eCost.com
Reviews and Complaints

Criminal organization. They sold me a non-working computer, knowing full well it didn't work in advance. I ordered it with a warranty. The warranty was magically backordered indefinitely. When I got that email a day before I received it, I already anticipated I'd been defrauded. Do not trust these people. Stay away! Go to newegg for computers or electronics. It's wonderful that they didn't swindle a few reviewers on here for products worth 10 dollars, but I'm down 400.

I ordered a product from this firm. Upon receiving it I found to be defective. I contacted the firm to arrange return and replacement of the product. They do not accept returns without a repair/return document from the manufacturer. Upon contacting the manufacturer I was informed that the cost to return/repair/replace the product would exceed the purchase price, not including the cost of shipment to and from the manufacturer.

This company is obviously in the business of ripping off their customers. I would discourage anyone from making a purchase from them.

It looked like a GREAT deal. for only $29.95, you can be a PLATINUM Member at eCost.com's online website to buy all kinds of items at discounted prices. One of the "Benefits" of being a "Platinum" member is the ability to get in on the "Outrageous Offers" these are usually 4 items that they offer Platinum members on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12-4 PM PDT. They only offer a small amount at these super low prices, usually 2-5 units and you have to be one of the "lucky" few who logs in to the website at just the right time. I have tried almost every Tuesday and Thursday for the past month since purchasing this membership, and I have never gotten any of the "Outrageous Offers" (usually about 85-95% off). Ttoday they had a 4GB Sylania MP3 Player, for only $4.99 for 3 lucky members. I had never gotten to the screen with the special price before. It said I could buy 1 at the low price, then it took me to a page where you have to type in a special code (so they know you are a real person) to go on to your checkout cart and finish the purchase. The codes only work "some" of the time, and when they did, my cart was always EMPTY when I got to it. I searched the item number again, and again it still said I could buy one at the special price. I did this 5-6 times with an EMPTY shopping cart every time. After about 20 minutes, I made a worthless call to 'Customer Service"(that was a joke and waste of my time), When I tried to buy the item one more time, I was given the opportunity to buy the item at the "regular" price of $19.95. As the "Outrageous Offer" had expired. The Customer Service Rep, was worthless, first off he didn't know or understand their special Platinum Program or how it even worked. It's only on every email I get from them and on every page of their website. I asked to speak to a manager and was told that they are NEVER available to answer phone calls. he then offered to cancel my membership. I again asked for a Manager and was promptly hung up on. What GREAT customer service they have. I then wrote a 1 page letter to their Customer Service Department at the email address provided on their CONTACTS page, only to get my letter rejected by their email server. I also had provided PDF screenshots of all of the pages, showing the offer, showing that I had won, the special page where you type in the word (this page doesn't appear if you are not one of the lucky winners) and then a screen shot of my empty cart. I double checked their TERMS of this program and found that I followed every rule and should have gotten my item for $4.99 instead of $19.95. I call this BAIT AND SWITCH, or FRAUD, you name it... DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY on a Platinum Mambership at eCost.com. it isn't worth it. You are also supposed to get FREE shipping on your first 5 orders from the company, that is if it doesn't weigh anything. I bought a Telephone system, that weighed 6 pounds, but had to pay shipping since it was over their max weight limit. When the phone system arrived (A NEW Panasonic DECT 6.0 Cordless System) it had no headphone jack for my headset. I checked and this was not detailed on their website anywhere. This is important to a lot of people, especially someone who is disabled like me and really needs to use a headset when talking on the telephone. Anyway, I called their Customer Service immediately after getting the item and realizing the missing jacks. I was told that I would be emailed a return shipping label and granted a refund upon receipt of the item back. GREAT, but a week later and still no email or label. so I called them again, to be told that the other person hadn't done their job or even started the return process. The new guy told me he would "do me a favor" and do the job right. An hour later and the email and label arrived. A week later and still no refund YET!. So buyer beware and hope this helps someone NOT get ripped off by eCost.com. and the horrible Customer Service and Bait & Switch sales tactics.

I came across an offer for a refurbished ds that I was interested in. When I tried to buy it I found i needed to purchase a trial membership for $1 had difficulty so I called them and was told that membership was unavailable that I had to buy the $39.95 membership so foolishly I did. Then I couldn't put the item in my cart. Was told I had to wait for it to pop up on the screen on certain days and try to by it. I asked for my membership to be canceled and was denied. So I spent hours trying to catch the item com up during the scheduled time. Never happened. Called the next day requesting a refund and after much discusion was told a special request would be submitted and that I would be contacted within 48 hours. Surprise no contact. Telephoned again demanding an explanation and refund and was pretty much told "TOUGH LUCK". They claim to disclose their everything clearly but it is confusing and they know it.They may be able to get away with this legally but moraly they lose. P.S. should you want to purchase this membership for the 5 free shipping offers go to free shipping .com for about 12 dollars a month you get up to 500 dollars of free shipping rebates a year from many retailers icluding this one and they really do pay. I use it .

I attempted to purchase an MSI Wind All-In-One desktop PC from eCost.com they beat the competition's price by about 70 dollars. I had never ordered from eCost.com before so I was a little nervous. Apparently I should have gone with my gut. I placed the order on 11/3/2010 everything went fine, they called a few hours later to confirm all of the billing information (I thought it was odd since none of the other online retailers I have ordered from have done this before, but also thought it was kind of nice that they verified everything.) So I went about business as usual. A business week later I hadn't received any tracking information or updates so I contacted there customer service via email. They responded to me the next day and said that the order had been canceled, due to the item being out of stock...I was shocked. I checked the site again and it showed up as In Stock...I was a little confused so I called there customer service. She confirmed that the order had indeed been canceled due to the item being out of stock. I told her that on there site that it showed up as in stock. She found it and said yes it was in stock now. She then asked if I'd like to place the order...due to the fact that they never told me that the original order was canceled to begin with I pissed at there communication skills to me the customer and decided to pay a little extra from NewEgg.com and get the item from there. At least I know that they will send me the order quickly it's worth the extra cash. I will never order from eCost again.

So I bought what was supposed to be a NEW Jawbone Icon headset. I have attached a picture from the website.

The headset I got was a Jawbone, but it had NO original packaging or the fitting kit that they come with. The fitting kit features 7 ear-buds that make the thing stay in your ear comfortably and without it the headset is useless.

The headset was scratched and the manual was used. I have attempted to contact them numerous times and gotten no response via email and nowhere with the phone support people.

ECOST IS A TOTAL RIPOFF SCAM!

Now listen closely...I read most of your complaints. You don't have to put up with this garbage. Contact the company once or twice via email and then initiate a charge-back at your bank. Tell you bank they were supposed to refund you and haven't.

Ecost will more than likely eat the chargeback. I wouldn't even send the item back until they paid for a waybill from Fedex or UPS and sent it to you.

Don't play games with these people. Just own them using my instructions above.

I bought a Plantronics Bluetooth headset from eCost. It was advertised as new, and it looked like a good deal. When I received it, it was not in its original packaging. It was in a little bubble envelope, with only 1 ear bud (instead of a set), with a power cord that had been rewound, and with incomplete documentation. In fact, their effort at providing a user guide was only a few pages on a photocopied sheet of paper. After calling the manufacturer and verifying they never send out product in this condition, and there was no such thing as an OEM for this product, I realized I had been taken advantage of. I called eCost, and they were extremely customer unfriendly. I told them it wasn't in as-new condition, I verified with the manufacturer this wasn't new, and what was missing. Only after I insisted multiple times for a return did she say to email the details and someone would get back to me within 3 business days. No one did. I emailed again. Nothing.

Fortunately, credit card companies have a dispute process, which I did. What happened? Vintage eCost. They only credited part of the transaction, which my credit card company told me they weren't supposed to do.
Avoid these guys like the worst communicable disease known to man. Unless you enjoy receiving products advertised as new that isn't.

3/10/09 I purchased the platinum membership, which is worthless.
Total scam as other people here report. The desireable items are never available for sale at the advertised prices.

I tried to cancel the membership a month after purchasing. They would not let me cancel and issue a refund.

Now during Feb, 2010 I have contacted them 3 times to cancel membership so that it is not renewed on 3/10/10. Each time I get the runaround by the customer service person and it's not cancelled.

Latest contact is 3/8/10, CS rep. said he couldn't cancel it and it's best for me to call on 3/10/10, the day it renews.

This is a total scam and they should be shut down for it.

However, I have purchased a number of small electronics from them and all have been delivered in good condition and work well.

But, you can buy the same recertified stuff from other web vendors for less money and usually free shipping.

eCost is a deceptive company. Purchased a refurbished LCD tv/DVD player (my first mistake) back in Oct 08. It arrive a week later - not bad. Opened it up, plugged it in - it was dead on arrival.

Screen did nothing and there was no DVD mechanism in the space where it was supposed to be - just hollow.

I called the same day and asked to return it. eCost said no returns, no money back, maybe an exchange (which never happened) or factory repair. My only choice was factory repair. They gave me Akai's factory info - I was responsible to do all the contacting and if I had a problem - to call eCost. Well, long story short - Akai was impossible to deal with - "fixed" the TV but the DVD still didn't work. eCost is unable to help - not their problem. Hugely frustrating.

Just search the internet and you'll find how many thousand others have had the same rotten experience.

On 12/07/2009 12:15PM EST I ordered what I believed to be the 30-day Platinum Premium Membership, which allows you to decide if you want to be a member. According to the Trial Membership terms and conditions, if you don't cancel before the 30 days is up, eCost.com will bill you for the $39.95 annual plan fee.

Well, 2.5 hours later I realized the Platinum Premium Membership was a scam by reviewing the so-called non-existant too good to be true deals. I sent [protected]@ecost.com an email to immediately cancel this order and refund my credit card any fees charged. eCost.com's reply was your request is denied, no refunds as per our terms and conditions.

Today, I learned from my credit card company, eCost.com violated its trial terms and conditions and charged me the full $39.95 fee immediately instead of waiting after the 30th day from 12/07/2009.

My credit card company will be investigating and will chargeback eCost.com the $39.95 fee. I have a copy of the terms and conditions, which make clear the fact that the first 30 days are a trial membership, subject to a $1.00 charge. After 30 days, if you don't cancel, they will bill you $39.95, and $39.95 each year thereafter.

eCost.com Platinum Membership is a SCAM!

Do Not Fall Victim to Their INCREDIBLE Bargains because they are simply a classic bait and switch tactic.

I am informing the Federal Trade Commission- Internet Frauds Unit, New York State Attorney General- Internet Frauds Unit, and Nassau County District Attorney Racketts Unit of this scam.

You will not get any bargains and the 5 package free shipping at 10 lbs. or less is a value worth no more than $20, if you ever want to do business with this disreputable merchant again that will not issue a refund 2.5 hours later, after you realize you were SCAMMED!

I

I have NEVER had a more MISERABLE and FRUSTRATING online shopping experience in the 12 years I have been shopping with internet retailers. On March 9, 2009 I ordered a Westinghouse 26" LCD TV from ECost.com. I THOUGHT it was an AMAZING deal so I also bought the Square Trade Extended Warranty as well. When I got the TV and went to set it up I disvovered that it had NO base with it for the TV to sit on. The screws for the base were in the bag with the remote control and the booklet, but NO BASE. I immediately called the Customer Service number. It took several days, a few emails and 2 more phone calls but I received a base in the mail, FINALLY. I was thrilled, I took it out of the box and discovered it was the WRONG BASE and could NOT be used! Once again I called ECost.com and was once again told they would forward my complaint on to a resolution Specialist. 4 days later I get an email stating that I needed to return the ENTIRE TV and repurchase another one. WHAT THE HECK? ALL I NEEDED was a BASE for my TV. Today was the LAST STRAW for me. I was placed on hold for 15 minutes and then I spoke with someone who CLAIMED to be a supervisor who talked to me like I was a criminal or something. She REFUSED to help me, and told me that I would have to do it THEIR way or NO WAY and I would be stuck with a TV that is balancing on my dresser without a base stand. I simply can NOT afford to pay for another TV and shipping and allow ECost.com to hold onto over $600 of my hard earned money while I wait to be refunded for the TV without the stand. I have spoken to customer service reps on 5 seperate occassions and each time I was treated as if I had done something wrong. I have worked in Customer Service for many years and if I EVER talked to a customer the way I have been talked to I would have been fired immediately. Apparently they do NOT CARE about their customers OR the crappy products they are selling to consumers! This has been a NIGHTMARE, and I intend to blog about this on EVERY, SINGLE consumer rip off and complaint site I can find. I am BEYOND IRATE at this point, and STILL almost a month WITHOUT A RESOLUTION!

Went to place an order where the billing and shipping addresses were different. The billing name and address DID match the credit card used to place the purchase and it was being shipped elsewhere as a GIFT. Approximately 10 days after ordering, the recipient still had not received the item. We called Ecost and was told that the order was canceled due to not passing "credit review". There was plenty of money on the cc to make the purchase and had Ecost done what most normal companies do: Check the billing address to make sure it matches the cc, check the cvv code against the card and also preauthorize the card when the order is submitted to verify funds, then they wouldn't have had to cancel the order and then LIE about why they did it. FYI: The words "credit review" to me mean something entirely different from preauthorization, etc. You expect to hear it when you're getting your credit report pulled, not making a purchase. Judging from the other issues with them on this site, I guess it's not a bad thing it didn't go through, but from hearing them repeatedly tell me that's why they canceled the order and then making excuses when I brought up solutions to avoid people getting their gift orders canceled, they are not worth ordering from. As if that wasn't enough, they actually asked me if we wanted to re-place the order! Of course we said No, we'll order it from someone else! Definitely not worth ordering from. :-) Learn it now before you get screwed.

I just got burned by the ecost scamwagon! Ordered a 23" samsung monitor and payed through paypal. Monitor showed up packed like crap with the base smacking around inside. I shouldn't have even bothered opening it but I did. The monitor had no cables, no warranty info, and was wrapped in a sheet of thin foam. After taking the foam off I noticed the monitor had fine scratches all around the bezel and had a completely different stand than was pictured on the site. It is basically a different model than what they have pictured. I called thinking oh man they are going to want to hear about this. Boy was I wrong. They initially were acting as though I was out of line for asking for an RA#. Then they told me they would issue an RA# only if I took pictures of the monitor and scratches. UNBELIEVABLE! You send me a damaged item that isn't even what I ordered and now I have to send you pictures of the dam thing. Get bent! Steer clear of this crap company. The negative reviews I'm finding after the fact make me feel like an idiot for ever doing business with them.

Company is a complete scam! They advertise these incredible bargains but you have to join their Premium Platinum Club to get these deals. I even read the Terms and Conditions which clearly shows (look at the attached photo) a trial membership for 30 days. But no, they charge you immediately and THEN you discover than none, NONE of the items in their advertisement are available at the price they teased you with. NOTHING IS AVAILABLE AT THAT AWESOME PRICE! I immediately called to cancel this bogus club membership only to be told that it is impossible and that they will continue to charge my card $39.95 every year whether I want it or not!

This is a huge scam, I cannot believe they haven't been put out of business by someone in authority.

DO NOT BUY anything from ecost.com!

Beware of the $39.95 platinum fee as it does not get you the special deals on Tuesday and Thursday.
Also the platinum prices you can find everyday at NEWEGG.COM and TIGERDIRECT.COM
And after you find all this out and request a refund..they will say NO..
One example is on 03/05/09 I was online for 2 hours looking at the special $69.00 OUTRAGIOUS OFFER they advertised that day and never seen it.. After I got home..found out is supposedly ended at 3:10 pm pst time.
I was on at that time and seen it at $289.99 that whole time for several hours around it.
Just letting you know.

I made a order from eCost.com "Hot sheet" for an Photosmart D7460 InkJet Print part # HP CC247A#B1H for $67.98. The Web site said that they had 4 in stock. After I placed the order I received an email saying "We have encountered a problem in processing your order #E8134963. This issue has made it necessary to CANCEL the item(s) listed below. We apologize for this inconvenience. No charges will be or have been processed to your credit card for these CANCELED item(s).

Regards,
eCost.com".

When I called to find out why they said that they were out of stock. I checked the website and they had the item for sale for $143.99 in stock. I called them and told them the problem and they said it was out of stock. I called back and was told they had them in stock and would I like to order one for $143.99. I then asked if I could have the item at the ad price they said NO. As I understand it this is "Bait and Switch" they are a total rip off!

I Purchased 0n Feb.1,2008 a Brand new Soyo 42” LCD HD TV. From Ecost.com. I received it on Feb. 5th. And it didn't work from the moment we plugged it in. Called to exchange and to obtain a return authorization number. They told me they wouldn't take it back and to call the manufacturer SOYO direct for a repair or replacement I told them I did not want a repair or replacement but my money back after all I did buy it from them brand new.

They told me their return policy states. Ecost.com Return Policy for TV’s 42” or greater if defective you must contact manufacture. For replacement or repair Ecost.com does not accept return merchandise for exchange or repairs. No refunds or credit will be granted after purchase from Ecost.com. The manufactures warranty applies. Please contact the manufacturer directly.

One Feb.5th I did call SOYO tech support after they had stepped me thru a bunch of checks they decided there was nothing else they could do. And if I wanted my money back I would have to contact Ecost.com

SOYO told me that they would not refund me any money because I bought the TV from Ecost.com but would repair the TV so I told them that I did not want it repaired as it never worked right out of the box. And they said if I wanted money back I would have to contact Ecost.com. Well again I called Ecost.com and told them the story again only this time to someone else at Ecost.com by the name of (Kathy)she told me the same thing, call SOYO for a refund I told her that they said that I had to contact Ecost.com. With that she put me on hold and said a supervisor would call me back. I waited another day when finally a Mr. Gill calls me and gives me the same B.S. that everyone else at Ecost.com gave me call SOYO for a refund authorization number again I told him I wanted my money back and with that he starts to recite his return policy NO REFUNDS NO RETURNS manufactures warranty only applies.

Well by this time I got so disgusted that I called SOYO for a return authorization number so I could return it to them for what ever.

So Buyers beware when dealing with Ecost.com.

A. Bruno
Bloomingdale, Ill.
USA.

Returned defective merchandise on October 10, 2007 and have not received refund as of December 19, 2007. Reason of their internal company refund policy. E-cost furnished return DHL lable to me and I have returned merchandise vis DHL. But, DHL lost return package. They will not refund until DHL settle the lost merchandise. As a customer, I have nothing to do with DHL, I have performed all parts as requested by Ecost.com

I'll recommend do not purchase any product from the e-cost.