"On Nov. 28, 2004, I ordered a pair of 14-kt. white gold and blue topaz earrings from Overstock.com for my daughter's birthday. On Dec. 3, I received a white gold and blue topaz necklace. I contacted the company and was told I had to return the necklace before they would credit my account and send me the earrings. They said it would take 10 days to send me the return label and then another 2-3 weeks to restock the item.

In order to get the earrings in time for my daughter's birthday, I agreed to keep the necklace, and order the earrings again with a $20 discount. On Dec. 9, I received a second white gold and blue topaz necklace!

When I called the company to complain, the service representative was extremely rude and told me that I had received earrings, not necklaces -- even though I was holding 2 necklaces in my hand! I asked for return shipping labels for both products since I just wanted to be done with this company and never hear from them again. When I hadn't received the return shipping labels three weeks later, I sent and e-mail and was "guaranteed" I would be contacted within 24 hours. HA! It took another week to get return shipping labels.

I have returned both products which cost me a total of $89. So far, I have received credit for only the first item. It cost me $59, but I only got $39 credit since I was charged a "restocking fee" for the wrong items.

My advice is to avoid Overstock.com at all costs. Their seemingly low prices are a scam. They now have $50 of my money and I have no products!

I hope this helps the next unsuspecting customer.
"

"At the risk of going against the tide here, I must say my one and only experience with these guys went off without a hitch. I ordered a stack of DVDs for $154 shipped (which, at Amazon, worked out to $202) that they reported as being in stock. Miraculously, they were, and were shipped out the following day and arrived at my house three days later. They were packed properly. They were all new and unused (or damn good counterfeits .... JUST KIDDING), and were exactly what I ordered no more no less. True, I may have gotten away lucky this time, and maybe I still would have some reservations the next time I'm thinking about ordering, but for now, I suppose they get the benefit of the doubt.

Update: Two of the DVDs I received from them had manufacturing defects that made parts of them unplayable. I've contacted Overstock for a RMA to exchange them. They replied to my request within a day, and promised a RMA within "four business days". It's now a week later and I'm still waiting. This doesn't look good, and I'm changing parts of my rating.

Update 11 March: I'm *still* waiting for the RMA to exchange the defective merchandise. I've contacted Overstock's CS EIGHT times by mail and THREE times by phone. On the first two phone calls I was put on hold for over 15 minutes and then dropped. The third time the guy tells me that the return label was sent out 'yesterday'. Why the first two couldn't tell me that, I don't know, but it wouldn't surprise me at this point that the third guy just made it up.

I have now downgraded my rating to go with the tide. There are too many other godo merchants out there to screw around with these knuckleheads. "

"BEWARE of this place! I purchased a CD burner that turned out to have problems and called them for a return. No problem getting a return authorization number, but after that everything has been unsatisfactory. I am having a similar experience to another "happy" poster to this thread. They told me that the return label would be e-mailed within 4 business days, and we're up to day 8 now, and getting the same B.S. excuses from customer service. First one says that "they're behind in processing" them. Another one just says that she'll "send a reminder."

Think about it for a second. Why should it take days to email a UPS label? Amazon dos it in minutes. And why is the RA processing "backed up?" Do they have so much bad merchandise coming back that they can't handle it in a timely manner?

This is my first and also going to be my last transaction with the big O."

"Very poor service. I ordered on 2/3 and billed on 2/4.
Book did not ship by 2/15. I called and a supervisor said she could not cancel the order, making it impossible to order from another source. Finally got her boss to cancel order. Much too much hassel for me to consider ever ordering from them again."

"Bad experience, never again. Items were not as expected, and return pf unopened items was refused."

"False Advertising on Overstock.com:
This order was my second in the same month for a product (Maxtor External Hard Drive) I found on their website. Both times the product delivered did not match the one I ordered. Both times they explained the return policies (which in no way stopped me from returning BOTH) but offered no extra assistance or restoration for thier mistake. I now have to pay for interest on my credit card for both purchases becasue they take up to 2 months to return your credit on a purchase. To add insult to injury, the product delivered was a hard drive, but within another casing and no identifiable marks (i.e. I couldn't tell who made it!). The second time I recieved this hard drive I returned to overtsock.com to look up the availability of what I had ordered (were they still offering the Maxtor Hard Drives?) only to find a picture of this unidentifiable product. Assuming I made a mistake, I attempted to boot up and install the hardware. It is at this point I realized they are advertising one product and delivering another. Clearly a case of false advertising(expcet they probably have a note somewhere on their website that say information is not deemed reliable or garaunteed; I guess that means I can put a sign like that in my store's window and sell anything I want as long as I except returns).

First, the installation CD would not boot (i.e. would not install the proper software on my computer to recognize the hard drive). Second, the software and hard drive were made by PLUMAX (?). I tried to research them on line only to find they have no website, and can only be purchased through resellers. Needless to say I returned the hard drive for the second time and will never be purchasing anything from overstock.com again. This company needs a real wake up call on how to treat its customers, or it is headed the way to the dinosaur!"

"I ordered a ring and recieved the wrong version. So I sent a email to customer support to exchange the ring for the one I ordered. Everything seemed to go well until my new ring arrived because it was the same one that I sent back."

"I ordered a 3" mattress pad near of end of 2004. They sent me a 2" pad. I contacted them right away. Per their suggestion, I waited few days for it to get back to its uncompressed form. Still it measured up only 1 3/4" after 4 days. It was obvious it was not a 3" pad. I offered them to accept the 2" pad, and get the price difference. We could not agree on the amount of price difference. I produced the price difference on the day I ordered the item. They wanted to give the price difference as of that very day which was more than $20 less than when I ordered the item. Moreover, they insisted on giving store credit instead of credit back to my card. So at the end, they suggested I oreder a new 3" pad, and simply return the 2" pad. As promised, they sent me a pre-paid shipping label with a tracking # via e-mail. I got the new 3" pad (measured 2 3/4" right after I laid it out). I sent back the 2" pad. More than a month after they received the returned item (confirmed by their own rep), Overstock.com failed to issue the refund. Not only that, they haven't even acknowledged that a wrong item was sent (which, according to them, is the very first step in issuing refund). Despite multiple phone calls, I haven't received refund or acknowledgement yet. It has seriously undermined my confidence in them. This pad was below $120. I am not sure if I would do business with them again in the future, if the item I want is expensive. "

"I purchased a motherboard from Overstock that arrived DOA. I put in an RMA request and was told that I would receive my UPS mailing label and my RMA# within 4 days. 5 days later I contacted them again because I never received my label. They told me I would need to wait 4 business days (which I already had done) so the rep assured me that it would be coming. A few days later, I contact them again and inquire about my missing label and RMA#. The rep tells me that when I called the last time, they started the process over and so I would have to wait another 4 days. Give me a break! Finally my label is emailed to me (over two weeks after my initial request) and I send out the mobo for a refund. I just received my refund last week (almost 2 months after ordering the item). In the meantime, I had ordered another mobo from them. The same scenario is playing out. It arrived DOA and I'm having a hell of a time returning it. It's been almost 2 weeks since the original request was submitted and I've just received my label and RMA#. I'm starting to think that Overstock purposefully makes it difficult to return items so that they can float your credit and make money or deter you from returning items altogether. They simply have the worst customer service I have ever encountered. The only good thing I can say is that because the items were defective, they did cover shipping and waive the restocking fee."

"I ordered a leather coat for my wife a few days before Christmas. The coat arrived on time and appeared to be nice. Yesterday after wearing this $100 coat 6 or 7 times total it developed a large rip in it. I thought no problem I will give them a quick call, send it back and get another because of obvious workmanship problems. Not a Chance!! I went around with customer service people for over an hour. Bottom line is the return period is 20 days from purchase no exceptions. Needless to say this is the only money this company will ever get from me. Can anyone provide the email address for the CEO? From what I have seen , he probably does not care either. Very poor way of doing business!!"

"I placed an order on December 14, only to discover on receipt it was a refurbished item. I requested an RMA number, and returned it, with receipt by Overstock on December 30th. I am still awaiting a refund almost A MONTH later, and have heard nothing but excuses and delays from their representatives. They continuously have promised to get the credit completed, and to contact me by a certain date, and it never happens.

At this point, I am unsure if this is due to incompetence, or a poor attempt at boosting company stock by delaying credit due from Holiday returns.

I have e-mailed the board of directors and CEO Dr. Byrne, and if no resolution is received, I will report to the BBB and dispute with my Credit Card.
A copy of my last e-mail communication to an Overstock CSR is listed below:

Thank you for shopping with Overstock.com, and for informing us of not receiving refund for 'Samsung SC-D5000 MiniDV Camcorder/4.1MP Digital Camera.' I apologize for the inconvenience caused. To provide you with the correct information required to answer your email, I have forwarded your message to a specialized representative who has access to the information needed to answer your request.



Please be advised some questions can take several days to answer as we need to contact third parties. However, we guarantee you will be contacted via email or phone within four business days. I apologize for the additional time this will take, and look forward to a positive resolution.



Marilyn, please let us know if we can be of further assistance.



Sincerely,



Bennet J.

Overstock.com

I have made a total of five attempts at receiving credit for the merchandise, a large purchase totaling $449.99.

"

"I've made several purchases in the last four years from Overstock.com. My last order however resulted in a very poor experience. I ordered a new Microsoft wireless mouse and was sent a refurbished one. I contacted customer support and they admitted that I was sent the wrong item. They emailed a return label and said that after they received the mouse and verified that it was in good condition, I would be sent a replacement. A few days after sending it back, I got an email stating that I was given a store credit (because I stupidly used Paypal). I sent back a response asking why I wasn't being sent a replacement mouse (it was still in stock). The response from customer service was that they were sorry for the inconvenience but my account had a credit and I should just re-purchase the mouse. Because I had purchased other items with the mouse, I was given a partial credit for the shipping charge. The credit did not cover the cost for re-purchase. I ended up buying a mouse elsewhere.... I then tried to place another order so I could use the credit, no go. The credit does not show when I try to check out. Two more emails to customer service has done nothing except result in two more responses that are obviously canned responses. It's almost funny, it is obvious that they are not reading my questions; they are just sending the same response over and over that I have a store credit that I can use on my next purchase. I started checking around at resellerratings, planetfeedback and others and found that Overstock has a history of sending refurbished items instead of new and of not successfully crediting customers accounts.
I've sent one last email and then it's off to the BBB.
"

"I order a bench from this company. The price was good. The bench was damaged by UPS and I never received it. I am still waiting for a refund and I am told that Overstock is still waiting for it to arrive at their warehouse. How can it take more then a month to receive it. Overstocks policy in situations like this is absolutely awful. Customer service just keeps apologizing but nothing seems to get this matter moving more quickly."

"I ordered a DVD on December 28, 2004. Their website specifies that the item normally leaves their warehouse within 2 business days. On January 15, 2005, the order status was still "in process." I contacted them twice on Jan. 11 and Jan. 15, respectively. They kept saying their research teams would need 4 business days or so to find out the problem. This is simply unprofessional and inefficient. The ridiculous thing is that they charged me by credit card on the day I placed the order, but they would need up to 8 business days from the day of cancellation to credit back. I won't do any online shopping with the company any more."

"Ordered a $32 casio pathfinder and received a different model then what was pictured. They wanted a $4.95 restock fee. Taking into acount that plus the cost of return shipping, I decided I may as well keep it as a secondary watch even though it is not what I wanted.

Will not be buying again."