"I ordered two video games... only one came in the mail... the invoice stated that two should have been delivered... I wrote to customer service five times before I finally got a response... they basically told me I was out of luck... they shipped two games...
Well... I only got one in the mail and they refused to believe me... they were basically calling me a liar! Well I wasn't lying and I am still waiting for my game!"
"This is an update to my original review (below).
Since posting the review I was contacted by escalated customer support. They wanted to inform me they had changed their policy on restocking fees. They will no longer be charging restocking fees under any condition. I'm very impressed with this decision, and think it is a major step forward for their customer service.
They also informed me that they wanted to change my experience from bad to good. They were willing to give me a full refund for my item. That definitely makes the situation right by me.
Again, the lack of customer service is what frustrated me, and I still think a customer service hotline would be helpful. But, they did make an extra effort to turn this situation around, and for that I am grateful. They have earned my trust and I will be shopping at Buy.com in the future.
-------------------------------------------------
I was happy with how quickly my order was fulfilled. But when I had a problem with the product and had some questions, I found that customer service is unhelpful and frustrating.
The only customer service option is via email; they do not provide a phone number. So, I emailed customer service a total of 6 times. I had to wait a day each time to receive an email response, and the answers were always vague. They basically quoted snippets of text from the website, when I needed a more detailed explanation. I even asked for more details, but they refused to go into specifics.
I had to make several requests for someone to call me. After 5 days of waiting I finally received a phone call and my questions were answered.
I purchased a digital camcorder (at a good price) but I was not happy with the output. My first question was: Can I exchange the model I purchased for a different model? The answer was: You will need to request a Return Merchandise Authorization.
Next Question: Will I be charged a restocking fee?Answer: vague. I might be charged a 15% restocking fee.
I requested more details about the conditions of when a restocking fee applies. I received more vague responses. This went on for another 3 emails. That's when I requested a phone call. Two days later I had to make another request for a phone call.
It took me two weeks to get a straight answer. The answer was yes, they would charge a 15% restocking fee because they did not consider the item defective. But, by that time, my RMA was no longer active and I am stuck with a camcorder that I am not happy with. I would have appreciated a simple explanation so I could make a timely decision. Why can't they provide a customer service phone number? Most websites at least do that.
"
"Shipped on the 27th and arrived on the 30th. No complaints about the time to ship however I felt the item should have been reboxed rather than being shipped in it's store carton because the item is heavy and did some damage to the carton. One screw came undone during shipping. I found the screw and 2 washers in the box, but another nylon washer made it out of the carton during shipping. Not a big deal. Home Depot had it for 60 cents, but if an item specific part had slipped out of the box it would have been a messy return."
"Purchased a Dell laptop and very happy with it. Delivery was quick, the item is refurbished, though works like a charm. I never purchased from buy.com until recently, and overall it was a very good experience. They have great deals, highly recommended."
"Worst experience with an online retailer to date. I was completely unaware that buy.com has a policy that requires verification of shipping addresses with your bank, if your shipping address differs from your billing address. This means that every time you buy a gift for anyone, their address needs to be on file with your bank. This might be the impractical policy I have ever heard of. Every gift order will be delayed a few days, and consist of you making a phone call to your bank. My bank doesn't even keep track of these so called "ship to addresses." They only care if the billing addresses match on the card. To make matters even more painful, I tried to cancel my order and take my business elsewhere. At this time, magically my order was released to the warehouse and would not be able to be canceled. All this with no chance of my gift getting there on time with all this delay. There isn't even a phone number listed on the website for customer support. Only email. Use this site at your own risk!"
"I have had pretty good luck with Buy.com. Prices are excellent and the customer service has always been above others I've delt with. The shipping is better than most. Looking at other ratings of Buy.com I must have done something right or the people writing the other ratings haven't."
"I will never buy another item from this company! This company doesn't seem to understand the definition of customer service.
I placed my order on Sunday July 5,2009 and received a confirmation e-mail that my order had been "processed" and it would be shipped in two to three days. I received no other communication from this company about my order until I contacted the company on Wednesday July 8, 2009 about my order. Also up to this point their was no activity from this company on my credit card. No "pending charges, no authorization, nothing, I receive an e-mail back that they are having trouble "verifying" my credit card but at the same time a "pending" charge from Buy.com mysteriously appears on my credit card. I sent an e-mail back asking why someone from Buy.Com did not contact me prior to me contacting them about this issue. I never received an answer to this question. After numerous e-mails back and forth and three days later, without ever having to verify my credit card, my order was "released" for shipment. I received my order ten days later! It was ordered on July 5th and received on July 14th. Not acceptable in my book. I contacted customer service several times but their only response or excuse was, "there was a problem with my credit card" and chose to do nothing about the issue.
Not a smart way to do business."
"Cannot say enough about how great buy.com is. I have bought close to thirty products from them over the past three and a half years. When ordering from buy.com directly every purchase I've ever made there has arrived in 3 days or less with free ground shipping. The marketplace items are from independent sellers and while equally reliable, shipping may take a few more days. I have never had to return a buy.com purchase. On one occasion I was sent the wrong product by a marketplace seller but they immediately sent me the right product the next day. I've also never had any problems with any of the products I've purchased there, but I do thoroughly research products before I buy them. You can't go wrong with buy.com."
"Item was NOT brand advertised. Got something generic instead."
"Recently, I was in the market for a smart phone. A friend of mine told me about a great deal at Buy.com for one that would fit my needs perfectly. I ordered the phone on Saturday 7/18 and received the phone on Wednesday 7/22. I did pay for upgraded shipping, but was still surprised at the minimal amount of time it took to arrive.
The phone works perfectly and is exactly as described. It even came with a few accessories not listed on the web. I'm glad that my friend recommended Buy.com and have been 100% happy with my decision to buy from them.
"
"I have ordered many times from buy.com. Only had to RMA one item over the years. No problem at all so far. I shop a lot at newegg and zipzoomfly but never hesitate to order from buy,com if the price is cheaper. Never had a problem that buy.com did not take care of in a timely manner. Everything I have purchased has been packed just as well as other etailers do.
Update, I no longer shop at buy.com, now called Rakuten.com. Just don't like their website at all."
"This online shop is bad! I ordered a SD card. I received a confirmation E mail and said I will get my SD card "in 7-9 days". I still haven't received it after almost a month! I tried to see my order status in company's website. I was even unbale to logon. It says my Email address doesn't exit in their system. Well, 7 dollars is not big money. But I feel sorry for buy.com sold their reputation for les than 10 buks. i will never buy anything from this company.
Update: i received E mail from buy.com. They promised to give me a replacement. I feel a lot better.
Update again: this afternoon, I am pleased to notice that a package arrived. I think buy.com after all does care its reputation and tried pretty hard to get things right. I will definitely go back to this online shop to purchase other stuff."
"This is my seven order from Buy.com, Excellent and fast delivery. Thanks"
"RockAuto Order Confirmation 1994849"
"I have used Buy.Com a total of 3 times so far; once I ordered 2 surge protectors (in 2006) and once my wife ordered a microwave unit about a month ago which turned up to not be in stock and the company never charged our credit card but mailed us about cancellation of the order.
This review is about another two surge protectors (APC Performance SurgeArrest P11VNT3). I placed the order online on the 14th of July. I was given an offer for just over $2 for 2-day shipping (as opposed to the normal over $5 in this case), so I took it. Overall value, including shipping (there was no tax) was the lowest on the market (just over $66). I received an email from them that the order was being processed; then next day I got another email saying the order had shipped. Indeed, 2 business days later (7/16) the item arrived through FedEx before mid-day.
Some reviewers have questioned whether some of these shipped items may be refurbished or not. My 2 cents worth on that is that while I received the items inside their original boxes, they were not wrapped in plastic as is often the case with such products. In theory, this _may_ indicate that these may have been opened, used, bought used through e-Bay etc. However, the products do "smell" new, there are no scratches, they seem to work fine and the plugs even have their plastic coverings for protection during travel. Even if these had been FACTORY refurbished someplace, that would not be an issue with me, at least for something as cheap as this.
I give a thumbs-up to this company's delivery process, as this is all I can really review here.
Our past experience with the microwave unit may indicate that there may be some issues with coordinating the availability of products online with the real availability from their warehouses. Nevertheless, in that situation we were only delayed for a couple of days and no one ever attempted to debit our card during any stage, unlike many dodgy companies out there that would be ready to do so. Strictly speaking not part of this review, of course, as we are allowed only one review per company.
In short: if you intend to buy relatively inexpensive items that are unlikely to be smashed during transit and that you are not too worried in case you have to go through an RMA, buy.com is certainly a good company to look out for. Time and again, their prices are indisputably among the best on the internet. Understandably, this may come with some cost, but I have not had an opportunity to examine anything other than initial ordering and delivery process. For those it gets full marks."