Newegg "Roll[s] a Critical Failure" - Tech Jesus Rants about "Scam"

[Nimoy007]

Acccording to Gamer's Nexus, and allegedly multiple comments by viewers of the GN YouTube channel, Newegg has been running what Steve (from Gamer's Nexus) calls a "scam." The "scam" involves consumers being denied refunds by Newegg after returning what are supposedly return-eligible products, specifically motherboards. Newegg has apparently been consistently citing "customer-caused damage to CPU pins" (from the video at the 4:10 mark) as the reason for witholding the funds from would-be RMA-ers. As Steve says, he's heard about the issue for years, and his best way to test the waters was to keep ordering product as normal for the business. Well, Tech Jesus, it looks like you finally got your answer. "...[T]hey rolled the dice on a random number generator, they happened to roll a critical failure for this one."

Steve reports that after attempting to return a $500 (all-in) motherboard that Gamer's Nexus ended up no longer needing (a fact that they apparently made quite transparent in their return merchandise request), they received an infamous response about customer damage to the board. This Newegg response came despite Steve's claims that the box the product shipped in was never even opened. Tech nerds will be familiar with the protective covers in place in CPU sockets to prevent the very issues Newegg is accusing customers of having caused, so it seems unlikely that the pins or socket could have been damaged in shipping, either to or from the customers.

Steve basically threw his hands in the air over getting the money back, but admits that creating the video revealing his experience with Newegg will likely make GN back the $500 quite easily and he also expresses his frustration in knowing that the average consumer would not necessarily have the luxary of buying a new part or have a loud enough voice to make the problem see the light of day. It seems likely that tech industry, especially the tech media on YouTube, will have a field day with the story, as they have with past investigations conducted by Gamer's Nexus, such as the biggest GN story of 2021 regarding explosive Gigabyte power supplies. Whatever the outcome, computer builders will likely be enthusiastic to know that they have such an outspoken ally in the tech media and hope to see any wrongdoing (if there is some) on Newegg's part brought to justice.

 

Quote

 "Oops! That wasn't the person we wanted to land on! Someone with a platform who can actually get their money back, whether it's through views or the proper channels!" -Steve, owner and host of YouTube Channel "Gamer's Nexus" (4:45 mark, first link below)

 

Sources

 "Newegg Scammed Us" - 

 "Exploding Power Supplies: Gigabyte & Newegg Dumping Unsellable Product" - 

 

Edited February 2, 2022 by Nimoy007
Edit title and tags, correction on reason Newegg denied GN return

[leadeater]

Watched this earlier today, great watch. Angry Steve is the best Steve

[WhitetailAni]

This is a random question, how did GN Steve get the name "Tech Jesus"?

[leadeater]

Just now, FakeKGB said:

This is a random question, how did GN Steve get the name "Tech Jesus"?

His hair, similar to typical Jesus picture depictions.

[Nimoy007]

29 minutes ago, FakeKGB said:

This is a random question, how did GN Steve get the name "Tech Jesus"?

His hair, I believe, has been compared to the stereotypical depictions of biblical figure Jesus of Nazareth. I believe it's mostly the shape, since the color doesn't match the typical blonde/brown Jesus figure.

Edited February 2, 2022 by Nimoy007
Hair color mistake

[CT854]

This is genuinely why I love GamersNexus. Even in situations as viscerally egregious as this, the focus never shies away from the fact that this could have (and is in fact evidence supporting reports that it has already) happened to consumers that don't have a platform.

 

Screw Newegg, seriously. I'm genuinely unsure if there will indeed be a market correction like one Steve talks about in the future wherein companies that push crap just because it sells deal with a reckoning, but I really do hope there is because the fact that Newegg can reasonably get away with this type of behavior because the market keeps them afloat is atrocious to me.

[Nimoy007]

Just now, CT854 said:

This is genuinely why I love GamersNexus.

... the fact that Newegg can reasonably get away with this type of behavior because the market keeps them afloat is atrocious to me.

100% agree. I love that Steve is on the consumer side and is 100% not a fan...although, if he were a fan, we all know what $60k piece of equipment he'd test himself on!

[ravenshrike]

15 minutes ago, Nimoy007 said:

His hair, I believe, has been compared to the stereotypical depictions of biblical figure Jesus of Nazareth. I believe it's mostly the shape, since the color doesn't match the typical blonde Jesus figure.

Blonde? Lighter brown maybe, but every jesus painting I've seen has def not been blonde. The Last Supper being the most famous painting has hair of brown with red-gold highlights. You might be thinking of the halo.

[MultiGamerClub]

Sad that in order to get rma processed faster or even resolved at all.. Have a huge twitter follow count or your back in the line anyway like the normal deadly guy just wanting his money back

[Nimoy007]

8 minutes ago, ravenshrike said:

Blonde? Lighter brown maybe...

Yeah, you're right. Fixed it. Thanks!

[Nimoy007]

3 minutes ago, MultiGamerClub said:

...normal deadly guy...

Sayeth what now??? Tech Jesus is risen, not dead, I swear!! XD

 

But I get your point, and I agree. You shouldn't need street cred for a return.

[MultiGamerClub]

32 minutes ago, Nimoy007 said:

Sayeth what now??? Tech Jesus is risen, not dead, I swear!! XD

 

But I get your point, and I agree. You shouldn't need street cred for a return.

Ive tried rma on several products from brands faulting over the years and its not great. (Mostly samsung monitors, hp spectre/G-series laptops and one msi gpu.)

Going to be fun to see what to do with the G7 for rma, if the buttons keep failing.. Which they still are.. But shop wouldnt accept it.

Not gonna be fun going the legal way just to get back 550€.. But oh well.

[Bitter]

I haven't bought much from Newegg in a while because they felt like they were going down hill pretty hard since they started allowing 'marketplace' sellers on their platform. Now when I search for something it feels like there's more crap sold by outside vendors than from Newegg themselves. I guess they tried to Amazonify themselves but honestly the shipping times, prices, and even item quality are all over the place. Used to be you'd buy stuff and you get what you paid for. Now I'm not even sure I can trust that my new item will actually be new and I guess I also can't trust that I won't get ripped off if I need to return something. They really need to re-focus their business back into what it used to be, which was THE place to buy computer parts online and you could trust them.

[Crosseyed Sniper]

Good to see GN make a video about this, and put the heat on Newegg. Much respect to him. And you're right @Bitter, there is a ton of cheap junk being sold by marketplace sellers on Newegg. I also think the way Newegg goes about some of it's Shuffle items is shameful. Some of the bundled items have poor ratings, and some of the PSUs being bundled with GPUs aren't adequate enough. Besides, how are they able to keep doing these GPU shuffles nearly every day, when it's so damn hard to find a GPU anywhere else? 

 

Newegg needs a good kick in the ass to get their shit together! They used to be a great place to shop. Looks like they can't be trusted any more.

 

[derr12]

Well, if Tech Jesus testifies to no longer give Newegg patronage, then his will be done.   Ill be taking my business elsewhere from now on.  My dollars spent there have been enormous over the years since i used it as a source for supply for the company i work for as well as personal.  Probably getting up to 100k by now. 

[Derangel]

It’s good to see a big tech channel call out Newegg. They’ve been doing this shit with motherboards for over a decade, even before they were bought out and went public. Their returns team is utter trash and always blames their own mistakes on the customer.

[wanderingfool2]

Glad this happened to GN and glad that Newegg didn't give him special treatment (or rather didn't recognize him) until it went public

 

The only reason I'm glad though is that it really brings to light how terrible Newegg can be.  Feel sorry for GN, but still glad it happened the way it did because I think that just shows how impactful and how robotic their customer service can be (without even needing to do a "secret shopper").  The fact this happened to him, with his own product, without even trying to bait the company at all just brings extra credence to it

 

I know a secret shopper would still have been the "same" but I think it hits home more when there wasn't even any intent to craft a scenario where the customer service would need to be involved.

[Bitter]

Also I guess I'll be doing live unboxing videos of everything I get from Newegg from now on in case I need to dispute and I end up having to do a credit card charge back against them for it. At least the CC company takes fraud a little more seriously. I do kind of wish he had escalated it to that level just to see where it went.

[Quackers101]

2 hours ago, Crosseyed Sniper said:

Good to see GN make a video about this, and put the heat on Newegg. Much respect to him. And you're right -- , there is a ton of cheap junk being sold by marketplace sellers on Newegg. I also think the way Newegg goes about some of it's Shuffle items is shameful.

thats why they got some nice sponsoring with tech jes... I mean microcenter!

[Nimoy007]

7 hours ago, Bitter said:

Also I guess I'll be doing live unboxing videos of everything I get from Newegg from now on in case I need to dispute and I end up having to do a credit card charge back against them for it.

That won't necessarily work, and was a major point made in the video. If you need to return it and it's not damaged, they can still pull a fast one on you when it gets there. Like Steve said, you'd have to do a live pickup, unboxing AND return. Now, if it arrived damaged and that was your reason for returning it, yes, the unboxing should be enough proof... not that Newegg would care.

 

[Bitter]

1 hour ago, Nimoy007 said:

That won't necessarily work, and was a major point made in the video. If you need to return it and it's not damaged, they can still pull a fast one on you when it gets there. Like Steve said, you'd have to do a live pickup, unboxing AND return. Now, if it arrived damaged and that was your reason for returning it, yes, the unboxing should be enough proof... not that Newegg would care.

 

No, but CC company might care

[Kisai]

2 hours ago, Nimoy007 said:

That won't necessarily work, and was a major point made in the video. If you need to return it and it's not damaged, they can still pull a fast one on you when it gets there. Like Steve said, you'd have to do a live pickup, unboxing AND return. Now, if it arrived damaged and that was your reason for returning it, yes, the unboxing should be enough proof... not that Newegg would care.

 

 

Well that is making one assumption that the package was delivered to you, instead of picked up at the post office/ups/fedex/dhl depot.

 

Also many companies want you to "refuse the delivery" if the package is damaged. Good luck with that if it's left on your patio, out in the rain.

 

Ever notice how parcels are only delivered during the EXACT same times businesses are open, but not when anyone is home? You know what the solution is right? Always have important parcels delivered to your office. I'm sure small businesses one works for would absolutely *love* having to deal with your newegg and amazon deliveries.

 

Here's my opinion on the entire thing. Newegg's RMA and WEX processes are clearly some kind of disaster. It's on Newegg to take photos of items returned to them, and oh, I don't know, post those photos with the openbox items being sold, so the customer can confirm the device was actually inspected, and not trashed. The most likely scenario is that either Newegg didn't inspect it before they put it back on the shelf, or they did and didn't care.

 

A credit card chargeback should be a last resort when the company you purchased from has essentially stolen from you. Because when you do a chargeback you are basically telling the credit card company that the merchant is committing fraud. Always attempt to resolve it with the merchant first, because the merchant will blacklist you if you chargeback, because from their point of view, you are stealing from them.

 

 

[Nimoy007]

You suggest shipping to your business, then admit that it will cause issues? Also, where does Newegg "post" these photos? Internally? Because, as indicated in Steve's video, they sure as hell aren't posting used product photos on the sale page (which makes sense since no retailer does) and they definitely aren't showing to customers or support staff--they just make notes on customer work order forms--like basically every retail system I've heard of.

Also, you are suggesting that all of these things are solveable through proper channels when it sounds like the community has a rather large amount of anecdotal evidence that Newegg is not following SOP...or at least what should be SOP.

I'm not saying you're wrong for holding consumers and business to a certain standard of behavior, but that assumes that either, as you said, "cares." When you have to fight with support staff and get nowhere, issuing a chargeback is a perfectly reasonable step. You did the work, and now you have to take the last resort option. I mean, I've only had to do it once when I was getting charged for Adobe CC under a defunct university student account (I had transferred) and under my current university. Chargebacks 100% fixed the problem, and I'm happily paying Adobe ~$20/month instead of $40.

Don't get me wrong, the systems are supposed to work as you described, but this is certainly an example of a seriously broken system, and it wouldn't be the first in retail by a long shot.

[Senzelian]

Customer protection laws in the U.S. are the underlying issue here.

[SteveGrabowski0]

I stopped using scamming newegg years ago when they never shipped an item I ordered on a giftcard I got for Christmas, then I had to play the newegg run around with support to get them to admit they owed me a refund, then they tried to give me a giftcard with a 90 day expiration date, went through the newegg run around for a couple of weeks when I told them that was unacceptable that I get a quickly expiring giftcard when the one I tried to pay with didn't expire, so finally their resolution was to send me a paper check that fucking bounced. Over a $30 console game they lost a customer who has spent probably around $10,000 at newegg since they opened in 2001. Fuck newegg, that company can die in a fire.