Ectaco = Execrable

I recently purchased an Ectacto EF400T as a gift for my wife. The process was terrible and I cannot recommend this company nor product at all. Specifically, I had two problems with this order:

- The price charged did not correspond to the price that I was quoted by their Sales Agent, "Alexi". The price was meant to be $184.95, yet I was charged $189.95.
- I paid $30 for shipping to France, yet was still invoiced by Fedex for 10 euros of TVA (French tax) that was charged on the machine; the service fee was an additional 10 euros, so I am out 20 in total.

Furthermore, I am entirely dissatisfied with the translator. Aside from being extremely cheap, there are several specific problems:

- The translations are frequently wrong. In 10 minutes of use, I found three errors, and my wife (the recipient of this gift) has found more.
- The buttons do not register unless pressed very sharply, for example with a pencil. If this is not done, the key does not register.
- The "spoken" word feature is a joke. The pronunciation is terrible in English and a non-existent in French. It is so bad that we laughed at it.
- The international adapter sent with the translator is also a joke. Rather than sending a 110-240V adapter, which may have cost $5 more, I received a pack of plug adapters and a 1kg transformer indicated "for short term use only". We live in France - they shipped the product here - and so short term use is useless.

The product is unusable and it is embarrassing that you sell it. More than $200 entirely wasted - I cannot even bring myself to sell it on eBay.