[chrisharty]

I recently made a purchase on Newegg's website anhd instead of using my card I sent them a personal check. It was wrapped in the printed order form, and the order number was clearly printed on the check.

5 days later I called and they said they had no record of my check ever arriving. If I wanted to keep the current price of my items I would have to change the method of payment. So I had the order taker bill it to my Visa check card linked to the same account... AND tld them not to deposit the check if they came accross it, as it would now cause an overdraft.

Well, I received notification from my bank. The check was deposited on Monday. I'm not done tallying up the list of overdrafts incurred but it will be in the hundreds of dollars. I've already filed a BBB complaint against Newegg in this matter, plan to send copies of all the overdraft charges and the emails from his staff that stated they never received my check, as well as a copy of the cleared check. If this doesn't get me anywhere I will take them to small claims court.

I've spent $8000 on their site since 2005. Looks like I'll take my business elsewhere from now on. As for mail-in payments, if I can't pay by card, I'll do without.

Chris Harty

[coastie65]

Hi and elcome to the forum. When ordering by mail, you best be prepared to wait 14 to 21 days as that is the usual time for those things to be processed. That having been said, there seems to be a problem in that the payment was ultimately made by Debit card, but yet the check was still processed. Once you had made the payment by debit card, you could have called the Bank and asked for a stop payment on the check. The downside is, if it is like my bank, there is a charge for a stop payment ( about $35). On the other hand, if the payment was ultimately made by Debit card, then the Bank may well waive the stop payment fee for the check. As far as the BBB goes, you are right in reporting it to them, but be advised that all they do is file a report. When someone checks on that Business, they wil see that a report or more was filed for this or that reason. They do not under take any kind of action, for that you would need to contact a Consumer Advocacy group. coastie

[Rommel]

coastie65, on 07 October 2009 - 05:42 PM, said:

Hi and elcome to the forum. When ordering by mail, you best be prepared to wait 14 to 21 days as that is the usual time for those things to be processed. That having been said, there seems to be a problem in that the payment was ultimately made by Debit card, but yet the check was still processed. Once you had made the payment by debit card, you could have called the Bank and asked for a stop payment on the check. The downside is, if it is like my bank, there is a charge for a stop payment ( about $35). On the other hand, if the payment was ultimately made by Debit card, then the Bank may well waive the stop payment fee for the check. As far as the BBB goes, you are right in reporting it to them, but be advised that all they do is file a report. When someone checks on that Business, they wil see that a report or more was filed for this or that reason. They do not under take any kind of action, for that you would need to contact a Consumer Advocacy group. coastie

Hi,
I agree with coastie's reply.

I don't believe newegg purposely tried to screw you. 5 days isn't much time after sending a check. I don't know their policy when recieving one but I am sure they will wait for it to clear before pulling your order. And when does it actually show in the system?

My guess is you recieved bad advice when you called.

With your bank documentation showing you paid twice for the same order, I would be surprised if newegg doesn't resolve this to your satisfaction.

When I first registered at newegg they made a minor goof and gave me a $15 coupon which I already used.

You haven't mentioned neweggs reply when you told them what had happened?
Did you contact the BBB first before calling newegg?

Rommel

[mphenterprises]

chrisharty, on 07 October 2009 - 02:07 PM, said:

I recently made a purchase on Newegg's website anhd instead of using my card I sent them a personal check. It was wrapped in the printed order form, and the order number was clearly printed on the check.

5 days later I called and they said they had no record of my check ever arriving. If I wanted to keep the current price of my items I would have to change the method of payment. So I had the order taker bill it to my Visa check card linked to the same account... AND tld them not to deposit the check if they came accross it, as it would now cause an overdraft.

Well, I received notification from my bank. The check was deposited on Monday. I'm not done tallying up the list of overdrafts incurred but it will be in the hundreds of dollars. I've already filed a BBB complaint against Newegg in this matter, plan to send copies of all the overdraft charges and the emails from his staff that stated they never received my check, as well as a copy of the cleared check. If this doesn't get me anywhere I will take them to small claims court.

I've spent $8000 on their site since 2005. Looks like I'll take my business elsewhere from now on. As for mail-in payments, if I can't pay by card, I'll do without.

Chris Harty

coastie65, on 07 October 2009 - 05:42 PM, said:

Hi and elcome to the forum. When ordering by mail, you best be prepared to wait 14 to 21 days as that is the usual time for those things to be processed. That having been said, there seems to be a problem in that the payment was ultimately made by Debit card, but yet the check was still processed. Once you had made the payment by debit card, you could have called the Bank and asked for a stop payment on the check. The downside is, if it is like my bank, there is a charge for a stop payment ( about $35). On the other hand, if the payment was ultimately made by Debit card, then the Bank may well waive the stop payment fee for the check.

Rommel, on 07 October 2009 - 06:29 PM, said:

I don't believe newegg purposely tried to screw you. 5 days isn't much time after sending a check. I don't know their policy when recieving one but I am sure they will wait for it to clear before pulling your order. And when does it actually show in the system?

My guess is you recieved bad advice when you called.

Hi chrisharty and welcome to the PCWorld Communities.





Hi have moved this thread from the Answer Line section into the On Your Side section.



I have quoted the most relevant information from each of the previous posts. First, as Coastie and Rommel stated, five days is no where near enough time to allow for snail mail processing. This country (and other countries) are moving to more electronic forms of payment. I have been a Newegg customer since 2001 and have never had an issue regarding payment. As Rommel mentioned, when I did have one minor issue, they credited my account and gave me an online coupon to use on my next purchase. Newegg is a very reputable company and I highly doubt this was a malicious act on their part.

I put the most resounding information in bold text. As Rommel mentioned, this was a gross oversight on the part of the customer service representative. Customer Service representatives are paid to do one thing and one thing only: service the customer. Normally, they are not very technical in any one specific field nor do they have any knowledge of anything outside of their training. For an issue such as this, a supervisor should have been contacted to verify that the issue was resolved. However, their was an slight oversight on your part as well. You indicated that you told the customer service representative not to cash the check. The problem with that is the customer service representative has nothing to do with the payments. All he or she sees is whether or not an item is paid. The Billing department controls how something is paid and then notates the account so that the customer service representative can inform the customer of payment.

Hindsight being 20/20, when you called back after five days, it may have been in your best interest to:

- verify payment (which you did)
- since payment was not processed, pay by another method (which you did)
- ask to be transferred to the Billing department so that the original check payment could be canceled

Additionally, as Coastie stated, you could have contacted your bank and stopped payment on the check. The stop payment fee is not fixed across the board. The fee is based on the bank's discretion. For example, my bank only charges $20 for stop payments.

In addition, the payment of the item via a debit card will not automatically negate the payment of something via a check. Any fees incurred from this transaction should be discussed with your branch. Depending on the circumstance and the frequency of the issue, the fees may be waived. There is no guarantee but the branch (or Branch Manager) makes the final decision.

As to filing with the Better Business Bureau, that is always a good idea. However, I do not think it is warranted in this case. From what I can tell, Newegg did nothing wrong. The customer service representative may have misinformed you of some information but believe me, I think we all have experienced that at one point. Unless they have really fell down the tubes, the last time I checked, Newegg had an A rating with the Better Business Bureau. This means that they resolve any issue that is presented to them in a timely manner. To retain you as a customer, they may even bite the bullet on this one and accept responsibility for the oversight. I understand that you may be upset with the level of service you received; however, please keep in mind that there is a human on the other end of the phone. Humans make mistakes. One miscalculation should not ruin what appears to be a solid business relationship.