Newegg problem "resolved," but I also resolved to never shop there again. Ever.

A few weeks back I started writing about my experience with Newegg, a company I used to trust and respect. This could have been a story of winning my trust and having a customer for life.It could've been, and probably should've been.But it wasn't. (Warning, this is a long post)11/26 - I ordered a couple of lenses from them since (at the time) I trusted them and they seemed to have a good price. I ordered it.11/28 - Two days later one of the lens' price had dropped $300 at B&H. "No problem" I thought as I submitted my "Iron Egg" claim where Newegg price matches their competitors' prices.Oops. B&H isn't listed on their bullshit legal page. (Pro-tip for Newegg: get a lawyer who knows English to review your legalese.) (The long description of why this is wrong is further down this post)

Dear George,Thank you for contacting Newegg.I would be glad to assist you with that. However, at this time, we are only price matching with these major retailers, and unfortunately, B&H is not one of the eligible competitors. I apologize for not being able to get your Iron Egg request processed. You may reference the below landing page. http://promotions.newegg.com/nepro/13-2430/index.htmlIf you have any further questions or concerns, please visit our FAQs page. If you still require any assistance, please feel free to reply directly to this email.Thank you,Jonathan

11/29 - Called and asked for a return without restocking. (15% normally) Was issued, though even that was screwed up. (This post is long enough without getting into this sidebar) I should have been smart and just returned the lens. Instead...11/30 - Amazon.com drops the price of their lens to be $100 under B&H. Sweet, this price is better and Amazon is on the bullshit list of included companies.12/1 - Resubmit an Iron Egg claim for the lower price. This seems to have been ignored.12/2 - Get the lenses. Awesome stuff from Canon!  :-D  This is the one highlight of this ordeal.12/4 - Call Newegg to see what the hell is up since I hadn't heard a peep. Talked to a nice guy and they didn't find a record of it. Resubmit the claim.12/6 - Finally hear back from Newegg

Dear George,Thank you for writing back to us.Your information is much appreciated. I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. I have double checked this item in our system, and found the price on Amazon.com was way below our actual cost. Therefore, we are unable to honor the full price difference. However, as you are our valued customer, I am willing to issue you a gift card of $100 to honor partial of the price difference. Please simply reply to this email so we may issue the gift card for you. Thank you so much for your understanding.If you have any further questions or concerns, please visit our FAQs page. If you still require any assistance, please feel free to reply directly to this email.Thank you,Lola

Huh? We're $300 off here. As a point of record, B&H is presently as I write this, selling the lens for the same price as Amazon was. B&H is not a company to do loss-leader marketing for the most part. Either Newegg can't run a business to save their life or they are flat out lying to me.This shit will not do.My response on the same date:

I'm not sure if I find that acceptable.

There were other firms that you don't price match that were selling at the same price as Amazon (such as buydig), most of which don't have any brand in the game. Additionally, I can document other sellers that are selling for $2199 like B&H and Adorama which is $300 below your selling price. I find it inconceivable that everyone was losing money on this item -- especially the folks that have no brand in the marketplace like buydig.

Since I've shown you my source of information, can you please substantiate what your cost is in some verifiable manner? It's not that I don't believe that you have a cost, but I'm quite sure it's more than $100 below your listed price.

At this point the whole notion that you price match at all seems completely disingenuous to the point of ridicule.

If you go at least half-way I'll accept that and walk away from the loss of $200. If you don't I'll refer American Express to your page on price matching and get them involved. You also list getting accredited by the BBB on your home page and they will likewise be contacted regarding the breach of stated agreements.

Thanks,

-George Burgyan

Note that I'm offering an olive branch here to walk away from a $200 loss at this point.12/8 - The next day I get:

Dear George,Thank you for contacting Newegg.I am sorry for any confusion. Please note that the listed price on the competitor's website cannot be lower than our actual cost. So we could only honor you $100 gift card. If you would like to accept it, please reply back and we will be happy to issue it to you. Thank you for your understanding.If you have any further questions or concerns, please visit our FAQs page. If you still require any assistance, please feel free to reply directly to this email.Thank you,Nelly

Response:

Again, I reiterate, the idea of a $100 gift card is not mentioned on the Iron Egg page. I am getting quite tired of policies getting invented ad hoc. The first instance in this ordeal was NewEgg's on-the-fly redefinition of the word "include" to mean "exclusively consists of" which is obviously not consistent with the English language.

Can you please itemize the actual cost of the lens? I have given you a PDF from a merchant who you would price match which is all I can do. At this point you can claim "lower than our actual cost" for any price and I have no recourse apparently. If the actual cost of each item was clearly stated on the web site that would eliminate this confusion.

Let me at least ask if $2199 is lower than actual cost?

For some advice, you really aught to get a lawyer to read the rules page since this constant back and forth is prompting to me completely lose all faith in your organization.

Another one from Newegg:

Dear George,Thank you for contacting Newegg.We humbly apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused you. We are not allowed to expose the actual cost of the item to our customers since this is commercial confidential. We humbly apologize for that.The records shows one of our agents promised you $100 gift card for the price match with Amazon. The gift card will be emailed to your email address on file with your account within 3-5 business days once it was issued. It does have 90-day expiration date and can be used as payment on any future Newegg purchase (with the exception of other gift cards which can only be purchased via credit or debit card).If you accept this, please let me know, I will issue the gift card to you timely.If you have any further questions or concerns, please visit our FAQs page. If you still require any assistance, please feel free to reply directly to this email.Thank you,Monica

These idiots aren't even reading what I'm writing. Not only that they're making up shit as they go along.Pro-tip for Newegg: Read what your customers are writing. At least pretend to empathize with them.The final email of the day from me:

Thank you for your time. I will be addressing this with American Express's fraud operations to hopefully come to a quick resolution on this matter.-George Burgyan

At this point I was just fed up with this bullshit. I was ready to pull in the big guns of American Express. They've not let me down in the past when dealing with this kind of crap. You can't just make up rules on the fly to screw over your customers.Pro-tip: Solve problems for the customer before they want to call up their credit card provider.Finally, someone at Newegg seemed to realized that I had had enough:

Dear George,Thank you for contacting Newegg.We humbly apologize for the inconvenience. I already escalated your issue to our related department for further assistance. They will contact you for the issue shortly. Thank you for your understanding.If you have any further questions or concerns, please visit our FAQs page. If you still require any assistance, please feel free to reply directly to this email.Thank you,Monica

Simultaneously, my rant (also linked from my twitter account) got a customer support response as well with another email address to contact.12/9 - Respond to Newegg:

Hello @gburgyan, we're here to help. Can you email more details on the order to WeCare.Twitter@Newegg? We'll be happy to look into this!

Thank you for someone reaching out! I've been dealing with CS for a week now with no real luck.

Order number is xxxxx.

The story goes like this:

1. Purchase Canon 70-200 f/2.8 IS II lens from Newegg
2. Newegg ships
3. Price drops at B&H Photo Video to $2199
4. Submit IronEgg claim
5. Was denied because B&H is not on included list (http://promotions.newegg.com/nepro/13-2430/)
6. Price drops at Amazon.com to $2099
7. Submit an IronEgg claim since Amazon.com is on the list
8. Denied because "it's under our actual cost"
9. At this point decide that IronEgg is a complete scam and ready to talk to American Express

#5 is interesting because the exact language on the page. Two quotes from the page:

[...] This offer applies only to the advertised online price of identical items offered for sale by major retailers (each a "Competitor")*. Auction site prices are not eligible for this offer. [...]

and

*Major retailers include: amazon.com, bestbuy.com, rakuten.com, cdw.com, costco.com, crutchfield.com, dell.com, frys.com, gamestop.com, kmart.com, officedepot.com, officemax.com,pcconnection.com, pcmall.com, radioshack.com, samsclub.com, sears.com, staples.com, target.com, tigerdirect.com, and walmart.com.

The first quote goes on to exclude auctions site explicitly. The second quote shows examples of major retailers. "Include" is showing a subset of a larger group. It doesn't state something like "We will only price match the following retailers:" or "Major retailers exclusively consist of:"

From a dictionary:

include |inˈklo͞od|verb [ with obj. ]1 comprise or contain as part of a whole: the price includes dinner, bed, and breakfast | other changes included the abolition of the death penalty.2 make part of a whole or set: we have included some hints for beginners in this section.• allow (someone) to share in an activity or privilege: there were doubts as to whether she was included in the invitation.ORIGIN late Middle English (also in the sense ‘shut in’): from Latin includere, from in- ‘into’ + claudere ‘to shut.’Usage: Include has a broader meaning than comprise. In the sentence the accommodations comprise two bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen, and living room, the word comprise implies that there are no accommodations other than those listed. Include can be used in this way too, but it is also used in a nonrestrictive way, implying that there may be other things not specifically mentioned that are part of the same category, as in the price includes a special welcome pack. Careful writers will avoid superfluous uses of ‘including . . . and more,’ commonly imitated from advertising. The ‘and more’ is superfluous because including or includes implies that there is more than what is listed.

I hate to be all legalistic, but we are talking about terms and conditions of an offer which is a legal document. (The "usage" section is critical here) Taken together with the specific exclusion, the set of major retailers comprises a larger set than that listed in the "includes" section.

#8 further becomes interesting because there were other retailers that were selling at the same price as Amazon. Granted, this was buydig.com which isn't on the "included" list, but they are a retailer that doesn't have the brand recognition of either Newegg or Amazon (or even B&H which is super well known in the industry). If buydig can sell at that price and obviously make money since they're not using this as a brand-building exercise then Newegg's price is likely at least as good being a far bigger and better known retailer.

I inquired about what the actual cost is, but was met with "that's confidential." I understand that, but this removes all the teeth from the IronEgg program if one party has unilateral control over the execution of the agreement.

I was offered a $100 gift card that expires in 90 days for "being a valued customer" and I didn't quite feel valued enough at the time. (I'm still researching the legality of an expiring gift card, but that's a different and lesser concern at this point) I offered to split the difference and take $200 instead of the full $400 price match (or even $300 from B&H, Adorama and a slew of other retailers) but that was similarly ignored.

I'm not sure how I can feel less like a "valued customer" at this point.

Thanks,

-George Burgyan

Ok, lets see how this plays out...Late in the day I get a response:

Dear George,Thank you for contacting Newegg.I want to help you with this situation. I spoke to the appropriate management trying to push this price match for you. Unfortunately i am unable to issue the whole amount but i am able to get an exception for another $100.00 Newegg gift card. If you wish to have this issued please contact me at my email at xxxxxx@newegg.com. I am looking forward to assisting you.If you have any further questions or concerns, please visit our FAQs page. If you still require any assistance, please feel free to reply directly to this email.Thank you,Ronald Campos

12/10 - After a clarifying email (to ensure that they were talking about 2 $100 "gift cards" not just one and poorly worded) I agree to their offer.12/12 - One $100 "gift card" shows up in my email.12/13 - Enquire about the missing card:

Just out of curiosity, is there a problem with the system since I got only a single $100 gift card which differs from our agreement.

A response:

Dear George,Thank you for contacting Newegg.This might take 1 day or 2 more to process. I will also check on this to make sure its being processed.If you have any further questions or concerns, please visit our FAQs page. If you still require any assistance, please feel free to reply directly to this email.Thank you,Ronald Campos

12/15 - Still no card... I'm on a vacation in Cleveland at the time...

I've allowed 1-2 days to process.

Communicating with you guys is like screaming down a well.

I've not received either the additional agreed-to $100 "gift card" nor a response to my other email on this ticket.

Am I really operating with a company that's not making a good faith effort to be honest?

The drop dead date is the 18th when I'm back from a vacation -- then I will contact American Express to dispute the full amount of the price match and include full transcripts of the correspondence.

Please escalate this ticket to the appropriate parties.

Thanks for your time,

-George Burgyan

12/16 - Finally the other "gift card" arrives. To get these idiots to do anything you have to resort to threats. Talking doesn't get any results.Pro-tip: Please, for the love of god, follow through. Nothing makes you look worse than broken promises after broken promises.Now I have $200 of "gift cards" (I keep putting them in quotes because they're not gift cards since they expire and have other strings attached that, based on my read of California law, aren't actually allowed)12/18 - Buy Ennie a Christmas present. Newegg's price is the same as others and I want to use these before they figure out some other way of screwing me.I got the package on Friday. I can finally once and for all wash my hands of these guys.Never again will give these bastards my money.Even after this disaster of a customer service incident they've still not updated the legalese on their Iron Egg page.