"Buy.com's policy of doing customer service by email only is lousy. Why?
1. Very seldom (only once out of over ten messages in our experience) does a "Customer Care Agent respond to your email within the next 12 hours." Usually takes 2-3 days if at all.
2. They can't handle exchanges! Such a far-out request seems to break their minds. Every time we've made such a request we never received an answer back, and eventually had to return and reorder (waiting weeks for a credit.)
3. They tend to send a canned email to every help request when they do answer, rather than reading your request through. I read the FAQs, policies, and go through the automated help before I ask for live help. Therefore, requests to do complicated things like (gasp) exchange items, or return items when a coupon was used, deserve individualized treatment since they're not dealt with in the standard help pages.
4. If you try to return part of a shipment where you used a $X off $XX purchase, forget it. You end up having to return the whole darn shipment and reordering the parts you still want. Plus, you can't manage your return through the Web: you have to contact a CSR!
5. Why did we shop there? We were lured by coupons, low prices, and ebates rebates. But we've wasted a lot of time and money shipping back returns and waiting for responses and credits. In the end it isn't worth it and we'll be looking elsewhere. "
"Ok, I placed an order for a ATI Radeon 8500 graphic card on July 25th 2002. In the website, it stated that this product was instock and usually shipped between 24 to 72 hours. Well after countless days of waiting, it finally shows that it was shipped August 1st, 2002 with a tracking number that doesn't even work. It's as if I have to hold my breath and pray that the item does come now. Very poor customer service, not a phone number on the entire page! And they respond with the usual "Sorry for the inconvienience, we are working promptly to solve your issue." Would think twice before ordering from these guys again, regardless of cheap prices."
"This company is great. Really good web site. Very quick shipping. Good communication about my order. I ordered from them a few times, and every time its been really good."
"I'm surprised to see buy.com with such an average rating. I shopped there about five times, and each order was flawless."
"7/23 Update: They finally shipped out my item. Is it because of this post I did? I don't know, but I am really pleased my item is on the way to me.
Super bad experience with them. I ordered on July 5th, and when I ordered it it was in stock. After more than 48 hours, they still had not shipped to me and still showed instock. Eamiled (****@****) them and they make the product page on back order (a copy and paste message). After for this long period almost a month, today July 22nd, it showed instock again. I emailed them asking to ship the product to me and they emailed me back say it was on back order (same copy and paste message), but their page still says instock. I have kept all the dated material print outs about the product page. I am preparing to file BBB complain about them when things gets worse.
Here is that copy and paste message:
Hello Mark,
Thank you for contacting us at buy.com, the internet superstore.
We are responding to your email regarding order #xxxxxxxx.
We apologize that the delivery of your order is taking longer than
expected and for any inconvenience this has caused. Unfortunately, due
to a setback from the manufacturer, item SIDEWINDER STRATEGIC COMMANDER
1.0 95/98/WME/NT on your order is currently on backorder.
We update our website once every 24 hours. Occasionally items run out of
stock before we can update this information. Be assured we are working
on providing more frequent updates in the future.
Unfortunately, we do not have an estimated time of arrival; however, you
will receive an email from us once the product you ordered ships.
Please note that your credit card will not be billed until that time. If
you paid by check or money order and decide to cancel your order, we
will automatically issue you a refund check.
Please feel free to write to us again if you have any further questions
or concerns.
We look forward to serving you in the near future!
Team buy.com
www.buy.com
Original Message Follows:
------------------------
Hi I just checked your website says this item 10255632 is in stock and
is
what I ordered on July 5th (order #xxxxxxxx). Please ship me one thank
you.
P.S. enclose attatchment is a pdf file I got from your website showing
it
is in stock.
mark
At 12:26 PM 7/14/2002 -0700, you wrote:
>Hello Mark,
>
>Thank you for contacting us at buy.com, the internet superstore.
>
>We are responding to your email regarding order #xxxxxxxx.
>
>We apologize that the delivery of your order is taking longer than
>expected and for any inconvenience this has caused. We update our
>website once every 24 hours. Occasionally items run out of stock before
>we can update this information. Be assured we are working on providing
>more frequent updates in the future.
>
>Due to a setback from the manufacturer, item #10255632 SIDEWINDER
>STRATEGIC COMMANDER 1.0 95/98/WME/NT is currently on backorder.
>Unfortunately, we do not have an estimated time of arrival; however,
you
>will receive an email from us once the product you ordered ships.
>Please note that your credit card will not be billed until that time.
>
>Please feel free to write to us again if you have any further questions
>or concerns.
>
>We look forward to serving you in the near future!
>
>Team buy.com
>www.buy.com
>
>Original Message Follows:
>------------------------
>Name: Mark xxxxx
>
>eMail: ****@****
>
>order #:xxxxxxxx
>
>
>Where is my item that order on July 5th? It is an instock item and
>haven't been shipped yet. It has been a week already, what's the
>problem?"
"A good experience. Ordered a number of camera accessories on the night of the 17th, with overnight delivery. And all was delivered promptly and efficiently on the morning of the 19th. I almost went with Provantage because theyre a reliable company and I've used them before, but their shipping costs for very lightweight items into California was a big joke. The combined weight of all items ordered was less than a pound and Provantage wanted $40 dollars for 2-day delivery, which was 20%of the cost of the items. Buy.com shipped it for less than half of that, and quicker. I,ll look to Buy.com first for my next purchases"
"I tried to purchase a Canon Powershot S30 from their website. It was marked as "back-order" when I placed my order. The original price was $424, and I should get 10% off by using Discover card (as they advertised). At the first time, the discount was honored and showed in my shopping cart. I was happy, but after that tricks came in. I came back next day to check my cart, and found that the original price was raised to $456. Anyway, it was not a big surprise since I know how hot the product is in current market. But this was just the beginning! The product price showed in my shopping cart jumped three times in the following three days, from $424 to $456 to $ 499 and finally to $503. Moreover and the most irritating part was that on their web site the camera is still marked as $456!
I was trying to complain to their customer service, but there was no way to find out any contact info. no phone number, no email address!
"
"I have been a long-time customer of buy.com, but have never rated their services in an online-forum before. It occurred to me, after having some less-than-satisfactory service from other resellers that I missed doing business with buy.com."
"This is the _BEST_ online store that I've ever dealt business with. They shipped out my TV card and HDD the next day (Wednesday morning) after I punched in my order late at night (Tuesday night). It's amazing fast and I was shocked to receive both parts on Friday Morning @9am. Later I figured out that Buy.com has several warehouses and they would just ship out your stuff from a nearest warehouse that close to you.
I have recommended several friends to get things from Buy.com and they all praised their excellent delivery speed.
This is the store I would check out before comparing the price at pricewatch or pricegrabber site.
HIGHLY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!! "
"All I have to say is that this has been the worst online buying experience in my life. I placed an order for a KVM switch box and some cables to go with it. I placed the order and received an email saying that the billing address on my CC was invalid. I double checked the address and found that I had put my school address on there by mistake. So I followed the instructions of the email and sent them the correct information. They then said it would take no more than 2 business days to fix the problem. Well it's been 3.5 and nothing has been updated. I've canceled my order."
"Most recent order was a number of books through the company. With their new 'free shipping' offer on nearly all books, all of my books shipped free and quickly. They arrived without any hassle and all of my past orders through the company have been the same."
"This is the 5th time I am purchasing from this company.
I placed an order 6/26/02 at 11PM and immediately received an order confirmation email.
Received shipping notice 6/28/02 at 11AM. The package was at my doorsteps 6/28/02 at 1PM. Whoa, I was really impressed and as a result, Buy.com still remains as one of my favorite vendors. Great selection, good prices, and free shipping (promotional).
A note about Buy.com from my previous experiences: Although they allow you to cancel orders, you are pretty much at mercy if you want to cancel an order. Their status will automatically say either "processing" or "sent to warehouse" after couple hours and once it reaches that stage, you will be paying for somethings. Before you click on "Submit", make sure you really, Really, REALLY want it.
I look forward to future purchases at Buy.com.
[BumperSticker]"
"FREE SHIPPING and LOW PRICES DON'T MEAN DIDDLEYSQUAT IF A COMPANY CAN'T DELIVER ON ITS OFFERS...
Monday, August 5: Received this item from B+H. Still wait'in on Buy.Com!!! Will post if it ever comes in...
Week 7 of waiting for "IN STOCK" item!!! When I ordered this item thru Buy.com to save $, I passed up ordering from B+H photo for a few dollars more. Went to reorder from B+H and item was out of stock, like most other places. They emailed it was back in stock, so after SEVEN WEEKS of waiting for these Buy.com jerks, getting their cut and paste email messages which gave me no idea when/if product would be sent, I ordered B+H. For twenty four dollars more, the same product will be delivered in two business days.
Rapid delivery is sure NOT the experience I'm having. I ordered camera flash Saturday, June 22, 2002 because it was listed as "IN STOCK" and "usually" shipped within 24-48 hours. Now it's entering SIX WEEKS!!! and the item hasn't been sent! All I can get from their website/email (NO PHONE #!!! available) is that the order has been "sent to warehouse." Now: maybe it's in the warehouse , maybe not. I'm in the dark six weeks after ordering and would say, in Buy.Com's case, the "free" shipping definitely has its price, and is meaningless unless you've got lots and lots of time on your hands. You know, apparently this company has some satisfied customers. I'm not one of them. At least it feels good to vent this. Thanks for reading!
July 26th (week 6) -ho hum, nothing yet... Is this what "Bait and Switch is about?
July 19 (week 5) stillllllll waiting on flash listed as "in stock- usually sent in 2-3 business days"" and ordered
July 13 (week 4): Still
waiting....they'd be more than willing to have me cancel my order, though... Now can't find item anyplace else for less than $25 more!
July 5th: entering week three... no change with anything regarding this order. They won't estimate when item (listed on web site as "available" when ordered) will be in.
June 29th: email (cut and paste job; I don't warrant a personal response) to me, from Buy.com:
"We are responding to your email regarding order #13220132. We apologize that the delivery of your order is taking longer than expected and for any inconvenience this has caused. Unfortunately, due
to a setback from the manufacturer, item #90049609 Sony Digital Still Camera Flash on your order is currently on backorder.
We update our website once every 24 hours. Occasionally items run out of stock before we can update this information. Be assured we are working on providing more frequent updates in the future. Unfortunately, we do not have an estimated time of arrival; however, you will receive an email from us once the product you ordered ships. "
June 22. No indication at this point... from this phoneless company...if I'll receive order in one week, six months or two years...
"
"WOW! I was shocked at how fast my product arrived. I ordered a 19" monitor (and folks, this thing is pretty big) and it was shipped OVERNIGHT for FREE. Yes, I repeat, overnight shipping for a heavy monitor absolutely free... After I submitted my order around night time, I was expecting 3-7 days... but buy.com surprised me when I heard the doorbell ring the next afternoon.
The ordering process is easy, I love the free shipping, and I absolutely enjoyed ordering from them. No hassles, product came in perfect working condition.
I'd absolutely buy from buy.com again, and I'd highly recommend these guys!"
"Great experience. I would not hesitate to order from them again. Fast shipping."