5/5

posted May-04-2011

5 star! Almost flawless transaction, and man - what a price! They beat every other retailer on my item by about 10% and that's including the shipping fee. I really like the fact they don't penalize you for using credit cards (there's no two tier pricing structure for cash equivalents and credit cards).

If I were to constructively critique my order I would say the following things:

1) Include free shipping in the as stated price.
2) My order took 2 days to process - not sure why.
3) Excellent customer service pre-purchase, had a email left unanswered post-purchase... a little fishy but I'll give them benefit of the doubt this time.
4) Include availability data on the listed tables of products. It's annoying having to click through multiple pages to figure out you don't have a single piece of a model line in stock because of the design of the website.

Other than that, when something is in stock - I wouldn't hesitate to buy from Prairie Arms again.

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5/5

posted May-02-2011

Just received a box of goodies I ordered from PSA and it came in great condition despite the box getting no love from UPS. Shipping was very quick and I wouldn't hesitate to buy again from them. My only regret is not buying more so I could take better advantage of their shipping price structure.

Can't speak to their CS as I didn't have a problem that needed assisting. Great seller from my first experience.

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5/5

posted Apr-29-2011

Hi All,
I have nothing negative to say about Amazon.com and I have had many transactions with them. I can recall only a couple that didn't go so well but the company went out of their way to rectify the situation for me. My fiance and I were so impressed with Amazon, we put our wedding registry on there.

Unless something changes drastically for the worse, I'm a lifelong customer.

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2/5

posted Apr-29-2011

First let me state that I have been a loyal customer of this company since the days of "Stardock Central" - a precursor to the current Impulse PC gaming platform. I own dozens of games on my Impulse account and I believe I have owned the majority of Stardock's in-house-developed catalog at some point or another. In short, I'm a pretty dedicated fan of Stardock.

Despite that, here is a short record of my experiences with the company through their Impulse Customer Service reps. I've had three occasions where I needed assistance from Stardock:

The first one went great and my issue was resolved very quickly and courteously. The second one was one of the most infuriating experiences I've had with ANY company doing business online. About a year went by and as I'm a huge fan of their games I gave them another go and things were going great when I needed their help again. This third time went better than before but was not particularly satisfactory.

I love the Impulse platform and ease of use of the tool. I think Stardock games are amazing and extraordinarily high quality. However, I will say that when something doesn't go according to plan, their customer service is at best mediocre, and I'm being very generous.

My biggest issue with them was being unable to get a refund on purchased software that didn't work on any computer I owned. I was accused trying to "circumvent their refund policy." Nonsense! I did everything humanly possible based on their advice. Unfortunately, they couldn't be bothered to actually express any integrity and take some responsibility for their muda. As I don't make it a habit of paying for goods and services which I don't receive in functioning order, Stardock finally relented when I got my credit card company involved. I really wish it hadn't come to that. However, I was warned that if I ever speak up again to my credit card company about Stardock's behavior that I would be forfeit my account and all the games I have bought fair and square. Wow - talk about making your customers feel like they are the priority /sarcasm.

I don't understand what was so hard to simply say "hey, that's too bad we couldn't help you resolve this. Let us make it right and refund you, no harm no foul." Their inability to be that customer-centric simply baffled me and everyone I showed their responses to.

The reps working for Stardock vary widely in terms of courteousness and emotional intelligence. Some of the answers I got from them made me seriously think that they had been drinking on the job or playing a strange, unfunny April Fool's joke. They will accept NO accountability when their platform doesn't deliver. The going instructions given to these poor souls seem to be - "(1) It's always the customer's problem, (2) we will not be an advocate for our customers when they need assistance on products we sell, and (3) play dead if we are stumped."

I've invariably been threatened, apologized to, talked down to, then threatened again, and then finally ignored when their lame scripts couldn't resolve the problems I had been experiencing. Even DELL is better than this (I know, I know, low blow there)!

Given that some of the reps are actually pretty damn good and I wish that I could receive help from them every time I had to interact with Customer Service, I still cannot give a 5-star rating to the service in its current form.

Prices are usually terrific and if I find both products on Steam and Impulse, I'll try to buy it on Impulse first every time. I love their products, just have had bad experiences with them when I needed help. Your mileage may vary - this is simply what I happened to me and my perspective on it looking back.

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5/5

posted Apr-29-2011

Hi All,
I have made three separate orders over the course of 2 months. All have been executed flawlessly and shipping was surprisingly quick.

Their weekly specials are great and I like their selection of products. My only beef is that their shipping fees are sometimes pretty excessive compared to other online stores. This is generally offset by the fact they have the items in stock for close to the best online price you can find for accessories.

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend. The only thing stopping Cheaper Than Dirt from being my premier choice is the high cost of shipping on some orders.

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5/5

posted Apr-29-2011

Hi All,
I bought a .22 plinker from Topglock through their TGSCOM, INC. subsidiary site viridianlaser.com. I was horrified when I read the reviews below as I thought I must have made a terrible mistake using these guys as my vendor.

I'm relieved to say I had a very different experience. I got a competitive price on the item and sending them the info from my FFL was painless. Actually it was a great price and I recall I was able to order with credit card and got free shipping on my item.

Then there was a couple of days of processing then 3 days to arrive. Not too shabby by any comparison. My item arrived as expected and I'm having fun testing it out.

Based on my first experience, I would say I would buy from this company again. I haven't had much need to contact their customer service so I can not speak for that.

I did email them once before ordering and I was answered in about 24 hours which is about industry standard from my limited experience.

Hope you have as good luck as I apparently did.

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5/5

posted Feb-09-2011

They say exactly what they do and what their products do. Got a Win 7 32-bit Home Premium DVD from them with product key and it worked perfect for my little ITX build. Shipping was only 4 days from Cali to the Gulf Coast. Recommended.

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1/5

posted Jun-11-2006

I'm a little shocked to be honest. I've generally heard good things about this retailer. I've had a couple of good experiences with them in the past.

Back in May, I ordered a couple of sticks of memory, no big deal really. It's almost a month later and I don't have them! Still, my account has been charged, yet my email to customer service appears to have been ignored. The website says the order was shipped, FedEx says it delivered them somewhere (apparently not my address). Emailing zipzoomfly is useless, so I called up their service line to ask for assistance and left a message for them. Haven't heard a peep from them in a week or so, email or otherwise.
Perhaps they are flooded with customer service requests or something, I don't know, but the time to make a claim on the lost merchandise from FedEx is running out and I wanted zipzoomfly’s input on what to do. I haven't the foggiest idea where my memory sticks are and why this company hasn't bothered to lift a finger to assist! I'm extremely disappointed and will never stray from Newegg again... this was totally not worth the headache. I'm still out 200 bucks! Got a hold of FedEx and was advised to submit a claim. Thanks for your help, zipzoomfly. Lost another customer...

This review was modified by jniazi on June 11 2006 05:04:14 PM

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5/5

posted Jul-16-2004

I really can't add anything that hasn't already been said. These guys and gals are simply running the best in the business. The combination of bullet-proof customer service and low prices make for a formidable combination for their competitors.

I've done over $8K of transactions with them since 2001. In addition I've requested and recieved RMA numerous times (more than I can remember) and they have never failed to accomodate me or my client's needs. I don't know what goes on behind the scenes, but if I was running this store I'd be awful proud.

If you can't already tell, I absolutely LOVE this retailer. For those still in doubt about whether to safely order from Newegg.com, I can only give my highest recommendation.

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4/5

posted Jul-14-2004

07/14/04
Ok, I will update this comment on the Chip Merchant online store as the story unfolds, so please bear with me and my typos. Here's where I'm at, after 2 days of my parcel arriving:

I ordered 6 copies of Norton Antivirus and none are the full OEM versions as implied in their product descriptions. I say "implied" because nowhere in the product description did I read these were nothing more than 90-day trial versions of the software I've been sent. I haven't opened a single one of the CD packets, and so none of the product has been used. In fact, these demos are pretty much completely useless to my clients and me.

I have sent 2 emails to the customer service address which have been to this point ignored. I have called the voice line both toll free and at my expense only to be cycled in an automated response system that has hung up on me every time. I want an RMA for refund, but this company seems to be unwilling to return my correspondences.

07/16/04
Ok, I'm appending and editing this comment as I promised. I finally got a hold of a CSR and she single-handidly fixed every problem I was having! She had me resend my email to her address and then contacted a Veep and the webmaster. Both claimed the disclaimer regarding the shortened subscription existed in the product description but allowed the CSR to resolve my problem. An RMA was issued as I had attempted contact with them within the 7 day window to apply for one.

While I'm not thrilled about being told I was mistaken (I don't think I was, but I'm not going to bicker over it), I can't offer evidence other than an email I sent to their tech support for clarification about the OEM CDs which was never answered. I guess I'm just relieved that they were able to fix it.

My problems with the phones apparantly is not something they have experienced before but I guess I just "mistakenly" was hung up on about 5 times this week. May be it's just not my week :-(

If and when my account gets reimbursed, I'll update accordingly. I just want to add that Deia is an awesome CSR.

07/27/04
I recieved an email indicating my account had been reimbursed for the RMA minus 15% restocking fee. I was also asked to submit a more detailed description of my problems with the phone system, which I did, and the company claims to be looking into it.

As far as I'm concerned, this case is closed. Would I order from thechipmerchant.com again? I'm not sure, but if had to, I'd go through the CSR to make sure I knew what I was getting. As usual, it wasn't the issue that I base my score on, but the recovery on the part of the reseller.

This review was modified by jniazi on July 27 2004 08:57:20 PM

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