The Jury is out on Tri-State Customer "Service"

Well, lets start at the beginning. Around February 2010 I became a Tri-State customer. To date I have had mixed dealings with them and, depending on the outcome of this current problem I might take my business elsewhere, having spent over $2,500 there this year and, if things worked out, I would be spending that much or more each year for the next two or three years as I rebuild/redesign my photo studio from film to digital.
That said I must admit that I allowed their salesman (WB) to talk me into and out of some things, one of which is an after market Power Grip by Bower instead of the Nikon grip:mad2: . I guess the "you get what you pay for" adage is appropriate. Anyway, the rather flimsy latch on the battery compartment broke:eek: . It wasn't forced (I used to work with nuclear warheads and I still work with electronics) as it looked less than substantial :shocked: from the onset.
So I call them today and the first suggestion is "Put some electrical tape on it and that should work.":eek: When I said "that isn't really a good answer when you folks assured me that this was as good as the Nikon for less," so now I'm waiting to see :cool: if there is anything they can do for something that has been "so long since you got it" other than use the tape for a fix. I'll let you know whether they blow a good account.
My suggestion is for them to take this junk back and give me $130 credit toward a Nikon model. I'll pay shipping both ways.
Oh, and I'm still waiting for the 120vac adapter (battery eliminator) I ordered April 27,2010. I guess I'll go elsewhere to find that.

Thank you for the report.
They do not have very good ratings here http://www.resellerratings.com/store...ate_Electronic

A lot of these places do well until you have to return something. That's where most will break down. I recommend B&H.

Tri-state has a 6.74 lifetime rating out of 10 points which in my opinion is not very good. I have updated my list of "sites to avoid" and added tri-state to the list, Jeff

You can look at it here.
http://www.resellerratings.com/store..._and_Computers

UPDATE: I am doing this a bit early. I have sent back the offending (broken piece of junk) item; they gave me an RA almost immediately after I put up the original post.

REQUEST: I requested that since they bandied me in to this product instead of a real Nikon accessory that they should allow me to pay the difference and send me the real thing. I haven't heard anything back yet so I'm not feeling great about that chance.

I'll let everyone know how this all turns out.