Why I will never shop on NewEgg ever again.

[Airbornchaos]

Newegg customer service has burned me for the last time. 

 

At the end of May, I bought a set of Samsung Galaxy Buds Plus on NewEgg.  I hadn't been there for almost 2 years.  Back then, I ordered a new PSU, and they shipped me a Bluetooth/WiFi card.  While my PSU probably went to the person that ordered the card.  It was a simple error that I never got corrected, because they wanted me to return PSU, that I didn't have, and repurchase it.  But they had the Samsung Buds in red, while everyone else was sold out of that color.  And it was a gift for my wife.

 

Skip ahead a month, 33 days to be precise, and the left bud stopped working.  I contact Samsung for support, and they walked me through all the troubleshooting, and decided they would need to be repaired.  While going through the warranty process, I gave them the serial number and was told that the product I bought was not intended for the North American market, It was what Samsung US calls an International Version, intended to be sold in the E.U.  They seem to be functionally identical, but they do not have a warranty in the U.S.  There was no mention of this on the Newegg listing.  I immediately tried to return them to Newegg, only to find the return period is 30 days.  

 

Here's where Newegg's customer service, again, takes a bad situation and makes it worse.  I contacted them with their chat function, the person there said they would need to contact their "warranty team,' and get back to me in 3 to 5 business days.  A week later, no response, so I make a phone call.  This person emails me a form to fill out, asking different information than I gave before, and said she would get back to me in 3 to 5 business days.  Nine days later, no response.  Make another call, told to send a followup email so the agent I was working with could respond.  I sent 3 of these follow up emails, each 7 days apart.  Today I got a response...  

Quote

Hi ***l,

 

Thank you for contacting Newegg.

 

I am very sorry for this late reply. After checking I see we have confirmed this item has no manufacture's warranty and the item has passed the return time frame. 

I do apologize for any inconvenience you have to burden. I hope you a good day and stay healthy. 

 

If you still require any assistance, please feel free to visit our Customer Help Center to check our Help Topics and use our Self-Help tools.

 

Please click here to rate my service. We value your feedback!

Sincerely,

 

******

Mastercard reversed the charge after 10 minutes and a copy of the email chain.  Congratulations Newegg, you lost a customer and didn't even get to keep my money this time.

[TheBean]

that sucks. Although you probably were just unlucky, this seems like a weird thing to happen. When you bought the buds, was it newegg selling it directly or was it a 3rd party seller on the platform. 

[pommedeterror007]

The main thing that I think about is if you bought this DIRECTLY from newegg or if it was a 3rd party seller. More and more websites are turning to allowing 3rd party sellers, which in turn causes issues like these. But if its directly from newegg they should be better than this.

[Skipple]

2 minutes ago, Saksham said:

Although you probably were just unlucky, this seems like a weird thing to happen.

According to the horror stories that have been floating around the past few years with Newegg I doubt this is just luck. It's actually common for people to buy from their eBay store rather than directly through their website now just to get the eBay's buyer protection. 

 

They have really taken a nose dive over the past few years, cutting costs to keep up with Amazon, etc. Sad to see 

[Moonzy]

10 minutes ago, Airbornchaos said:

I bought was not intended for the North American market, It was what Samsung US calls an International Version, intended to be sold in the E.U.

i dont even understand why is this even a thing? (i know it's a thing, but why)

is the product different? or it's just another weird custom tax thingy?

[bmx6454]

28 minutes ago, Moonzy said:

i dont even understand why is this even a thing? (i know it's a thing, but why)

is the product different? or it's just another weird custom tax thingy?

likely differences in fcc and red regulations i would assume, still stupid though.

[dalekphalm]

9 hours ago, Saksham said:

that sucks. Although you probably were just unlucky, this seems like a weird thing to happen. When you bought the buds, was it newegg selling it directly or was it a 3rd party seller on the platform. 

I will note that I had a very similar problem - though mine ended more satisfactorily.

 

I bought a 4TB Seagate External HDD on the NewEgg Canada site (Sold and shipped by NewEgg - because like every other major retailer now, they're selling third party marketplace items now too). They were selling two identical ones - one with a 1 year warranty, another with a 2 year warranty. The 2 year warranty one was at a slightly better discount and was cheaper. I obviously bought the cheaper one with longer warranty.

 

When the HDD arrived, the power adapter had interchangeable plugs. It came with EU plugs and UK plugs. It did not come with NA plugs. Since I bought this from a Canadian website of an American Company, I naturally assumed it would come with an NA plug. No where in the product description did it mention that.

 

I did some research on the SN and it turns out the 2 year warranty one is an EU model - and like the Samsung Buds from the OP, the warranty likely would not be valid in Canada. (Canadian Law might be able to force their hand, but Ontario doesn't have a strict implied warranty on all items, so it would be a fight for sure).

 

Fortunately for me, I caught this right away and returned it. But man, the customer service rep was fucking confused, and had no idea what I was talking about. He couldn't comprehend that:

1. The power adapter had interchangeable plugs

2. That it didn't come with NA plugs

 

In the end, I still got my refund.

 

Ended up buying a 6TB model from Canada Computers at an even better discount in the end.

[AhmedIlyas]

NewEgg are very expensive too, compared with other sites and some of the shipping costs... forget about it. 

 

[harryk]

9 hours ago, Moonzy said:

i dont even understand why is this even a thing? (i know it's a thing, but why)

is the product different? or it's just another weird custom tax thingy?

It's typically because the MSRP is different for various international markets. The demand for product X may not be as high in Columbia (for example) compared to the USA. Or there may be additional taxes etc. So the manufacturer reduces their markup on the sale price in order to sell their product. They produce international versions to discourage people from buying up the international stock and shipping it to the USA for a quick profit. The product is often exactly the same but the serial number indicates the version and hence the warranty/repair support. 

[dalekphalm]

19 minutes ago, harryk said:

It's typically because the MSRP is different for various international markets. The demand for product X may not be as high in Columbia (for example) compared to the USA. Or there may be additional taxes etc. So the manufacturer reduces their markup on the sale price in order to sell their product. They produce international versions to discourage people from buying up the international stock and shipping it to the USA for a quick profit. The product is often exactly the same but the serial number indicates the version and hence the warranty/repair support. 

Also consider warranty differences - in EU, it's standard to have a 2 year warranty. In fact, I believe EU law imposes an implied 2 year warranty on consumer electronics, even if the manufacturer doesn't explicitly provide one.

 

In North America, one year warranties are the norm for consumer goods.

 

So that's why there may well be "different" products that are physically identical. And why global companies might "split" warranties up between regions.

[Tristerin]

I have trouble with Newegg often enough but my buying power typically resolves things for me - Im not supporting what Newegg does - they suck Customer Service wise - but fortunately my spend with them is such that when I have an issue and they get snarky like that with some BS - I tell them to check out my purchase history, talk to a Supervisor and come back to me - they've always made it right, after I say that but I HATE having to say that to them.

 

My final straw will be with them when I have to do what you did and they don't support their failed sale so I have to turn to my bank to make it right.

[Radium_Angel]

5 minutes ago, Tristerin said:

I have trouble with Newegg

There is always an outlier in the experiences, and today it's me. I've never had issues, but then I buy *only* from NewEgg, as opposed to their "market sellers", but I have heard enough horror stories about them to know I"m lucky.

[Tristerin]

Just now, Radium_Angel said:

There is always an outlier in the experiences, and today it's me. I've never had issues, but then I buy *only* from NewEgg, as opposed to their "market sellers", but I have heard enough horror stories about them to know I"m lucky.

Agree - if its a third party seller its a worse experience typically - and when they stonewall me I approach Newegg with the same threat lol (taking my business elsewhere) - Not going to lie, depending on the error I get a free $25 - $50 gift card and whatever needed to occur (refund/exchange/what have you) as well.  But I also order almost every other day from them so frequency will lead to more problems

[Moonzy]

4 hours ago, harryk said:

It's typically because the MSRP is different for various international markets. The demand for product X may not be as high in Columbia (for example) compared to the USA. Or there may be additional taxes etc. So the manufacturer reduces their markup on the sale price in order to sell their product. They produce international versions to discourage people from buying up the international stock and shipping it to the USA for a quick profit. The product is often exactly the same but the serial number indicates the version and hence the warranty/repair support. 

Man, punish the seller not the buyer

[TheBean]

I actually agree. eBay buyer protection is fantastic and its really easy to make claims on faulty/bad products.