"I ordered a Motorola Pebl cell phone on 12/18 and paid extra for 3 day shipping. The website indicated that the item was in stock. My credit card was charged IMMEDIATELY and I got an e-mail response that said the item would be shipped either that day or the next. When checking the shipping status on their website, it indicated that my order was in "Packaging." I e-mailed after about a week and got a response that the item would be shipped the next day. It was not. I tried, unsuccessfully, to reach them by phone for an entire week. I sent another e-mail and this time the response was that the item would be shipped in a couple days and that they were upgrading my shipment to 2 day air at no additional cost. Again, no shipment! This time, when checking the website, the status had moved backwards from Packaging to Processing. When I finally was able to reach them by phone I was told that this item was not in stock and had not been in stock for some time. At that point, I canceled my order. It has now been 6 days and there has been no refund of my payment. I called again today and the woman I spoke with kept asking me what item I wanted to return! When I finally was able to get her to understand that I couldn't return something I never got, she told me it would take 48 - 72 hours to process my refund. Funny, it only took 48 - 72 MINUTES to charge my credit card! I have ordered many things from the internet over the past few years and this is the only company I have ever had a problem with. I placed an order for the phone from another company and had it in 2 days. If you order from Etronics, you might be one of the lucky ones to get your purchase with no problems but my advice to anyone considering placing an order with them is DON'T!!!! "

"I order vacuum witch was in stock, is 10 days still not ship out. I cancel my order . Won’t buy from them again .I’m ordering on line for over 10 years didn’t have such bad experience Very Dissatisfied"

"I called to order the Canon Powershot G7 since many reputable sites (Dealnews.com and eDealInfo.com) listed the great price etronics.com had it for. Their webpage said that you'd get a free tripod and screen protector (along with standard free shipping) if you called your order in rather than simply doing it online.

I called and was immediately annoyed-- the representative I spoke with kept messing with me-- "ok, how many batteries do you need?" "None, please" ... "WHAT?!? You don't want an extra battery?? What will you do?" ... "I'll recharge the battery..." ... "Ok, but it's your funeral!"

Then! "Ok, how many compact flash cards do you want?" ... "I'm ok-" ... [cuts me off] "Well, we have a special on a 1gb compact flash card..." ... "Ok, but, umm, the camera doesn't take compact flash, it takes secure digital cards." ... "Oh, uhhh, we have those on sale, too!

This kept going until every possible accessory was listed and after ever refusal came a highly annoying "WWWHHHHAAAAT?!?"

Next, I was asked how I wanted to ship it. I asked for the free shipping, which he said was no longer offered and listed a bunch of extremely high-priced options ($20-40). I said that I was looking at the webpage and it listed free shipping to which he replied, "Ohhh, *that* free shipping, ok."

He then mocked my last name (which really isn't that bad of a name, I swear!)

All of this bothered me, but I wanted the camera, so I gave him my credit info, etc.

Then I said, "One last thing, I wanted to make sure I'm getting the free tripod and screen protector that the website lists." He replied: "Yeah, yeah, yeah, shipping is free."

"No, I said, free tripod and screen protector." Then: "Yeah! You get free shipping.. Listen we already talked about this, it'll ship out for free."

"NO! THE WEBPAGE SAYS I GET A FREE TRIPOD AND SCREEN PROTECTOR FOR CALLING MY ORDER IN."

He says: "yeah"

me: "Yeah what?"

him: "Yeah, you get that"

Me: "I get what?"

him: "what you just said."

This went on for another 5 minutes where I kept asking him to tell me, precisely what I got for free, which he wouldn't do-- he just kept saying whatever the websites lists, I'll get.. He *promised me* I'd get it.

I then said, "You know, I'd like to just cancel this, it's getting a little absurb.

him: "WWWHHHAATTT?!? This is a great price!"

me: "Yes, but you are less than useless. I'd happily pay a premium not to deal with people like you."

him: "whoa whoa whoa, I've only been trying to help you out!"

Then we argued MORE about why I shouldn't cancel. Then he said I needed to speak with his supervisor and he put me on hold for about ten minutes (nice classical hold music-- not expecting that!)

The person that picked up was OBVIOUSLY the same guy, except talking really, really, really slowly. It took another 5 minutes of arguing over how I could cancel the order, then, all of the sudden this slow-talking "supervisor" switched into a normal voice and said "ok, thank you for calling, goodbye." and just hungup the phone.

So, if you want to get screwed, order from the company... They might as well call themselves 51s Street Photo or something. Order from Amazon, Newegg, Buy.com, or Frys-- you might pay more but you won't get screwed over..."

"The item I ordered did not ship for over a month after ordering it, despite the fact that they charged my credit card immediately. When I finally emailed to find out what the status of the order was, I received only "your item will ship in 3-5 business days" in response - of course it didn't. It took multiple emails to finally get the item shipped. In the mean time, it missed Christmas by a long shot. If they had been upfront and told me the item was not in stock it would have saved a lot of time. I won't do business with etronics.com again.


UPDATE MAY 2009:
Nearly two and a half years after I placed my last order (and 28 months after I submitted a negative review here), I just received an email from Etronics' "VP of Sales and Marketing" offering me a $50 Amazon gift certificate if I were to remove my negative review. This sort of offer is in direct violation of Resellerratings.com's terms and my own personal ethics. The time for Etronics to have improved their image would have been while my order was still current and they were ignoring my communications, not years later!"

"This is the first review of a store that I have ever written. I buy thousands and thousands of dollars of stuff online every year and I have never had a experience as bad as I have had with etronics.com. It has been so bad that I felt obligated to warn others. I placed an order on December 7, 2006 for 6 items totaling $549.93. They claimed that all items were in stock. They immediately took the entire $549.93 from my credit card even though, according to their written policy, they do not take payment until they actually ship items. After continuous inquiries by me, they finally shipped one of the six items about 10 days later and I am still waiting for my complete order to be shipped. Now, since they don't seem to actually have the items they say they have, I am trying to get my money back. So far, they have not credited my credit card account for the items that they have not shipped. Also, one of the items I ordered was missing a power cable. This electronics equipment is unusable without it, but I can't even get the courtesy of a response from them on that issue. This place is a nightmare to deal with. DO NOT BUY ANYTHING FROM ETRONICS.COM!!!!! If you do, you will be sorry!

UPDATE: After several more attempts to get etronics.com to ship me the final item or give me my money back, I've given up and gone to my credit card company to get my money back. It looks to me like they are going to go out of business."

"Purchased a Panasonic digital receiver, that was out of stock at most other sellers. No issues at all."

"Consumers should avoid this company!! I received a defective product and returned it according to the company's specifications. Refunds are promised within 5 - 7 days. After one month, I still had not received a refund. Company representatives kept asking for the order number, which was supplied several times. Eventually, I had to contact my credit card company in order to get the issue resolved. "

"Site said they had Sony Handycam hdr-hc3 in stock when I ordered. Received a call the next day where they tried to sell me new battery, warranty, etc. I declined all, though he wouldn't take no for an answer. I was extremely nice because I wanted the camcorder shipped by Christmas. I eventually told him to please ship the order as is, and had to hang up on him. Several days passed with my order not being shipped. On their website the item said it was still in stock. I sent an email to the service email address they provided, and received several returned email saying there was a "glitch" in their system and to please try contacting them later. After 10 days I called, waited half an hour on the phone to talk with someone; they said they where backordered on the item. I gave up and canceled the order; item was (and still is) listed as in stock on their web site."

"Couple high level comments:
- A number of reviewers got the same "glitch" reply when trying to contact etronics customer service. These seem to be at different times which makes one wonder if this is a standard reply allowing the e-mail to be ignored. I got on automated response but a week later nothing else.
- Also a number of folks had the same phone call battery up sell experience, where etronics called them or ask them to call to verify something and then they claim the battery included in the device on last "20 minutes" and you could get another better battery on "special". This is an absolute fabrication in my case. the camera battery is not about minutes, it is about shots and in any case last more than "20 minutes".

On to the review.

Ordered a hard to get camera indicated as in stock on the 27th. Prior to ordering, I called to verify the stock. The day after the order was contacted to verify my address, which actually turned out to be an attempt to up-sell me to a better battery (since the one with the camera only lasts "20 minutes). Since I know this information to be false I declined and was again told the item was in stock and would ship very soon. Also confirmed that the item would be new in box and a US model covered a US warranty (not grey market). I was told this was the case.

on the 30th I have noted the status finally changed from processing to packaging and I inquired about the shipping date. Was sent an automated response and no other response.

Today (the 30th) I sent another e-mail after I noted my credit card had been charged on the day of the order when the website specifically says they do not charge until the item is shipped.

So at this time I have no item, no indication it has shipped (4 days after the website says in stock and ships within 24 hours), my credit card is charged and have not heard anything other than an automated reply to my e-mails.

Do I think this is the way a good merchant works? No. Do I think I will get a new in box US item in the next few days? No.

This may turn out differently but so far they have my money and I have only an electronic promise to deliver.

If I do not hear on Tuesday, I will cancel my order and dispute the charge with my credit card company.

1/1/07 update: My order is now back to processing (from packaging). No response on my e-mails except a strange there was a glitch in our system so please resend you mail.

1/20/07: still no refund and no product (which I obviously at this point do not want). Have started BBB complaints and contacted my credit card fraud division. Run away very very fast from this merchant. Here is my latest to the BBB...

I have heard nothing on this matter submitted 11 days ago. The business still refuses to cancel the order or acknowledge customer service requests. It has lied to me on a number of occasions and I believe has simply committed fraud by taking money for a product not in stock (claiming it was in stock multiple times on their website and over the phone) and refusing to cancel the order and issue a refund. I am sure no one likes being lied to, this company seems to do it as a standard business practice and should likely be investigated. Please help me resolve this issue."

"after reading countless horrible comments, I bought a samsung bluetooth headset with all my fingers crossed. Item arrived in reasonable time in mint condition with authentic holograph. This makes me question those negative comments, who are you and why you wrote such negatives comments?"

"I ordered a Sony shower radio on Christmas Day. I received the order confirmation with tracking number the next morning. The item was delivered two days later in perfect condition. I am very happy with the speed of processing and shipment."

"The kings of bait and switch, dont let their great prices fool you, after you order they will try to upgrade you to a more expensive model. They told me the item was in stock and available for immediate shipment when I purchased. Then after several weeks of calling they said it was out of stock but I could purchase one that was in stock at twice the price. I said no I would wait for it to be restocked. Then I called several times as a new customer and was told it was in stock and would ship within 24 hours. When I called with my order number they again lied to me. They finally refunded my money after I would not upgrade and pay for the more expensive item. After I filed a complaint with the NYC BBB and others. They had no intention of shipping what I had ordered and paid for. Bait and switch business practices I believed had gone out with the dark ages but not at etronics. "

"Fraud! Paid for "Brand NEW Factory Sealed" Motorola HS850 Black. Received REFURBISHED item! The product has scratches all over it, shipped in a plastic bag. Customer service would not send new headset after a week of telling me "it is new," then "we package it ourselves," then "if you do not like the product, you can get a refund" but not the shipping! Frauds!"

"My first time ordering and my last! My camcorder was shown in stock per the website, but within a few days I receive an e-mail stating the item is on back order. I am urged to contact them right away by phone. When I call I am told that the camcorder I want is on back order but I should upgrade to the higher model, $300 more. I refuse and explained I will wait the 7-10 business days for the item. Then I get an e-mail stating the camcorder has been discontinued by the manufacturer. I call the manufacturer and am told that is absolutely not true. I contact etronics again by phone and e-mail and now once again am told the item is on back order. Finally I get an e-mail stating the item is now available but I need to call them since it's been so long if I would still like the camcorder. I call and after 25 minutes on hold waiting for customer service...a very rude person tells me that I have received the e-mail in error and that the camcorder is still on back order. I explain, I will wait for the camcorder. Just tried to check my order status online and now the order is gone."

"Bad experience. Ordered a new HDTV, paid for overnight shipping, 5 days later, no TV. Called customer service twice, two different reps told me the TV had shipped, but could not give me a tracking number. Eight days later, I get an email saying the order was cancelled because of wrong pricing. BAD! If the customer service reps didn't tell us an out and out lie, it might not have been so bad. STAY AWAY from this outfit, to many other reputable etailers to do business with. "