On the 19th, I saw a link to a nifty little USB flash drive, complete with a $20 rebate (rendering the 64MB drive only $12), and free shipping to boot! Seemed like a good deal, so I purchased the drive and downloaded the rebate form. And waited. And waited. And waited some more. I do my fair share of online shopping, so I’m used to reasonable response times. A day or two and the item, assuming it isn’t backordered, ships. Then a few days before my friendly FedEx or UPS guy knocks on my door. Pretty routine. Very rarely have I had any delays at all in any online shopping… a few backorders that weren’t listed on the site, a company that routinely takes about 5 days to ship an order (which is ridiculous for a computer parts store), and the like. 10 days into my order from Buy.com, however, my online status still states “Sent to Warehouse.” About 5 days ago, it had been updated from processing to the warehouse status. According to Buy.com’s methodology, an order is verified, processed, then the order is sent to the warehouse to be (presumably) pulled off the shelf, packed and shipped. They then email you and tell you your order has shipped. Seems like a bit of an overkill process, but really, should this take OVER TEN DAYS? The very least they could do is send a quick email stating that the item is backordered, or they screwed up and deleted the order and will therefore send a free copy of “CSS Pocket Reference 2.0” as a token of good will, or that Bob in the warehouse was drunk all last week and rammed the forklift into the wall. Something!
I sent off a burning email to the folks at Buy.com, as per my methodology. I wonder if it will take them 10 days to respond to that. I’m at the point of blacklisting Buy.com. I’m a staunch supporter of the idea that “The customer is always right.” They may be a smarmy bastard, but they deserve the best service because if you piss one off enough, they’ll… well… they’ll react like I do. They’ll tell their friends what a bunch of lame-brains Company X are, and tell their friends not to do business with them. One person turns to two, turns to 10, turns to 100. Next thing you know, the entire population of Columbus, Ohio is boycotting their company. Not good for business. The only company that can get away with something like that is Microsoft. And Buy.com is no Microsoft (remember Buymusic.com? Yeah, neither do I).
You know, now that I think of it, I’ve realized that I purchased a WiFi finder (a small keychain device to show the strength of a wireless signal) from Buy.com last December. The device arrived in reasonable style (it was the Christmas season, so you expect delays), but it had a Buy.com rebate, which I never recall having received. So I’m out 20 bucks there as well. Luckily, this time, the rebate is from Iomega, so I don’t have to deal with those lurps at Buy.com.
So, uh, yeah… avoid Buy.com like the plague. Consider them on my Blacklist.