New Egg - not all it's cracked up to be

[Apprentice_941]

I have some pretty sour experience with New Egg regarding a recent Westinghouse LCD TV purchase. First, I wish to say that I am a real person not an employee of a competitor out to ruin their name without cause.

Recently I purchased a Westinghouse LVM-37W3 37" 1080p HD LCD TV I bought from them, which has a fatal green/cyan cast through all inputs/ and at all resolutions, which is uncorrectable. The TV does have a meager "Hue" adjustment as there are no indivdual RGB controls. The hue control is practically useless for color correction, and does nothing to erase the green cast.

I cannot keep a TV with a 10cc green cast to everything.

BUT... New Egg does not accept returns on any TV larger than 24" or 27". The Westinghouse customer service furthermore denied there was a problem with their product, so sending to them for a look does not appear promising either.

This is a significant problem for a display such as a large HDTV, as video sources such as HD DVD or Blu-Ray Players do not have internal user adjutable RGB controls to offset a TV's inaccurate colors.

I tried to warn other potential buyers on New Egg's website in their product feedback forum of this LCD HDTV problem (lack of a simple RGB control) but New Egg censored the review by simply refusing to post it to their site - I tried to leave feedback on the product twice to no avail.

So all that positive feedback you see on New Egg's products, may be censored, self serving info selected to move their product, not inform you as a potential buyer.

Furthermore, New Egg's poor customer service when I chatted to them on this issue has further has convinced me that this is not a company I should spend my hard earned bucks on.

In fact, this has been the worst customer service experience I have had with any compny, and I use a large number of reputable vendors to make that judgement.

You could say the Egg's on my face.

UPDATE: March 12, 2007

To my astonishment, New Egg Customer Service contacted me and took my problem seriously. They corrected everything: shipping both ways and refund. I am very grateful for that.

New Egg, ResellerRatings.com, and all forum members below who took time to read and reply to this post - Thank you all very much.

I believe the 37" Westinghouse 1080p LCD HDTV TV would have been a grand slam success with me, except for the huge oversite to leave user color correction controls out of the firmware.

Thank you all again!

Apprentice_941

[frostbitetwice]

Westinghouse, would not be my first choice of TV's, so it must of been the price. I am sorry that you had a quality issue with your product, but as you said Egger would not take it back, as they clearly stated. That being said, I would not purchase such an item from any vendor who had this policy. There are many times when the internet is not a good purchasing vehicle. I believe your issue is more with the house than egg.

[Peter Cornstalk]

I would file a dispute with my credit card company if you really believe it is an unacceptable picture and Westinghouse is not going to fix it under warranty.

These new LCD screens are just too damn expensive not to have a good picture.

Seems to be a lot of problems with LCD big screens from all manufacturers being pumped out with less than acceptable pictures. Sony and Sharp included.

It sounds like the warranty that came with the TV is no good... that means NewEgg sold you something that is not as described, which is a good reason for a charge back.


See my problem with a Sharp LCD here: http://www.resellerratings.com/forum...d.php?t=124938 (PlasmaBay.com Are Liars)

[crimsoneagle440]

I will agree with you on this... Newegg can be really good sometimes but other times they can be a pain in the butt. Their customer service always ties me up. Unless if its a request for an RMA or product request I generally have to talk to three customer service reps in order to actually get a good answer to my problem.

Based on my experiences though, you should ONLY buy computer hardware products from them. Anything else like TVs, handheld game consoles, games, etc. should really be best purchased at a store.

[crimsoneagle440]

I should give an example of why their customer service is a joke- sorry I am not registered apparently and so I can't edit my post.

I got a PSP with a horrendous screen that ghosts- I will not attribute the damage from Newegg but rather UPS as they sent my PSP from CA to KY to TX to IL before it arrived to my doorstep. Anyway, I asked a customer service rep if I was going to get a PSP that was refurbished or new. I've only had the PSP for 5 days and she says, "Your PSP will be replaced with a refurbished one." Understandably I was pissed. A defect that's not even my fault- I pay full price and you're giving me crap that's worth 2/3rds the value of the original? There's a reason why I bought a new one and not a used PSP! So I had to contact another service rep and he says that they will replace it with a new one- anything can be replaced within 90 days of a purchase. This sounded a bit odd because Newegg has 30 day RMA returns so just to make sure I had to talk to ANOTHER rep and he finally said that I had a "99% chance of getting a new one."

How reassuring. 99%. What about the other 1%? I decided not to ask.

[flipper812002]

IMHO. I suggest calling jason or kate at newegg they are really good at helping people out as far as they can. You do have to understand that even they have their limitations though. For example did you know when you pick 3 day shipping that newegg goes off the ups estimatior for shipping and will change it to ground if it says it will reach there in 3 days. Well the shipping estimate is just that an estimate. Also the disclaimer about this on neweggs site says they will pass on the savings to the customer yet if you keep track of it they never do shipping is always the same amount before and after they change it.

So newegg keeps the savings to themselves and therefore rakes in millions of dollars a year for the fraudlent behavior. The only way to make that part of shipping honest is to offer ups ground as an option so u can see the differece in cost which they wont do. After all it is millions of free dollars a year for a company that makes well over 2 billion a year. I find it fraudlent because not only does the customer pick that shipping for a reason mainly because they need the product at a certain time. Ground is NOT a ups garanteed 3 day service and that comes from ups directly. Anything that is shipped from the new jersey warehouse to here about 85% of the time will not arrive in 3 days.

They told me all i had to do was call or email them and they will give me free fed ex 3 day from that location so they were willing to work with me. Problem is that doesnt fit my building schudele. I get off work at 5 and start about 7 or 8 looking for the parts i need to build the next one and usually order by 10 or 11 pm which is after hours and usually i order on friday night so i always get the following week no later than thursday to have it ready for my customer by sat. Well i only charge a 50. fee for building and if im late i waive the fee after all they can always go to a major dealer and get one instead of me but i can usually show them that i can build them one cheaper and better than say hp, dell, compaq, alienware and so on. I also provide tech support for 3 years from the purchase date so i tend to do alot of business at least 1 a week. Because of their shipping like they do i lost 2 fees over 3 months thats 100. I recived a credit for 50. the first time and 40. the second after that i gave up. I wont buy from them again and the friends i had that were starting to buy from their quit also. They bought from newegg because they trusted my judgement and not newegg so when i left they on their own decided to follow.

I do hope someday Newegg decides to become honest in their shipping but i really doubt it after all we are talking about millons in free money for them and if they lose a few customers over it, it is more profitable to let them go.

So in conclusion newegg does have good prices most time and great customer support in most instances but they are still dishonest in the way they do shipping and i am sure if you look hard enough in CA. consumers laws they cant change your shipping without a reduced cost to the customer. Someday i might even find that law but in the meantime i hope other customers will put the pressure on them to become honest after all if you pay 30. shipping fee and it changes to ground they only pay 10 and you just got ripped off of 20.

[flipper812002]

If this happens to you i suggest that you contact the california attorney general and the CA. BBB. With enough complaints the attorney general will investigate it. Only then do i beleive it will get changed. Here are the links for both.

http://ag.ca.gov/contact/complaint_form.php?cmplt=CL

NewEgg Computers
9997 E Rose Hills Rd
Whittier, CA 90601 That is how it is listed on the BBB page and the following link will take you to the complaint form.

http://www.oakland.bbb.org/complaint.html

[IMAGINE2525]

I've had nothing but outstanding service from Newegg after many purchases a a couple of issues (not with them, but the product)

If you really wanted a adventure and poor service be thankful you did not buy from TVauthority.

Westinghouse poor choice, poor company, that yopur haveing a problem doesn't surprise me. But your problem is with Westinghouse, not Newegg. You knew their policy, you agreed that takes them out of the equation.

You may have luck with the credit card company. But that may be tricky since you knew their poilcy.

Personally, I'd stick with computer stuff with Newegg, there are better sites for TV's.

Perhaps your problem is that you are trying to get Newegg to do something that they upfront clearly said they could not do.

Good luck

[frostbitetwice]

Good to have you hear, IMAGINE, at RR. Well stated and end of story as far as I am concerned. All those who have been ripping egger lately, please find me a better etailer. Flipper, with all due respect, this company does not have large margins. I doubt its after tax margin are greater than 5%.

[Apprentice_941]

Thanks to all who replied. I am suprised at how sympathetic the responses have been.