I'll make this as brief as possible, but let's start from the top. NewEgg represetative on these forums, feel free to chime in with your company's side of the story. I'm anxiously awaiting to hear how your company publicly responds to a situation after previous attempts to resolve it failed.
On 7/27, I make a purchase of a Gift Card at NewEgg, using my Verified by Visa debit card, in the amount of $280.00. This was my payment for a trade with OCF member jimmsch for an Intel q6600 processor (trade was conducted through the classifieds in the normal manner). Here's the NewEgg invoice number:
Invoice #: 27452183 - $280.00
Note that NewEgg only accepts Verified by Visa (a Visa-sponsored program) for the gift card purchases. This gift card was sent to jimmsch's e-mail address - the same e-mail address he used to conduct business at NewEgg. On 7/28, after receiving confirmation of the Gift Card, jimmsch ships the q6600.
Days later, the q6600 arrives at my door. Transaction done, positive heat left on both ends. Deal over....
----
... not so fast. On 8/14, jimmsch contacts me with the following PM:
Both Jimmsch and I are bounced around the halls of NewEgg customer support until 8/31, when NewEgg CS representative Timon A. Camacho contacts me with the following e-mail:
Furthermore, NewEgg is unable, after several e-mail exhanges, to explain how or why the GC was voided, or by whom. They are unable (not unwilling, but unable) to provide insight into the "fraud alert". My credit card is in good standing with NewEgg and other vendors, and jimmsch's NewEgg account was in good standing until this transaction.
After a back and forth with CS Rep Timon, I decide to try a conference call with my bank, but quickly abort the call when I realize my account information, including balance and recent transactions, is read by default when I call the 1-800 number. I call BoA on my own accord, and again verify that NewEgg never initiated a refund. I'm also told by the BoA customer service representative that a three-way call such as this should not be necessary for NewEgg to verify that a refund has been initiated.
In other words, NewEgg isn't believing me when I tell them that I have not seen a refund or the initiation of a refund on my end. NewEgg can, through their CC processor, check this on their end, but for some reason refuse to do so.
Here's Timon's final e-mail to me, followed by my reply. Understand that both jimmsch and myself had been in contact with NewEgg multiple times over the course of the month of August, with no successful resolution or hint of help at resolution from NewEgg.
Timon A. Camacho:
And now, when I log in to NewEgg, I see this:
Here's my advice to NewEgg:
On 7/27, I make a purchase of a Gift Card at NewEgg, using my Verified by Visa debit card, in the amount of $280.00. This was my payment for a trade with OCF member jimmsch for an Intel q6600 processor (trade was conducted through the classifieds in the normal manner). Here's the NewEgg invoice number:
Invoice #: 27452183 - $280.00
Note that NewEgg only accepts Verified by Visa (a Visa-sponsored program) for the gift card purchases. This gift card was sent to jimmsch's e-mail address - the same e-mail address he used to conduct business at NewEgg. On 7/28, after receiving confirmation of the Gift Card, jimmsch ships the q6600.
Days later, the q6600 arrives at my door. Transaction done, positive heat left on both ends. Deal over....
----
... not so fast. On 8/14, jimmsch contacts me with the following PM:
Ok, something is up. A simple call to NewEgg should resolve this, correct? After waiting on hold for some time, I decided to go the chat route. Here is a transcript of the chat log:NewEgg has suspended my account for reasons not apparant to me quite yet, but it has something to do with fraudulent activity, most likely connected to the GC you sent me for the Q6600.
If you recieve any info on this please inform me, as I now have no chance of acquiring anything with this GC, therefore basically losing $280.
Meanwhile, jimmsch is getting changing/conflicting stories from NewEgg about why the GC was cancelled (after he was allowed to spend $3.00 of it), and why his account was suspended.[FONT=arial,arial,helvetica,geneva] Please wait while we connect you to a Newegg representative.
Thank you for contacting Newegg. My name is Gilbert. How may I assist you today?
Aaron Barnes: Hello there.
Aaron Barnes: I recently purchased a Gift Certificate for someone, and that individual has relayed to me that their account has been suspended due to fraud based on that GC purchase
Aaron Barnes: However, I have been charged the full price of the Gift Certificate - can you shed any light on this situation for me?
Gilbert:Let me take a look into that......one moment please.
Gilbert:I do show the gift certificate. By any chance would you have an email address for that other person?
Aaron Barnes: Let me get that for you.
Aaron Barnes: ---------@--------- [hidden purposely]
Gilbert:Give me a couple of moments please..
Aaron Barnes: no problem
Gilbert: I would need to get back with you. would it be ok if I send you an email once I get more information?
Aaron Barnes: Yes, please do. I'd like to get this sorted out ASAP, as the $280.00 has been charged but the person can't access the GC. If the account was suspended for reasons other than this GC transaction, then that's not my concern; but I'd either like this to be cleared up, or to have the $280.00 refunded.
Aaron Barnes: Thanks for your time, look forward to hearing from you soon.
Gilbert:I understand and I will get back to you as soon as I can with more information.
Aaron Barnes: --------@--------- [hidden purposely]
Gilbert: Do you have any other questions, or is there anything else I can assist you with today?
Aaron Barnes: That is all, thank you.
[/FONT]
Both Jimmsch and I are bounced around the halls of NewEgg customer support until 8/31, when NewEgg CS representative Timon A. Camacho contacts me with the following e-mail:
I contact my bank - Bank of America - at both the national CS number and the local branch. The "Reference ID" provided above means nothing to Bank of America; it's a number issued by NewEgg's CC processing company and has no relevance to BoA.The Gift card purchased on 07/27/07 was purchased on 07/27/07 and voided the same day in the amount of $280, when it was attempted to be used on order 62129232 it triggered a fraud alert on that account which caused it to be suspended. I am currently looking in to why the order was voided however at this time the funds should be in your Visa account.
Please contact Visa and check for the refund, if they require a conference call please call 800-390-1119 and ask for Timon.
Visa Reference ID:######## ####
Furthermore, NewEgg is unable, after several e-mail exhanges, to explain how or why the GC was voided, or by whom. They are unable (not unwilling, but unable) to provide insight into the "fraud alert". My credit card is in good standing with NewEgg and other vendors, and jimmsch's NewEgg account was in good standing until this transaction.
After a back and forth with CS Rep Timon, I decide to try a conference call with my bank, but quickly abort the call when I realize my account information, including balance and recent transactions, is read by default when I call the 1-800 number. I call BoA on my own accord, and again verify that NewEgg never initiated a refund. I'm also told by the BoA customer service representative that a three-way call such as this should not be necessary for NewEgg to verify that a refund has been initiated.
In other words, NewEgg isn't believing me when I tell them that I have not seen a refund or the initiation of a refund on my end. NewEgg can, through their CC processor, check this on their end, but for some reason refuse to do so.
Here's Timon's final e-mail to me, followed by my reply. Understand that both jimmsch and myself had been in contact with NewEgg multiple times over the course of the month of August, with no successful resolution or hint of help at resolution from NewEgg.
Timon A. Camacho:
My reply:
Dear Aaron,
We understand how you can feel threatened with the security of your
personal information, however I assure you that there is no security
risk with a conference call. The only individuals on the line would be
yourself, the bank and I here at Newegg on a secure line. The
information that you feel would be compromised would be your name,
address, phone number and your credit card number in which this
information is currently on your newegg account, therefore a conference
would not reveal any information that you haven't already provided with
your newegg account.
Since all the information regarding your Bank of America account is
entered by you via your phone key pad when prompted, I have no access
to any new information you provide Bank of America's automated system. A
simple yes or no would be all that we would need from B of A since the
question I would ask would be if a refund was or was not issued. If you
do not feel comfortable with a conference call I would not be able to
assist you further in receiving your refund. In order to resolve this
issue your co-operation is appreciated and needed, otherwise we can not
resolve the problem. You have stated a third party would not be given
any information about your account over the phone, this information is
accurate however a Bank of America representative did state that they
would only provide us this information if you were on the line on a
conference.
Please allow us to help you get this resolved.
I initiate a chargeback with Bank of America for the $277.00 remaining Gift Card balance that jimmsch was unable to spend. Sure enough, once NewEgg is contacted by Bank of America, I see the $277.00 credited to my checking account (on 9/10).
Timon,
As soon as my checking account balance was read automatically, I hung up the phone. That's not information that I want any third party to be privy to.
To ask that a customer "assist you" in handling a refund is out of the ordinary for any retailer. Why it may very well be the case - for whatever reason - that the refund looks to be processed on your end, my bank has no indication that a refund has been initiated. There should be no interaction needed by me to process a refund, and I'm not sure why such a conference call was ever requested.
Simply put: processing a refund isn't my problem. Since the refund wasn't processed in a timely manner (over one month, by your own admission), I chose to call my bank and begin the claims process. The entire Gift Card purchase was a fiasco from start to finish, and I don't think you ever determined why the Gift Card was voided in the first place (nor has a refund ever appeared on my NewEgg account page). The lack of clear and forthright communication on NewEgg's part created this situation. Please don't offer to "help me" obtain this refund; I've already helped you figure out the issue by initiating a claim with Bank of America.
If this case hasn't been forwarded to a NewEgg Customer Service Supervisor, then I suggest you forward all communication on this matter to such a supervisor. Learn from it, and resolve to staff train your CS department appropriately. I'll never shop with NewEgg again, but I'm sure future customers would appreciate it. I'll certainly be sharing my story with other computer hardware enthusiasts on the forums I frequent.
And now, when I log in to NewEgg, I see this:
My point: it's neither mine nor jimmsch's fault that NewEgg couldn't get their internal communication together enough to give a straight story, let alone resolve the situation in a timely and satisfactory manner. Had I posted a gripe here on OCF, the situation likely would have been handled quicker, but why should I have to do that? I spent a large portion of my disposable income at NewEgg over the past two years, but the simple act of being a paying customer should afford me better service than what I received.Our system indicates that this account has been suspended. If you have any questions or believe this to be an error, please contact our Customer Service department.
Here's my advice to NewEgg:
- Know when to escalate a situation to a priority CS queue;
- Don't tell customers stories to placate them. Find out what went wrong, and don't keep the customer guessing. Inform the customer every step of the way and always be polite. I was stern yet civil with NewEgg, but didn't receive the same courtesy in my phone calls to them;
- Learn to use your credit card processor's support contacts to resolve situations like this without the involvement of the customer;
- Finally, while I understand the account suspension is the default action after a chargeback, reinstate both mine and jimmsch's accounts. Particularly jimmsch's, since he did nothing wrong. To penalize a paying customer for your own inadequacies is to overestimate your sense of permanence in the retail market.
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