Beware Zipzoomfly (their mistake and their attempt at amends)

[tlmck]

Sad to hear. I have used them over a dozen times, the last being 2 months ago, without a hitch. Even got rebates as promised. Most likely, something or someone is new. Unfortunately, such is life on-line sometimes.

Luckily I can always walk to my local Fry's.

 

[StevieD]

Why do people fear buying at a local mom/pop shop?
<--- Builds w/o grief and with near newegg prices.

Because in some markets there are no local mom & pop shops. Or the local choice may only be BB-CC-RatShack.

But in most cases the customers is trying to squeeze every last penny of savings out of every purchase while fighting the offerings of the mom & pop.

What do I mean? Well I was quoted an $50 higher than the 'net price for one brand of an 8800GTS 640mb by a local mom & pop. Rip off. Evil. Whatever you want to call it. But the same store's price on the 8800GTS 320mb by another brand was only $21 more than the 'net price.

Obviously the mom & pop wants to sell brand A over brand B. But it is more than that. The store wants to deal in the middle ground (I asked). $300 GPU's and $300 CPU's (and cheaper) are more popular than than $400, $500 etc price points. The store stocks the middle ground and special orders the higher end stuff. Buy what the brand store wants to sell and is within their speciality and the price can be quite fair.

To me $21 more than the 'net is very fair. Freight costs can be $21 if one is not careful. In fact I would pay a much larger premium just to have a local source to confirm my new gidet is DOA. $50 may be extreme, but it is only a 10-12% premium over the 'net price for that item. Many people look at the $ amount of the premium rather than the % amount of the premium. The $21 premimum on the cheaper card is 8% premium over the 'net price.

Of course some people are more concerned with the absolute price without regard to support and service.

And then there is the "no sales tax" issue. Actually it is a false issue.

Most people read Tax Free and read the first sentence of a statement such as : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax-free_shopping but fail to follow the link in the first sentence : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Use_tax


Yep, sales tax can't be avoided.

Stop. Don't claim you get away with it.

My business is audited about every 18 months by the state sales tax people. I have seen enough paperwork laying on the desks and seen the documents being handled to know the state is searching for documentation (sales invoices and shipping records) that is being sought by other state tax entities.

A $50 computer part with $4 in use tax due is not going to get somebody's panties in a wad. Try hiding a $5000 purchase with $400 in use tax due.

 

[bobbknight]

This type of behavior from a vender is the first clue that it's time to keep an eye on zipzoomfly.
I have seen this pattern from other vender's, where at first it's small things like holding payment until they get stock, all the while making interest off the float. Slow response to errors until your time has run out on the 30 day window of customer service. Charging restocking fees for dead items.
As was once said, trust but verify.
They might be having trouble that we as general consumers just don't know about.

I get most of my stuff from Newegg
Frys.com when they have one of them ridiculous sales where the item is so cheep it beats anything else.
Last thing I bought from Frys.com, an Antec 900 case shipped to me for 78 dollars
Stopped buying from Tiger Direct when they were in the middle of their new CRM system change over, and it took forever to get items from them.

I would love to buy from the local mom and pop store, but they carry crap, and can't compete with newegg at retail. Rat Shack wants to sell TV.s and Cell phones, Big box electronic stores are 30 miles away, and the cpusa went out of business.

It's been about 6 months since the last order I made with zipzoomfly, I also have been a customer since it was google gear.

I really do like Newegg.

 

[systemlord]

I understand ZIP making one mistake and I don't blame them people/companies do make mistakes, but when a company says were upgrading your shipping service and they fail a second time its worth it to me to spend more money someware else if it saves me the trouble and misery.

 

[nickc07]

I worked customer service at one time. I learned quickly always get names, numbers, confirmation numbers, and supervisors names & numbers.

People will not lie to you if you have all that info.

 

[4745454b]

Sorry to hear about your troubles with ZZF. I don't think I've ever bought something from them, but I've only heard good things. One place you might want to keep in mind is www.geeks.com. When I build my most recent computer just over a year ago, I bought my case from them. (the shipping for their cases can't usually be beat, at least for the low cost cases.) I placed my order with them on Thursday night, along with the parts from newegg. I knew that newegg was fast, and forgot to check to see how long geeks claimed it would take for my case to arrive. I was worried that I would have all my parts, with no case to put them in. 🙁 Their site said it would take 7-10 days with the shipping I bought, which was standard shipping. Can you imagine my surprise when FedEx showed up on my door SATURDAY morning with my case? Two day service? Saturday delivery? Needless to say I was quite stunned. I and my friend have bought from geeks many times without any issues.

P.S. Is there a reason I see part of my signature in one of your posts? 😉

 

[onestar]

Troll? Hmmmm I remember trolls. Trolls were reportedly hiding under bridges waiting for unsuspecting children to cross. Those were the days.

 

[CompTIA_Rep]

Trolls went extinct from over hunting around 1903... To bad we have so many imitators.

 

[gscrugg2]

I had a bad experience with amazon.com guys, guess no one would ever buy from them again..... "grins"

zipzoomfly.com and newegg.com are two great companies. Stuff happens, c'est la vie......

 

[mad-dog]

They send you tracking numbers for a reason, so you can check on your shipment. If you fail to do so, then yes your a idiot.

i can see you now at the computer checking your tracking number 2-3 times a day.......
scanned at shipper
received from shipper
in transit
scanned at distribution center
in transit
scanned at local warehouse
in transit
out for delivery
.......................
where's my damn package you idiots,
golly gee, anybody who is not neurotic like me and doesn't
keep tabs on these shipments deserves to be screwed.

Rant Over
the simple truth lies within the fact that we expect professionals to a do a professional job, when one person in a company makes a major mistake like this not only does it look bad for the individual but also for the company.

 

[StevieD]

i can see you now at the computer checking your tracking number 2-3 times a day.......
scanned at shipper
received from shipper
in transit
scanned at distribution center
in transit
scanned at local warehouse
in transit
out for delivery
.......................
where's my damn package you idiots,
golly gee, anybody who is not neurotic like me and doesn't
keep tabs on these shipments deserves to be screwed.

Rant Over
the simple truth lies within the fact that we expect professionals to a do a professional job, when one person in a company makes a major mistake like this not only does it look bad for the individual but also for the company.

Or worse.... calling UPS/FedEX 16 times per day trying to speed up the delivery service.

Oh yes, the paranoid and demanding always try to place themselves before others.

 

[CompTIA_Rep]

Thats how you get your order canceled

 

[keeperos]

What I don't get is the leniency of some overlooking the "after" part.

Ok yeah, we are all human, mistakes do happen, be it the warehouse guy, the shipping guy, the UPS driver or whatever. Somebody at some point is going to screw up. That is a fact of life.

However, sometimes how a company decides to deal with a mistake can in fact raise your confidence in them.

As some said, while the credit card charging is technically theft this doesn't mean they actually intended nor willingly committed such an act.
For me it was after the mistake was known that things went wrong.
A good company, realizing the mistake on their part should have tried their best rectifying the situation in the best way possible either being going off their way to supply the promised product or where applicable, another product of same or higher quality OR, if that wasn't possible/didn't meet the customer's approval, a swift and full refund.

A good company decides to take the hit knowing that this hit can and will bring future profits.
A half-assed company will simply try to feint ignorance and when that doesn't work, try to make you to give up on the incident thinking "Oh well, we wont' miss his business..."

A satisfied customer brings 3 more, a dissatisfied customer drives 10 more away I always say...

Just my .02

 

[onestar]

Mmmm...My fedex guy gave me his cell number so I could meet him at the beginning of his route, because I am one of the last on his route and I HATE waiting.

So far, the arrangement works very well. Of course it would not work if I did not check the status of the shipment.