Newegg.com charges restocking fees even for defective merchandise. Wow.
After a bunch of trouble with my home-built computer, I figured and confirmed the problem: bad memory slots in the motherboard. I went to return the thing to Newegg.com. They’re happy to do so… with a 15 percent restocking fee.
This is a defective item, but Newegg still needs to “restock” it? I get to pay $17 plus $10 shipping to return a defective motherboard. As I said, wow.
Now, this is clear in Newegg’s policies. Stupid me for not reading that restocking fees apply even to defective products. But this is the second defective item I’ve got from Newegg in the past month. The first I replaced, but this time I’m going to spend my money elsewhere.
My conclusion: Newegg has good prices because it sells “second-tier” merchandise — the stuff that should be as good as the rest, but may not be. Knowing their stock may have problems, the company covers itself by charging a fee to “restock” defective stuff. (It’s possible that manufacturers offer less of a refund to Newegg as well.)
I love Newegg’s product-selection tools. But now I’ll be smarter: I’ll use it to find what I want, but I’ll head somewhere else to actually buy. I’ve had great luck with Mwave, and I should have stuck with it. That’s my lesson for trying to save a buck or two.
The Fray
Dave says:
Agreed with above. Their RMA process is better than most *cough cough TD cough cough*. For returning an item outright most places do charge a fee. Newegg has treated me good over the years and dozens of RMA’s later I still go to them.
Andrew says:
I wrote back to Alex thanking him and asking what he can do. It’s a shame that I had to contact them (via online chat — 17-minute wait) to ask that the fee be waived, but it’s good that the company does that.
Alex –
Thanks for this note — it’s very much appreciated. I tried to do a chat with customer service at the time, but the wait was close to 20 minutes.
The RMA FAQ does say there’s a restocking fee for every return, period, and even when I indicated on the RMA form that it was defective, it still charged the fee. So I never would have known otherwise if you hadn’t written.
My RMA is #——. The original order number was ——-. I haven’t sent the motherboard back yet (I figured to do it tomorrow), but any help you can give is appreciated.
Many thanks!
How Newegg regained a customer | Andrew Kantor's Place says:
[...] other day, I wrote about a bad experience I had with Newegg.com. Essentially, I was annoyed that I had to pay a restocking fee on a defective [...]
Alex Villarino says:
Dear Valued Customer,
We truly apologize for any inconvenience. First off, please be assured we do not charge a restocking fee for defective items. When customers place there RMA’s online the system automatically charges that restock fee. Unfortunately you would have to actually contact us to waive that restock fee or have us issue the RMA for you and we will not charge a restocking fee. Please contact me at alex.a.villarino@newegg.com or by telephone at 800-390-1119 ext.25040 for further assistance in this matter.
Sincerely,
Newegg Support