Newegg: screwy rma and how they fixed it

[DaveHCYJ]

Figured I'd share a story about my adventures in trying to buy a new case.

I ordered a Lian Li case and a Seasonic X650 sometime over the black Friday/cyber Monday crazy weekend. The case wasn't on sale at all; the power supply was 10% off an already decent price.

Everything arrived last Wednesday. Long story short (I'll be posting a review to the cases and modding forum hopefully this weekend or sooner; update: http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?p=6704817 ), I was completely disappointed in the quality of the case. Like depressingly disappointed

In my 8 years of doing business with newegg I've never had to return anything. I go clicking through their website trying to figure out how to do it, and discover, what is this, a 15% restocking fee? and I have to pay to ship it back? and they are taking back 2/3rds of the discount I got on my power supply So on my $190 I'm going to end up losing the original $20 shipping, $13 return shipping, $28 restocking fee, and $8 "you included some other item that was on sale in this same order fee" totaling ~$70 loss on the original $190 price

Sad and Angry, I purchase another case. This time from Amazon (not making the same mistake twice... Amazon has an amazing return policy).

My Cooler Master case arrives and its leaps and bounds better than the Lian Li (again, review coming hopefully this weekend), which reassures me that I actually do want to send back the Lian Li and I wasn't just having unrealistic expectations. So I e-mail newegg about the $8 "fee for getting a discount on another item in this same purchase order" and politely ask them to waive the restocking fee because 70 bucks is just a ridiculous amount to ask someone to eat on a $190 purchase.

4 days go by (feels like a long time to sit around being about the Lian Li case and about Newegg’s policy) and finally I get a response today.

First off they fixed the bit about taking back some of the discount from my power supply. Secondly they waived the restocking fee. Third, they credited me 20 bucks for my original shipping (which I hadn't even asked for). I have to say I did not expect all that, but I'm quite glad it worked out. The $13 return shipping seems reasonable for me to pay, after all its Lian Li's fault I don't like their case not Newegg's.

So in the end Newegg's customer service reps saved me as a customer. At the same time, this isn't 2001 and the earlier days of internet shopping, why is their return policy so terrible? I've returned several things to Amazon recently and it hasn't cost me a dime. This isn't to say I return things often (as I mention at the beginning this is the first time I've returned anything to newegg in my 8 years of shopping with them), but rather I buy a whole lot of stuff on the internet. The most recent example from Amazon: I bought a car seat on Amazon with 2 day free shipping. It didn't fit in my truck, despite reviews suggesting it fits in most vehicles. I hop on amazon.com click return and blamo I'm done. Don't have to pay for return shipping, don't have to print a shipping label, nothing, just set the box back out on my porch and UPS/FedEx/A magic genie will come make it poof disappear and 4 or 5 days later my full purchase price appear back on my credit card. Well guess what, Amazon didn't actually lose out on the deal. I turned around and immediately bought a $100 more expensive car seat, which I actually ordered before even sending the other one back because I've had such good of experiences with Amazon I trusted the return would work just fine.

Honestly even though this transaction worked out for me with newegg, it really has made me reconsidering how to make purchases from them in the future. If Amazon has the same item for the same price it’s a no brainer. If Amazon’s price is only slightly higher (and way cheaper than shipping + return shipping + 15%) then it’s certainly worth considering, whereas before I wouldn't have.

Conclusion: Newegg made this transaction tolerable, but they really should reconsider their 15% fee (and maybe return shipping cost?), especially on items that don't lose value quickly and when you want to return them immediately. Maybe I could understand if someone kept a video card for 60 days before sending it back...

Thanks for listening.

 

[beenthere]

To be fair YOU ordered the case and YOU decided that you didn't like it after it arrived. That means that it's your responsibility to pay the return shipping and restocking fees, which are reasonable and typical of most businesses. It cost money to process/inspect returns and often they must be sold as "open box" items meaning the seller takes it on the chin because the original purchaser returned it through no fault of the seller.

Unfortunately many online purchasers have little understanding of the cost of business and thus expect returns to be prepaid and accepted without a restocking fee. This is unrealistic with the costs involved.

When the supplier screws up they should pay to correct their mistake. When they purchaser screws up, i.e. changes their mind, they should pay all costs associated with the return - if returns are acceptable to the seller.

FWIW, Newegg went above and beyond for you and I'm not a Newegg fan as I've had mixed results from them over the years.

 

[DaveHCYJ]

Yeah its true I chose that item, but I would have done the same thing in any brick and mortar store... you look at the pictures on the box you do some reasearch and try to make an informed decision, but at the end of the day if you take it home and open it up and find out there is a piece of junk inside, its getting returned.

Returns are part of the cost of doing business. I mean if I return something to walmart do they tack on a fee for the electricity they used to light the store while I was in there and another fee for the salary of the guy that processed my return and another fee for the lease on square footage of their returns department? No, these are all costs that are just baked in to their overhead and regular product prices.

I'm not saying Newegg's policy is unreasonable, but a customer shouldn't be forced to live with a sub par product as a matter of policy. Customers shouldn't be all willy nilly with their decisions and always have a safety net to catch them, but when you've researched a product and it turns out to be crap, losing out on 1/3rd of the purchase price feels like getting screwed.

 

[ratbuddy]

Newegg really should post the return policy somewhere so people don't get caught off.. uhh..

Nevermind.

 

[JonSimonzi]

Not liking a product is one of the risks associated with buying something online, before you're able to have any physical contact with it. But it's a risk you accept when making that purchase online. Newegg's return policy may be dated to you, but guess what?



What do you think is listed in detail when you click on that link? You agree'd to it. You contacted them about it, and they went above and beyond what they had to do. They could have done nothing, said "Too bad", but didn't.

The one thing that drives me crazy is the sense of false entitlement everybody has these days.

 

[DaveHCYJ]

Newegg really should post the return policy somewhere so people don't get caught off.. uhh..

Nevermind.

Yup, I'm totally guilty.

Newegg's customer service totally stepped up on this one and for that I'm thankful.

However now that I'm aware of their policy it makes me slightly hesitent to shop their in the future. It doesn't seem like every order should come with some risk associated with it. With video cards, ram, processors, etc. there will never be the "I opened the box and the product is not the quality I expected factor" which I ran into with my case order. But with Newegg there is still risk with those orders... if newegg ships you a defective product they make you pay for return shipping. Really!? You shipped me something that is broken and refuse to give me one that works until I pay more money?

Of course you could argue it might not be newegg's fault the item is broken, but lots of other retailers have to deal with the same issue and choose to do so differently.

I think Newegg's advertisements of "Newegg Delivers Peace of Mind to Gift Givers and Hassle-free Holidays" are somewhat disingenuous, but that probably comes back to your point of: I should have read the fine print/policy.

But that does remind me I missed a piece of my story: Newegg dropped the price of the Seasonic X650 another 10% a week after I ordered it so I e-mailed them and they refunded the difference.

 

[beenthere]

As noted above returns have a cost associated with them and it's the responsibility of the person making the return to cover those costs. Other customers should not pay for a person's decision to return a product because they don't like or want it for some reason. It's your responsibility as a consumer to educate yourself before purchase. The store simply can't afford to pay for returns when they are working on very narrow margins, which is why most folks buy from them.

If you want a no charge return policy then you'll likely need to find a store that charges a premium price to cover such costs. There are no free lunches. Someone has to pay for those returns.

 

[JonSimonzi]

if newegg ships you a defective product they make you pay for return shipping. Really!? You shipped me something that is broken and refuse to give me one that works until I pay more money?

This part I will agree with you upon. If a part is received defective, you should not have to pay to return it.

But in a case as such your original post, if you're returning an item just because you don't like it, then you should have to pay return post and restocking fees.

 

[DaveHCYJ]

This part I will agree with you upon. If a part is received defective, you should not have to pay to return it.

Shopping for lower priced items where shipping can be 50% or 100% of the item itself is almost like gambling. This could bite you on other expensive to ship items too like TVs.

But in a case as such your original post, if you're returning an item just because you don't like it, then you should have to pay return post and restocking fees.

Yeah now that I've calmed down I agree this policy is reasonable. I was feeling very cheated at the time (by Lian Li for the cheap quality of an almost $200 case and by Newegg for originally trying to take back 2/3rds of the discount I got on my power supply) and in general shocked at the $33 in shipping I was going to be losing out on. The tone of my original post doesn't quite reflect the fact that I was actually trying to give them kudos for how they eventually handled my request. Their customer service people are quite nice, and their hassle free holidays policy of matching prices after you've already purchased something is pretty awesome. Just don't get hassle free shopping confused with hassle free returns, because their returns are not hassle free or cheap.

I guess the moral of the story is that its important to pay attention to these policies. For some things like maybe memory and processors where newegg has the best prices its definitely worth shopping with them. For other items like home theater and others where there are lots of other retailers that are price competitive you are probably better off shopping at a place with more friendly policies.

 

[DaveHCYJ]

So I got my credit today and the 8 bucks of my PSU discount was missing despite having already settled that in an e-mail. A quick (well I guess 25 minutes isn't actually quick) phone call took care of that.

One other thing I came to realize since my last post: I already mentioned that I had to print out a shipping label, but after 3 days of the package sitting on my front porch and UPS never taking it I called up Newegg and found out I'm responsible for taking it to UPS. Which that isn't a huge deal since I live in a city and UPS stores are everywhere, but I did have to use some vacation time to do it since this pay period overlaps with Christmas and there is no time for me to make up the time I had to leave work early. Some places in the country I imagine this is a huge deal though, for example where my parents live in the middle of no where that would mean an hour and a half of driving (closest UPS place is 45 minutes away). Wow, that would have been misrable! Especially vs Amazon's you don't even have to print a label, UPS/Fedex will just grab the package at your front door the next day.

Also, finally got around to posting the review: http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?p=6704817

 

[Marshmallow64]

I usually like to use this example for online shoppers that hate paying return shipping: It is like when you drive to the store to buy something only to find out you must return it. Does the brick and mortar store reimburse you for gas? Does anyone even question about the gas expense?

No they do not, but sadly a lot of people have that sense of entitlement and get pissed when they have to pay for return shipping and lose the first shipping expense. I know in this situation you weren't really mad about the shipping.

Also vendors give back-end money to resellers and distributors if they sell packaged deals sometimes, which in turn allows them to sell the combo at a discounted price. Meaning you cannot return one piece of the complete package.

Glad everything worked out though and yes neweggs customer service rocks!

 

[beenthere]

Your point is good but I think most people who are honest with themselves understand that return shipping for THEIR mistake or change of heart is their responsibility, not the sellers. Ya just gotta man-up when you change your mind or make a mistake.