Let me explain the reason for my displeasure.
A few days ago, I decided to order a part for a new computer -- a motherboard. The motherboard is rather new so, understandably, it is not yet available at many retailers. I searched long and hard, comparing the part I finally chose to purchase with its upcoming competitors (also new products). I eventually chose this specific model because it wasn't clear when the competition would be available -- and, as such, I hadn't been able to find much specific comparison info.
Eventually, Google's Froogle shopping service led me to Ewiz.com. They had the best price on the motherboard and I was not willing to justify a price increase of about 10% to purchase from a widely-respected vendor such as NewEgg.com. Around the time I finally made the purchase decision, I returned to Ewiz.com only to find that the motherboard was no longer listed -- I assumed this meant it had sold out and was no longer in stock.
Much to my delight, two days later I found the same product at the same low price on Ewiz.com. It seemed it was again in-stock and I entered my purchase information hastily. This was on Friday evening -- I don't always expect weekend service from web retailers, but I thought there was a chance my order would be processed on Saturday.
The weekend came and went. On Monday around mid-day, I received an email saying my address had not been verified with my bank and they had not shipped my order. My first complaint is that Ewiz requires address verification of both the billing and shipping addresses. I have never purchased from another site with this requirement. One might wonder how and why it would even be possible to verify two unique addresses with a bank. What is the point of having a 'billing address' if not to serve as verification for a separate 'shipping address' with no direct ties to the bank account in question?
I called Ewiz immediately to figure out the issue. They said they were not able to verify my shipping address with my bank even though my name and billing address had checked out fine. Furthermore, they informed me that the item was now out of stock and once my address was verified, they would not be able to ship the item to me until March 15. *Keep in mind here that one of the reasons I chose this product is because I was under the impression it would be available sooner than a competitor's product -- if I have to wait until March 15, it is likely that more information on the competition will be available and I may well begin to question my purchase decision.
I told the Ewiz representative that I was in dismay as to how this could have happened. What is the value of placing an order if you are not, indeed, reserving the product you have ordered? The lady on the phone told me that their system 'doesn't work like that' and that I would simply have to wait until they have the item in stock once again. 'Ridiculous', I replied. She asked if I wanted to keep my order 'on hold'. I said I did, though I asked her to clarify that this would mean they would still ship me the item as soon as it is available. I considered cancelling my order, but instead decided to keep the order and gather my thoughts. I asked if she could do anything to sweeten the deal and she agreed to let me use a coupon code ('GO4GOLD' gives a $15 discount if you are daring enough to consider purchasing something there) and also upgrade me to 3-day shipping at no charge. The discount as compared with other web retailers had swelled to an impressive 20% -- at the cost of a horrible purchasing experience.
I hung up and called my bank to verify my address. I checked on Ewiz's site again to see if the discount code had been applied to my order. It had, though I noticed that the shipping upgrade had been added at an additional cost of $6. I was not even surprised to see this.
I called Ewiz again and spoke to a second representative. I explained what had happened. She told me the item would not be in stock until March 5th at the earliest and March 15th at the latest and that there was no way they would be able to ship me one before then. When I told her of the non-discounted free shipping upgrade, she told me she could not fix it and asked me to call back 45 minutes later when Joyce would be back from lunch. I declined and asked her to have Joyce give me a call when she could spare a moment.
To my surprise, Joyce did call me a short while later. She fixed the shipping cost and confirmed that the product might be in stock earlier than the date she had initially told me, but made no further offer to right the situation. She confirmed that my address was now verified -- this took less than 30 seconds and, had it been done initially, perhaps my motherboard would have already been on the road to my house instead of on the road to someone else's.
This is my first experience with Ewiz.com. I cannot recommend it to others, though if they somehow manage to exceed that which they have currently promised, I'll reconsider my stance.
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