DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY FOR ANYTHING EVER. THEY WILL TRY TO RIP YOU OFF AND DOUBLE BILL YOU.  
 
Erly this month I ordered Fantom Drives 1TB eSATA / USB 2.0 Hard Drive - GF1000EU from eCost.com. I also purchased their extended warranty.  
 
When it arrived, in a timely fashion, I opened the box to find it improperly packaged. There was insufficient packing material from their warehouse to prevent the drive from sliding around. The results was a dead drive out of the box. After fighting with the drive for more then a day in an attempt to format, scan, etc... it was dead.  
 
I called eCost.com to get a RMA due to their bad packaging job. First they wanted to charge me a 2nd time for the replacement drive. This was not going to happen. I am not going to pay for a 2nd drive when I only ordered one and they screwed up.  
 
Once they agreed to send me a call tag from UPS with the promise of sending me a replacement drive once they had it in their warehouse we moved forward. I just checked, again, the UPS tracking number and eCost.com received the drive back on the 18th of August 2009. Yes 9 days ago and they have not sent me my replacement drive yet.  
 
I called their 800 phone number and the lady on the other end was happy to announce that they would NOT be sending me my replacement drive I have paid for and claim to of refunded my money. They have not. At least my credit card has not received the full refund.  
 
I am working with my credit card company to force them to give me the full refund since they refuse to do their job and that is provide working product for good money paid.  
 
DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY EVER.  
 
just to add, I am now (typo, not should of been now) having to dispute the charges in order to get my money back.  
 
09/01/2009  
Again according to my credit card company if you had issued a refund/credit it would be instant, not 7 - 10 business days or 2 billing cycles.  
 
So again please do not lie to me. I have been a merchant for over 15 years and know how merchant services work. When a credit or refund is issued by the merchant it is reflected within 12 - 24 hours, not 7 - 10 days or 2 billing cycles.  
 
09/04/2009  
 
I just received a letter from my CC company and they are pursuing the dispute and are going to force eCost to refund my money. Thank God for a strong CC company. eCost is the worst online business company I have had the displeasure of dealing with.  

This review was modified by its author, lleb, on 9/5/09 6:14 PM.

Ecost provides a very misleading on line ad.  
Ecost publishes under the wrong section -- they make the mistake I did  
When I go to return the item they refuse saying I should have understood. They send me on a week long saga designed specifically to stop me from getting my money back. Of course they don't take the return and you talk to no one.  
Great prices but it you don't like it your screwed  
Terrible customer service policies.  
 
On another return item-- defective they have me buy another and put out cash without an RMA and then take days -- using my money before allowing me to return item.  
 
I will purchase things anywhere else when I receive customer service of this nature- I suggest you do the same

Finally received a refund on credit card, but had to jump through several hoops and make/spend untold amount of calls and time on phone with eCost to get it. Unless you like gambling on what you'll received when you buy from eCost, and keeping whatever you get, I would not buy from them. They use 3rd party order servicing and it's like playing russian roulette.  
 
Updated: 9/14/2009  
Received RMA and returned drives, however actually getting a refund has proved unattainable. Again, I highly suggest staying away from Ecost.com, unless you like losing money! At this point I leaning toward letting credit card company handle this.  
And don't believe the responses you see from Ecost, at least the one to mine is a non-existent person.  
-------  
Ordered harddrive and was shipped wrong, lower cost model. Paid for 2-day shipping, item shipped ground. Contacted customer service, they indicated that original item I ordered was not in stock. Why did they not notify me prior to shipping out lesser item or refund cost? This company is running a scam, advertising quality items and shipping lower value items in there place. Carefully review items you receive from them, since they will not notify you of changes to order. If I had not noticed different item, I'm sure eCost would never said anything. Had to prove to customer service that I ordered higher cost item, even though it's in there system. Better places to buy items even if cost is a little more, save yourself the headache know as "eCost". I think I need an Advil, although I won't be buying it from eCost, I'm sure I'd get a genric asprin!

This review was modified by its author, egor, on 9/16/09 7:29 AM.

Bought 5 items (including an extended warranty), all bluetooth. The Motorola bluetooth is defective not pairing and it also did not have ear buds. I spent over 40 minutes on the phone, the customer service rep. Spencer, and the previous one I spoke to earlier (who later told me he is a sales rep. before I spoke to Spencer, both refused to let me speak to a Manager - excuse, Manager is in a meeting. Still have not gotten a return authorization to return the item. I was told to wait 48 to 72 hours and they will send an e-mail after a specialist have review the return request. Initially, he asked me for my credit card again so that they can charge it. I refused, and said when they receive the items back they can either credit it or exchange it. I initially wanted to exchange to a Jabra, that have a correct description on the item. My previous experience of getting items shipped quickly has cloud my thought about ecost being a good company. This experience is terrible, shameful and dissapointing. I always tell people to buy at ecost, now I have had cold water thrown in my face. What a terrible terrible and terrible customer service.

I ordered a Logitech harmorny Universal 1000 remote control (REFURB). Fast shipping but...  
1. When it arrived the packaging was terrible but that's not really a concern when you're selling broken electronics.  
2. The recharging cradle was broken, the power supply would not even plug in, the port was so damaged.  
3. The remote, Oh my god the remote. It had sticky finger prints all over the touch screen and looked like a four year old had been using it while finger painting with chocolate pudding.  
4. After inserting the supplied battery and trying to power it on with any residual charge and not succeeding, I removed the battery and noticed that a contact was broken off.  
5. Called Ecost and they would not issue an RMA until calling and getting a REF number from Logitech. Logitech was very helpful and suggested purchasing from a more reputable source next time(Oh, Really?).  
6. Called back Ecost and received my RMA but not until after they advised they would have to test the device when they received it to verify it didn't work before they would issue a refund. Funny! Had they done some initial testing to verify something they are selling actually works this huge waste of time would have been avoided.  
8. Checked my credit card today 8-19 still no refund.  
9. Called Ecost today and they advised it will be 7-10 MORE business days before a refund would issued.  
There are many resellers online and ECOST is by far the worst I have dealt with.

This review was modified by its author, hotcarlsanchez, on 8/24/09 7:55 AM.

Product listed as "OEM Packaging" arrived as a bare unit (Jawbone) with none of the extra earbuds or ear loops that normally come with it, and which the instructions list. Fit is critical with this product, and the instructions say that the noise reduction will NOT work if you don't get the fit right. Emailing support resulted in "Please call Support", which I did. They took down my information and had no answer, and said they would get back to me. Hearing nothing, I kept replying to the email, and never did get any response back. I used to shop at eCost all the time, but now I see their retailer ratings have plummeted; I can see why. Never again. These guys need to go out of business. I see the poor customer service rep responded to my post. Unfortunately, it does nothing to help me, and they are still selling products that are misrepresented in the product description. "OEM Packaging" does not mean "partial product." Sounds like false advertising to me, but I have no option for refund or return.

This review was modified by its author, skimura, on 9/4/09 12:23 AM.

ecost is the worst company to deal with on the internet. Though their deals are at times almost unbelievable the grief they put you through can break your heart in two and destroy any hope you have that retail companies even know what costumer service is. I have had three huge run ins over the years with this New York city style electronic empire. The first happened in 2006 when I ordered a mac book pro laptop for $2000 and I received instead a regular mac book that cost only $1399. When I called to explain that my credit card was charged $2000 for a $1399 laptop they told me to bad because they do not take returns on laptops even though they sent me the obviously wrong product. After continually calling day after day they finally refunded me the difference but still refused to send me the product I ordered and they refused to return the wrong mac that they sent me. I actually called Macintosh about what happened and noticed shortly after that they no longer sell their products ojn ecost. Against better judgment I went back a second time a year later and bought a 22" LCD for my boss. I assured my boss that she would be getting a $50 rebate because I know how to fill these out properly. I was very careful to send everything required and did so the same day I received the product. After three months I never received the rebate. When I called the company that did the rebate they lied and said I didn't send the PLU and they refused to give me my rebate because it was overdue. Of course I did not have the original PLU because I sent it to them so my boss got screwed the $50 rebate that she was suppose to get. ecost refused to help me and continued to sell this companies products after countless people got screwed.I wasn't alone in this scam. This happened in 2007. The most recent screwing happened when I called ecost after buying a digital camera that I bought for my wife for her birthday. The camera was kodak. The lady that I talked to was explained the situation that the camera failed while we were on vacation in Russia. She said that she would exchange the item. I said wow my confidence was restored in the company. I ordered a much better replacement Samsung for $89 that I am still very happy with. I waited for the box with shipping label to come and then with the RA# I would return it and at least get my $52.99./ I boxed it up and was extra careful to make sure I returned it with everything that it originally had. I kept an eye on the UPS tracking number and watched for deleiver and awaited my refund. week after week went by and no refund. Day after day I called nothing. They told me first wait five days and then the next time ten days. One month went by and still nothing. They told me that the money was refunded to my pay pal account and guess what paypal has no record of it. I called them and had them research every refund that they sent out from paypal@ecost.com and still nothing. These scammers then told me they would send me the confirmation number that pay pal sent them that the payment was sent. We all know that would never come and it hasn't to this day. I was so disappointed and will never do business again they screwed me one to many times.The costumer service sucks and the people are liers. This company is a scam plain and simple. BEWARE of doing business with them if they send you the wrong item that in their return policy says that they will not return under any situation they mean it even if it is their fault. When using pay pal you will be screwed if you return an item you can count on it. Oh by the way they deducted a restocking fee for an item that was broken. I am sure they put it back on the shelf and sold a broken item. I hope you didn't order my broken return. I couldn't believe when the lady told me that they restocked the broken item.

BEWARE!!! Product description was wrong, and they are not authorized dealers for their products, so manufacturers will not honor the items (according to Kodak). Too many headaches, not worth the hassle. I bought an HP notebook computer and a Kodak digital picture frame (refurbished) from eCost, but when I received the notebook, it was missing a feature (the fingerprint reader) that was listed in their ad. When I contacted eCost, they said they only sell things, if there is a problem, I need to go to the manufacturer to get any kind of case number for a return. They gave me a phone number for HP, who was very helpful giving me a case number. I called back eCost, and told them I had a case number. They said they would issue a return authorization for the notebook. It TURNS OUT THAT FEATURE WASN'T ON ANY OF THEM, THE ITEM DESCRIPTION WAS INACCURATE. I told the rep that I didn't want to send the notebook back since I already had entered all my personal information to register it and I still needed a computer, but instead I would like a partial refund. Besides, allowing me to exchange it wouldn't help because the next one wouldn't have those features, either. eCost finally wised up and changed the description on their website, so at least they weren't misleading anyone else. The rep said OK, and that she would check to find out how much they would credit me for the missing features, and then e-mail me with an amount. I figured if they take a little off the price, then I can live with the missing features. I then got an e-mail asking me to call them. When I did, it was noted on my account that I could return the item, and that they had already initiated a refund for the purchase price. I told this rep that they were supposed to let me know how much they would credit me back, because I didn't want to return it (frustrating because I said the same thing to the last rep a few days before). This rep repeated again that there was a return authorization number, and that they would refund my purchase. I said, NO, that's not what I was told last time. Finally we agreed on 30 bucks back. That works, but it took me almost 3 weeks and a lot of phone time to get it straightened out.  
Problem 2: The Kodak digital frame was missing the black faceplate which was supposed to be included in the Home Decor kit which was part of the package. I did receive a couple of the other pieces in the kit (the decorative mats), but not the faceplate. eCost said they only sell them, if there's a problem then I have to contact Kodak. After going round and round with Kodak, I just found out today that ECOST IS NOT A "VALID" RETAILER FOR KODAK! This means that Kodak will not honor any part of my purchase, and they will not ship out the missing piece. If I had ordered from a legit dealer, I would have had the piece by last week. This sucks. I did call eCost to explain this, and the rep I spoke to realized that eCost actually sells the missing part. The rep stated that he would check to see if they could just send me the missing piece, since they no longer carry the refurb. kit and an exchange would not be possible. He said I would hear from them withing 72 hours.  
UPDATE: 8/17/09 Got a call today from Zary who stated they would put in a request from their supplier to provide the missing piece, waiting on a response for that.

This review was modified by its author, tommy27cols, on 8/17/09 1:25 PM.

eCOST is a complete scam. They lured me to their site with a low price on a refurbished Canon camera and I added a cheap SD card to go with it. After placing the order, they automatically canceled the camera because "Product no longer available from Manufacturer". But they still stuck me with the SD card and $12 of shipping! And the Canon is STILL FOR SALE on their web site. They are offering products that they know they can't deliver. This is called BAIT AND SWITCH and is a form of FRAUD. If you get burned by this too, please report them to the BBB and attorney general.

I purchased a refurb LCD TV from ecost via their ebay store. Their listing stated that there might be cosmetic issues as these were returned/refurb units by the factory. I received the TV with a majorly damaged front bezel, and the base was cracked.  
 
I contacted their customer service, and they were very prompt in replying back to me, and immediately issued an RMA for me to return for a refund, without my asking. I replied back a couple of times stating that I would have a riot on my hands if my kids did not have a gaming TV and I would be out a TV for a few weeks if I returned this one and had to buy a new one later.  
 
They were again very prompt to reply, and we worked out a very amicable monetary reimbursement for the quality of the product I received. This was outstanding customer service from the timely responses of their service department to my emails to the final resolution!

This review was modified by its author, TeamSpeed, on 8/12/09 4:24 PM.

Problem: eCost.com. Waste of Time. Fake prices. Bait and switch. Scam operation. Consumer Fraud. Google this; Sony Althus Headphone refurb, it shows; $21.00 refurbished, $30.99 with tax and shipping. Proceed to checkout it shows price $24.99, almost 20 percent more. Spoke to their 877 number, they said it was the prior price. Anybody can show a lower price to get orders, and then charge higher price. Bogus prices.  

I have had repeated orders with this company, and over the past year...everything has been a miserable failure. I'm talking about at least 12 such issues in the last year. I can tell you this...I have discontinued using eCost, and have informed my staff, that eCost is no longer an approved merchant, and I will deny ANY order attempted (or replaced - yes, we'll refuse delivery on it).  
 
Someone posted a comment about how eCost issues the same "We apologize for the inconvenience...." apology for virtually every complaint. This is absolutely correct....what is more, is that they talk about how many successes they have....well if that's the case, then you should have ample time & commitment to issuing a proper remedy when you do screw up!!!  
 
The bottom line is you don't care. In addition, the policy of having the customer purchase the product again, while the return is occurring is another "bush league" move. Yes, let the customer pay for your screw up...literally. Oh....and only discounts on FUTURE orders can be made to assuage the problems on a current order.  
 
eCost sucks, they know it, we all know it....and think that companies like this should be allowed to die....no goverment bailouts...and hopefully they didn't get any stimulus money (HA HA) either!

This review was modified by its author, bigj99, on 8/6/09 1:37 PM.

DO NOT PURCHASE ANYTHING FROM eCOST. Oh, how I wish I would have seen the reviews from this site prior to making my first purchase from eCost. They are, without a doubt, the worst online reseller I've dealt with in 10+ years of purchasing goods and services online. Unless you really don't value your time, you are far better off using a *real* on-line reseller who cares about their customers, not this facade for a consulting company who couldn't care less about actual customers.  
 
eCost is a venture being run by a company called PFSweb (pfsweb.com) and their objective is NOT to be in the business of selling goods and services over the web, their objective is to try out various policies, procedures and technology to support their eCommerce/multi-channel commerce consulting. It's of little concern to them whether or not the eCost makes money. It is a grand experiment that allows them to sell their credibility as a web e-Tailer to Fortune 1000 clients. That's where they make their money.  
 
But they don't tell you this upfront (and they never will) so YOU have to pay for their research - in time wasted trying to resolve shipping and product issues. There is no incentive for them to amiably resolve your customer issues as they don't care about customers or about eCost being profitable. They care about keeping their losses to a minimum. Hence they offshore all customer support, do not provide any 'goodwill' responses to issues [e.g., free shipping on order errors they committed], and frequently cancel orders outright.  
 
I sent the following note to eCost after having my 3rd order (out of 5) in the last couple of months canceled. The response, like the response you will see here in a couple of days, will be a strict adherent to the company's clandestine policies which favor them and cast blame squarely on the consumer. Shame on them and shame on anyone who reads this review but still decides to transact with eCost.  
 
5 August 2009  
 
Dear Mr. Guy ~  
 
I will be canceling this order and every other order I have made with your company. I have been buying goods and services over the Internet for over 10 years and I can say unequivocally that eCost.com provides the worst customer service I have ever experienced. Your customer service is so bad that I can only conclude you do not want to be in the business of selling products over the web but that you must be a front for some other business.  
 
To wit, I have had more than one order "canceled" by you because the "credit department" could not confirm some bit of information. This is already after I've completed the super-secret, double factor, MasterCard check out security measure. Even though I've called and spoken with the credit department about releasing previous orders, they still cancel my orders!?!  
 
I've tried changing accounts and payment methods so that I could expedite the process. I paid for two day shipping. I have received eMails from eCost saying that the order has been received and will be filled. But still your company does not want to hold up your end of the transaction: shipping me the product!  
 
In the most recent example, I spoke to a customer service rep about this order and discussed how to ensure that I receive my next order (E8688099‏) without delay. Six days later I receive yet another eMail informing me that you've canceled my order!! I needed the product yesterday, hence the reason I paid for expedited shipping!! When I call to ask to reinstate the order and for a courtesy overnight ship (since you can't go back in time and make sure that I got the product yesterday), I'm told that it is impossible.  
 
Your employees go to great lengths to inform me that I'M the one to blame! ME!?! THE CUSTOMER!?!?  
- I paid for up for Platinum service  
- I followed your checkout procedure, including the double factor security check  
- I spoke with your customer service representatives on numerous occasions  
- I spoke with your credit department to ensure no future orders were held up  
- I've followed the directions for expedited shipping  
 
How many more hoops do you want me to jump through to buy something from you?!!? The product associated with this order is available on at least two other sites that are cheaper than yours. AND they don't force you into stupid human tricks to make the purchase:  
 
http://www.cellular-blowout.com/89243.html  
 
http://www.buy.com/prod/motorola-eq7-bluetooth-hi-fi-stereo-speaker/q/loc/101/208787283.html  
 
Though I've never been to Business School, I've got to believe that somewhere there is a rule that says, if you want to be successful in business, DO NOT BLAME THE CUSTOMER for YOUR CUSTOMER SERVICE PROBLEMS.  
 
Your company is impossible to do business with.  
 
Since Buy.com is a reputable retailer that I have worked with in the past, I will go back to them. Not only will I be canceling this order. I will cancel every other order that I have placed with your company (including the Platinum Member surcharge) and I will be shipping back all the merchandise and calling my credit companies to dispute every charge you've tried to put on my cards.  
 
Further, I will write the Better Business Bureau and alert the blogosphere of your horrendous policies and customer support.  
 
Since I work in the professional services field (specifically a consultant for companies looking to improve their Customer Relationship Management capabilities) I will get a lot of mileage out of these incidents as I pursue future work. This is a textbook case of what NOT to do when you want to effectively manage your relationships with customers - even if your goal is to be low cost.  
 
Sincerely,  
 
Another Unhappy Customer

DO NOT ORDER FROM THIS SITE! They are rip off artists. They sent me a defective mp3 player and I sent it back for refund it was received by Edward on 7/6 and they still have not refunded me. Customer Service is a joke they just say "Oh your refund went through". Credit NEVER went through and I've spent hours on the phone with these people trying to get my money back. When I ask them to send me proof of my credit they tell me they will send me an email of the transaction but I still haven't gotten that after 3 phone calls.  
 
Ecost sells defective products when you send them back they do not refund your money. They train their customer service people to give you the run around. It's been almost a month since they received the defective mp3 player back I've got delivery confirmation to proove it and they will not give me my $ back. Thieves!  
 
8/11 - Response to Ecost:  
 
After writing this review I received a paypal refund for the 4GB Sansa Clip MP3 Player for 26.39 dated 8/6 but I originally paid 32.99.  
 
DO NOT BUY FROM THIS COMPANY! You will get nothing but headaches from them, bait & switch, wasted time and defective products.

This review was modified by its author, geminitreasures, on 8/11/09 6:21 AM.

Summary: big mess, and they don't seem to know what they are doing.  
 
I have purchased a lot of stuff from ecost before, and the prices used to make up for the relativly lacking customer service. But this time, I got really mad.  
All I wanted to do is purchase a couple of refurbished Casio Exilim cameras. No biggie, right?  
Wrong.  
I placed my order, and got the confirmation from ecost. A couple(!) of days later, ecost noticed that I was planning on paying with a GERMAN credit card. So they sent me an email that I would have to email or fax them scanned copies of my credit card (with all numbers visible), a copy of my passport and a signed 'contract'. This seemed weird, since my credit card really works ANYWHERE online without a problem, but maybe ecost is using some weird credit card processor, so I thought I would comply.  
So I sent them the required information, and got a confirmation (!) stating that it was being forwarded to the billing department.  
Some days(!) later, I got an automated email saying that my order was cancelled, because I didn't reply to them regarding the credit card information. Great. I called them up, and some lady simply kept on repeating that stuff like that simply happens from time to time, and I should simply place the order again. No reaction at all regarding the situation that they seem to have 'lost' my credit card information in their internal system, even though i specifically asked about what happened with my information.  
So, I placed the order again - the cameras were still available.  
Same procedure: placed the order, big 'thank you for your order!' email. A day or two afterwards an email saying that my credit card seems to be 'foreign', and that I have to send additional information. Only this time, they asked for slightly different information (scanned copy of the credit card, with all but the last 4 numbers obscured, etc.). This email made more sense to me, but also freaked me out since this means that ecost doesn't seem to have any internal guidelines regarding what credit card information they need. This does not inspire confidence, at all!  
Well, anyhow. I sent them the information, and now some other stuff on the order got mailed out, but the cameras got marked as 'backordered' (they were available at the time I ordered them). So, I waited. And waited. And waited a bit more. And then I called, and got told to wait a bit more. So I waited, and waited.....  
Until I got an email one day (more than a week after placing the order!) that my order was cancelled, since I didn't contact them!  
Great.  
So, I called them again and again, the lady at the other side just seemed to repeat and repeat her script up and down: sorry about that. stuff like this happens. sorry about this. just place the order again, and everything will be fine. sorry about this, etc.  
I repeated to her that the cameras I need are now out of stock (I need exactly that model for various reasons), but they were marked as "In Stock" until ecost messed up. Same reply: sorry about that, please order again, maybe it's a glitch in the system, please place the order again....  
 
A genuinely annoying experience. And I STILL didn't get my cameras!  
 
The big mess ecost seems to have internally with their supply chain management is bad enough. But the mechanical, completely irrelevant answers I got from customer service (they didn't even answer an email or two, by the way) were even worse. But the fact that they blame this on the customer ("We canceled your order, bacuase you didn't reply") just takes the biscuit.  
So. Anyone know another place were I can but refurbished stuff, or cheap Exilim cameras? Because ecost really ain't cutting it anymore. It's a pity, because I really used to buy a lot from them (if someone from ecost reads this: I bought the other stuff under another account. I would even tell you which, just to let you know that you're loosing a good customer).  
 
Still angry,  
 
M.