Did Newegg scam Gamers Nexus? A former RMA inspector’s opinion…

[@KyokujiFGC]

The follow-up from Steve is pretty damning. It turns out Newegg was the one who RMA'd the board to begin with, specifically refused Gigabyte's offer to repair it for $100, and then still put it back on the shelf to sell to a customer.

[@VanillaWahlberg]

Geez. That's despicable.

[@SeraphArmaros]

All while it had a huge label from the manufacturer describing it as "irreparable" and "CPU Socket Damaged".

[@puffinrock2871]

yeah, it's really shedding light on some things that never should be happening.

[@allothernamesbutthis]

possibly the most expensive $100 that company ever saved.

[@pirojfmifhghek566]

I think it goes to show that the issue is beyond simple laziness and ventures into actual fraud. Everyone in the company who touched this board is in on it. The RMA slip from the manufacturer was still taped to the front of the damn board. So EVERYONE who touched this board and RMA request knew that it was busted, why it was busted, who busted it, and what it would take to fix it. The first inspector sent it to be RMA'd and they chose not to fix it. They should have thrown it in the bin, but they sold it to Steve. The customer service rep who told him to send it back should have also known that the product was previously RMA'd from their records. The second inspector should have _immediately_ seen the RMA slip, so even if it was a different inspector it should have been obvious. The customer service rep who claimed it was "bent pins" and "thermal pate" should've been able to see the RMA in their records. At every level of this fuckup, it has become 100% clear that this scam is standard routine. You can't have this many people look at the same board and come to the same conclusion unless you're training them to lie for the sake of the company. So this is clearly known by management as well.

[@JDCheng]

11:14 Breast implants are sold as singles, not doubles. Reason being is that if used for things like breast cancer reconstruction, you don't need two. (Also: fun fact - sometimes when two implants are placed even for cosmetic reasons, breasts might not be symmetric, and you might need 2 different sizes anyway)

[@paulshardware]

This is the insight I was looking for on that, thank you

[@rhekman]

Thanks for keeping us abreast on the situation.

[@ulrichkalber9039]

you spared me a comment, and better phrased as well.

[@unclerubo]

This is some random trivia I was not expecting to find before going to bed today.

[@rushunt2131]

you are correct boobs come in singles... look at you succeeding in life.... go you!

[@matthewf1979]

There should be an addendum video to this. The motherboard had already been sent to the manufacturer with bent pins in July of 2021 and the sticker was still on the motherboard. Newegg sent Gamers Nexus a known defective item, blatantly blamed them for the damage and refused the refund. In my parts, that’s fraud.

[@OnceShy_TwiceBitten]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/eX2QlnWVd9tof80

[@Tixbomber]

The problem with that. And why companies LOOOVE long "chains of command". Is because they can just use plausible deniability for every bs, nefarious thing they do. Making them able to skirt fraud claims.

[@Jrock420blam]

@@Tixbomber all it requires is a variation of this statement "we will be retraining staff on proper protocol so this never happens again" and then they just continue being shady

[@leestringer]

They went public 5 years ago. I have to wonder if that is when everything went to shit. Their stock price certainly did.

[@ExecratedPlaysGaming]

@@leestringer That really is when it went to shit. Publicly traded companies get bought up by investment funds designed to enrich the rich and politically connected, and they do so in a very simple way: year over year profit increases. This allows their investors to borrow money against future profits, and in order to keep doing that, they need to show that their profits will increase year over year. They borrow a million dollars against next year's projected profits of 1.5 million, and then next year they need to borrow not only the 1.2 million they owe, but also another million to keep living, and so the third year profits need to exceed 2.7 million dollars. And they aren't just happy living within their means, either, so they want to borrow not just the 1.2 million they owe plus another million to maintain their lifestyle, but also an extra million to further enhance their quality of living, so profits need to exceed 3.7 million dollars. Obviously, this is a simplified example, but it shows just how differently the rich live. While you or I might buy stock with the intent of selling it when its price goes up in order to make money, the rich buy stock in such quantity that they expect to be able to continuously borrow against its value for a decade or more, but that necessitates the value of that stock increasing, and stock value only increases when profit increases. So when a company, like Gamestop or Newegg, reaches its market cap, there's only one way for it to continue increasing profits: cutting costs.

[@toddabbott781]

He has a follow-up and it is worse. The board was actually sold and returned damaged. They sent the board off to have it serviced for the bent pins. Gigabyte offered to fix it for $100, but NewEgg declined. The motherboard was returned to NewEgg and resold as open box to Nexus. The service tag is still on the board. Either they thought the board had been repaired or just screwed up and put it back on the shelf to re-sell, but it should NEVER have been re-sold... and NewEgg handled it poorly.

[@KenS1267]

The thing is with the RMA sticker still on it, it proves it was non functional when sold. It has to have been a mistake. A simple photo of the board with that sticker is all it takes to put them into a very messy position.

[@ccricers]

They should’ve just RTV (Return to Vendor) broken boards to Gigabyte. It would’ve at least be less worse than what they actually did.

[@FragEightyfive]

This sounds like what most likely happened, I had a very similar experience. I have a feeling there is very poor procedures/accountability in place. People not knowing what they are doing and putting boxes in the wrong pile to get shipped back out. I am in no way defending Newegg, I have a number of very negative experiences with them recently where I will never shop with them ever again.

[@SevenandForty]

@@KenS1267 Probably why 'Egg still hasn't given Steve those photos they said they would

[@LegitSav]

@@KenS1267 That is what I am thinking. Newegg can suck, but this definitely sounds like a mistake. It is hard to believe they would outright sell broken items.

[@LadyEmilyNyx]

I used to buy all my hardware exclusively from newegg, to the point that I never even looked elsewhere to price match or anything. Over the years, they've given me reason after reason to change that habit, and now newegg is a last resort, behind even Amazon... and I'm REALLY not fond of Amazon's company practices... so that's saying something. My most recent purchase, my two available options were newegg... and a chinese seller on ebay. After 6 weeks of fighting with newegg, I issued a dispute with my CC and ordered the ebay part. Zero issues. When random ebay sellers in China offer a better experience than your company... you're not just doing SOMETHING wrong... you're doing everything wrong.

[@TheSjuris]

Maybe that seller in China owns Newegg.

[@montreauxs]

Tiger Direct.

[@goblinphreak2132]

Newegg used to be "bought and shipped from newegg only" basically you shopped newegg, you got newegg. Now Newegg has 3rd party sellers.... And they in my opinion are scummy as shit. Its the same with Amazon, but at least with Amazon I get free shipping. I also make sure products i buy from Amazon are official Amazon "sold and shipped" or "official product brand" sold and shipped. If its some 3rd party seller i generally dont buy from them. I will even pay a few dollars more to get the Amazon shipped and sold item. Because more than likely the 3rd party seller is scamming. I learned my lesson the first time i bought 3rd party on amazon. I ordered laptop ddr3 ram for my laptop. When it came, one chip was a different color than the other. Some asshole ripped off the g.skill sticker and places it on a hyundai ram chip (aka oem chip) put it in the package and resold the g.skill kit as new. I was furious. Luckily amazon handled it and i got my money back. But the hassle itself is bullshit.

[@edwardellis7611]

I agree with this 100%

[@AshenTechDotCom]

glad im not alone..... i have had better luck with sellers that spoke google translate....

[@jackka82]

FYI, the Newegg that we all loved was bought out in 2017 by a Chinese company. I found out about it after Newegg started to feel a bit different and not as good as before in recent years. It's such a shame.

[@karenelizabeth1590]

I had no idea. That explains a lot!

[@chuuzu]

Oh, that explains a lot actually.

[@tacticoolrick5562]

Yeah they used to be great. Now they're utter shit.

[@derek8564]

The chinese will do that to ya

[@utubewillyman]

What is it about China and scams? They have new construction buildings thay fall apart. They ship bricks in place of electronics. The one time I ordered from AliExpress, my credit card was used for a $300 Uber ride a few days later--the only time I've ever been a victim of credit card fraud.

[@jesuschristislord6790]

Paul would fix damaged pins for people while making $4 an hour sitting in a dark corner of a factory alone all day. What a bro.

[@pmcgee103]

Yeah, he got my subscribe after hearing that. Shows a lot of passion towards technology and care for people. Says a lot about his personality trait/character that isn't really taught/learned, but is a positive mindset.

[@barryretmanski4763]

Yeah, but don't think I would want to be the guy that bought the "repaired" CPU, the pin being bent back and forth like that would be weakened.

[@OOZ662]

@@barryretmanski4763 The context pointed to the user having damaged the CPU themselves, and instead of saying "get rekt, no refund for you" he'd bend the pin back and it'd instead be "still no refund for you but maybe the CPU will work when it gets back to you."

[@onecalledchuck1664]

AND all while protecting his coworkers from music copyright violations, random videos on burner cameras, breast implants(?) and death by rattlesnake. #TheHeroWeNeed

[@KenS1267]

@@barryretmanski4763 Generally a CPU goes into a socket once and never comes out of the socket ever again. Most people do not care if the pin is weakened. Even as an enthusiast I can count the number of times I've pulled CPU's out of Mobo's on one hand.

[@tommylai9896]

Paul, I remember dealing with you 20+ years ago regarding my RMA. I bought a thermaltake PSU from newegg and it burnt my Hard drive. You offered me a refund for the PSU plus a voucher to buy another hard drive from newegg. It is sad to see what newegg has become.

[@MrKeefy]

About 2005/6 I bought a thermal take psu and it was trash. It would overheat and shut off and not switch back on until it cooled down. I sent it back, but claimed since it was a non standard size it didn't fit in my case and the website description had no dimensions so had no way of knowing it wouldn't fit.

[@sirmonkey1985]

@@MrKeefy the good ol thermaltake toughpower series psu's, lol. i remember when they silently released the updated version of those psu's, still have my TT TP 750w from 2007 which i stopped using in 2018 but now it's output is closer to 600-650w.

[@robertb6276]

@@sirmonkey1985 TIL what was wrong with my Thermaltake toughpower PSU back in the day. Holy hell that thing gave me problems.

[@stephenvoss6092]

Thermaltake PSUs were they ever good?

[@Wulthrin]

@@stephenvoss6092 🤷‍♂i never had an issue.

[@geblah187]

I work for a company that provides software as a service - Newegg is one of our customers. Not sure if they are under new management/bought out/etc, but they used to be great and they are now such a nightmare that our own support department plays rock/paper/scissors to determine who has to deal with them. Sad :(

[@noclass2gun342]

if you watch the sit down steve did with some upper level executives (including the ceo) only one of them had been there for more than a couple years, and one had only been there a few months...

[@_Aemse]

Chinese owners took over and brought their business practices from overseas with them.

[@macleod1592]

They've been doing the "bent pins" crap for many years, almost as long as I've been in this hobby. I'm glad that they are FINALLY feeling some heat about it.

[@whiskizyo2067]

yeah unfortunately only now did Gamers Nexus bring it up - because it finally happened to them. better than nothing i guess

[@IanBPPK]

@@whiskizyo2067 they didn't have direct firsthand evidence to make content in good faith with something to back it. They wanted to make content but didn't want to put their audience nor vendor trust at risk with what wasn't substantiated to their expectations.

[@Somethingaboutthat]

I've got some concerns with Ryzen 4 CPU's going with the pins on the board vs the cpu. I have fixed a few bent CPU pins over the years but the motherboard pins seem almost impossible to fix. I understand why AMD wants to switch and I also understand some people have pulled cpu's off the boards when pulling the heatsync off but at least IMO the cpu pins you'll likely fix. The motherboard on the other hand will need to be tossed.

[@_miyu]

@@Somethingaboutthat Unless an object directly lands on the socket, nothing is going to damage those pins. They are very safe on the motherboard. Think about it, its the chip that gets taken out and moved around, pins on the chip are in danger, but rarely does anything go near the motherboard.

[@IanBPPK]

@@_miyu they're mildly prone to damage by beginners building systems or doing maintenance, or even sending it in used packaging. Not saying it's the absolute norm to have bent LGA pins but it's an understood issue.

[@MTNRanger]

I think Newegg started a downward trend when 1) they started to sell non-computer products (like Amazon), and 2) when they started listing tons of "marketplace" crap sellers on their site.

[@totz808]

@@JuicerNation I think it's easy to blame the Chinese company, and I'm sure they have a big role to play in the modern crappiness of Newegg, but a lot of the shitty stories I've been reading lately also came from stuff before 2016 when they were bought out. I think the downward trend of Newegg happened much earlier.

[@tommylai9896]

@@JuicerNation They actually have always been a Chinese company(if you consider taiwan as part of China) but they did become way worse after they are bought up by a mainland China company.

[@YdenMk-II]

Nah I think the main reason they went downhill was Amazon free shipping. I remember checking for best prices for parts and Newegg was rarely on the list cause after factoring shipping, there were always better options either via Amazon or at a physical store nearby. It's been a while since I ordered anything from Newegg so I don't know what they're doing about shipping nowadays.

[@Nightfighter82]

@@tommylai9896 The only idiots that think Taiwan is part of China are the Communist authoritarians in Beijing. Most normal people understand that Taiwan is it's own independent country that deserves the right to keep it's democracy. Also, almost all Chinese companies are fronts for the CCP.

[@Staren01]

When I started seeing Dyson products and air fryers, and the marketplace opened, I knew quality was dropping fast.

[@LonSeidman]

I wonder what customer service policies were changed after it went under the new ownership in 2016.

[@N0RD0M]

This explains why my newegg experience since around 2016 has sucked. I have wondered why they were like a shell of their form selves. Now I know.

[@zeron851]

No doubt. CS in general has been trimmed down and had hard metrics thrust upon it in damn near every single industry there is. It's often seen as a cost center when in reality it can easily be the backbone of your business. Pretty much the only reason the place i work at got as popular as it has was due to it's incredible CS.

[@Bjorick]

@@zeron851 same, i started at a start up about 6 or 7 years ago that was really small, excellent CS has turned it into a million dollar company, however, the dedication of the tech team was a major part of that, every part of the system needs to be focused and hard working, and when any of those parts fail, the whole company will suffer

[@tsdobbi]

@@zeron851 It's nuts how much shit fell off the face of the earth in terms of customer service since the late 90's. As a highschool student in the late 90's I worked full time to save up for my first PC (a pre-built, had no clue about building back then). I got one from gateway. Went to a gateway store, the rep helped me configure it, With the video card I wanted the cost was going to be more than I had. Dude said don't worry about it added the card and just slashed the price down. Any time I had any issues going forward, service was great and they always considered what makes everything easier for the customer.

[@SchrottiJr]

All. They changed it to "we need more money".

[@TheFallenAngel13524]

Newegg's rush processing and shipping times are/were literal paid scams. The very last time I bothered with them i did rush process with next day delivery for a part i needed asap. They "processed": the order that night then left it in their warehouse for 3 days before shipping. According to CS idle time in the warehouse is acceptable and doesn't count as ship time so they refused to refund the rush processing because they "processed" it the same night and the shipping because it did in fact arrive the next day even though they held it for 3 days and next day turned out to be 4 days total. Such a joke of a company lol

[@S.Madman]

I haven't bought from Newegg in 10 years, and I totally forgot about that scam they used to pull until I gave up on them for another reason. At least Amazon will refund the shipping if the item is late. Newegg was like "we did a boo boo, we sowy".

[@IncertusetNescio]

That's basically my experience. I paid for rush processing and it didn't make it arrive any faster.

[@aaronhopkins7354]

Same experience. The few times I've paid for rush / expedited shipping, it's taken just as long as standard. One of the worst I remember, back inn the early 2000s, I needed a part for a business machine and ordered it rush... showed up a week later. Meanwhile, business is down the whole time.

[@kaldogorath]

So you paid only for rush processing and not rush shipping and you're complaining? They are correct, it was rush processed. Their standard shipping is 3 days, taken from after the day it was processed, so it's bang on. You got what you paid for. If you wanted it next day you should have paid for next day shipping also.

[@TheFallenAngel13524]

@@kaldogorath pretty sure a next day delivery with rush process sitting in their warehouse for 3 days after processing isn’t “bang on” for next day delivery.

[@jpesicka492]

Great insight. As someone who also does RMA's for a publicly traded company, any changes in policy are definitely about minimizing loss, maximizing profits, and boosting stock prices.

[@SteveDice21]

I'd argue good customer service minimizes loses, maximizes profits and boosts stock prices.

[@mindrover777]

@@SteveDice21 customer service can't actually do anything. They can only pass on information to the concerned.

[@jpesicka492]

@@SteveDice21 There's definitely an argument for that but that's not how large corporations that are listed on the stock market feel unfortunately.

[@lilman227]

@@jpesicka492 Imma be real, I’m dropping Newegg at this point. Which may be a pain since I use to buy a ton of equipment for my employees there.

[@emma70707]

@@SteveDice21 , long term, probably. But many at large companies are more focused on (and sometimes explicitly rewarded for) the shorter term quick growth in profits which drives stock prices.

[@Ferro_Giconi]

I've been avoiding newegg for years now. The writing was on the wall when they added that awful marketplace thing where you could accidentally order something and then realize it has 8 week shipping if you weren't paying attention because of being used to shipping from newegg being reasonable. I started getting suspicious that their overall quality would decline in other ways too. Then, sure enough, searching became horrible, littered with all kinds of things that aren't even close to matching my search terms(and that all have awful long shipping times), and they changed other things that also just made me not trust them anymore. I eventually got to the point where I decided to try trusting Amazon with computer parts purchases to get myself away from Newegg's untrustworthy feeling changes, and it turned out to be totally fine. I think it's been at least 5 years since I've made a single purchase at newegg. I know it's not much to a company of their size, but they could have had another $10,000-20,000 from my purchases and recommendations to relatives who trust me to give them good computer advice and my job in those 5 years if they hadn't f-ed up their website and trustworthiness so badly. And now after how badly this RMA was handled, that just adds icing to my distrust.

[@Murasadramon]

I realized things weren't quite the same years ago when I went to Newegg's front page and there were ads for My Little Pony, Magic: the Gathering, and rice cookers on the front page.

[@drowningin]

That's when I stopped I ordered everything for a new computer and it all appeared to be shipping together from warehouse and only after submitting it was like these things will be here in 3days, but your motherboard in 3 weeks. Like hold up! Why is that information only crystal clear after I submitted order?

[@futuza]

Yeah they got bought out by a Chinese company in 2017 and they've been slowly mismanaging things into the ground since then.

[@barongerhardt]

The marketplace is what killed my relationship with newegg too. The way they stuck it in with very little notice that newegg wasn't backing the product in any way was slimy. I got a used laptop (lenovo thinkpad) for my mother that arrived with only half the screen working. Newegg said they didn't sell it to me and the reseller wanted to claim it was my problem for buying used. I would have been fine with some giant scratches on the case or a slightly wonky key, but literally half the screen was busted. Zero help was provided by either company. I was able to replace the screen for about $50. Years prior, and in the course of some $20-50k, of merchandise, I had a few bad purchases with newegg and they always handled them well. The laptop was a real stinker on a cheap item. After that every time I have gone to newegg, it seems like more of their offerings are third parties. I dislike Amazon, but they handle being a third party market place much better. Thankfully, I have microcenter close by and has become my go to.

[@oglej]

The thing about amazon and i personally saw this multiple times working with the usps is they will either slap a shipping label on the manufacturer's box and send it or throw it loose in a oversized box with the rest of your order and very little packing material, either way it is then placed on a pallet with the rest of that shipment stacked on top of it not too uncommon to be half a ton of crap stacked haphazerdly 6 feet tall, saran wrapped together and shipped, ive seen too many things come off their truck broken or left unattended on a front porch for all to see with the manufacturers packaging advertising its contents for anyone that happens to drive by since they just want it delivered regardless on whether anyone is there or not to ever trust amazon.

[@helljester8097]

Sweet video. I find stories from ex-professionals in the industry fascinating. These are the kind of talking head videos I love.

[@tonnentonie2767]

Check out Dave's Garage for fascinating Microsoft insight!

[@yayayaokoksure]

Isn't youtube amazing? It might not be the golden age but it's better than 20channels and a few magazines.

[@Tobias94b]

I totally agree, even though Paul's experience there is 17 years ago, that story contained a lot of interesting information on how businesses work in general :)

[@JohnGeorgeBauerBuis]

@@Tobias94b I was thinking this as well.

[@Bladedcloud6159]

It's a great insight of what happens behind the scenes.

[@xGodofAcidx]

My favorite part was when Newegg, upon realizing who they had done this to, acted like it was a "teachable moment" as if they were a 5 year old child, instead of just coming clean that this was inexcusable and they would make sure this doesn't happen again to anyone. Disingenuous to the end.

[@fnamelname9077]

Newewgg, defrauding someone: "This is what I call a pro-gamer move." Newegg, discovering that someone is basically the Solid Snake for anti-customer companies: "It's time for healing."

[@ExiledVessel]

happens all the time, was just talking with friends about the tsm mental abuse thing where people been abused for 10+ years and now publicly saying "try to do better now" lol.

[@Farouk.khettab]

Sadly, that's what PR people are taught in college.

[@fnamelname9077]

@@Farouk.khettab More sad that it works, really.

[@MAGGOT_VOMIT]

I remember the good ol' days when Newegg, TigerDirect and Zipzoomfly battled each other for your business and would sweeten the pot if you even mentioned the "other 2". That alone made building your war-machine even more fun!! 😆😂🤣

[@brents2500]

What I gather from this video is that NewEgg lost a damn good employee! You know you've gone above the call of duty when you're repairing mobo's, AMD cpu pins and detaining rattle snakes in an RMA office.

[@ConeJellos]

I RMAed a newegg marketplace item just a few weeks ago. They sent me the wrong item. Everything went smoothly, was refunded the full amount, and then randomly today they messaged me saying that I hadn't used the RMA shipping label within 7 days so they'd be voiding it. I'm so confused how their system randomly had that pop up. The RMA I sent back was over 7 days ago and has already fully been resolved. I think they have some gremlins in their servers.

[@sown-laughter4351]

more like they have thieves...

[@Mytube6138]

This company has a history of scamming people. Why give them the benefit of the doubt?

[@nomore6167]

I would keep an eye on my credit card transactions if I were you. I wouldn't put it past Newegg to claim they refunded the money assuming the product would be returned, but that it wasn't returned (which they'll probably say happened if they're claiming the RMA shipping label wasn't used), so they reinstituted the charge.

[@churblesfurbles]

@@Mytube6138 Oh come on, knee jerk bandwagon is tiresome, shipping labels are not easily voided, the shipping company holds the funds for a long time to ensure the label really was never used so its not something you want to do, furthermore everything has tracking now, so its not a mystery, very easy to check, their system hickuped.

[@Dudummeskind]

I expected a short video about Steve’s problem. Suddenly I‘m watching an awesome story about rattlesnakes and a fake tiddy. Please more of this.

[@DaleEarnhardtsSeatbelt]

TIDDY FOR SCALE

[@blueblade455]

Let this video marinate a little longer for more views and then can you imagine how much that breast implant with Paul's signature on it would sell for on eBay? Just sayin.

[@G_de_Coligny]

yup, holy non sequitur batman...

[@LoriB02]

This is really interesting.

[@DJTanner5]

Where did the tiddy come from? Is someone out there with one implant? I need to know more

[@AtotehZ]

9:27 I don't know what Newegg did, but if someone abuses or is denied an RMA here in Denmark you pay the equivalent of around $50 for the inspection based on the situation. The CD to DVD burner swap would've been one such case.

[@keeperofthegood]

I've only done a few orders with Newegg and there is a difference before and after their recent (now completed) merger. To say the customer service existed would be going a little step too far. "Hey can you tell me what my tracking number is on my package?" is responded to with "You will have the package when the shipper has delivered it" .... when it was 2 weeks late and I had NO idea where it was and letting them know this their come back was "if you looked at your shipping page it says in progress" and it was at that point I started looking for the wet tuna to give someone the slap they really deserved. I wish this kind of interaction was a one-off, but this was my third order and the third time they gave the same blank-stair-stonewall reply. I no longer consider Newegg when looking for products.

[@HMarcBower]

Not sure if that was a Monty Python reference or a mIRC reference, or neither and you have an original idea of slapping a person with a fish. +1 just in case. :)

[@bepbep7418]

@@HMarcBower could be a Dogma reference too.

[@wishusknight3009]

@@HMarcBower I regularly slap people around a bit with a large trout.

[@wishusknight3009]

Newegg was having some financial problems before the pandemic. Now they are swimming in cash.... Looks like we are stuck with them a little while longer.

[@HuggieBear39]

When I bought my desk, one of the legs was badly dinged up. I took the leg to the store and the lady said needed to bring back the whole desk. I told her I was not lugging all those pieces back to the store. The manager agreed with me and just opened one of the boxes the had in the back, and gave me the leg in trade. They then sent that one back to be reimbursed

[@mrwang420]

SO basically it has nothing to do with the company and everything to do with individual assholes that just happen to work for newegg. That's usually the case with most business issues.

[@Raven1024]

@@mrwang420 All just comes down to how much people want to think. Also though when I did retail decisions like that, I did take into account like Paul said their history. If you're someone who is in every other day with damaged stuff, and therefore like, way far outside just being a statistical anomaly, I was going to be less and less willing to help you if you keep screwing stuff up. Cuz then it's obvious it's you, not my product or handling.

[@kylemiller2920]

100% this!! When I worked at Sam's club this would often happen with our desk chairs where a caster/wheel was missing or missing the retainer and people would bring in the damaged caster and want a replacement (totally reasonable) our service desk people always wanted to be jerks about them not returning the entire item. I would go to the shelf, swap their wheel and bring the box up to the service desk like "oh look, I found their chair..." seriously, it's not that hard to be decent and reasonable with people...

[@estamnar6092]

Fukin gigabrain

[@666Tomato666]

@@mrwang420 the problem is that you never know what kind of manager you have, some are "if the computer says no, then it's no, don't even try to exhibit a bit of initiative", some are more of the "you're a human, use the gray matter between your ears"

[@RogueCylon]

The decline of NewEgg has been going on for a decade now. I’ve received secondhand goods, broken goods, and extremely poor packaging that ensured damage, their RMA experience is in the toilet as well. Some favorite shipping was stuff arriving out of box with fingerprints, heavy good mingled with delicate goods, and shipping memory in an envelope.

[@EASYUSA]

I only buy at Newegg what I can't find or would take forever to get at Amazon. Amazon customer service and return policies are light years ahead of Newegg's

[@dbgmediainc7506]

Sure, because Amazon f...over the sellers all the time in order to accommodate customers, bad and good all the same. Not saying you are a bad customer. I am just talking from experience as both customer and seller.

[@grafando]

@@dbgmediainc7506 I totally agree, but Newegg clearly needs to improve and when it comes to being a consumer..Amazon is the best option.

[@dbgmediainc7506]

@@grafando I assure you there are 100 times more unhappy Amazon shoppers than Newegg. They just don't have big KZbin channels to talk about it. Plus, all these big channels make money from their Amazon affiliate links so....... Offcourse they are not going to tell their followers of their bad experiences shopping on Amazon.

[@lumpusmaximus8257]

F*** Amazon... buy only from MicroCenter

[@EASYUSA]

@@lumpusmaximus8257 I've never bought from them yet because we don't have a physical store in Oregon. But I will check their web store.

[@john39er]

I worked RMA at Cybertron PC eons back, and it was about a weekly occurrence that someone would buy a higher end gaming rig and ship back their old E-machines. It was comical that they thought theyd get away with it. Which is why I understand a company scrutinizing returns, but to flat out ignore or decline it is asinine.

[@dustybookshelves2948]

I've always thought your analysis was admirably clear-eyed, but knowing you repaired pins so customers could get their money back is additionally & uniquely endearing.

[@BrennanJ01]

The Newegg shuffle turned me off of them big time. Packaging hard to get items with motherboards and power supplies was super scrummy and I have not shopped with them since.

[@JimJamMS]

Agreed. The Newegg Shuffle exposed how money hungry the company is, and this incident with Steve is yet another symptom of how little Newegg cares about their customers.

[@StgVirus1]

You do know that Newegg is being forced to do that with the GPU manufactures? It's a contract deal, if they refused then they wouldn't be getting GPU's no more.

[@MingRose]

Was trying to get a PS5 a while back, those nearly $1K PS5 bundles felt like a huge slap in the face. I get it, everyone needs to make money, but damn…They were marked up more than everything in the bundle was worth.

[@flech3025]

I hate that most of the stuff in the shuffle is bundled stuff but honestly I would not have been able to get a new GPU for anywhere close to MSRP last year with out it.

[@YukyDoodle]

Just got notified for a 3070 TI after being placed in a placeholder for the card from last week, which ended up being sold out even though I got the shuffle win, thanks to Newegg's customer service. I go through the checkout just to realize I still couldn't buy it again because its once again sold out within 2 minutes of receiving the notification. Just as hard getting a card on Newegg shuffle as a winner as it is on BestBuy.

[@Townie5lax]

Used to do 90% of my shopping on Newegg... Now they are an after thought. The shuffle and the debacle its over the last year has left a very sour taste in my mouth. Its too bad. Built everything with Newegg.

[@stanleystriker7065]

Same here. That and stupid "Unboxing Videos". Ooooof.

[@milohajek]

I worked for a large PC manufacture for 7 years, 5 of those as the primary RMA Manager and from my memories RMA stood for "Return Material Authorization", as it may not always be Merchandise. Not trying to be a jerk but just chipping in my 2 cents. I also remember the return fee was charged mainly when parts where missing, say a customer returns a motherboard, and they didn't include the SATA cables or manual, then there was NO room for movement for waiving the fee, however when a RMA was received and everything was there, it would be tested thoroughly, sometimes we would run a motherboard for up to a week straight if we couldn't replicate the problem. The return offender issue has been around for some time, as has the damaged item issues. There is no doubt that Newegg should have NOT sold this motherboard, period.

[@VeeLazer]

I haven't shopped with Newegg since they started the shuffle. Being that it always felt like a cash grab op or a way to scalp graphics cards, I can't see myself supporting them in any kind of way.

[@dgillies5420]

I am a successful winner of a recent shuffle (3070 Ti 3w ago - not bundled with anything else). Although it's really not the card I wanted to get, every time I look at the retail price for a 3060 Ti anyplace else, I am very glad that some company is selling these cards for 60% over retail instead of 100%. For the price of a 3060 Ti, I got a 3070 Ti.

[@corruptedpoison1]

While that's probably true me and couple friends wouldn't have the 30 series right now without the shuffle.

[@TheThirdeYe1337]

That was the only way I would've been able to get my 3060, and later a 3080 that I ultimately wanted. Took a ton of tries, but I'm glad they made it at least possible to get one. Granted, after this whole fiasco I've unsubscribed from their newsletters, shuffles, etc. and don’t plan to buy from them again anytime soon.

[@ZenAndPsychedelicHealingCenter]

@@TheThirdeYe1337 stop enabling scammers.

[@gingerman5123]

Early 2000's I was a repair tech in a Dell factory. We had tools for straightening bent CPU pins. Basically a hollow needle we'd slip over the pin and bend it back. Those things were great.

[@daveBit15]

That's how I routinely do it.

[@bertoray5497]

I've not had to straighten a bent pin, but I understand that an empty mechanical pencil tip works well.

[@blahorgaslisk7763]

@@bertoray5497 It works, but personally I prefer the razorblade. It's easier to get all the pins even and inline that way. Now if you go back before the ZIF sockets were introduced, then you could get some interesting versions of bent pins. Back on the 486 processors the pins were very much softer than they are on say a Ryzen today. That in combination with sockets where you pressed the processor down into the socket, every pin going into their own press fit socket, made for interesting bends. Some times you could have one pin that missed it's intended socket, or the socket might have a defect making it to tight for the pin and the pin would just roll itself around so it looked like a cinnamon bun roll. The pins were so soft that often you could pull that out straight again using pliers, but then they were sometimes so distorted that they no longer fit in the socket. I used a light coating of an electronics protection spray to lube the pins before pressing the processors into the sockets. That way the pins would slide in easier and there were less risk of them bending. I even made a tool for a range of portables that we used to press the CPU's into the socket. It supported the motherboard from below and pressed the CPU down from above. I made it as pressing the processor into the motherboard without support under was bending everything in pretty scare ways. And pressing the CPU in with your thumb was actually not that easy. Now if installing the CPU's took a fit of force then removing them took even more. Again I made some tools for that, but there were also a lot of commercial tools available for the purpose. But usually people just used a flathead screwdriver and poked it in between the CPU and the socket and pried and bent until the processor popped out. If you weren't careful you would end up with severely bent pins and possibly damage to the socket.

[@amshermansen]

Never occured to me to get a hollow needle. That's brilliant in its simplicity. I'll have to get one for Ryzen cases!

[@tboodman]

@@amshermansen Also a mechanical pencil tip would work with no lead in it

[@draynged7869]

Also I think it is hilarious that when one popular youtuber posts a video in a certain category like gaming PC or electronics that every other youtuber that runs the same type of channel puts a video up about it! This was the first time good information was offered to this story, and hopefully people will be aware of what they are buying, and the condition of the item! Thanks Paul!

[@metal_mo]

Can we all take a moment to acknowledge the fact that Paul taped up an empty Newegg box as a prop to help us visual learners? Thanks Paul.

[@opinion5190]

I was actually hoping for a fake snake to pop out of the box.

[@Fux704]

@@opinion5190 every single human being is a "visual learner"

[@PippetWhippet]

@@Fux704 Except for blind people. They learn without vision.

[@grumpysteelman]

@@PippetWhippet - got ‘em!

[@BenderdickCumbersnatch]

"Visual learner" is a myth. All learner preferences are myth. Many studies have been done. People learn the same. And usually the way people THINK they prefer actually gives them lower test scores.

[@lanceripplinger8352]

As I used to work retail for many, many years, I am all to familiar with everything Paul describes. Newegg doesn't seem to be the same anymore. They really have gotten to big for their britches in my opinion. Here in the U.S., you are stuck either buying computer parts from them, or Amazon, unless you happen to live near a Micro Center.

[@TheSjuris]

It’s either Amazon or drive 70 miles to Microcenter for me.

[@G.U.P.]

Don't forget microcenter

[@GrandPrix46]

My 3070 I got from EVGA directly, doesn't always have to be a middle man.

[@TheSjuris]

@@GrandPrix46 still waiting for evga to get my 3080 in been on the waiting list for over a year.

[@GrandPrix46]

@@TheSjuris yeah I'm still on the list for a 3080, haven't heard anything on that. The 3070 email came in about a couple months ago after a year of waiting.

[@MrTwisted003]

Watching you at Newegg and Linus at NCIX is how I got into watching, learning, and keeping up with tech. You taught me how to mount a CPU, that's a special bond there pal. And I have been buying and sending others to buy from Newegg ever since. And there have been some ups n downs, but every issue I had was always taken care of quickly and with ease. I do think it is not "just" Newegg, or this place and that place... It's everywhere nowa days. It seems more and more businesses are loosing touch with "customer care" and focusing more on the mighty dollar. I think people have just gotten complacent even to the point that they'll believe a company who's goal is to get your money, over people who point out the hard facts. The whole "they wouldn't do that" or "that's just how things are now" or "I don't have time to fuss with it"... and businesses are taking advantage. I'm not saying that Newegg was doing this as a whole, but like most they sure seem like they were trying to get away with whatever they could, and just got caught.

[@fred_derf]

Setting up our offices a few years ago we ordered and received a damaged filing cabinet from Staples. I filed an RMA and they promptly refunded my money and they didn't want the damaged cabinet back, so we got to keep it. That's how mail ordering should work, if as a company you can't handle that then you shouldn't be in the mail-order business.

[@enjufi]

So you are asking for the reseller to eat the full cost every time? That's impossible. On consumer tech, the margins are usually really thin. What you are also saying, is basically: fuck smaller companies. Only the biggest players with full economics of scale could come even close to meeting your standard.

[@fred_derf]

@@enjufi I'm saying, mail-order is a very different beast than retail and if you can't handle mail-order properly, then you shouldn't be in the mail-order business. S*** in shipping is going to happen and you have to deal with it and suck it up and take the loss. In this case the cabinet is in a big bulky box and returning it would cost them more in shipping than it was worth as the cabinet would not be resalable so they told us to just keep it.

[@rod6918]

As someone in the eCommerce sector in an unrelated industry, companies would be wise to take a good look at the damage an error like this could cause their brand. I work hard everyday to make sure the company I work for is protected from the deep well of bad ratings and the damage it can cause to a business. Sometimes taking a loss and giving the customer the benefit of the doubt is the right choice. Nice video Paul. I appreciate the intelligent, non-emotional approach you took to this very important subject.

[@christopherfortney2544]

This is why Amazon has such a good reputation with customers.

[@travisaugustine7264]

My experience with Newegg recently involved a missing part. That process needs major revamping because it took them 2 weeks to determine that I did not in fact receive the part by which time I had ordered a replacement part. They issued a refund but it was the amount of time it took to go through the process. I sent them pictures of all the packing materials and parts received (they couldn't have put the missing part into the box they sent things with). Just a horrible experience that I likely will not repeat because I will go elsewhere.

[@UnitSe7en]

It's a Chinese company now. Don't use it.

[@SBCBears]

Once upon a time, I had faith in Newegg. My recent experiences with them have made me reconsider that faith I once had in them.

[@sublimedingo]

Same. They screwed me for $330 on a GPU that never got delivered. They never showed me any proof of delivery and said a porch pirate most likely stole it and I should use signature confirmation next time. They are scammers!

[@Chris_Currie]

I've been a Newegg customer for years and spent thousands of dollars with them, but after this incident (and what it says about their business practices), I will be buying my PC parts elsewhere from now on.

[@AaronTorres-k6h]

Where should I buy from that's trust worthy

[@charleshughes7007]

This was a fascinating video. As someone who has been buying things from Newegg for over half my life but also has been lucky enough not to need many RMAs, I appreciated the insight into the RMA process and the mind of the tech behind it. Please feel free to share more stories from your retail experience.

[@paulino181]

About 20 years ago I was a sales associate in the TV and stereo department at Sears (back in the era of Circuit City and Good Guys). It was a commission job, and we handled the returns. Because of the commissions and how our performance was measured, we were always keen on keeping the customer happy. We were especially lenient with open box items. These days I really like the convenience of ecommerce, and the low prices of big box stores, but I miss the customer service of a live person who knows the product and has a personal financial interest in keeping me happy. I guess I can't have my cake and eat it too.

[@YouAreStillNotablaze]

Holy hell was Newegg ever really once a gold standard or is that just nostalgia from the wonder of building my first system?

[@Doflaminguard]

They were bought by a Chinese company. Thats why they are now like that.

[@apotheosis21]

They were honestly the best in the business back in the from like 2000-2010. Their site was better, it was possible to find what you were looking for (not a given in 2005), they had the best selection, they shipped faster than basically anybody other than Amazon, and their customer support was awesome. I returned an open box GPU in 2020 even though the rules explicitly said I couldn’t return it, and I got my money back no problem, and no restocking fee. I haven’t built a computer from new products since probably around that time, so I didn’t know they had gotten so bad. Sad to hear.

[@vtwinbreed]

I really miss ZipZoomFly, gave TigerDirect and Newegg a run for their money, only even liked TigerDirect because they had a local store-front after they bought out CompUSA.. Then once their stores started closing down the company just went to crap. Never cared for TigerDirect main website company, first company I ever bought from and they screwed me right off the bat, and only offered me a partial refund after I threatened higher-ups with tying up their legal team to cost them more money than they saved. That was back in early 02 though, can't get away with that anymore, companies just have no ethics anymore and will do whatever they feel necessary to keep from having to give any money back.

[@corsairsofnarshaddaa]

Yes, they were. See Hidden Secret's comment here: "Paul would fix damaged pins for people while making $4 an hour sitting in a dark corner of a factory alone all day. What a bro."

[@Staren01]

Back in the day around Paul's time they were pretty solid. There was a company equivalent to what Newegg seems to have become though Back then Tiger Direct was the computer parts supplier going through a bad patch. At least that was my impression at the time.

[@ericandruszko7563]

I'm watching this after having watched GN's and UFD Tech's videos, and I gotta say, the ineptitude on Newegg's part is pretty disappointing, knowing how well they used to be handled. Oh how the mighty fall... Actually, you probably handled one or two of my own RMAs, Paul. Likely with significantly more respect than their current department...

[@nomisukeindustries]

"...regardless of the condition of the board, the fact that it was "open box" originally would have made me accept it no matter what." REALLY wish you would have been there to handle my open box motherboard return. They refused to RMA it because I told them it had several bent pins (USB 3.0, RGB, Audio, etc.). They claimed I did it even though it arrived in that condition. The fact of the matter was I never even installed it. Eventually, I was able to RMA it after the associate made the mistake of telling me I could repair it myself. She tried to double-back and say I had to send it to the manufacturer for repair, but I quoted her and she was forced to send an RMA label. And then they lost the motherboard when it arrived at their facility. I had to wait over a month for a claim. I had the signature as proof that it arrived at their receiving dock and they still made me wait to receive a refund until the claim had been processed on their end. They lost it and I had to wait. Never again.

[@TheParandroid]

There should be a mandatory requirement for sale of open box items to have "before" images available (as in before shipping it to the buyer) to prove that damage wasn't there when they sold it. At minimum stuff like photos of the CPU socket in case of a LGA motherboard. That way, both sides would be covered - retailer couldn't claim damage by the customer, if the damage was already there when they sold it.

[@TheParandroid]

@@Android-ng1wn at 8:00 of the GN video, Steve literally says that in their order history it says "open box".

[@souljastation5463]

@@TheParandroid I bought an open box monitor from amazon once and it was completely busted, it showed stripes all over the picture. Then a while later I bought a portable monitor and this one had an intermittent flaw, it must have been some loose connector inside, luckily I managed to press it down trough the bendy chassis and now it works reliably. I don't think they ever check the returned items. Returns are returned for a reason, and more often than not the reason is that they have some flaw, it's easier and less painful to return the item rather than go trough the warranty process, I do it too.

[@Niosus]

@@souljastation5463 I don't want to defend them too much, but sometimes an issue doesn't present itself immediately. Unless the customer that returned it explicitly mentioned that, it's very hard to spot all of those. The same even happens with new products that are supposed to work together. I recently built a workstation PC with 128GB of RAM at 3600MHz. Vendors don't really bother qualifying a lot of memory kits in that price range for motherboards. But after a lot of searching I did manage to find a combination that was on the QVL. It worked fine the first time I enabled the DOCP profile, but after a few days it started showing problems with booting... The _manufacturers_ claimed these would work together, but since it is an intermittent issue on a rare combination, it probably just slipped under the radar. Luckily, slightly tweaking the memory settings made the PC stable. But still, when you do all the research, you'd expect stuff to work. I could've RMA'd the RAM, since it wasn't doing what they claimed on the website, but it wasn't really worth the headache.

[@TheParandroid]

@@souljastation5463 Main issue is incorrect damage checks at store when item was initially returned - which is why i mentioned that in case of open box the store would have to provide photos of the item before the sale to second customer to be able to legally refuse return due user damage. In the current situation, you have to trust the store that they actually checked the item for damage on first return, if they didn't and you got a damaged item, you are screwed.

[@xlerb2286]

I've been a customer of Newegg since at least 2012, they've been my "go to" place for electronics for over a decade since the last good store here in town closed. Almost all orders have been without issue. Though on one recent order I had a power supply that failed well within the warranty period that I got a runaround on getting replaced and finally just gave up on it as not worth the hassle - which may have been their strategy. I'd still buy from them, but with so many people having bad experiences they're not my "go to" anymore. And that's a shame, because I always felt ordering from NewEgg meant there wouldn't be any problems. But now I'd rather make a 3 hour drive to the nearest city with a good computer store than roll the dice with NewEgg - and I hate long drives.

[@catnip202xch.]

That’s why I use MicroCenter now

[@fxrsniper1]

Haven't bought from Newegg in 10 years due to the fact I found cheaper and the more recent 5 years ago when they screwed 5 friends over with the Motherboard scam.

[@Skippernomnomnom]

I've had my own frustrating experiences with Newegg... but isn't warranties usually handled through the manufacturer? Or did you purchase a warranty through them?

[@christopher6600]

I always go straight to the manufacturer for warranty RMAs. Vendor warranties are a complete scam, both in additional cost and hassle.

[@Niyuki.]

That would be ~180 Km travel. Undertandable.

[@bitsbfg1810]

Thanks for the great insight. RMAs can be tough and just like LTT pointed out there is a surprising number of customers trying to do "Consumer hot swapping" so just like NEgg we record every S/N. I think the best was a local repair shop swapped the customer's PC with an older used model and tried to claim it wasn't repairable. We had to get police involved and supply our build sheet from the original purchase to help the customer.

[@SeraphOfAsgard]

I used to be a huge fan of Newegg, but over the years, time after time, i've been screwed. Especially with their third party sellers lying about their products. Newegg is my last last last resort now.

[@FoxtrotVids]

It's a shame that your Newegg videos were taken down, I remember getting my first PC components from Newegg back in 2016 and watching your video on how to get it together. I'm pretty sure the case had a money skin on it, that definitely made it memorable.

[@belken117]

This is really informative coming from a former RMA from Newegg, and I hope this can be useful for Steven back in Nexus. I do believe Newegg should be held accountable, I still love shopping at their site, but mostly if I can't find anything else anywhere let alone dare continue shopping amazon. Also you not only saved workers from the rattle snake but you rescued the rattle snake from any harm in a surrounding alien environment. ^^ That's awesome you knew how to handle one!

[@woodcohoon]

Thanks to kind people like you, I was able to get a refund on an ultrawide that cracked itself overnight. My brother stole the box to move and threw it out before I noticed. I was able to get exceptions on both a damaged item and not having the original packaging.

[@MrFoxxRaven]

I remember when I used to work returns for an electrical company, we received a package that contained a return as expected with the addition of a lovely little live scorpion, I'd never seen one in person before so I was super pleased, but also super terrified, turns out the little scamp was extremely poisonous according to the guy who picked it up. We even made a note on the credit note issued to the customer that we could not pass a credit for the included scorpion.

[@robertgates5164]

Unless the person is allergic, scorpions really aren't much more poisonous than a wasp. I live in AZ, we have lots of them and sweep them off the porch in the morning.

[@UnitSe7en]

@@robertgates5164 It depends on type. Some are.

[@schwamforfreedom]

This whole debacle is representative of my experience with many big companies and their inability to handle anything atypical or in need of escalation to a thoughtful person with some authority to resolve issues. Chat and untrained agents has made the process of being treated fairly very time consuming and quite dehumanizing.

[@dredhammer]

That sucks that they pulled you guys' videos considering you started them off, sure lets hear more stories from the good old days when newegg was shiny and new and the sky was the limit.

[@rc01010101]

Well Paul, as someone who was a customer back in the days when you were there (unknown to me at that time and I'm sure I never interacted with you) it was better. In the early years their customer service was not absolutely terrible as it has become. After years of screwing over customers as if their business wasn't valuable Newegg finally has gotten the attention it deserves. I hope they're loving it. But then it seems that these days everyone's memory is about as long as that of a goldfish.

[@SeanBlader]

In addition, NewEgg will rebrand itself to Meta and we're all supposed to forget that they aren't worth our time.

[@boogeyratt]

Can confirm it's gone sharply downhill over the last two decades.

[@lexpox329]

Paul, I build my first PC in 2011 while following one of your videos you made at new egg. Thanks for your work, even if its gone now.

[@charlie729]

I looooved Newegg back in the mid 2000s. And even for most of the 2010s. I don't really buy computer parts stuff as much as I used to anymore, but I'm lucky enough to live by a Micro Center so I usually just go there instead.

[@hanswichmann5047]

I had a few RMA's in that time period, and they were EXCEPTIONALLY well handled. They even cross shipped a mobo to get me up and running asap. Nice to think I might have talked to you Paul! Back then NewEgg was top shelf and it's a shame to see what they seem to have become.... Nice vid Paul as always........

[@Grimmwoldds]

TBF, back then we had Electronics Fry's, Microcenter, and CompUSA in So. Cal. The local ITs(like "IT staff of multi-billion International corporations") would have tanked their business if they were doing this stuff back then.

[@daviddebroux4708]

@@Grimmwoldds I shudder at Fry's Electronics and the shell of what it once was within the past ten years. Can't say I'll miss it.

[@timlong7289]

As a UK citizen, when I watch stuff like this it always makes me appreciate the extremely good consumer protection we have here. In the UK, the final retailer is responsible for goods being "fit for purpose". The contract of sale can be cancelled by the buyer if the goods are deemed "unfit for purpose" and it is then a criminal offence for the retailer not to provide a full refund. In the case of online sales, the customer is entitled to cancel the sale for any reason within 14 days. There are some exceptions and nuances, but in general, the contract of sale is with the retailer and the retailer is ultimately responsible for resolving any issues. There is no crying "the supplier will not accept a return". Too bad, the buck stops with the retailer.

[@bozhidardimitrov3573]

yeah, pretty much u can return any item as long as it's still usable. I'm not sure if it can be resold afterwards but I assume it's something like "can be resold with minimal repairs" such as just retaping the packaging

[@colingravon9810]

The US government is controlled by toxic monopolies. It's disintegrated to the point where corruption is the only mechanism that still functions. The sort of terminal decline where Chinese companies write the laws that US citizens must abide by.

[@mattvmani]

@@colingravon9810 ain’t it the freakin truth, it’s terrible.

[@CC-vv2ne]

And this is why i am glad to live in Northern Europe. all electronics 2 years warranty and the store you buy from has to do all the RMA process. AND i have never returned a part in its original packaging or with all the included junk. Throw motherboard or gpu in anti-static bag, go to shop and hand it to them, then they have 30 days to fix it, replace it or refund it in full. I rma'd gpu that has minor artifacting once a week or two. filmed it and showed it to store. they flat out just took a brand new GPU off the shelf in full retail packaging and gave it to me while they took my old one just in static bag.

[@marcusborderlands6177]

@@CC-vv2ne some stores are like that here in America, but it's not legally required, so most companies just fuck over the customer when it reaches a critical mass

[@Ducaso]

Damn hearing all these stories really has me sad that Newegg is no longer the company I sourced my parts from back in 2008 when I built my first gaming pc. I’m pretty sure I used the video build tutorial (featuring Paul in it) walking me through each step.

[@informative_walrus]

Yes, turn back the clock about 10 years and Newegg was awesome.

[@richardhowle1220]

Built my first pc with parts from Newegg around 2008 as well. Spent 1000's of $ since then with Newegg and tigerdirect.

[@wallywest2360]

I worked at a medium size computer retail chain in the late 90's, and we processed electronics returns from QVC. Yeah, good times, and I saw a lot of fraudulent returns but we weren't actually the ones losing money so we were told not to bother disputing anything just process it and send it on down the line. Never was too sure how legit the whole operation was, the people who owned the company were kinda shady. Anyway, I too have some wild animal stories. Found a small, brightly colored frog in a return. Kept him a terrarium we had laying around. Yeah, a return of a vacuum cleaner, had a terrarium in the box. Found out like a year later from a new employee who knew about frogs that it was a poison dart frog. Not to be handled with bare hands ever, like I did when I first found him. Hmmmmm. Then there was the bat. Opened the shop one morning and a small bat was clinging to the front wall. I used a towel and managed to pry him off the wall and put him in a little box. One of the guys was freaking out, backing up the whole time like he expected the bat to suck all my blood out or something. He ran off, and I took the bat into the nearby woods and attached him to a tree. At the time we were selling these little stuffed animals in a bin by the front door for some reason. So I found one that was small and brown and put it in the box. Walked over to the dude that freaked out and said "Couldn't find anywhere to put the bat, here, you take him", and chucked the stuffed animal at him. He screamed like a girl and ran through the store, out the back door, and was halfway down the street before he calmed down enough to realize it was a stuffed animal. Yep, he had it in his hands the whole time.

[@PriceTheAvocadoKing]

Your pc building videos with newegg were the first I ever saw, and what really got me into pc building and such. Sad to hear they're no longer up

[@TigeronStarfire]

I remember your videos from back when, and are a big reason why I follow you now. Super chill, cool, down to earth, and a big tech enthusiast. Love your stuff, Paul. Shame they're gone now, since they (and you) endeared me to the Newegg back when.

[@Apollo729]

My main take away from this is that long ago, Paul handled my package. Good video Paul.

[@kramnull8962]

Then he posted a note on your package that read DOA.

[@robster7787]

You know its bad when I’m shopping at newegg for the first time and I need the assurance of their return process by watching this particular video.

[@ColonelZero]

When you left Newegg I was devastated because I loved the videos you made with them. Then when I found out you had made your own channel, all was well the universe again.

[@cletusthefetus23]

The example of scam-returns with the DVD drive reminded me of a time that I worked in a US based office\tech retail store a long time ago. Customer returns opened RAM, whoever processed the return didn't know any better and just took it. When I came in later I found the RAM was PC-100 and the packaging was for something newer, probably DDR2.

[@ArrowRaider]

This still happens. I ordered DDR4 RAM from Amazon marked as "New" and I got DDR3 RAM.

[@korumann]

Your build guides you made at newegg were pretty much the first thing I saw when I started getting into PCs, so I just wanna say thanks for you being excellent

[@MIkegrimm2]

Watching the Newegg videos with Paul explaining how to put a computer together or hosting a CPU launch with Intel, followed by AMD was very interesting and was a great introduction to Paul at an early stage of my PC building life.

[@arrasonline]

At least 15 years ago, I damaged a CPU pin (or two) during installation. I applied for an RMA and I told the truth that I was at fault. Newegg accepted the return and sent me a replacement part. I have been a loyal customer ever since. Not sure if it was you Paul, but thanks :-)

[@nickolassteuer9577]

Hello Paul, Just wanted to let you know that I love your videos. Actually, I remember way back in 2012 when I built my first gaming PC. I used one of your newegg tutorial videos to help me along. Great stuff. Glad that you've been able to expand and are providing such great content on youtube.

[@EJSmith-dk3yg]

Back in '05 Newegg was actually a good customer centric store, (perhaps in part by people like Paul) ... sadly Newegg now values profit above all else !

[@AC-io8qs]

Yeah, I used to buy as an integrator and my experiences (08-11) were generally really good.. But lately it's simply more economical to purchase from sellers on Amazon; and this scandal tells me I've made the right choice regardless.

[@MundaneThingsBackwards]

I hear they were bought out by a (mainland) Chinese firm not too long ago. If you know anything about Chinese business culture, this shit is common with scams and incredibly near sighted penny pinching being so prevalent Chinese citizens actively look to buy western products if available.

[@bosorot]

@@MundaneThingsBackwards Yes . Newegg was done since 2009 after enter stock market . The original people who make the company success were gone ( and rich) . The profit drop from 22 million /year down to 1 million/ year. Liaison Interactive from china bought majority the stocks in 2016 , and it keep getting worse . They do not make any profits in last 3 years. Being a private company in the old day , newegg can hold such a high standrad . I remember in the day that if the items on Newegg Vs Amazon at the same price. I will buy it from Newegg , because of great customer support . Now it is opposite.

[@crapmaster5000]

Hey Paul, you taught me how to build my first pc back in 2011, I remember there was some nice long step by step vid where you did everything from A to Z

[@TsusStuff]

In 2014 I built my first PC through Paul's tutorials on Newegg's Channel, using parts I purchased through their site. Paul has come so far and I am so happy for his success after Newegg.

[@musicalcompanion5890]

All things considered paul, you worked for newegg when it was still newegg. now its just another esite. even though it still carries its name , ive hada problems with unopned returns too.

[@creed5248]

I agree - they aren't the same anymore

[@anayman7]

was it an open box item also?

[@jackfrost127]

Perfect example how a review of someone’s event with out all the information leads to a bias conclusion. Newegg rips people off. Period. Happened me to at least 4 times from 2004. To include a RMA from a mobo bent in half from shipping. They refused to take it back or allow shipping insurance to cover it. Even had a massive stick that said, “received damaged”. But Newegg said it was my fault and stop communicating. I stop buying from them 8 years ago. I’m sure you will see more KZbinrs coming out with their stories.

[@beepboopbeepboop190]

It's not just the $500 he's out but I assume he also values his time that he lost on this. I really hate wasting my time after giving a company money. Newegg hasn't been newegg for a while. I had a couple questionable interactions with them and stopped rewarding bad behavior a few years ago. I don't see that changing anytime soon. In general if it isn't a mom + pop shop and they don't make returns easy, I'm not buying from them. Not worth the potential hassle. Big corp and you want to charge a restocking fee or make returns a challenge? I'm good, I'll buy from a small business or a large co with a customer friendly return policy. I understand some people scam companies and abuse those policies, but I'm not going to pay extra, lose money, or be inconvenienced to offset that.

[@whiskeymike7364]

‘Newegg hasn’t been Newegg for a while.’ Says it all.

[@whiskeymike7364]

Old Newegg was fine. New Newegg leaves me cold. Wake Up Newegg!

[@jackielinde7568]

Steve's big thing wasn't losing the $500. His point was if they were willing to do this to his company, who they should know has a megaphone the size of the internet and can make their day a living hell, what are they doing to the little guy who has ditty squat to help them.

[@Enerill23]

What a coincidence that you would post this video today! I just did my first RMA with Newegg a few hours ago. My new motherboard couldn't detect any RAM even when I used functional sticks from my other system and made sure they were properly seated a dozen times. The customer service rep was very nice and helpful, and I carefully checked the product for damage and made sure all the parts were in the package, but I guess we'll only find out if everything works out once they approve the refund. I'm nervous even though I'm pretty sure I did everything right!

[@ZenAndPsychedelicHealingCenter]

If they try to stiff you over the RMA, then do a chargeback. Also, post on their twitter feed, maybe adding GamersNexus' latest video, from today, and mention that you're thinking of going to your local State AG.

[@Enerill23]

@@ZenAndPsychedelicHealingCenter I'm still hoping that everything goes smoothly, but I did take photos of the motherboard with the return label so at least I have proof that it was undamaged when I sent it back. After Gamers Nexus' update video yesterday it seems possible they would ignore that kind of evidence, but hopefully it won't come to any of that. If they have good business sense, everyone there will be on their best behavior for a while!

[@mikenelson6630]

That was an excellent video. You managed to clarify the general RMA process to people that may not be aware of what goes on, and at the same time threw in a couple of side stories like the implant and the snake. It just goes to show that companies have to be cautious about unscrupulous people, even back then. (who sends a live rattlesnake to a company - what was their beef with Newegg)? At the same time, you were mindful to not inject yourself too much into the dispute and take sides. Well done.

[@RealMenWorshipZeus]

Been buying from Newegg since the old days (just looked at my ancient order history and, yes, there are 3 different standalone mp3 player orders) and can confirm that they were WAY more customer service oriented back then. Absolutely different (re: worse) company now. Definitely not my first,or even fifth, choice anymore.

[@adfaklsdjf]

It was fun to hear about your experience, Paul. I was an avid Newegg customer for many years. It started going downhill when they started their "marketplace" where other crappy retailers can ride their brand's coattails... and the decline has been accelerating since they went public. Like others have said, Newegg is a last resort for me now, behind Amazon.

[@henrykn4257]

Hey, good video man. I like the confidence in your voice.

[@XxElJefexX]

I was one of the ones who was having a hard time getting said restocking fee waived. I purchased a gpu from them (new in box and from NewEgg not 3rd party) which was doa. I submitted an RMA to return it for a replacement. I get an email not long after with something along the lines of they couldn't replace the gpu because it was a discontinued item. Ok fine, I call them up and request a refund, because I can no longer receive what I originally purchased. The CSR replies back with there is a restocking fee for all refunds which now has me confused as hell because they want to charge me a restocking fee for wanting my money back for being sent a defective product... of course they fought tooth and nail to not waive said restocking fee despite having explained how ridiculous the situation is. Are the people they hire to handle these issues really that inept / dense / uncaring to not being able to rationally read a situation or are their policies just that ridiculously messed up? Needless to say, I avoid NewEgg like the plague and will pay more elsewhere just so I don't have to buy from them.

[@jaroslavcharvat5171]

So as an ex-RMA technician, can you please explain why it is perfectly ok to claim that when at some moment in time the product was damaged by someone, doesnt matter who, one Newegg RMA technician took it back and let it be sent to a new customer, and while Steve did nothing to the original packaging, another RMA technician found a faulty product and claimed that the customer is responsible. And by what I understand this is not a one-in-a-trillion event, this's happened to many people. How can this not be a mega scam by the shaette company? Please explain.

[@RM-el3gw]

It's either Newegg corp scamming people or the RMA inspectors running some sort of corrupt racket to send customers broken stuff, blame it on them, and sell the actual working product on ebay.

[@boginator55]

Paul could only speak from his time doing RMA work at Newegg, which as he states, was quite a long time ago. A couple years back Newegg was bought by a larger company, that seems to be when all these shady RMA reports started happening... probably the RMA department saw their budget cut and the focus change to "do not accept any RMAs that can't be sent back to the manufacturer under any circumstances."

[@red5standingby419]

Newegg did this exact thing to me many years ago (about a decade ago). This was long before their current situation. I think their open box processes have been F'd for a long time. Whoever is taking the items back to then be re-sold as open box doesn't actually look at and/or test the item before listing it to be resold.

[@opinion5190]

I have a theory about this and it is what I call the "double whammy". They deny the claim from the original customer or give them pennies on the dollar and keep the product, and turn around and knowingly sell a bad product as "open box" to a new sucker that they stiff on the back-end when they try to return. Double profit, so who cares if customers aren't happy? Until they mess with the wrong guy like Steve's case and create a massive public PR backlash. I hope that I'm wrong, but there are too many cases that point us in that direction.

[@SianaGearz]

Why would you be demanding this of him? He's not responsible for his ex-employer's actions and shouldn't justify them when they're not right. He is explicitly saying that this is NOT OK. That a product that was Open-Box to begin with, he said that's supposed to be a swift refund no matter the condition of the product. As to a customer being sent a damaged product by mistake when they order Open Box? This happens. Warehouse workers can overlook things, they make mistakes. As long as it isn't done systematically (which is very difficult to pin down), this isn't a problem. If the original customer promised that the item is OK or not been used, perhaps the item won't get looked at, because most customers are trustworthy. When you buy Open Box, you accept this risk. But not the risk that you're about to get scammed on return later, which is the real problem here.

[@DrekiTech]

I used to work as an RMA tech too, although I worked for a 3rd party handling Amazon open box / returns and reselling on eBay. Our policy was that, in general, we could only put so much time into testing any item for functionality, and if the customer said the item was not as expected we would more or less immediately issue a refund. Higher value items we would generate a return shipping label but most stuff from amazon is cheap junk anyways so it was never worth out time to hassle over some $50 blender or $100 tablet that the customer says doesn't work right. Newegg definitely did not handle this well, and from a business perspective, I would hope that going forward they change to more trust in the customer that the customer is being honest, but I doubt that would happen just due to company size.

[@SmarterGaming]

Interesting history of how things worked years ago at Newegg... to bad GN's latest video reveals that a Newegg subsidiary had RMA'd the mb back to Gigabyte and Newegg had rejected the price of the repair required to fix the damaged mb socket per Gigabyte who shipped the damaged and unrepaired mb back to Newegg who then sold the known defective part to GN.... conclusion... Newegg F'd up big time and there is no excuse for what they did by selling a known damaged mb to a customer.... I personally have bought from Newegg and had nothing but good experiences, but, I have never had to RMA something back to Newegg... shame to hear the current parent company/owner of Newegg doesn't have proper processes in place or don't have good ethics... not sure which based on GN's latest revelations on the issue.

[@UPsideDOWNworld321]

oh wow now that is @#%$ up

[@TheDeadfast]

I doubt they sold him a defective item on purpose. If they had, they most certainly would have pulled the label off. What they did do on purpose is reject Steve's RMA despite clear evidence that they had sent him a defective item. Once again, because they didn't remove the label, I have a feeling they didn't even look at the thing before rejecting it.

[@markstephenson7060]

@@TheDeadfast If only there was a smoking gun.

[@SmarterGaming]

@@TheDeadfast You need to watch the GN video. I am not sure how a subsidiary of you r own company sends a "not working" mother board into the manufacturer on a RMA, gets back the damage report, refuses the $100 repair cost for cpu socket damage, has the board returned to them and then Newegg sells the board to a retail customer as a working item - after THEY REFUSED TO REPAIR IT and knowing it WAS NOT IN WORKING CONDITION - and it is not intentional???? Somewhere in the chain of custody someone decided to sell the mb anyway and then they tried to blame the customer for the damage their own company had done.... left the RMA sticker on the mb.... sounds like a smoking gun, the casing, friner prints and everything but video footage of them doing the WRONG thing and selling a known bad mb to a customer.

[@mygetrichslowplan]

Fun fact, the first video I watched about building PCs was a NeweggTV video featuring Paul. It was so long ago that when he listed the "8 core components of a computer" one of them was an optical disk drive, haha. Now it's hard to find a modern case with a 5.25" bay.

[@ArtisChronicles]

Which illustrates why I'll either only buy old cases or just reuse whatever I have. Until I get usb drives I won't give up optical drives. There's also still some interesting 5.25" devices to be found.

[@saladfork_]

Thank you for this informative process, even if it was from years ago. Newegg used to be the place to buy computer parts back when I was a kid, but I stopped shopping there many years ago as found better alternatives. I do feel really bad about what happened and it's part of the reason I always keep the original boxes to my gear so it helps the RMA process go that much smoother.

[@AaronTorres-k6h]

Where should I buy from then please help I don't want to get scammed

[@snacksnake7418]

It's experiences like these that make me feel sad for those who dont have a Microcenter near them and have to order parts off Newegg or Amazon. Between the risk of damages through shipping, porch pirates, bad and difficult to reach customer service, it just seems like a nightmare

[@christopherfortney2544]

Having returned stuff to Microcenter I wish they would expand. They are a great company. Seamless returns. I had to return two gpus before. No questions asked. No issue. Full refunds. Just handed me cash.

[@jwbowen]

I hated living in Houston and I was very happy when I moved, but I do miss being near a Micro Center.

[@ArtisChronicles]

I honestly feel bad for me too (no microcenter lol) Mostly because it seems like I'll just be sitting a lot of this out until certain things happen that will probably not happen at this point.

[@informative_walrus]

Why they do not have a Nashville, TN location still boggles my mind. We have huge tech here. How are you not capitalizing on all the nerds that work in tech here!? I had to drive to STL

[@mahius19]

I learnt how to build a PC by watching videos like Paul's old Newegg videos back in the day. A shame they are gone. Back then we had IDE drives and had to deal with master/slave cables and the like.

[@zoshi_1]

Same, I used to watch Paul's Newegg videos and they were the best tbh

[@JWH3]

I've done RMA's before in a smaller capacity, everything you said is spot on I hope it educates people a little bit it's good info for those that don't understand how businesses usually work. The degree of incompentance if not outright lying here is really upsetting. Considering the number of people chiming in it as this is the third video I've seen on it it will be interesting to see how NewEgg responds. I doubt it will be appropriate under the conditions though. Sad to see a company go this way.

[@georganatoly6646]

I really enjoy these kinds of videos, the tech/IT/software industry in general presents this kind of perfect squeaky clean super clever image but the tech/IT/software professionals behind the scenes know all too well how messy real life is lol, it's always fun hearing war stories

[@paulbaker9687]

When I worked in an RMA department for a well known 'adult' store , some of the items that came back as faulty/unopened were definitely 'used' and lets just say...nose plugs and gloves were definitely common wear along with good ventilation in the workspace.

[@opinion5190]

Hope you didn't have to scrape off the residues...LOL

[@calvinm1866]

What's the best story you've got during that time?

[@ArtisChronicles]

That's a job that would give me endless memories and I'd cherish none of them.

[@deathshaker0026]

I had a small RMA incident with an amazon vendor. Customer service was amazing.

[@waitandhope]

There's no such thing, you mean a third party seller?

[@onekoolfella]

I'd love to hear more NewEgg stories. I'm pretty sure they moved their customer support overseas as most companies did around 2009.

[@mikegraham7078]

I bought a gaming rig from them a couple of years ago. Zero problems. I had no idea how big a bullet I dodged until I saw these videos. I guess if you buy new and there isn't a problem with the hardware then you probably won't have any issues. I'm not cool with rewarding their scummy practises, though.

[@ChimeraX0401]

In my experience when buying pc parts online I always took pictures complete with timestamp before opening the box and after so that when a seller blame me for the damage, I can just show the pictures to them and easily prove that it arrived damaged. I usually got my RMA request accepted, if not then i'll dispute it with my bank....

[@ponderingnugget]

I've been shopping at Newegg since 2003 or so. I build my own computers and learned how in large part to Paul on Newegg TV. I can honestly say that Newegg customer service is not what it once was. I used to by my components exclusively from Newgg until my last build in 2019. Newegg started gouging customers around that time when new components were scarce, so I started buying a few of my components elsewhere. I still buy mostly from Newegg, but I won't hesitate to use a different retailer to get my components at more competitive prices when the egg starts gouging.

[@Groovewonder2]

I started following your content when you were at newegg, around the time of the 600/700 series' from Nvidia. It would be awesome to get a blast from the past and get to hear the BtS tales from long ago. Plus, I like the talking-head content. More Paul, More Better.

[@michaelthompson9798]

As a person who has previously worked in customer service in the finance industry monetary refunds were the last resort to resolve client disputes and it was always a drawn out and OTT process and required multiple levels of approval for a simple fee refund or application fee discount. But then again there were plenty of individuals who would try to milk the system and plenty who would do it numerous times and when explained they’ve done it numerous times before the blank looks of confusion that would follow before they’d storm off cussing 🤬 was countless as records were kept of refunds made to clients so we could always tell the legit from the scammers. Unfortunately there is no correct system which satisfies both parties and when a customer gets a massive payment in error or a free item costing biiig $$$$ do they complain or report those matters ….. of course not!

[@michaelcorcoran8768]

That still wouldn't explain about five different elements of this particular scandal. Newegg was the one that initially determined it was broken and then refused to have it fixed for $100, left the sticker on, refuse to issue the refund, refuse to send the product back.... I mean literally at every turn they were as anti-consumer as they could possibly be.