3/5

posted Jan-26-2011
Summary of eCost.com by a life long independently employed and small business man and consumer activist: eCost is rated low for service and for product condition here by over 1300 people, over a two year time span. Similar complaints about eCost are found all over the Internet. Complaints extend from early 2008 at CONSUMERAFFAiRS.COM.There are occassional positive comments. They tend to be extremely positive and unspecific.
Having been a partner in an eBay online collectibles and used electronics enterprise with 100% positive feedback for five years, and a serious online buyer since 2001, I know something about both ends of online mail order retail. I look for patterns, percentages
and time span.
It is commendable that eCost has assigned a representative to monitor and respond to customer complaints that appear here at resellerratings. It shows that eCost recognizes it has problems and it shows they are trying to do something about them.
Considering how far back complaints go and the percentage of bad experiences expressed here and elsewhere (at least three years), a discerning consumer must wonder at eCosts' response. Is eCost
determined to repair its problems as are some retailers here or
has eCost de facto decided to address issues that appear here at resellerratings.com?
All I can conclude for certain is buyer satisfaction is guaranteed for those buyers who consult and post unsatisfactory service experience here at resellerratings. Also, I am concerned with the general style of eCost response to buyer complaints posted here. No problem can be solved unless the responsible party assumes responsibility for it. What I see here is deflection of responsibility & a lot of PR (public relations).
In this competitive market, I need accept neither, not even for a
low retail price. I can get both excellent prices and service the first time around 99.9% of the time from Amazon, NewEgg, Woot (owned by Amazon), geeks.com & Dailysteals. I'm not saying any of them are perfect (though Newegg comes close). What I am saying is they are well managed sellers and a buyer's probability of walking away pleased is reasonably high.
For instance, Dailysteals has an agent here. DS accepts full responsibility for poor service and does something about it. It has a few wrinkles to iron out. I am convinced Dailysteals is determined to do so because it immediately addressed my complaint and my additional purchases have been smooth sailing. ..But Dailysteals does not have a low consumer rating or a pattern of poor service that extends back three years. It does not try to excuse its fumbles and their agent here is clearly empowered to solve service problems and thus is not forced to apply small bandaids and smooth PR to major wounds. In contrast, I'm unsure about eCost management's motives for assigning an agent to respond to complaints that appear at resellerratings.
I will not buy from eCost until I see a better general rating emerge--not when I have several excellent alternatives.
For people who decide to try eCost despite the consistent pattern of complaints here and ELSEWHERE, do not send a personal check or money order. Use a credit card and know your card's charge back policy, charge backs can be done 30 to 45 days from billing date, depending on the card. Know the correct toll free phone number for customer service. Be reasonable about your expectations and demands. But Do not wait weeks for a problem to be resolved.
When you present a legitimate complaint (damaged or wrong product, paid for rush delivery but didn't get it, etc), give a clear deadline for resolution. You are on a clock (the days from the purchase date your credit card will do a charge back), so put the seller on a clock that is within your charge back deadline. If you are not made whole, get a charge back and be sure to ask your card company for a total refund, price of item, sales tax, shipping and handling. Note: companies I do considerable repeat business with do not charge until they ship. I have never billed anyone until shipment day or after services rendered were completed.
UPDATE: BUYERS Read the buyer comments here and eCost agent's responses, my assessment of buyer comments here AND elsewhere on Internet. I name a specific site with many negative comments. Read
the agent's Jan 31, 2011 response to my assessment. It is exactly what I expected, smooth & polished spin. Look over some of my other reviews here at Resellerratings. You'll see my assessments
are conservative, factual, balanced. I will not buy anything from eCost until (or when, if ever) I see marked change in the percentage of negative comments they get from buyers. In the eCost agent's response to me, there is clearly & precisely the failure to take responsibility that I mention in my Assessment above.
I am insulted by the claim that the complaint rate is very low. If it is anywhere near as low as eCost claims, why are the number of negatives inordinately high here and elsewhere across internet?

This review was modified by
flatquasar on February 01 2011 04:48:30 PM
“Thank you for taking the time to give us your feedback. We process over 200,000 orders each week through our facilities and over 99.7% of these orders arrive on time and exceed our customer’s expectations. Unfortunately a few times each week our performance... or product falls short of our customers’ expectations.
Linda Potter”