NewEgg: A Retailer Review

[TheAlmightyOS]

The following I do not write out of malice or anger. Sure, I did get quite heated while dealing with the situation but the scope of this Retailer Review is to share my experience in hopes others can avoid what is quite possibly the worst customer service in the electronics retail space. I am going to write this as a story: My journey though their customer service department. 

 

On the morning of December 1st, I ordered a monitor from NewEgg. It was not an expensive gaming monitor or even that impressive of one. It was to be the third of a three monitor setup for writing, research, and general work. An ASUS Model VE278Q selected for it's size, price, and number and type of display inputs. I opted for 3 day shipping and expected my monitor to arrive that Friday. 

 

I had bought from NewEgg countless times in the past. I didn't think this purchase would be any different. I went about my business, purchasing some cables, cable ties, other various cable management items, and articulating arm mount from Amazon in preparation of finally finishing my home office setup.

Friday came and went. The items I ordered from Amazon had arrived the day after I had ordered them. Checking my tracking number, I found that UPS had not even received the package yet. Angry as they charged me for 3 day shipping, I contacted NewEgg support. They claimed the delay was UPS's fault. That made no sense to me as how can UPS deliver a package that has not been given to them yet. When I pointed this out, they closed the chat on me.

 

Maybe I was being impatient. I chilled out, took a breath, and waited. And waited. And waited. Finally on December 10th, UPS finally received the package and started shipping it to me. Now, while this is a gripe and I think NewEgg's entire process for handling shipments is laughable, this is not the crux of my problem with this retailer. Could they have had a dust up with UPS that caused delays? Sure, I buy that. Lot's of retailers were having issues around that time. That I can forgive. What came after, though, lies solely at the feet of NewEgg.

 

I did not notice it at first. How could I? I checked out just as I have always done and had done no less than a month prior. I didn't make any changes to my payment options or select a different billing or shipping address.  Yet somewhere in their system, my zip code changed from 78##4 to 78##8. This was enough for UPS to go bonkers. By December 13th, the package made it all the way down to my city but they could not deliver it. You know what? No problem. I can drive to the distribution center and pick it up myself. In fact I had to do this previously with a card from EVGA a while back when there was an RMA mix up (I had moved and they mistakenly used my old address. I caught it in time and we worked together to fix. Example of good customer service and communication). It's not too bad of a process. The shipper contacts UPS and releases it to you in their service center. 

NewEgg refused to release the package to me. In fact, the first person I got a hold of hung up on me.

When I finally did talk to a manager, they claimed their system did not allow them to MAKE A PHONE CALL to a UPS service center. Let that sink in. Their SYSTEM: most likely a ticketing system on their computer... DID NOT ALLOW THEM TO MAKE A PHONE CALL. Now, you could argue that maybe it was against their POLICY. But that is still bullshit. You have identified the customer that is supposed to receive this package is on the other end of the line. They are the one that gave you money. There should be nothing preventing you as a customer service representative of your company from making a, at most, two minute phone call and and jotting down a note of your actions in the ticket. If there is, well that is just piss-poor foresight for a company that deals exclusively in sales where the product is shipped. I am sure this situation has happened before and that nothing had been put in place to fix it speaks volumes.

Oh, but we are not done yet. It gets worse. So much worse.

 

The Customer Service Manager (or so she claimed to be) Said the only way to correct my address was to put in an RMA. That's right. Put in an RMA for a product I had not even received and put in the notes to send the replacement to the correct address. This is insanity. But whatever. She put in for the RMA and apologized for the issue, and offered a $35 refund for shipping and inconvenience. At the time I thought this was a nice gesture. She said to check back once the package had been returned to them. On December 17th, that day came. I figured it would take them a while to process the RMA and ship it back out. After not receiving any communication from NewEgg, I contacted them again on the 21st. They said they had changed the RMA from a return to a refund (Which was a lie) and that I should just wait three more days to get it. Fine. I waited three more days and did not see anything in my account. Figuring it was due to the holidays, I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt and give them one more full week.

By January 6th I still did not have my monitor nor my money. I contacted them and was told the refund was on it's way. At first they told me to wait three MORE days but after getting an earful from me finally said they would investigate and that I should contact them the next day. The very next day I contacted them and I got an angry response. They 'confirmed' that I received my refund and had the Paypal transaction number to prove it. They gave me the transaction number for the $35 courtesy refund that the very first customer service representative had given me at the start of this whole thing.

At this point, I am going to pause the story to go over some complicated subjects. Now, I am sorry and do apologize. I did not warn you there would be maths but please try to follow along. Is $35 greater than or equal to $200? Is it close? Is it even in the ****ing ballpark? If you were looking at a ticket for a customer that is complaining they did not receive their product or refund on a $200 order and you found a refund for $35, would you not, IDK, INVESTIGATE A BIT INSTEAD OF ASSUMING THAT THE $35 WAS SOMEHOW THE ENTIRE REFUND FOR A $200 PURCHASE?! What do you need to be smoking to make that logic work?! 

 

So it turns out the whole time I had been contacting them and telling them I had not received my product and/or refund yet, they were assuming the $35 courtesy refund they saw on my account was the refund in question then assumed the RMA was changed to a refund (IT WASN'T) and that if I just waited a few more days the 'refund' would show up in my account. I can not express how ass backwards this all is. I have worked in technical support for quite a long time. I have worked with a lot of different ticketing systems and dealt with all sorts of end users. In EACH AND EVERY CASE, you need to investigate. You need to dig. You have to pull up all the information and take a look and identify any issues. Even issues and details that the guy before you missed. My ticket had been handled by no less than five different representatives at this point and they STILL missed the most BASIC of information concerning my situation. This isn't just bad customer service at this point. This is incompetence.

Once it was not-so-calmly explained that $35 != $200 and that I would like ever so kindly for them to do their ****ing job, they got back to me and informed me 1) That the $35 was a courtesy refund (you know, the thing I just told them moments ago) and 2) that they never received the package so they could not start RMA process.
That they never received the package so they could not start RMA process.

That they never received the package so they could not start RMA process.

 

<screaming into the void>

I knew they received the package. Why? The UPS Tracking number. UPS had diligently returned the package to sender and I had a proof of delivery. The package I had never touched was back in their hands and I knew it before they did. Told them this. I demanded some sort of action. They had the product AND my money. I wanted one or the other ASAP. The rep said he changed the RMA from replace to refund (ANOTHER LIE!) and started an investigation as to where the package was. He said I should get my refund in three days. 

Narrator: He did not get his refund in three days

 

Finally, on January 11th I had enough. I contacted them and demanded a supervisor or manager. It took nearly two hours, but finally I was able to speak to someone that fixed this mess. After explaining everything and demanding that they carefully read over my entire ticket, results happened. A refund would be sent immediately. I voiced my grand displeasure with their company and let it be done. They offered $25 off my next purchase with the caveat that I would have to make the purchase first then contact customer support to get my the refund. I gave them a hard pass. With as 'organized' as their customer support had proven to be over this month and a half, I doubted that I would ever see that 'discount'.

 

I got a message later that day from paypal letting me know that I had received a refund from NewEgg which would turn out to be the very last backhanded slap they could muster to a customer of over a decade. $165. That's right. They had subtracted the so called 'courtesy' refund from the final refund. Sure, I am not out any money. I ain't "mad" that they refunded me exactly what I paid. At this point it is the principle of the thing. NewEgg wasted several hours of my time on the phone and in chats, mismanaged my service ticket and lied to me at blatantly at least twice and countless more through omission and delayed my refund several times by instructing me to "just wait". I received terrible customer service and their response at the end was to basically 'take back' their initial act of polite courtesy. It felt like they had just flipped me off.
 

As I mentioned, I had been a loyal customer for over a decade. My first order was in 2009 for hard drives. Then in 2012, I built a whole system from parts I purchased from them. In 2017 I got the mobo, ram, SSD, and CPU for my current gaming rig. And there were countless small purchases in between. This was the first time something like this happened. But it was so severe, so insanely out of touch with reality that I cut ties with them completely. I ordered the monitor from B&H and got it two days later. I have since scrubbed NewEgg from the approved retailers in my PCPartPicker profile and purchased other parts at higher prices from their competitors (including a 3700X I just ordered today). I refuse to give them another dime, no mater what deals they have. 

 

I hope this tale of woe saves others from my fate. NewEgg used to be a great place to pick up PC parts. Hell, it used to be THE place to order parts online. But something happened. Something changed. They are no longer the NewEgg we once knew and, sadly, I don't think they ever will be.

Edited January 25, 2021 by TheAlmightyOS
Fixed wrong tense of word "turn"

[aisle9]

Didn't read the whole thing, but I got to the UPS part, and the Newegg rep wasn't lying. UPS stopped accepting packages from retailers for a while there because their network's capacity was maxed out. That's probably what happened.

 

But yeah, Newegg sucks. They were bought out a couple of years back and it's been an absolute shitshow ever since. I don't even bother with buying from there anymore.

[TheAlmightyOS]

7 minutes ago, aisle9 said:

Didn't read the whole thing, but I got to the UPS part, and the Newegg rep wasn't lying. UPS stopped accepting packages from retailers for a while there because their network's capacity was maxed out. That's probably what happened.

 

But yeah, Newegg sucks. They were bought out a couple of years back and it's been an absolute shitshow ever since. I don't even bother with buying from there anymore.

It was mentioned in the next paragraph:

Quote

Maybe I was being impatient. I chilled out, took a breath, and waited. And waited. And waited. Finally on December 10th, UPS finally received the package and started shipping it to me. Now, while this is a gripe and I think NewEgg's entire process for handling shipments is laughable, this is not the crux of my problem with this retailer. Could they have had a dust up with UPS that caused delays? Sure, I buy that. Lot's of retailers were having issues around that time. That I can forgive. What came after, though, lies solely at the feet of NewEgg.

 

[MadAnt250]

Wow.

[izz]

The fact that you took the time to write this makes me want to be able to give you more than one like.

[The_russian]

24 minutes ago, TheAlmightyOS said:

NewEgg used to be a great place to pick up PC parts. Hell, it used to be THE place to order parts online. But something happened. Something changed. They are no longer the NewEgg we once knew and, sadly, I don't think they ever will be.

In 2016 Chinese company Liaison Interactive bought a majority stake in Newegg, meaning they basically own Newegg now. I am not saying that this is why Newegg has been going downhill, but that is what a lot of people point at. 

 

To me the whole thing sounds like incompetence of the customer support employees, rather than malice. That being said I am not the one that got a month of my time wasted, so I wouldn't blame you for seeing it differently. 

[TheAlmightyOS]

1 minute ago, The_russian said:

In 2016 Chinese company Liaison Interactive bought a majority stake in Newegg, meaning they basically own Newegg now. I am not saying that this is why Newegg has been going downhill, but that is what a lot of people point at. 

 

To me the whole thing sounds like incompetence of the customer support employees, rather than malice. That being said I am not the one that got a month of my time wasted, so I wouldn't blame you for seeing it differently. 

I figured it was something like that. Thanks for the info.

 

As for the situation itself, I don't consider it to be 'malice' per say either. I agree that it's straight up incompetence like you said. However the FEELING from the customer perspective was like a slap to the face. Any customer service department, whether in retail or technical support, has to be aware of how they are coming across. That they failed so spectacularly means they either are so disorganized that they can not control their employees or they just don't care. 

[Tristerin]

I recommend never allowing a retailer (of any sort) a pass.  I deal with Newegg...alot.  More than most.  The moment I smell bullshit I get on CS chatline and if I dont feel helped, or better about the situation I let them know I will be contacting my bank and using this chat as a reason to issue a refund.  It typically gets escalated and sometimes I even have to drop the "look at my past purchase history before you say you cant help" or Ill move my buying power elsewhere.  It sounds dickheaded.  Ask me if I care when they take my money and mishandle their paid for services?  All I want is help, or knowing it will be resolved.  If I dont feel that way, yoink, my money back.

 

Ive had to do this quite a few times with Newegg.  Honestly never with Amazon, but they dont have as good as prices on alot of hardware like Newegg does (or Ebay Newegg site for that matter - use that for best customer service cause Ebay can get involved if you need as well)

[TetraSky]

Read the whole thing. Oof.

I would've just gotten Paypal to refund me the moment a Newegg rep had said they had already refunded me and simply never did business with them ever again. If Paypal had been unhelpful, would've gone to my credit card and issued a charge back.

 

Newegg really shat the bed with this one.

-Changing the the postal code (how???) .

-Them not being allowed to contact UPS to release it (why is this even a thing? You should be able to go in, prove your identify, and leave with the package, without any input from the seller, wtf)

-Offers refund on shipping cost, but their dumb as a rock reps believe the entire order was refunded...

-That you had to channel your inner Karen and speak with a manager to finally get things moving because the customer reps were too brain dead to do anything helpful... Wondering if that's just not store policy, to be unhelpful in cases that involve any sort of "refund".

 

Frankly, this type of horror story can be found with any online retail stores. But damn dude...Glad it got resolved in the end.

But I would side with Newegg on that last slap to the face, they had refunded you the shipping cost, which would've been good had they shipped it back to you, but because they refunded the entire order, it's not like they would just slap an extra $35 on top of that. You got what you paid in the end.

[TheAlmightyOS]

3 minutes ago, TetraSky said:

But I would side with Newegg on that last slap to the face, they had refunded you the shipping cost, which would've been good had they shipped it back to you, but because they refunded the entire order, it's not like they would just slap an extra $35 on top of that. You got what you paid in the end.

Yeah, as I as said I was not mad at this. I got exactly what I paid back. Logically speaking I get it. It was more the feeling at the time. After screwing up so much and wasting so much of my time the only thing they offered to try and retain me as a customer was $25 after-the-fact 'discount' that I would once again have to fight their brain dead customer service drones in order to receive. Leaving the courtesy refund would have been a nice gesture.

 

BTW, Shipping was only $10. So when they gave me that $35, $25 of it was "on the top". But again, not mad. I broke even which is more than I can say for some people who deal with them.

[shoutingsteve]

53 minutes ago, TheAlmightyOS said:

I have worked in technical support for quite a long time.

Oh, this explains why everything went so wrong.  Never met a tech support guy who solved a problem in less than a month and with less than 4 phone calls.


But joking aside, I feel the fact that every person you spoke to at newegg acted in this fashion tells us readers that you might be the one with the attitude problem.  I'm not saying that you aren't the victim here, but you seemed to think you could have done it better (the phone call, for example, and the fact that absolve yourself of blame for the zip code).  This happens a lot to my husband, who is a total hothead and has never successfully gotten a late fee waived.

[TheAlmightyOS]

46 minutes ago, shoutingsteve said:

Oh, this explains why everything went so wrong.  Never met a tech support guy who solved a problem in less than a month and with less than 4 phone calls.


But joking aside, I feel the fact that every person you spoke to at newegg acted in this fashion tells us readers that you might be the one with the attitude problem.  I'm not saying that you aren't the victim here, but you seemed to think you could have done it better (the phone call, for example, and the fact that absolve yourself of blame for the zip code).  This happens a lot to my husband, who is a total hothead and has never successfully gotten a late fee waived.

I have to laugh at this. 

My current address was entered into their system 6 years ago. Several orders from them were shipped to this address. Then, suddenly, they ship to the wrong zip code and that is MY fault? I had not touched my profile in years. Glitches happen. I ain't going to take the blame for which I am not at fault. I just ain't.

 

Secondly, most of the communications (happening in chat) were quite pleasant along the lines of "Checking on my order. Here is the number" and a reply from them. They were not impolite to me and I was not impolite to them. The issue is that they LIED TO ME several times and told me false information CONSTANTLY as they failed to look into my situation one iota. This isn't about 'being nice'. This is about incompetence. But go ahead. Stand up for your corporate overloads. 

To be blatantly honest, that you accused me of an 'attitude problem' after being treated like trash speaks more about you than it does about me.

[shoutingsteve]

1 hour ago, TheAlmightyOS said:

To be blatantly honest, that you accused me of an 'attitude problem' after being treated like trash speaks more about you than it does about me.

Oh, totally.  I can only speak from my personal experiences.  I used to work retail and the phone systems at the checkout didn't dial out of the store except for the pre-programmed numbers (911, customer support in California, the intra-store switchboard, ect.).  The number of people who wanted me to call other people from their wedding party (I worked in a mens clothing chain that did a lot of wedding tuxedo rentals) was un-imaginable (unimaginable meaning "why are you asking me to call your friends and family when you have your cellphone in your hand with everyones' numbers?")
So... yes, in my experience I have seen customers ask for and do INSANE things and then get all huffy because I couldn't.  I had a customer ask for a different guy to help him halfway through his sale because he figured out I was gay.  People never cease to amaze me at how terrible they can be to service people.

Now, the other side of the coin (this is where I humble myself).  You have ALSO dealt with people that get pissed at you for not being able to solve their problems.  I generally think that anyone who has been a waiter or worked retail or a call center understands that you need to be nice to people to get things to come out in your favor.  It was wrong of me to assume you were rude to them.  I'm sorry. (I am in the middle of a facebook fight with a guy who is is running his mouth about how terrible it would be for minimum wage to be raised to $15/hr.  So I took out a bit of my frustration on you.)  Once again, I'm sorry. 

[varrys]

NewEgg used to be good, did all my PC part shopping there. And then I started a new build after 5 years, and it's been nothing but trouble. Sent me the wrong item, then by time they processed return they were out of what I wanted.

 

An item was DOA so they sent a replacement that got lost in shipping (or never sent, tracking never got past label created). So I asked for refund and it took 6 weeks. Finally got the reason why there was a hiccup: because the refund was on a replacement item, their system had my refund at $0 because it didn't actually buy it. So had to go through extra hoops to get to a manager to fix it.

 

Basically 3 of my last 4 orders have been a headache. I sign up for the Shuffle because it's easier than fighting bots and scalpers on other sites, but otherwise I won't give them any more of my money. Such a bad company in decline at this point.