"Ordered two books from them. Both were in stock. On the next day they sent me a "these have shipped" email. For the next two weeks, I would check their site to track the order, and saw that they had yet to actually leave their shipping facility. I sent emails to their shipping dept asking for the items to be shipped, and they continually sent me form messages saying that I couldn't complain yet as the products weren't late enough for them to marshal a complaint. After dealing with this for long enough that the items were late, I asked them to cancel the order, and refund my money. At this time, they still had not actually shipped the items. I asked for an investigation, and only after the 5th email of complaints about the late items, they shipped the items. Naturally, they ended up being a week in excess of the outside range of shipping time they'd predicted. I complained, and was told that I would have to: a) return the items, b) pay for the return myself as I couldn't refuse the package (daytime delivery while I was at work), a return that would also need to be taken to the post office on my workday schedule, c) wait for the same people who took over two weeks to ship the item (despite telling me it had shipped) to process the return, and d) after that, it might take another 30 days for a refund to be issued.

This, for a customer who'd used them for almost four years and spent literally thousands of dollars on merchandise and gift certificates from them. I pointed this out, and they took no actions to rectify the situation, and their attitude through email contact was surly and unhelpful. "

"Early on January 23, 2006 I ordered a set of speakers (Creative Inspire T3000) and chose the "budget shipping" option which made the shipping free but would take up to 9 business days for delivery according to their website. Well, here it is January 25th and I'm listening to my new speakers while writing this review. Received my order in 2 days; and FREE SHIPPING. Also, Buy.com's price was over 20% lower than the next cheapest vendor. I've used Buy.com several times and each time their service has been terrific. I've never had a problem with either the service or the products so I can't say anything about their customer service; but for my money, this is the best online store from which to shop. I really don't understand the negative reviews. "

"Bought the speaker at their website. The price dropped several days later. A request was sent to ask them to match THEIR OWN price for the exactly SAME item.

First they said they only price match an item from COMPETITORS within 3 days. Second they said "shipping promotion used on your order may not be used in conjunction with our price match". What the h... is that?! The new price of the same item has the SAME shipping promotion too, just LOW price. Make a better excuse, Buy.com.

Guys, stay away from a vendor doesn't protect customers' purchase values. Even your local Staple's do better in price matching. Make your future purchases at well-known sites like newegg.com, or monarchcomputer.com.

"

"I've bought this headphone on 24 Nov 2005. It really does not fit my head. So I filed a return. I got my credit back today without even need to call them. I would say, this is the best customer service I've ever experience. And the price is cheap too. I would buy from this shop again. I don't know why others have so many problems which is weird. Way to go buy.com!!!"

"I did not write this but I could have, had the exact same experience. Also they spouted some story about it had a rebate but the rebate was only if you bought a camera or computer at exact same time which I didn't. Nobody to expedite to and the attitude makes me not want to do business with them because if I really did have a problem I don't think it would be easy to resolve.
See below which I copied

DOES NOT HONOR PRICE MATCH WITH AMAZON. Total cheats in this regard. They offer free shipping as a budget shipping option. Then they refuse to price match amazon by 90% because they claim free shipping is a promotion. I will be escalating this to the better business bureau. DO NOT BUY FROM BUY.COM.

Totally canned responses. Their CS could care or less about you or your order."

"I'm rather surprised to see all of the negative experiences since I've ordered from Buy.com on a number of occasions and never had any problem. I recently ordered a V7 W17PS 17" LCD monitor. It was received in a couple of days and works perfectly fine. Currently awaiting the $40 manufacturer's rebate."

"Easy to order and they had the best prices. Order was shipped the next day and rec'd within 3 days. Products were new as advertized and worked perfectly."

"DOES NOT HONOR PRICE MATCH WITH AMAZON. Total cheats in this regard. They offer free shipping as a budget shipping option. Then they refuse to price match amazon by 90% because they claim free shipping is a promotion. I will be escalating this to the better business bureau. DO NOT BUY FROM BUY.COM.

Totally canned responses. Their CS could care or less about you or your order. "

"Be aware of rebate scam! I submitted a $30 rebate in August 2005. On September 27, they send me a postcard saying that I need to send them a receipt instead of packing slip. The postcard offered me to re-submit the receipt, which I did the very next day.

Now 3 month later, I still haven't receive anything. So I called their rebate center. They claim that the offer is CLOSED so they can do absolutely nothing for me. I don't know what "closed" means or why could they claim that. Wondering if I could just tell my credit card company that the $10,000 that I own them is "closed".

Anyway they offered me a phone number to call buy.com customer service, which turns out to be a wrong number. I have sent them email but haven't got any reply, and they don't have a phone number listed on their website either.

Let's see how it goes. Right now I'm very disappointted for their lack of service.

Edit on 2006/01/26: Finally got a reply: they will issue $30 to my credit card. "

"I just purchased an Altec Lansing Ipod speaker system from Buy.com. Subsequent to the purchase of this product and prior to delivery, I attempted to confirm with them, that the speakers are compatible with the Ipod Mini. I received the following response from Buy.com's "customer care" group as follows:

"This is to inform that as we carry vast inventory, we do not have any additional information other than what is available in the product descriptions shown on our website. We apologize for any inconvenience. However, you can contact the manufacturer directly for additional and compatibility information".

It is disappointing that this company's "customer care" department would tell a customer to undertake further research regarding features of a product that it sells, because it sells many different products, and is therefore incapable of knowing routine features of each. I suspect that (at a minimum) their purchasing department knows the features of the products that it is purchasing and the alternatives that exist in the marketplace.

I guess I should have identified Buy.com's unacceptable level of support prior to undertaking this purchase. After all, their poor service is duly noted by most of the reviewer's in this forum.

Caveat Emptor (Buyer Beware) "

"I have been unable to reach the manufacturer of my Syntax Olevia LCD TV. Two calls to buy.com have resulted in two "Have a nice day" replies. Buy elsewhere."

"They should change their name to DoNotBuy.Com. Their website mentioned they had a deal available on a phone with a new cellular service on a 1 year contract. This was not reflected in their rate plans though. Called up to inquire about it, and was rudely told by a customer service (??) representative that they did not offer 1-year contracts. She said that the description on the website, which appeared after I put in my zipcode and selected a carrier, was a generic description, and then hung up abruptly when I asked for her name. This is the last time I shall even look at their prices while shopping online."

"Don't buy from buy.com if you ever need to return an item. I just returned a laptop, they received on 01/05/2006, still waiting for refund 2 weeks later. Their support center seems to be in India, was never helpful. The status on the website for my returned item says "RMA issued" for two weeks, no updates. Every time I call, was asked to be patient.

This is ridiculous. I bought many things from buy.com for many years, their service used to be better, now it appears they've outsourced their customer support overseas to india, and in my case, they had to 'escalate the issue to corporate office' and I'm again advised to wait 2-3 days to check back on refund status. The support staff seem to have neither the knowledge or the power to help.

As a long time customer of buy.com, I will now recommend against buying from buy.com because of their degraded customer service."

"Well, I probably should have checked the ratings here before ordering from Buy.com, but I didn't. I ordered a 52" Televesion from a competitor, buydig.com (which is a much better online store). They had the TV stand for it, but their price was much higher than buy.com. So I figured, I'd order from two sites and save money. Now I wish I would have just spent the extra cash at buydig.com, because the television is arriving today, a week after I ordered it, and the stand is somewhere sitting in limbo.

I have no way to contact their supposed customer service except through an automated e-mail system which doesn't seem to work very well. How can you call this customer support when you can't get in touch directly with the customer? It's an absolute joke.

The stand was in stock, and shipped within 1-2 days. I ordered the stand on 1/10, got a confirmation right away, and 2 days later it was sent to the "warehouse" for packing and shipping. It has now been in the "warehouse" for 5 days or so, waiting to be shipped. Meanwhile, an 85 pound 52" DLP television is on its way to my door with FREE trucking shipping. I ordered both products on the same day.

You figure with a company called BUY.COM, you'd have a good experience. Well, don't let the name fool you. I have a feeling that this company was bought out years ago, because I remember this site having a good reputation at one point. Not anymore, just look at their reseller rating. Ouch!


If you want good prices and fast shipping, check out buydig.com, newegg, or even thenerds.net. Do not shop here.
"

"Buy.com is probably one of the best online stores I've dealt with over the years. I'm surprised about the poor ratings. Their customer service is great and your cc is never charged until the item ships. You might not always get an immediate response from customer service but you will definitely get one that's dependable and no one will push you to buy extra accessories.

I have had only one problem throughout the years, which was a rebate with an item. I order the product but shipping was delayed and the rebate period expired. However, I emailed customer support, told them my story and they credited my credit card with the rebate amount. Buy.com is one of the most dependable retailers on the net in my book."