eCost.com
Complaint 13173 Details

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.