I seem to be in a very open mood these days.  I had some problems with Newegg.com last week and so I decided to just write them a real, physical letter.  I thought I'd share it with anyone who happened to see it here, too.  I've heard of issues with them from other people, too, but everyone always seems to agree that their prices are good.  Sometimes that doesn't matter, though...

Dear Sir or Madam:

I am writing to tell whomever it may concern about a very unpleasant and expensive experience I had with Newegg.com over the last couple of weeks.  I do [lots] of purchases for my company each month, usually exceeding $xxx a year.  I have used Newegg.com for personal purchases over the years and I usually consider Newegg.com to be a great price and have fast service. 

Two weeks ago was an ordinary week where I needed to order some software for my company.  This was no big purchase, but Newegg.com’s competitors were charging $550 and Newegg.com had the same item for about $430 with much cheaper shipping.  So, I ordered this on the same day as some hardware using my company credit card that I am required to use.  This required me to put in a different billing address and name.

After nearly a week and the other order having already arrived even though it had slower shipping, I had not seen anything.  So I checked the Newegg.com website.  The order was stuck on Step 1.  Not only that, but the billing address was incorrect.  It did not have the information I entered; instead, it had my personal billing information for my company account.  So, I called up Newegg.com support and I got to a real person quickly and smoothly.  I was told that I could not switch the credit card because the credit card had already been approved, but it was being denied by some internal verification.  Well, clearly this is because the address was wrong.  So, I had the customer support representative change the address.

After another day I checked the status and the same thing had occurred.  This time, the product was already too late and had been needed a couple of days before.  So, I cancelled the order and entered a new order with my own personal card and personal billing address and overnight shipping.  Today, I just saw that this order was also stuck in Step 1 and had the company name and billing address listed on my personal credit card.

I have cancelled this order and placed the order with a Newegg.com competitor.  Now that my reputation is harmed at my company for getting orders in quicker than other people, I will never be able to order for my company from Newegg.com again.  I did try to resolve this once with customer service email, customer service phone support, and once on my own, with no luck.  Now it is too late as the product was needed at the beginning of last week, not next week.

Newegg.com’s reputation has been harmed in front of people who buy technology products all the time. 

Posted by Shane on March 8, 2006 9:01 PM | Permalink