1/5

posted Mar-22-2013

I have use Netflix for some time and wanted to test other similar services. Hulu, it was claimed, was better than Netflix.

Here is what I encountered,

Many of the same shows on NF that are commercial free have mandatory commercials on Hulu Plus, a service you pay for.

Hulu also claims to have soo many shows, but when you sign up and pay, you only find a few limited episodes of the shows you want.

If hulu were a used car salesman, it would already be in jail for fraud and bait and switch.

Why else would any company claim to be able to offer shows it cannot deliver?

the player Hulu uses is also very unreliable. I tried several browsers only to be unable to go back to a previously viewed section of a program.

Worst case, the player locked up the browsers.

This review was modified by Datahaunt on March 22 2013 10:20:49 PM

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1/5

posted Mar-04-2013

Being a Chinese operation, you figure you get what you expect. Prior to placing a large order, I placed several small orders. These went fine. So, I went through their site with a wish list I has generated of items I wanted. If the bad order was the only problem, I would count myself lucky.

I used specific credit cards for specific orders, purchases and functions. I do this so I can account for any given order, isolate any “problems” that might arise and limit any breach when it happens, with a buffer. This also gives me the ability to track exactly where any breach occurs.

A few days after using a clear card up for rotation to purchase items from Deal Extreme, I had a gaggle of unauthorized purchase attempt on that card. Coincidence? It well could be if not for my system of rotation, waiting for the card to be clear and the extra time buffer, before using it in the rotation again.

On top of this, the order was simple horrible. I kept getting one email after another telling me certain items were on back order. Following any links from Deal Extreme led to websites with invalid or expired security certificates. Gee, and I have to wonder why my CC information was breached?

Using a static and isolated virtual system led me to a page with no information about what was back ordered. All I could do is delete items form my order without knowing what was on back order.

Contacting their customer service led to one ignored email after another, after another, after another, ...

Finally, my order shipped, but I cannot tell if it actually did. The link to the Hong Kong post use by DE cannot be resolved to any website for tracking.

I tested the link with four different browsers. All failed to contact the site for the same problem – no legitimate website/server found.

Nearly a month later, and having to get a new credit card, and I still do not have my order or ANY feedback or replies from this company.

Avoid them unless you want to get ripped off.

I was shocked to find so many positive reviews for Deal Extreme until I looked at the people/profiles posting these reviews.

Oddly enough, but sadly typically enough, the only reviews these “users” have posted are for Deal Extreme.

This screams strawman/fake user post to me.

Deal Extreme – do not give me the same canned answer you give others. Unless you can explain the security breaches with my CC information that I can track to the purchas I made with you time-wise, and your TOTAL lack of reply to any email I sent, do not waste my time or yours.

My customers will be told to avoid your website, and related websites and companies, unless they want to suffer the same fate I have in dealing with you.

UPDATE 2013, 3, 05

Thank you for reminding me about your ticket system. It was due to your system not offering any help in finding out what was missing form my order that led me to email you.

If you are going to email people and tell them that items are on back order, you may want to actually give them the ability to find out what items are on back order rather than making them guess.

and to correct one emailed claim, the items did not ship on Feb 25th as you claim. you submitted a shipping ticket on the 25th, but the order did not actually ship until the 1st of March.

So again, here it is over a month later and I am still waiting.

It is not enough that you told me items were on back order. you have a total lack of any system in place to give customers information they need once you have our money.

No mention of your use of invalid or expired certificate on your websites? No comment about the CC problems?

This review was modified by Datahaunt on March 05 2013 02:04:47 PM

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1/5

posted Jan-04-2013

The case is not that bad but is poorly mass produced, so expect problems like not all the parts lining up, missing parts, etc.

The included hardware like the USB cards are total junk. The company does not offer nor do they honor any sort of warranty.

If you want a case and no support, buy from these guys.

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4/5

posted Jun-18-2012

This is the second order I have placed with this company and I have been pleased with both orders. The two DVR system worked as described.

One thing that many may find annoying it they ship requiring a signature. I can sympathize with the annoyance, but I prefer to get such an item than take a chance it gets dropped of, especially when shipping from China.

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1/5

posted Mar-16-2012

Went to order an Asus RT-N66U router and it was listed as being in stock. Received an email later that the item was on backorder.

Just how hard is it to keep your inventory accurate?! Amazing how so many other companies have mastered this basic task.

Waste of time.

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2/5

posted Mar-12-2012

I’ve been a newegg customer for a while and in all honest will most likely still buy from them in the future, but newegg has a serious flaw in regards to honesty. Once before when purchasing a product form newegg I left negative feedback for the item since a critical detail about it was left out of its description. I noticed that since there was no feedback for that item at the time, my negative feedback was never registered or posted.
Well, this has happened again. I have tried to submit feedback twice for an item I purchased back in November of last year. The item has no feedback currently and once again my negative feedback regarding the item has not been displayed. The vote I left (of one star) was registered. The second time I tried to submit feedback, I reformatted it to better fit the outline demanded by newegg. Newegg will simply not post a negative review of an item of that item currently has no reviews. Trust them when they say “Making buying decisions based solely on these reviews is not recommended”. Research the item from the source or another company or site, then purchase from newegg. Look for yourself. Try to find any item that has a one star vote and see if it has an attached review. Funny how these type of reviews are not listed.
Since my review of the item will not be posted on newegg, I’ll post it here. The software package Acronic MigrateEasy states it works with and supports Windows 2000 and 2003 servers. What is not disclosed is that this support is limited. Unlike other drive migration utilities that support Windows 2000 and 2003, MigrateEasy will not work with dynamic drives (like those used for RAID 1). The fact that this is documented nowhere on their site or in the product literature is a problem. You have to use the software in order to discover this. Since Acronis offers another package that does support dynamic drives (for $600+), they do not see the failure to list this limitation of MigrateEasy as a problem.
One last thing. For any newegg employee that wishes to correct this situation, please listen this time. I do not want a coupon, a discount or anything else. The only way to rectify this is to actually be honest in your feedback system. Fix that and you will have corrected the situation.

Update 2012, 03 12: I did post according to your guidelines and again this is a sad excuse to try to block or deny the posting of a negative review. MY review that I posted to your site is listed int his review of you. Care to cite where I violated your guidelines? I kept asking that question over and over and never received a straight answer.

This review was modified by Datahaunt on February 08 2005 10:35:11 AM

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1/5

posted Jun-09-2011

Offsite backups are a viable service but only if the company and related programs are reliable. Carbonite simply is not.

My first system took forever to backup and after my system died the restoration was useless. My local backup was what I had to use to restore my files to my new system.

If your main folder name or any folder names are different but all the files and content are the same, Carbonite sees it as a totally different backup.

What was worse was what happened after I purged my old backup and spend a week uploading my new backup. The backup did complete after a time, but for reasons unknown, the majority of my supposedly completed backup simply disappeared shortly after I was informed that the backup was complete. Approximately 80% of the backup was simply gone.

Their canned answer is to uninstall and reinstall the client program. After several cycles of doing so, it became painfully obvious that Carbonite could not only not solve my problem but was simply SNL software; not yet ready for primetime. Their software never would update the backup after that point.

What are worse are the other problems with their software. You can select or deselect what folders and files you want backed up. Their client seems to think it knows what needs to be backed up rather than follow your selection.

Not only were folders that I had selected for backup unselected randomly but folder I had selected no to backup were constantly tagged for backup.

I work in the IT industry and off-site backups are standard operating procedure. If you want the same thing for your home, either look into another service other than Carbonite or buy an external drive and fireproof safe and backup weekly or monthly.

That would be more reliable than Carbonite any day and much cheaper in the long run.

This review was modified by Datahaunt on June 10 2011 04:23:04 PM

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5/5

posted Dec-27-2009

XMas order arrived on time and with no problems. I have been a customer for many years and have been very satisfied so far.

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5/5

posted Dec-08-2009

I have been using Crucial memory products for a while and find them comparable to Kingston and others with often better pricing.

The only problem I have with them is that their experts often simply cannot cross-reference memory based upon the computer model.

I know they have a testing program but when it is your job to order the memory based upon specification for laptops you support that are actively used in the field, it is highly inconvenient to have to have the end-user come in for such a scan or try to have them run the scan themselves.

This review was modified by Datahaunt on December 18 2009 08:44:04 PM

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1/5

posted Dec-07-2009

I ordered a new battery for an HP laptop from this company through Buy.com and paid via Amazon.com. What arrived was a used battery shipped in thin foam and a USPS envelope.

The battery's lifespan is 47 minutes and it tested out as having 62.2% battery wear, meaning that 62.2% of the battery will not hold a charge. I am a System Administrator by profession even though this battery was for a personal laptop.

I have emailed the reseller who states on his website to only sell to resellers for a full refund for this used battery sold as new.

As the return process unfolds, I will update this review. Right now, this review reflects my frustration at being sold a used and defective product as new.

12/18/09
I was assured that this is not how the battery normally ships and that some error led to me receiving such a defective battery. I was assured that the new battery would be shipped in a box with proper padding.

I returned the defective battery only to receive another “new” one packaged exactly the same as the first with a date stamp from 2008 again.

The “new” battery has tested out initially at a 5% wear and after a full charging cycle this “new” battery tested out at a 7.6% wear, and increasing.

I gave this company the benefit of the doubt and rather than ask for a refund took their offer of an exchange. The company operates from a Gmail address and not one from their domain.

After being lied to about the packaging and condition of the replacement battery, I can only recommend to avoid this reseller.

Google this company's name. They operate under several other company names

10/27/09

So far I have received a few additional emails from this “company”. The second battery is still showing wear and loss of capacity meaning it is either not new or of poor quality. For comparison, my recent Acer Netbook battery showed 0% wear new.

I have been offered return shipping, but the seller seems to be clueless as to the money I have already put out to properly package and ship the used battery they first sold me as new back to them. Whatever refund I would get at this point is simply not worth any more of my time and money. She seems to think it is all about the packaging and shipping packaging has totally ignored the fact that they have sold me a used battery as new.

Their emails did disclose other information about their company. It appears that they do not control or on their own warehouse where, at least this item, shipped from. If you Google their shipping address of 700 Aldo Ave Santa Clara CA 95054, it does resolve to a rather large warehouse. So if they are located in a warehouse, why was I told that they do not control the warehouse? Unless Sunvalleytek is using the business address of Sun Valley Tek International and it is a different and separate company.

This review was modified by Datahaunt on December 27 2009 08:47:48 PM

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1/5

posted Aug-19-2009

I purchased from ZZF even though I have heard negative things about them. The item was incompatible and the manufacturer stepped up and corrected the issue, but what ZZF did in their return offer was simply devious.

After speaking with their representative regarding a return and even willing to eat the restocking fee, I was told that I was past the window to return the product even though I had only has the product for a few days.

The long and short of it is that their counting for day of return starts the moment the item is purchased. Not shipped or received, but the time you order it. By the time they actually processed the order, slowly since I did not pay for a timely processing, and shipped it, the majority of my return window was gone.

It gets even better. According to the representative, they return days count includes Saturday and Sunday. They justify this since you can apply for a return on weekends so such day count in return counter.

Odd that the same cannot be said for refunds. When it comes to refunding your money, it is business day only that are counted.

There is a reason that ZZF doesn’t participate here. CNET certification is a joke. Shopper.com uses eopinions.com for ratings. EO is a bigger joke being admined and run by volunteers who are notorious for silencing opinions and reviews they do not agree with. Even then, look at the recent positive reviews on sites like EO and PriceGrabber. One-off positives with little details in most cases.

Even with all those suspicious positives, take a look at the more recent reviews. More and more are negative. I wonder if ZZF will drop other cites once their ratings drop?

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1/5

posted Jun-08-2009

In short, eCost has jumped the shark. Just look at the only response people here get; canned, useless and hollow answers. The way they run their RMA and service department is simply inefficient and appauling.

I work as a System Administrator managing a computer lab. The companies I deal with professionally live and die by service, not just sales. eCost has lost both my personal and professional solicitation over their service or lack thereof.

I ordered a refurbished MP3 and it failed. As the product page specified, I called eCost to see who the warranty was thru. I was told the manufacturer. That was not true. The manufacturer only provided support to verify that the MP3 had failed. I had to contact eCost again, give them the tech support incident number and was told to wait for an RMA to be emailed to me.

Over two weeks later, I received an email stating my RAM request had been authorized but I had to contact them again to get an RMA. I call back and go thu their inefficient customer service for the fifth or six time having to give them all the same info over and over again. This is a waste of time since once you give them all the information in total again (order#, name, telephone, address, item, problem), they read off the history of the problem call so far illustrating that they had all of this information to begin with.

For this item, eCost only offers and advanced exchange. This mean I have to pay for yet another MP3 player and send the defective one back. While they do pay for the shipping of the exchange item to you and the return shipping , I was lied to again by being told that the shipping was ground. The item is shipped to you thru USPS via UPS in a process that takes up to fourteen days I am now told (latest call, #6 or 7.). The shipping back to them of course is standard ground.

So here it is, on month after the MP3 player has failed, I have paid for a new unit and I am still facing another week just to get the replacement MP3. This doesn’t include the three to four weeks getting the item back to them and waiting for a refund for the returned unit. And all the while, this extra charge is sitting on my CC while I wait for them to get one inefficient department to talk to and act on the information from another inefficient department.

I recommend companies to others for their professional and personal use based upon my professional and personal experience with these companies. As far as I am concerned, eCost just lost both, but judging by the support I have received so far and the replies here from them, that will matter little.

I’ll post an update once the RMA clears, if it clears.

Update 06/18/09 – According to UPS, the unit JUST SHIPPED on 17th! Close to two months now, I have been charged for an additional unit and still nothing to show for it.

Update 08/17/09 - Still waiting for return shipping label as promised. I was notified that one was being mailed to me. Another email had a link to a UPS ticket that was erroneous (no such label found). After contacting customer service, I was assured another label was being emailed. I have received another UPS link to another erroneous label. Now I am being told to call their customer service yet again.

Four months now. At this point, this is fraud.

Update 08/19/09 – More emails. One telling me to contact customer service again and the other one telling me that a label was sent and that’s all.

eCost has a BBB Online registration and symbol. Let’s see if a BBB complaint will lead to anything.

Update 9/2009
I finally received the RMA and shipping return after the BBB became involved. The issue was finally closed in Sept.

This review was modified by Datahaunt on December 07 2009 09:17:18 PM

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1/5

posted Jul-28-2008

I purchased an Acer Extensa 5620Z laptop from Circuit City, but the problem with this unit is with Acer.

The laptop was sold and is listed as being able to support up to 4GB. The one I have will not work with 2GB chips, regardless of who manufactured them.

I contacted Acer and they refuse to even issue a RMA for the unit. According to them, they do not support upgrades.

This means that they warranty the original configuration only and that is all they will test. Since the original memory does work, in their eyes, there simply is no issue to look into.

So unless you purchased your laptop or desktop with all of the accessories that you will need in the future, including I am told the operating system, Acer's warrantee simply does not cover your computer.

Does this sound like fraud to you?

Update: I meant to post this sooner. I discovered that the tech I spoke to who gave me such fraudulent advise was a woman who purchased the assets of another company that she sold/ran on the side. I purchased a tablet from her and when the tablet failed she basically tried to tell me that I was SOL.

So sad that such a person would carry a personal grudge to another company. So sad for Acer at least.

This review was modified by Datahaunt on June 09 2011 08:28:54 PM

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1/5

posted Jan-23-2008

I placed and order on the 9th of January and received absolutely no feedback from the company other than the order confirmation. While they had no problem charging my CC, they could not bother to contact me to inform me that the item I ordered was on back order nor did their website indicate the item was out of stock when I ordered it. I discovered this by emailing them on the 15th. The first sign of a questionable company is the CC charge on an order not yet filled. I place orders online all the time as part of my contracted IT support and no reputable company will place a charge on your CC if the item is back ordered. Such companies will only charge when the item actually ships.

After being informed of the back order and being informed that the order MIGHT be filled in two to three days, they offered to cancel the order and refund the money. I emailed them that I would take them up on their offer. The next day, the offer for the refund disappeared and I was informed that they would have the item shipped from the vendor. I also received an additional email stating the item had been shipped listing a bogus FedEx number.

The item finally arrived on the 22nd of January and shipment only took place after a stop payment was placed with my CC company.

First of all, this company has gone through five names and/or incarnations. Why? And the feedback for those previous incarnations is appalling. Also note the great frequency of positive single feedback reviewers here. Typical for a company trying to dishonorably alter their rating.

Please save your time offering a 5% discount, claiming that this item was a promotional item of limited quantity or any excuses. I do not plan on using your company again for my personal use or professional IT support.

Search for more fun about this company.
http://www.ripoffreport.com/searchresults.asp?q1=ALL&q4=&q6=&q3=&q2=&q7=&searchtype=0&submit2=Search%21&q5=meritline&Search=Search

http://www.pricewatch.com/public/Feedback.aspx?q=1832&p=1

http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/retailerratings/displaystore.php?storeid=539

http://www.savings-center.com/store-info/MeritLine

Their address also host other companies by the name of Merax.com, cdcyclone.com (old address), MemorexMedia.com (email contact is sales at meritline.com) and Alpha Richard corporation. Another rather odd item. Look up their address on Google Maps -18961 East Arenth Ave City of Industry, CA 91748. The primary hit is to a warehouse but another listed for Meritline resolves to a residential address.

In short order, avoid like the plague.

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2/5

posted Sep-08-2007

After reading so many negatives about this company, I placed a small order as a test. While I paid for insurance, this seems to be just a method of getting more money out of the customer. The package shows no sign of any insurance indicated, was sent as cell phone accessories, categorized as a gift and came in one small sheet of bubble wrap in a torn plain paper bag type of envelope.

For small items, they may be okay, but for the more expensive units, such shipping would damage the units. Even for items like these, this packaging was insufficient.

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