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Bad Customer Service from Surplus Computers
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Senior Member
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18. March 2008 @ 22:20 |
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Recently ordered a simple PC2100 1 Gig memory stick (for the kids computer), they sent me the wrong speed, a PC1600, and are proving to be very difficult to return the product. First I have to talk with a tech via E-mail, then fill out an RMA form and wait for them to issue me a number then I am to send it back to them and wait for them to figure out if they can accept it? From now on I'm sticking with Newegg.com exclusively.
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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19. March 2008 @ 14:12 |
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Thanks for the heads up! :)
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Senior Member
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19. March 2008 @ 21:09 |
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Update,
Have sent in via E-mail three times the RMA request form, a copy of the shiiping list, and finally the third time a photograph of the item in question. I'll draw the line when they want a plaster cast made of the memory stick.
Memory stick
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 19. March 2008 @ 21:10
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Senior Member
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19. March 2008 @ 22:40 |
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this is getting old, latest E-mail
Quote:
Hi, please review and follow our Return Procedure at http://www.surpluscomputers.com/store/Main.aspx?html=returns to complete one of the RMA form and we appreciate if you can include a picture for reference and verification.
Thank you.
Surplus Computers
53A Bonaventura Drive
San Jose, CA 95134
Fax: 408-577-1569
www.surpluscomputers.com
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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19. March 2008 @ 22:43 |
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Unfortunately you're becoming familiar with the technology retailers standard practice. There are very few places that don't operate like this. If you've bought something cheap and something goes wrong, they ignore it. After all, it's not like you're going to sue them for 20 dollars. The only solution in these cases is if it's a faulty product, have it repaired or cut your losses, or if it's a wrong product, sell it. Either that or actually sue them for twenty dollars.
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Senior Member
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19. March 2008 @ 23:58 |
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Or, just keep on reporting what happens and leave a bad taste in everyone's mouth...While praising the virtues of a company that actually takes care of its customers (NewEgg.com(
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AfterDawn Addict
23 product reviews
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27. March 2008 @ 18:10 |
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You can't call the company? I'm sure they have a phone number somewhere.
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Senior Member
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27. March 2008 @ 22:11 |
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They are to be contacted now by either E-mail or fax or snail-mail, I've tried all three now.
going to send the sixth E-mail tonight.
Quote:
ATTENTION: We are changing the way customer service is handled. Please read the following:
Send all emails to customerservice@surpluscomputers.com and type the following words in the subject line. To assure a prompt reply, please include your name and order number on the body of the message. At this time we will do all support through emails only.
Thank You.
For Adding/Deleting an item or any adjustment on your invoice type "ADJUST" in subject line
If an item is marked out, we no longer have the product available. Your original amount has been adjusted. Check your credit card statement before contacting us.
ONLY QUESTIONS FOR ADJUSTMENTS WILL BE ANSWERED AT THIS EMAIL ADDRESS.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 27. March 2008 @ 22:20
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varnull
Suspended permanently
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27. March 2008 @ 22:27 |
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Invoke your statutory consumer rights. Take your complaint to city hall ;)
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Senior Member
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31. March 2008 @ 18:21 |
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Finally a reply from them.
Like two weeks and counting,
I'm glad this was not critical.
Of course no mention that they shipped the wrong part!Quote:
Dear Customer,
Thank you for your RMA request. Your RMA Number is 676258.
This number is valid for 30 days. Always reference this RMA number in
your correspondence.
PLEASE DO NOT SEND ANY OTHER ITEM THAT DOES NOT HAVE AN RMA NUMBER!
THANK YOU.
RMA PROCEDURES
If you have requested a replacement
1. Ship only the item authorized for the RMA. Items must be in
the original packaging and include all manuals, discs, and accessories
unless otherwise noted. If we are replacing the motherboard only out of
a system, we would have you NOT return the speakers or keyboard.
2. Write the RMA# on the outside of the package. We will not
accept returns without a RMA#. They will be returned unopened.
3. The customer is responsible for the shipping of the product
back to Surplus Computers. Please ship a traceable method (i.e. UPS or
FedEx). Surplus Computers is not responsible for any lost shipments.
These shipping charges are non-refundable. No exceptions.
4. Upon receipt of the product, it will be tested and
determined if it is reshipped, or replaced. If the product tested "Not
defective", then the item will be reshipped. If it is defective,
Surplus Computers will ship a similar replacement using the same
shipping method as the original order.
5. If the item is out of stock, you will be asked to choose a
replacement from our website.
Advance Shipment Option
Please allow us 5 working days after receipt of your product to process
your RMA. If you require an immediate replacement, you may reorder on
our website at www.surpluscomputers.com for shipping within 48 hrs.
You must then notify the RMA Dept. at
customerservice@surpluscomputers.com and type RMA ISSUES in subject line
the same day you place the advance order and your existing RMA can then
be credited after it is received, tested and processed through the RMA
Dept.
If you have requested a credit
1. Ship items in the original packaging and include all manuals,
discs, and accessories.
2. Write the RMA# on the outside of the package. We will not
accept returns without a RMA#. They will be sent back unopened.
3. The customer is responsible for shipping product back to
Surplus Computers. Please ship a traceable method (i.e. UPS, or
FedEx). Surplus Computers is not responsible for any lost shipments.
These shipping charges are non-refundable. No exceptions.
4. Credits are issued only after we have received, tested, and
completed the processing of the RMA. It is up to the Issuing banks'
policies as to when the credit will be posted to your card based on the
billing cycle. Surplus Computers will not guarantee when a credit is
posted to your account.
Return products to: Surplus Computers
53A Bonaventura Dr.
San Jose, CA 95134
Attn: RMA # _________
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AfterDawn Addict
23 product reviews
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31. March 2008 @ 19:33 |
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Good to hear that they finally responded. If I were you though, I would leave a letter of complaint inside with the RMA explaining them that it took 2 weeks for the RMA to complete and that you were without your computer for this time (just lie xD)
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Senior Member
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31. March 2008 @ 19:43 |
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Next step. Better Business Bureau complaint, and a couple of bad reviews on bizrate.com
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AfterDawn Addict
23 product reviews
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31. March 2008 @ 22:00 |
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Originally posted by blivetNC:
Next step. Better Business Bureau complaint, and a couple of bad reviews on bizrate.com
Good next step.
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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1. April 2008 @ 10:19 |
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To be fair it's worked out better for you than many. With some companies it can take months and threat of legal action before they'll do anything. Some companies, even when threatened with legal action simply say "bring it!". I'm not joking either, Micro Direct in the UK take that attitude.
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Senior Member
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1. April 2008 @ 11:25 |
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Let's see what happems how fast they turn it around. I have ordered from them a few times in the past, but after checking their reviews, see that they have a long history of bad dealings similar to mine over the years. In this case, they plainly mislabeled the anti-static sleeve and had a PC-1600 stick inside the bag which said PC-2100. Working on three weeks now. Kinda sad. If we the public protest bad service by refusing to deal with bad merchants, then they should go away once and for all. Just my 2¢ worth.
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AfterDawn Addict
23 product reviews
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1. April 2008 @ 17:27 |
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Labeling wrong is something that happens a lot with online retailers. They just try to get the product out to you fast which is when mistakes happen. If a mistake on their end happens though, they should not take 2 weeks. I bet they get a lot of complaint emails if it took them that long.
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Senior Member
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21. April 2008 @ 01:22 |
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Directly from the Better Business Bureau's website, well now you all know to stay away from this company.
Quote:
Customer Experience
Based on BBB files, this company has an unsatisfactory record
BBB Definition:
unsatisfactory record - A company has an "unsatisfactory business performance record" with the BBB is based on the experiences reflected in BBB files. This file condition results when the company has failed to resolve or respond to complaints, repeatedly failed to respond or resolve issues in a timely manner, failed to resolve the underlying issues for a pattern
BBB Definition:
pattern - More than 2 complaints involving the same allegations usually within 12 months that are significant in relation to the company's size and volume of business.
of complaints, failed to honor their commitment to mediate or arbitrate disputes or honor mediated agreements or arbitrated decisions, failed to substantiate, modify or discontinue false advertising claims that are challenged by the BBB, or failed to discontinue unauthorized use of the BBB name and logo, a Federally protected trademark.
with the BBB due to a pattern
BBB Definition:
pattern - More than 2 complaints involving the same allegations usually within 12 months that are significant in relation to the company's size and volume of business.
of complaints and has failed to correct the underlying reason for the complaints. Specifically, our records show a pattern
BBB Definition:
pattern - More than 2 complaints involving the same allegations usually within 12 months that are significant in relation to the company's size and volume of business.
of non-response to consumer complaints brought to its attention by the BBB. Our records show that the company has a pattern
BBB Definition:
pattern - More than 2 complaints involving the same allegations usually within 12 months that are significant in relation to the company's size and volume of business.
of complaints concerning Service & Delivery Issues
BBB Definition:
Delivery Issues - Claims alleging delayed delivery of ordered merchandise.
.
When considering complaint information, please take into account the company's size and volume of transactions, and understand that the nature of complaints and a firm's responses to them are often more important than the number of complaints.
The BBB processed a total of 119 complaints about this company in the last 36 months, our standard reporting period.Of the total of 119 complaints closed in 36 months, 39 were closed in the last year.
Still awaiting a response from them regarding the replacement.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 21. April 2008 @ 01:24
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flance
Newbie
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21. April 2008 @ 12:03 |
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If you paid by CC can you dispute the charge?
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Senior Member
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22. April 2008 @ 07:13 |
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Quote:
Complaint ID#: 285711
Business Name: Surplus Computers
Thank you for contacting the Better Business Bureau. Your complaint was received by the Bureau on April 21, 2008 and has been assigned case# 1 in our files. Please make a note of this number for future reference.
Your complaint has been applied to the following business:
Surplus Computers
1600 Duane Ave
Santa Clara, CA 95054
The case has been reviewed and has now been forwarded to the business for their response. This business has until May 6, 2008 to respond to your complaint. You may contact our office after May 6, 2008 to check the status of your complaint.
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Senior Member
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22. April 2008 @ 15:58 |
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Quote:
Hi, we're in the process of sending the correct replacement to you.
Thank you.
Surplus Computers
180 E. Sunnyoaks Ave.
Building 3
Campbell, CA 95008
Fax: 408-376-0438
www.surpluscomputers.com
Finally a response after almost one month?
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Senior Member
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25. April 2008 @ 23:10 |
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Hooray,
Finally the correct memory showed up. Original order date, March 08, final delivery date, April 25th. I now have happy offspring.
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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26. April 2008 @ 07:35 |
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It's alright, it took about 6 weeks for an order to go through with Overclockers UK for one of my friends (and all the items in it were completely destroyed when they arrived) which is why I avoid posting offers from them.
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Senior Member
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26. April 2008 @ 08:07 |
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My main complaint has been the lack of communication, and the inability of them to even aknowledge there was a problem. Asking me to send a picture of it to prove it was the wrong item? But, that's life I guess.
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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26. April 2008 @ 08:28 |
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My friend's deal with OcUK was thus:
Order product 4 days before going back to university, have it sent to home address.
Despite choosing next day delivery at large exense, order sits at shop for 3 days before getting shipped - arrives at home address after havig left for university.
Tells shop to collect delivery and send it to university address - only possible after a week's wait since parents were away. Despite clarifying the address was correct several times, only two of the 7 lines of the address given were given to the courier, so whilst the product made it to the depot near the university, they tried to deliver it every day for a week but failed because the address was missing all its info. Eventually he went down to the citylink depot after reading all this on the tracking page and collected it himself, the day before the goods were due to be sent back due to failed delivery. The delivery was comprised of three hard disks and a UPS - all of which were so damaged they were unusable.
A couple of weeks before a PC case that was part of a larger order from overclockers arrived a week after the other parts of the order. "Oh, the driver must have not collected it".
When a company operates like this, it's on my do-not-use list.
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AfterDawn Addict
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3. May 2008 @ 18:15 |
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and yet bar one thing with me they hav been golden.
and i wouldnt blame them for the courier damaging the item. both scan and ebuyer use city link aswell, and citylink for me have been superb aswell.
so i got a DOA Bgrade P35C-DS3R from OcUK, and i called them up for a refund.
i sent i out on the same day (yesterday) and they emailed me they recived it this morning, and then another email telling me the refund was being proccessed.
superb from OcUK
so i got my full RMA refund hours after they recived it from OcUK. amazing!
then i bought a P5K-e and a freezer 7 pro from ebuyer, with their free 5 day delivery...and it came next day fantastic!
now orderd from scan, a sammy 320GB HDD with hexus free postage it took less than 24 hours to arrive.
eBuyer
Pros:
Free Delivery on Orders over £50 (Maximum 5 day wait, great if you aren't desperate for your items, but items can arrive sooner if load isn't high)
Good CS and RMA Service (Friend's HDD died just under a year, RMA'ed to eBuyer and tested as faulty/dead. Item was discontinued so instead offered him a full refund. £70 for his 250GB drive. He went and got himself a 500GB Sammy with £5 to spare) Great pricing. Most often Scan's today only prices are eBuyer's normal prices.
No charges on NFF for RMA's (None for me anyway). Can add and remove items from order easily.
Customer Service Phone/Email open 2 hours longer than the other two.
Deliveries always on time. (ie no last minute delays, nothing to do with CityLink)
Happy Hours.
Ability to switch between vat and ex vat prices on the site.
6 Phone calls to CS and I've never been on initial hold for longer than 25 seconds. So pretty quick, and it's an 0870 number which is around 6p/min whereas the other 2 have 0871 10p/min numbers.
Cons:
No major ones so far for me. If website layout was like OcUK that would be fabbo.
No direct email address for queries but there is an eNote system like a ticket one.
Scan
Pros:
Hexus Free Delivery
Good prices, Today Only and specials.
Customer Service is great most of the time for quite alot of people.
SMS Order Notification (Pretty sure it's free but correct me if I'm wrong). Have a Scan.Care forum at Hexus although it's not guaranteed to be fast it's quick most of the time. Direct Email address for queries and all sorts.
Takes suggestions for items to stock. (May take a while, Thermalright Ultra 120 took 7 months iirc but it's better than nothing right?)
Lowest free delivery price (Only if you have Hexus Free delivery or the AVForums one or PC Pro one iirc)
Cons:
Slow site - sometimes (Than competitors), Search engine slow - all the time (better to use Google to search the site for your item).
I blame the aspx software for the above two. Either that or bad coding or just a real slow database and server. The other two are PHP based web servers and are significantly faster for searching/browsing.
Stock system is slow and quite a lot of the time your order will be updated in the evening saying items are out of stock etc. Have to ring up CS to modify an order. Crap memory selection as there is only Corsair and other tat memory. Seem to be have an exclusive deal with Corsair but if Corsair's your thing then they have the best pricing most of the time. At the last minute you'll be notified if your order is delayed. (Quite a few people had problems with this)
10p/min phone line, coupled with ringing up to change your order costs quite a bit.
Overclockers UK
Pros:
Deliveries always on time. (ie no last minute delays, nothing to do with CityLink).
Nice site and navigation, also fast loading.
Quite a wide range on everything.
Item's on sale pricing every week.
Clearance Section/B Grade section.
Cons:
Items can be badly packed at times.
Sometimes you may receive B grade items (Can be rectified though)
Pricing is significantly higher on products in demand.
Website shows item prices as ex vat, quite annoying when you actually want to know the real price.
Some people have bad experiences with CS and RMA's but no problems had here. But like i have said they are quite useful for their ram range.
Isn't much of a Con but quite alot of people don't like their marketing style/selling practices. ie 3Ghz Guaranteed Q6600 at a higher price. Well if an idiot goes and buys that it can't be helped. It's not OcUK's fault people are that stupid to pay for it. No lies were told in the product description anyway.
It's just that most people slag off OcUK at any occasion
No free delivery options anytime.
I'm sure others may have constructive pros and cons to add from their experiences.
MGR (Micro Gaming Rig) .|. Intel Q6600 @ 3.45GHz .|. Asus P35 P5K-E/WiFi .|. 4GB 1066MHz Geil Black Dragon RAM .|. Samsung F60 SSD .|. Corsair H50-1 Cooler .|. Sapphire 4870 512MB .|. Lian Li PC-A70B .|. Be Queit P7 Dark Power Pro 850W PSU .|. 24" 1920x1200 DGM (MVA Panel) .|. 24" 1920x1080 Dell (TN Panel) .|. This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 3. May 2008 @ 18:31
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