Tel: 650-315-6578
Fax: 650-347-7613
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