I got taken by a bait and switch "selling" Anker Products

All I wanted was a 12v USB 5 port charger made by Anker which I paid $20 for, and this company called BoardwalkBuy sent me this cheap chinese device you can buy on Ali Express for $4. Very sad. I should have known better. :frowning: :cry:

Bait and switches like this are illegal, at least where I live. Their support department likely wonā€™t answer me back, so Iā€™m probably stuck with the wrong product. Beware of third party sellers!


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Ouch, sorry to here about thatā€¦itā€™s always best to buy from the following locations to avoid this;

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Sorry to hear you got duped. I would send marketing@anker.com a message and let them know a 3rd party seller is using their product photo to sell bogus goods

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Sorry to hear that!

May it stick as a lesson to everyone: always start by looking at Ankerā€™s official website and check their licensed sellers. Notice how thereā€™s no mention to Anker in the text even if itā€™s clearly visible in the photo - itā€™s an indication of a shady website. As a general rule, we should always suspect sites with too-good-go-be-true-deals.

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Itā€™s totally fine. I spent most of the last hour intensely searching about BoardwalkBuy online so I could report them for bait and switch tactics to my local Attorney General. Itā€™s a brand owned by ANCommerce. I found the ownerā€™s personal website, phone number, home address, email address, and this picture of him and his girlfriend. This is the guy who swindled $20 out of me. Iā€™m sending my findings to Anker so they can maybe do something about it. Well, except for the photos of him and his girlfriend. Thatā€™s a little too much. :stuck_out_tongue:

Doesnā€™t he look like an upstanding individual?

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I learned to never judge someone bu the way they look so I cannot comment on your question. But good on getting the information to report them.

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Im sure itā€™s just business decisions from his point of view. Iā€™m just amazed how much I could dig up about him and his company who has ripped off thousands of people. Iā€™m definitely not alone, according to many reports online. I honestly should have looked more into them before buying.

Itā€™s funny because I know you posted a while back you were looking for this charger and itā€™s been out of stock for a while possibly due to being discontinued. I did a quick search and boardwalk buy comes up numerous times for this product

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Iā€™m so sorry to hear about you being duped. Consult https://www.anker.com/wheretobuy to find where to buy legitimate and official Anker products. Personally, I would never buy from any place other than these, this is where you will be safest.

Wow, it really makes you think and check twice, if not many times before buying things online. When in doubt, always go with more well known sites like Anker, Amazon, etc. Iā€™m sorry that this happened to you. I once bought an asian jewelry box off ebay and when it came, it was a plastic statue. I contacted the seller and he said he would give me partial refund. Well, I reported him to ebay and got my full refund. We definitely should not nor tolerate things like this. I think this society has become too understanding, lax, and accepting of things happening. We need to put our foot down and do something about it. Iā€™m glad that you are taking a stand on this. Good luck and please keep us posted.

What an awful thing to do though. If you can, send them an email and complain, keep the replies and if you get no joy, write a lovely review on their page and trust pilot etc.

Did you contact them about the error? It could be an honest error if he has his family/friends helping him process orders.

I did contact them, they are playing dumb and insist they sent the product matching the listing. I would normally assume this could be an honest mistake, but they donā€™t seem interested in acknowledging there is a problem.

Also, itā€™s not a family business. The package return address is to a drop shipping supplier. I get the hunch based on other reviews this is one of their schticks.

Why would you go to some unknown shady website over Anker and Amazon. You kind of were asking to get scammed

Hi @Angela_Marie_Morley,

Really sorry to hear that. We will report this case to the related department so that they can be aware of the situation and look into this if possible.

We always value your business, but In the future, we highly recommend that you purchase Anker products only through authorized Anker retailers.

Thank you for understanding and do not hesitate to email us if you have any questions.

You see, we all, ā€œthe communityā€ is sad about what happened.

I was afraid, that there might show up more fakes of ANKER products in the present and the future. As ANKER hat got a ā€œgoodā€ name and is selling worthy products this will happen of course.

We should start to create a ā€œblacklistā€ of these bogus sellers!

And I found out, even at AMAZON fakes are sold, though AMAZON has been informed many times to stop this. Indeed!

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Contact your credit card company and dispute the charge with your claim. I bet they will back you up.

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ā€œThanks for the fur coat Angelaā€ :expressionless:

I mean it is similar to the Birkenstock case, where they sold fake birkenstocks.

I think there are many fakes around at AMAZON.
Birkenstock was one of these stories!
I think there are many more, but hidden : business of course!