I fell for a "bait-and-switch" - online welding equipment
I fell for a "bait-and-switch". This company, which seems to use a pseudonym or title "Easy" or perhaps "Online Seller" also lists its moniker as MiltonKeynesGB (on my credit card statement). I saw several pop-up ads for a handheld welder while browsing online. It seemed rather inexpensive and was something that I thought I might use occasionally. I know they were talking a welder, because they showed several weld joints being made (not what you could do soldering), talked about the welding rod sizes, and even adjusting the current. The ad also mentioned including small hammer, as I recall. It seemed too good to be true, and I should have smelled a stench, but I fell for it anyway. I received email comfirmation that the order was coming. And indeed, I received a package 2-3 weeks later. My suspicions were raised when I went to open the package - it was smaller than I had expected, and the return address was in China. As soon as I saw the package inside, I realized that I had been snookered. The internal box said "soldering gun". And indeed that's what is was - a really cheaply-build soldering gun - of absolutely no value to me, and scarcely worth a third of the price I paid. Now it's important to understand the difference between soldering and welding. Soldering is using a low-melting temperature alloy to "glue" together two metal pieces. One can buy an iron or gun to do this work for maybe 10-20 US dollars. Yeah, most likely made in China nowadays. Welding is an entirely different process. In the wleding, high temperatures are used to partially melt the parent metals with extra molten metal also used to fill and join the parts. It's much stronger than soldering, as can be used where soldering is not possible because of the types of metals and the size of the parts. A welder can also be used to cut large metal parts - and this was likewise shown in the online add. No soldering gun can do so - not nearly hot eough to melt the parent metal. I contacted the company at the address tlpnb.com > The service person offered to let me have the soldering gun for 20% off. I told her I didn't need it - I wanted only the welder, or a refund. The "final response" was to offer to refund 30% of what I paid. What a fraudulent racket!