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

[grandpa_bear]

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 . 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." 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 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.

[Frog]

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

[EOSThree]

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

[Grandpaw]

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

[grandpa_bear]

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.