The business industry is shifting from physical shopping to online retailing ever since the pandemic happened in 2019. Many online retailers have emerged selling all sorts of peripherals to suit the needs of consumers. This includes the remote buying and selling of mechanical keyboards. A recent issue surfaced on front pages of Reddit on the November 22, 2023. This issue revolves an uprising keyboard manufacturing brand, Vortex Keyboard and one of their customers that goes by the handle @duogs.

[Aug 9] The story begins with Reddit user Duogs purchasing a keyboard (M0110 Triple-Mode Version) from Vortex Keyboard.

[Aug 15] The product arrived and a battery defect was found. Upon emailing Vortex Keyboard’s customer support, the issue was solved with replacing the batteries with a carbon-zinc battery.

[Sept 11] The peace was only momentary. Duogs emailed them again, informing that the batteries didn’t last longer than 3 hours without the USB cable plugged into the keyboard. Claiming that it was a defective item, he demanded for a return after one month of using the keyboard.

[Sept 12] Vortex Keyboard responded with inquiries of the battery defects and providing possible solutions. On top of that, they reiterated that customers are not entitled for a return after 7 days of receiving the keyboard. This is all stated clearly in their return/refund policy.

 Source: Return, Refund and Exchange Policy | Vortex Keyboards

[Sept 13] Duogs restated that he believes it is a manufacturing issue, and upon trying different methods, he is unable to solve the problem and insists on a return.

[Sept 21] There was no reply from Vortex Keyboard and Duogs sent another email to ask for updates.  

[Oct 7]  The straw that broke the camel’s back- Duogs emailed his disappointment of being ignored by the customer service team and after nearly a month since their last interaction. Duogs was infuriated with the service that was provided.

Source: r/MechanicalKeyboards| Reddit

[Oct 12] Vortex Keyboards apologized for the delay with the influx of emails, and attempted to compromise with Duogs. Vortex reinstated that they have tested every keyboard component and function before shipping the products to the customers. As a result, Vortex assured the quality is maintained and checked prior to sending out the keyboards. But if the Duogs still insists on returning the keyboard, Vortex will inspect the keyboard and a solution will be presented.

To cut the long story short, Duogs returned the keyboard to Vortex by bearing the $68 shipping costs himself. Upon receiving the product, Vortex discovered that the dongle and hex key was missing even after reminding Duogs to return every single component. They coaxed Duogs into returning the two items that he owes them. Ultimately, Duogs had to fork out another $20 to ship the two small items back to Vortex.

Duogs took to Reddit to express his dissatisfaction with the product quality and customer service. Reddit user @mist3rf0ur also shares the same experience of hardware issues from Vortex’s products. Meanwhile other users heed Duogs’s warning and agree that they would not purchase anything from this vendor.

In response, Vortex explained the situation and attached the emails exchanged between their customer service team and Duogs. Some users bashed the company for breaching customer’s privacy, but a few motioned that the evidence provided clarification on what actually happened.

There were mixed responses. Those who were not in favour of the response and the way they handled the situation commented below their post.

Source: r/MechanicalKeyboards | Reddit 

On the other hand, some were impartial to the response, stating that Vortex was not entirely at fault.

Source: r/MechanicalKeyboards | Reddit 

TLDR:

• The customer complained to Reddit about Vortex keyboard's service attitude and product issues, warning all to not purchase from this brand.
  
  
• Vortex Keyboard retaliated with picture evidences of their email exchange to defend themselves, but it ended up backfiring. 
  
  
• *UPDATE* - The response from the retailer is permanently removed to retain the peace among the keyboard community.

There’s always two sides of the story. We can only watch what happens next. Let us know what you think of this whole ordeal!