Category: Rants

In the pevious newegg.com posts I was PO’d about their dragging their feet and charging me $27.44 for overnight shipping. I bitched and moaned with their customer service and they agreed to credit me $15.00. I still bitched and moaned and they agreed to refund the entire $27.44.

SO I just got two email invoices from them. One is a credit for $15, and one for $27.44. I’m sure they didn’t mean to do both but what the hell do I care?

In the end they did make it right. End of story (I hope).

By the way, the camera I bought kicks ass.

So in my previous article I told how my order with newegg was taking too long.

I sent in some emails complaining about their delaying processing of my shipment. I got a reply from their customer service stating that my item did ship Friday (yesterday). They informed me that it is company policy for it to take 24-48 hours to process orders. So what? They took 72 hours to ship anyway. For my inconvenience they’re going to credit me $15. That’s fine and dandy. But I still didn’t have the equipment I wanted to use LAST NIGHT.

The other problem with their shipping yesterday is that this is a 3 day weekend. So my $27.44 overnight shipping will take 4 calendar days to arrive.

Here’s their letter:

We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. After reviewing your account, we see that your order # 192XXX42 has been shipped on 9/2 with tracking # 7XXX2714561. Please note for future reference that it does take Newegg 1-2 business days to process an order. We do not guarantee the same day shipping.

However, due to this inconvenience, we would like to offer your a $15 credit to cover partial shipping fee. If the order has been delivered, please let us know, we will issue this credit back to the source of your payment method.

My response:

Your 1-2 business days ended up being 3 business days. And due to the fact that you shipped the day before a weekend which also contains a Monday holiday, the shipping will take 4 days. I paid for overnight shipping $27.44 and since you didn’t ship within YOUR OWN specified 1-2 days, that overnight shipping will take 4 days. That is bullshit. So my order which was placed Tuesday with a premium shipping price for overnight shipping will end up taking 7 total days to get to me. Though I appreciate the $15 credit to my visa card and will accept it, I still did not have the equipment which I intended to use last night. Instead, it will arrive 4 days too late.

These kind of policies and dropping the ball are what causes customers like me to take their business elsewhere. I spend tens of thousands of dollars per year on equipment and supplies for my several businesses, all bought through online retailers. I also have great influence through my industry connections and web presences, which enable me to “endorse” companies which I’m satisfied with. After this experience Newegg.com certainly would not be on my list of endorsements, quite the opposite.

There you have it

Make your own conclusion. newegg.com does have some cheap prices. The question is whether or not the few bucks saved is worth the trouble of waiting longer for your order.

Keep in mind as well that my order hasn’t arrived yet. I have yet to make sure the correct items are in the shipment, and that I’m satisfied with their packaging and product…

Ok. I’m not only a golf fan, but I’m a rabid fan of my former university (University of Utah). I even started up a web site/blog/forum for UofU sports…. So tomorrow is the first football game of the year. I decided for my golf blog and the football season (and many other reasons) that I needed a teensy weensy digital camera. I opted for the Canon SD400.

I found a great price for the SD400 at newegg.com. I ordered it and a 1GB memory card Tuesday (the 30th of August). I really wanted to get it fast so I could get it in time for the big game tomorrow so I paid a whopping $27 for FedEx overnight delivery.

Today is the 1st of September, 2 days later. No camera. I go to their site and it says I’m done with step 1 of a 5 step order processing “process.” They’ve verified my billing address. Just great. So does that mean every freaking step takes 2 days? 5 steps X 2 days = 10 days. 10 days + $27 FedEx overnight = 11 days. I think not.

So I called their customer service (or lack thereof) department. After being on hold almost long enough to drain my phone’s battery, I talked to a human. She told me my order “might” ship tomorrow and since Monday is a holiday probably Tuesday. I asked her what is the point of paying 27 bucks for overnight shipping when the company delays your order for days and days. She said it was company policy. Hmmm. It’s company policy to piss off your customers? Perhaps company policy should be changed.

So I told her if my camera didn’t ARRIVE Friday (tomorrow), I’d cancel my order. Then she suddenly got friendly and said she’d “talk to the warehouse” and try to get them to ship today. Yeah right.

So here’s what I predict will happen. They’re not even going to ship it tomorrow. I’m going to go down to a local store and pay $75 more for the damn thing and then cancel my order. They’re going to tell me it has already shipped and I’m going to dispute the CC charges. That’ll show ’em.