TRL Store, Inc. at Amazon.com - ALERT

Looking for video cards from Amazon.com? Don't trust what you see there. TRL Store, Inc., a local business operating in the Dallas Fort Worth area has shown the bad side of the internet and online ordering from what should be highly trusted representative amazon.com.

Amazon, when contacted, said they are "investigating" TRL Store.
Let's be clear: I have not been charged for anything I have not received, but I also have not been contacted by TRL Store and they have not done business in a good faith way. Essentially, they carried out their contact, extended, delayed and did not respond to e mails. Finally, after phoning and leaving a message - no response whatsoever.

It all began innocently enough with ordering a Radeon 9600 Pro video card for Mac. It was necessary to order this card after being told my stock video card in my G5 D2.5 would handle my new monitor. Wrong.

I was given a couple of places to look for the card by my Mac Guru and chose to order from Amazon - TRL Store. It was showing as "in stock". Wrong.

Ordered. Confirmed. Then a long, long silence. Since my work depends on this, I contacted them after a few days. However, since it was within the "shipping time window", basically they could skate along with neither confirming nor denying anything.
Finally on December 7:
"Thank you for your inquiry. We would like to apologize for the delay in the
shipping of your item. Due to the high demands of the Christmas holiday,
there have been some setbacks, but please know that we are working hard to
make sure your item arrives as quickly as possible.

After doing some research into your account, I have found that your item
will ship out on December 8, and will take approximately 3-5 days to arrive.
Once it ships out, you should receive an email with your tracking number.

As a courtesy, we would like to offer you a 15% discount on your next order.
Please email us with the subject line 15% Discount. We will immediately
credit your invoice.
Thank you very much for your patience,

Raymond P. Conklin
TRL Store, Inc.
3210 Beltline Road
Suite #124
972-620-6200 "

On December 11:The following Amazon.com order, placed on 30-Nov-2006 with TRL Store, has not been ship-confirmed within the amount of time agreed to by the merchant. This notice was sent by Amazon. Very helpful - not.

Then, as information and questions began to flow from both me and Amazon, they responded with silence.

From Amazon: silence. Does the investigation continue?

OK, here's the kicker. Apparently you cannot comment on vendors at Amazon unless you have actually received something from that vendor - for better-or-worse. How do you think that works in this instance? Looks like the fix is in.

So the saga continues. Essentially, folks who don't need these video cards, or were smart or lucky enough to purchase these cards are now scalping the innocents who may have purchased a new monitor under the false information that they could just "plug it in and go".

Have a look at ebay.com, and you will instantly see these cards going for 20-40 percent premiums over new cards.These are used cards! More power to these capitalists!

Now, sellers such as B&H Photo and others are "accepting orders" for same cards saying they are expecting a shipment in "3-7 days" (in the case of B&H). This is the next scam you have to look out for: B&H Photo will accept your order for one of these cards, and even warn you that you will be charged when you order the card. That's all good. WHAT THEY DON'T SAY IS:
"You will receive a video card." "You are first in line." They take your money with no real promise to deliver. What does that sound like?

As always, let the buyer beware. If you are on the cutting edge, and need cutting edge technology that is obviously in limited supply - BE EXTREMELY AWARE. And do not go to these vendors (for the ATI Radeon 9600 Pro for Mac) - TRL Store, Inc. , Amazon.com or BH PhotoVideo.