Platinum BarkOff review: customer service/product

I ordered the BarkOff "system" at supposedly buy one, get one free (just pay separate shipping). Buyer beware! When ordering on the website, it has a quantity button. When it says 1, it actually means you are getting 2 (the BOGO deal), if you don't realize that and you change the quantity, like I did, then you will actually order 4 barkoff's. Then it asks you if you want to upgrade to "platinum" with a "lifetime warranty" included for $10 more, then it asks if you want an AC adaptor for an additional $8 plus shipping. Last of all, it tries to get you to opt in for faster shipping at an additional charge. Once you are done with all that, if you click submit...YOUR ORDER IS DONE! CAUTION: There is no window that shows your order with an option to change the order! A window does pop up thanking you for your order showing the total amount which in my case ended up being almost $100 for 2 platinum Barkoff orders (4 BarkOffs) and an ac adaptor, including $30 for regular (not express!) shipping.

The confirmation email gave a phone number and an email address for customer service, but if you order online late at night or on friday night, they are closed on the weekends so you can't contact any one till monday morning. The email address only lets you check on your order to see if it has been shipped IF it has been 24 to 48 business hours.( I had to wait till monday morning to call customer service). I talked to what seemed to be a nice male associate who told me my order wasn't in the system yet and noting that I wanted to change the order, then said to call back the next morning to change the order since it wouldn't be in the system till then. I got his name and ID #. The next day, I called back at the same time and got a different associate who told me my order was already boxed up ready to ship and he couldn't change it! When I asked for the original associate I talked to the day before, I was rudely told that unfortunately it is a big office and they don't have a direct line to that person. They offered to refund $15 to my "credit card on file" if I would keep all of the order (which I declined cause I thought I didn't need 4 barkoffs-mistake!) so the only other thing they offered to do was to send me a return label with an RMA # to send back the ones I didn't want for a refund (minus the shipping costs, of course!)

I received the barkoffs and adaptor within 2 weeks. When I opened them and read the paperwork which is very minimal, there was nothing stated about a lifetime warranty, in fact, it states "Telebrands Corporation shall not be liable for any incidental or consequential damages or any IMPLIED warranty on this product. Some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental or consequential damages, so the above limitation or exclusion may not apply to you." So much for that implied "lifetime warranty"!

I opened them and began using 2 of them, which, by the way, if you don't get the adaptor, you will need a 9 volt battery for each one. There are limitations to these things, first, it says to place them in an area close to where the dog barks most of the time. When placed on "high" sensitivity the "Platinum" BarkOff is supposed to reach a maximum of 20 feet, but it is more realisticly not more than 10 feet and it is supposed to emit an inaudible (to human ears) high pitched sound that the dog hears when he barks. That inaudible sound is supposed to get your dog's attention and he supposed to dislike it and learn (over time) that barking causes the annoying sound in his ears and stop barking. I learned that I needed to not only place the device near where the dog barks but also in an area that would be free of obsticles for the barks or the "inaudible" sound to bonce off of thereby not reaching the dog's ears! I also have a very stubborn little Yorkie who likes to bark. It states in the instructions that it may not work on dogs who are deaf or hard of hearing (DUH!) but it doesn't state that stubborn barkers might ignore it! It says to allow "several weeks for the dog to learn that his bark is causing the high pitched sound in his ears so he stops barking or barks less". I have figured out that it is better to have one of these in nearly every room so you don't have to carry it around with you to wherever the dog goes, so I have kept all 4 of them. However, I am only using 3 of them because after using just 2 of them for 48 hours, one started emitting a very audible "squeak" when the dog barks, which is annoying to me! I just called customer service about that and they said they are refunding $5 to my "account on file" for the shipping to send the one back to them and supposedly they will send me a new one. But, the customer service address is different than the return address on the package I received. I asked which address to return the broken one to and got 2 different answers from 2 different associates, so who knows what will happen!

Bottom line on the BarkOff is in my opinion; if you want to try this product, check with your local Walmart to see if they have an "as seen on TV" aisle cause some of them carry the original BarkOff. You'll save alot on shipping and not have to deal with Telebrands. Do I think this product works? Well, it does seem like my stubborn little Yorkie barks less and it's been a week of constant use of 3 Platinum BarkOffs. Would I buy it again? Not sure at this point, but certainly not from Telebrands online!