Beware of svc.com

F

FurBurglar

Gawd
Joined
Jan 14, 2005
Messages
513
I wasn't sure where this post should go but this seemed the most appropriate. I ordered several fans, a bolt through kit for my HSF and a couple clips that hold fans onto my HSF. One of the fans turned out to be defective (noisy, rattling sound) so I contacted svc about a return. They sent return instructions and an RMA number but said nothing about shipping. I inquired about shipping and got this response:

"Unfortunately sir it’s our store policy that we cannot provide return shipping, even for defective items. If you want to call me I am more than willing to explain to you our store policies and why they are in effect."

I was blown away. I have never dealt with a company that made the customer pay for return shipping for a defective item. Refund or exchange just because I changed my mind I fully expect to pay shipping. Since he offered his phone number and an explanation I figured I would check the return policy on their site. Here is what it had to say:

I received a defective product. Do I have to pay for shipping?
The customer is solely responsible for shipping a product back to SVC. The customer is responsible for all return shipping charges. Similar to a walk-in retail store, they will not send someone to pick up your product or reimburse you for any transportation costs. The customer also agrees to take responsibility for any lost packages sent back to SVC that are not insured. SVC will pay for shipping back to the customer for defective products. Small items can be shipped via First Class Mail, Priority Mail, or Parcel Post. Larger packages will usually cost less with UPS Ground.

Really? Their philosophy is to compare returning an item to a local retail store? I didn't call them up and beg them to ship me stuff. This would be similar to me going to Best Buy (this is only a scenario folks it would never actually happen...lol) purchasing a PC with the Geek Squad setup and having the computer die 2 days later. I return to Best Buy and they tell me that I will have to pay for the Geek Squad service again. Why should I have to pay for something that was directly caused by the defective product? Ridiculous.

Sorry for the long rant but I felt others should know what they might be getting themselves into with this company. Now I am left to decide whether it is worth it to me to spend $5 to exchange a $10 fan.

Edit (03/27/11): I have changed the thread title since I now understand this is standard policy pretty much everywhere. I have ordered TONS of items mail order (before internet) and through internet stores and have never run into this issue. I guess I was just very fortunate in the past that I have not had very many returns due to defect and the times I have return shipping was paid for by the seller. I can't say whether those times the company the company was going against their policy and throwing me a bone or their policy was to pay for return shipping. What I don't understand, and never will, is why we as end users have just accepted this as the status quo? Given the nature of this particular message board I would venture to say we are all above average intelligence here. Why would we choose to accept something that pretty much defies logic? We pay for a product, product arrives broken which causes a return situation. No we have to pay MORE (return shipping) to get the same product everyone else got for the standard price? I realize it's not directly the seller's fault the product is defective but it certainly isn't mine. I'm not buying from some cut rate outlet store or clearance center. I am paying a new price for a new, working product. I didn't request a defective product so why should I have to either A. Accept a defective product or B. Pay more to receive what I originally ordered. I know my ratio of trouble free orders to orders with issues is at least 100 to 1. Either I am the luckiest internet buyer alive or this ratio holds true for the e-tailer as well. With that being the case why do we allow them to force us to pay to correct the issue rather than force their suppliers who are the true cause for the issue? I understand that they are operating on small profit margins. Guess what, so am I and I bet most of the rest of you are too. However, they chose to own their own business rather than "work for the man". They chose to take their business to the internet to tap a limitless customer base as opposed to their local community. If they had not created the internet store I would be forced to buy from a local retailer and there would not be shipping involved. That being said, do I think they should have to eat the cost of the return shipping? No. Why should they? They didn't order a defective product either. I think they should hold their supplier accountable and wouldn't be surprised if in a lot of cases they do receive shipping credits and just pocket that as additional profit. I am not speaking directly of SVC here, I am talking about internet stores as a whole.

I hope I have clarified what my original complaint was. It was directed at SVC because they were the ones that brought this whole issue to light. I have had several orders with them that have been flawless....accurate orders shipped quickly with no defective products. Unfortunately for them and me they had to be the ones to introduce me to this seemingly widespread concept of "let the customer eat it". Basically what I think it boils down to is it is easier to just tell the customer they have to pay to ship it back rather than hold the supplier responsible. So again, why choose to accept it?

Cliffs:

Ordered product
Received defective product
Told I had to pay return shipping
Said WTF?
Came here and was educated to the fact this is SOP for e-tailers
Posed the question "Why do we accept this?"
 
Last edited:
does it say anywhere how carefully you need to repackage the products that are returned for RMA? ship it the cheapest way possible and fuck them if it gets broken on its way back!
 
Lame, but clearly enumerated in their return policy. Everyone should return the return policy for any product they purchase from anywhere. It's just general good advice for every site, not just SVC.
 
I like SVC because they have decent prices and are located about 10 miles down the road from me, so USPS shipping is like next day. They don't offer free shipping on much, so that knocks their price up a bit, though. Haven't had to deal with defects from them, though.

To be fair to them, they do state they don't pay return shipping. Newegg says the same:
Does Newegg.com pay the return shipping cost for defective merchandise?
No, Newegg.com does not pay the return shipping cost for defective merchandise. We are not responsible for product defects, because we do not manufacture the products we carry. However, if you pay to send the item back to Newegg.com, we will replace the item and ship the replacement to you at no charge. Newegg.com will employ every resource it has to ensure that your item is replaced promptly, without hassle.
Click to expand...

Never returned anything to Newegg, so maybe they will pay the shipping in actual practice, but their policy is you pay the shipping. Amazon is the only retailer I know for sure that gives you the shipping label for free on returns.
 
Quit your whining and pay the few bucks. The policy is stated right there, and it makes sense, so deal with it. They're not Newegg, their annual income isn't $1billion. Give them a break. It IS your fault for not reading the policy clearly.
 
Mackowitz said:
Never returned anything to Newegg, so maybe they will pay the shipping in actual practice, but their policy is you pay the shipping. Amazon is the only retailer I know for sure that gives you the shipping label for free on returns.
Click to expand...

I've had to return a couple things to Newegg before and they've given me a refund for shipping the items back to them after I asked them to via their chat support thing.

Edit: I meant for this to be added to my post above.
 
etihtsarom said:
Quit your whining and pay the few bucks. The policy is stated right there, and it makes sense, so deal with it. They're not Newegg, their annual income isn't $1billion. Give them a break. It IS your fault for not reading the policy clearly.
Click to expand...

This
 
Mackowitz said:
I like SVC because they have decent prices and are located about 10 miles down the road from me, so USPS shipping is like next day. They don't offer free shipping on much, so that knocks their price up a bit, though. Haven't had to deal with defects from them, though.

To be fair to them, they do state they don't pay return shipping. Newegg says the same:


Never returned anything to Newegg, so maybe they will pay the shipping in actual practice, but their policy is you pay the shipping. Amazon is the only retailer I know for sure that gives you the shipping label for free on returns.
Click to expand...

The official policy is that you pay return shipping but you can usually chat with them and get them to send you a return label.
 
The OP is obviously new to ordering things online. You almost ALWAYS PAY for return shipping, especially for a frigging cheap item like a fan bro.

If you ever get free prepaid shipping on a return item, faulty or not, you either paid a good bit for the item or got very fortunate.
 
Last edited:
Ask nicely, and you can probably get refunded or compensated somehow for the shipping. I did that with my first purchase with Newegg. Got a DOA HEC (OEM for the Antec PP352x) power supply, sent it back Fedex super saver, cost me $13. I explained my situation, got a credit for $13, no sweat. I haven't ordered anything from SVC lately, but they are very high on my list for e-retailers.
 
yep... unless you deal with something big like Amazon, Newegg, Dell, you usually pay the shipping back.

if you don't like it, stick with those retailers above
 
I don't like SVC. I live down the road from them so I do in-store pickup. When I walk in everyone stares at me but no one offers to help. Then some girl will finally ask you what you want. One time I tried returning some fans, and the guy was like why are you returning them. Just the way he said it made it sound like I was a crook or something. I just said I decided to change my build, didn't feel like I should need to explain it to him. Another time they failed to process my return after 2 weeks and I had to write 3 emails before they finally credited it back, and when they did they credited it wrong. Just lots of complications with them.
 
I received a bad fan some time ago and they told me to just throw it away and sent me a replacement.
 
because its not worth paying shipping on......even if they allowed me to return it i wouldnt pay shipping to RMA a fan.....i'd say F-it and cut my losses
 
nobody_here said:
because its not worth paying shipping on......even if they allowed me to return it i wouldnt pay shipping to RMA a fan.....i'd say F-it and cut my losses
Click to expand...

Exactly. If it's an inexpensive fan they should just send him a new fan and let him discard the defective one. I'm sure it's not cost effective for them to send it back to the manufacturer either.
 
Hopefully this is a valuable lesson learned. Before you ever sign anything, buy anything, or even remotely agree to ANYTHING, ALWAYS ALWAYS "read the fine print". I learned this the hard way throughout my life and have been burned more times than I'd like to admit. ALWAYS check store policies. ALWAYS. Those few minutes spent checking over the ins and outs will inevitably save you days of headaches and frustrations. Don't ever let laziness or ignorance get the better of you.

Oh and I shop plenty at SVC, they are a very fair and, for the most part, courteous business and have been in there plenty of times for pick-ups. :) Heck over half the hardware in my sig was purchased at SVC.
 
Hmm, I really like SVC. I'm not the kind of person who would bother sending back something as cheap as a fan though, even if the shipping was free. My time is worth more than that.
 
Thanks for the reminder about SVC!!!

I needed to pick up a few things, going there now to price shop and they have the occasional great deal.

Here's a link in case anyone wants to check out a great little web store: http://www.svc.com/

:p
 
etihtsarom said:
Quit your whining and pay the few bucks. The policy is stated right there, and it makes sense, so deal with it. They're not Newegg, their annual income isn't $1billion. Give them a break. It IS your fault for not reading the policy clearly.
Click to expand...

My complaint is with the policy in general. I guess somehow it is my fault that they have a crap policy? Even if I would have read the policy ahead of time I would have said it is a crap policy This event just brought it to my attention. I suppose your first stop at any website is the policies page. I'm sure you read the terms and agreements of every piece of software you install or website you join too. You sir are a better man than I and I hope that someday I can reach your level of perfection.

Your Newegg argument is flawed. More sales = more defective merchandise. The failure rate of products doesn't change based on the size of your business.

rive22 said:
This
Click to expand...

And the obligatory "I'm too cool to even type a real reply"

nobody_here said:
The opt is obviously new to ordering things online. You almost ALWAYS PAY for return shipping, especially for a frigging cheap item like a fan bro.

If you ever get free prepaid shipping on a return item, faulty or not, you either paid a good bit for the item or got very fortunate.
Click to expand...

Nope, ordered plenty online. I guess I have just been lucky in the smaller retailers I have dealt with and any returns I have had have been with companies willing to stand behind what they sell.

Nuc_E said:
Ask nicely, and you can probably get refunded or compensated somehow for the shipping. I did that with my first purchase with Newegg. Got a DOA HEC (OEM for the Antec PP352x) power supply, sent it back Fedex super saver, cost me $13. I explained my situation, got a credit for $13, no sweat. I haven't ordered anything from SVC lately, but they are very high on my list for e-retailers.
Click to expand...

I asked nicely, that's what prompted the response from them that I posted.

Thanks to the replies here I did go around and check the return policies from some of the retailers I like to do business with and found what was said here to be true. They all have the same policy, almost verbatim. The thing that stands out to me is that they all state "We are not responsible for manufacturer's defects" Who is then? The burden is put on the customer. The manufacturer is the one that should be responsible and these retailers should hold them to it. The supply line should work both ways. I get a defective product, I return it to the store I bought it from and they return it to the manufacturer who credits them including any additional expenses incurred due to failure of the product (shipping in this case). You have a new car that is under warranty and a warning light comes on. You take it to the dealer and a $5 part needs to be replaced. They don't say "We aren't responsible for defective parts. We will replace the part but you have to pay the $100 labor." Why is this type of behavior so widely accepted here? If I own a business and the manufacturer does not reimburse for all costs related to the defective product then I will not sell their product. A manufacturer that knows they produce a quality product should have no problems agreeing to this type of policy.

You know why Amazon is so huge? Their service is impeccable. I received a defective video card from them. I filled out a simple RMA form online very late night on a Saturday. Within 30 min. I received a personal response apologizing and stating a replacement would be shipped immediately. My only requirement was to send back the defective card within 30 days at their expense. It was shipped overnight on Monday and I received it Tuesday. All I had to do was put the defective card in the box the replacement came in, slap the pre-paid return label on and hand it to my UPS driver a few days later when he was dropping off more packages. Amazon didn't start as the monster they are now, they started as a small company. They got to where they are by realizing it's not about THIS order right now, but retaining the customer so they place countless more trouble free orders. Newegg on the other hand has actually changed their policies for the worse as they have grown. I'm surprised they have managed to keep as much business as they have.

I know this is getting way long but let me explain my background. I am a manufacturer's rep for several lines of restaurant equipment. When there is an issue in the field with one of our products it is almost always installed somewhere. Our manufacturer's ship the new product to the job site and pay for the defective to be taken out and the new one to be put in. As the rep I have gone to many a job site and installed replacement equipment that was damaged on arrival. It doesn't matter if it is something a simple as a faucet cartridge that costs a few bucks for the part but costs $100 for the service call, they eat it. It's this kind of service that makes my dealers think of me first when they are selling the type of equipment we manufacture.
 
wra18th said:
I received a bad fan some time ago and they told me to just throw it away and sent me a replacement.
Click to expand...

This is more along the lines of what I thought might happen. I have had plenty of experiences with smaller parts like this where they told me to just ditch the bad one and sent me a new one.
 
This isn't anything complicated, OP. As was mentioned, big companies like Newegg and Amazon have the ability to go the extra mile because of the insane amount of revenue they get. SVC is much smaller and provide the best service they can afford to offer. You agreed to this by ordering from them, and bitching about it isn't going to change it. If you don't like it, don't order from them, it's that simple.
FurBurglar said:
This is more along the lines of what I thought might happen. I have had plenty of experiences with smaller parts like this where they told me to just ditch the bad one and sent me a new one.
Click to expand...
This is another solution, did you ask them about it?
 
nobody_here said:
The OP is obviously new to ordering things online. You almost ALWAYS PAY for return shipping, especially for a frigging cheap item like a fan bro.

If you ever get free prepaid shipping on a return item, faulty or not, you either paid a good bit for the item or got very fortunate.
Click to expand...

this...

I think the only time i got a pre paid return was when antec send my a DOA power supply for an rma...which btw i paid the original return shipping.

sorry svc has been very good to me over the years. if you are gonna shit on them for return shipping do some research first. I didn't even realize that people expected this...as i've never seen it offered.
 
Yeah, this is standard practice among all the e-tailers--nothing new. People just flock to Newegg, because rightly so, they have good initial sales service. However, you pay shipping back, and there's no such things as no questions asked buyers remorse, they just slap you with a restocking fee. You 'could' probably call and haggle with them, but this entails calling in. Not saying this is wrong, just saying there's better policies out there, like Amazon.

All things being equal (price) I try to order from Amazon if I can. And after they did me right in a recent incident, I'll likely pay a slight premium to deal with them instead of some others.

my $0.02
 
brn80 said:
Yeah, this is standard practice among all the e-tailers--nothing new. People just flock to Newegg, because rightly so, they have good initial sales service. However, you pay shipping back, and there's no such things as no questions asked buyers remorse, they just slap you with a restocking fee. You 'could' probably call and haggle with them, but this entails calling in. Not saying this is wrong, just saying there's better policies out there, like Amazon.

All things being equal (price) I try to order from Amazon if I can. And after they did me right in a recent incident, I'll likely pay a slight premium to deal with them instead of some others.

my $0.02
Click to expand...

Receiving a defective item is one thing. Buyers remorse is another. Newegg should not have to shell out just because someone decides they didn't really want the item they purchased.
 
Nuc_E said:
Receiving a defective item is one thing. Buyers remorse is another. Newegg should not have to shell out just because someone decides they didn't really want the item they purchased.
Click to expand...

Most definitely--but like I said above, nothing wrong, it's not the vendors fault. But if a competitor offers shipping all the way including returns, guess where I'll be shopping. This is if we're strictly comparing online retailers. If we expand the scope to B&M stores, most have a reasonable return policy, no restocking fee.
 
Honestly, you gotta put yourself in the other party's shoes and try to understand things in all their totalities. As seller, paying return shipping destroys the profit margin, some times in cases like this probably causing a loss. As buyer, it's not fair, but it is the overhead of online shopping and a risk you must be willing to take. That's why you need to take the time to do your research before you end up in an online forum complaining about it. If you can't handle paying for return shipping, go to your local Fry's or Bestbuy and pay more money. If your comment was: this policy blows, we're with you.
 
Personally I am fine paying return shipping if the item was cheaper online than instores since that is why we shop online, if it's the same price as a b&m they should pay return shipping since i'm not really getting any benefit to shopping online. That's just what I think.
 
Amazon takes care of all shipping charges, I've returned a few busted things to them recently. Very easy.
 
Purchased two times some stuff from e-tailers like SVC, Petra, CrazyPC, FrozenCPU, Performance-PC's. Their prices usually suck and their shipping charges too. Best to let them dry out :D
 
Just had an RMA to newegg. Had to pay shipping, used first class mail and returned in the same flimsy envelope they used for eggsaver. Cost was less the $2. Not worth the hassle to try and get free shipping. They did pay for shipping on the replacement.

Paying shipping to return defective items is standard policy for most on line retailers.
 
I was blown away. I have never dealt with a company that made the customer pay for return shipping for a defective item.
Click to expand...

So... uhm... have you ever built a computer before!? Shits practically standard...

Does bestbuy come pick up a defective memory card, or do you drive it to their store for the return?

Same deal.
 
OP needs to get with the times. This is what happens. It is unfortunate, but it is the truth.
 
Well, Amazon will always give you a prepaid label if the item is defective. They are the exception to this rule. They also allow returns for any reason. Even if you damage the item, they will give you a refund. At least that is what they told me when I asked seller support. I sell on Amazon so I don't think they lied to me.
 
After reading the OP's responses to our posts I am convinced he thinks he is going to be right no matter what. He obviously does not value his time (this is demonstrated purely by the amount of effort he has put into resolving a $5 fan issue) yet feels SVC should take the time to field his complaints and ship him another fan for free. So lets see. $5 fan, shipped so we are down to $3-$4 for the fan which they probably paid $1 for....so we are talking huge profits here.....now they pay someone to listen to him complain about a busted fan, profit is now gone.....so at the point they ship out a new fan they are now bleeding money

do you see the problem here FurBurglar? SVC cannot stay in business doing things like this. You have already spent far far far more of your time, others time and bandwidth on the internet than the fan is worth.

Now.....by my calculations, you owe me $5 for my time, because my time is worth something. I'll bill ya.
 
Is this a "who can be a bigger douche" competition? Calm down, people. ;) He was understandably upset, but I think most agree that it is unreasonable for SVC to pay shipping for the return.

For something as cheap as a fan, it's not worth getting TOO upset about. Unfortunately when ordering things online, this happens. Many people here have had great experiences with SVC, myself included.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top