Description

The purchase was for FreeWave TV antenna, a product of a company known as Straight Commerce. I was looking for a digital antenna and they advertised online. The antennas were priced at $39.95 each and I bought 3, one for each TV I owned. The product had a 30-day money back guarantee. I ordered the product on 03/19/2025. I received 2 emails right away to let me know they received my order and that it was received and being processed. Another email came around the 25th saying it was on its way. On 03/31/2025, I received another notice that it was almost here. I tracked it to New Jersey (I live in OH and the warehouse is in NY). I contacted them a few days later (3 weeks) to report I still did not receive the product and by some miracle, it arrived a day later on my front porch. The product boasted picking up up to 100 channels based on location to towers, surrounding trees, etc. My boyfriend hooked 1 antenna up in my back room and we were lucky to get 20 local channels. There was a suction at the bottom of the antenna that was cheap plastic and would not adhere to anything. I was not satisfied with the product and decided to send it back. The only address was the return address on the outside mailing envelope, so used that. I wanted to verify that address and looked it up online. There were several negative reviews and possible scam notices for that address plus individual accounts of damaged products, products not received, refunds not received, etc. I contacted my credit card company about my concerns and they told me to wait about 10 days to see if the company responds. After 2 weeks, I checked the tracking number for that package and it had arrived 2 days after being mailed out. It was sent to the return address I mailed it to and was told it was received by an individual and provided the time. Called credit card company again and was told to try and contact the company. The company had no phone number (the phone number I provided in my complaint is that of the warehouse in NY where it was mailed). I contacted their Customer Support Team and was told my refund would be delayed because it was sent to the wrong address. Apparently, they have a return policy (don't recall seeing anything about that when I ordered the product and there was nothing included with the TV antennas either), I received a follow-up email from a different person telling me that because it was sent to the wrong location, they could not give me a refund. However, if I did make attempts to retrieve the product and have it sent back to me, I could then recontact them. They would in turn provide the appropriate address to have the product returned and I would THEN get my refund. I knew I'd been scammed. For kicks, I called the number listed for the warehouse (where apparently the package was sent in error) and left a message on the machine. I knew I'd never get a call back and was right. I contacted Customer Support again to let vent again and demand a refund (knowing it was mainly to let off steam and they didn't care). They replied back with a survey of how I rated my experience with them. I was floored. I gave them a poor review anyway. I recontacted my credit card company (Discover) and they agreed I was scammed and filed a complaint on my behalf. They are crediting my account for the money lost ($113.74), which was not much, but just a very bad experience.