I have bought several items on-line from them over the last
6 months and though I have found that on ordering goods they are
usually reasonably good I have been apalled by their service,
or apparent lack of one, when it comes to returning goods:
I returned a defective Artec CD-Writer to them, RMA number: EXC49460
(for which I also had to pay the return postage of over £4.00)
back in september and they received it on 23/09/02. This drive
was faulty when I received it so I did not see it becoming a huge
issue for them to simply replace it. I even stated to them in
the details of the drives problem that if they could not send
me a replacement then that I wanted a full refund.
The returned drive was not even looked at for over 2 weeks and
the last message I received back on 09/10/02 stated that the drive
had been "sent back to the manufacturer for repair/replacement"
and this could take UP TO another 28 days. I still have not received
a replacement drive over 5 weeks and counting later. I have received
no news at all from them about this matter in those 5 weeks in-spite
of several attempts to contact them.
This company does not accept any return e-mails and instead they
use an in-house 'e-note' system that customers are supposed to
use for their enquiries. The huge problem here is that these enquiries
are seldom, if ever, replied to.
To date I have only received ONE response to any of the notes
I have raised with them and that just made the rather poor excuse
of 'we're busy' to explain the delays and did nothing to offer
any help on when the matter would be resolved.
I have also left 'open notes' for over 2 weeks which were never
processed at all and now they only allow ONE open note at a time
which is ridiculous if you have more than one enquiry, which I
currently have!!
I have also posted a letter to them but received no response from
that either.
The last 'e-note' I sent has still not been replied to and it
is now several days since its posting.
On their site they state (or used to) that e-notes will be processed
within 24 hours, and returns dealt with within 14 days. In both
cases they have not come even close to honouring these statements.
If I were cynical I might think that this was very deliberate
when you discover that the only other ways for a customer to contact
them are through normal mail (which I have tried and my letter
has also been ignored), and a premium rate 0870 phone number which
is charged at approx 6.7p per minute and has a minimum waiting
time of up to 40 minutes! That is a minimum charge of over £2.40
just to speak to someone there, all of which they are of course
making money from and does not guarantee a resolution to the problem
either.
My dissatisfaction with this trader has been compounded by the
fact that I have just discovered that in my last order which I
received last Tuesday 05/11/02 they have shipped me an inferior
and cheaper graphics card to the one that I ordered (about £10
cheaper) though I have been billed and paid for the more expensive
card.
I have raised a returns request with them for this item (2 days
ago) but on the evidence of the continuing delay on my last return
I am not hopeful that they will resolve this one in anything like
a timely manner either, as instead of simply approving the return
I have just this afternoon received a message stating that my
request has been sent to their management team for 'Special Approval'.
As it is they tell me I have to wait another 48 hours before I
can expect to hear anymore about this. On past evidence I am not
holding my breath that ebuyer will honour this statement.
I also paid extra for next day delivery on the package that this
card came with so now that money has been wasted as well, just
as more will be in having to post the item back to them!!
Though my computer is functional without the CD-Writer this is
still an incovenience that they have forced me to endure for nearly
2 Months now, 5 when I count the fact that the drive was faulty
on delivery!! And I definitely do need a Graphics Card to use
my PC so if they force another ridiculous delay with this new
return I will not even be able to raise an 'e-note' to complain
about it!
Another factor here is that since I never had a fully functional
drive to begin with I effectively have never received the goods
that were paid for over 5 months ago, yet if they simply replace
the drive with an identical model then I am being penalised for
their mistakes by having paid the same amount now for a drive
that is no longer worth the original amount! Surely I am now entitled
to either a full refund or at least the offer of a drive that
is of equal or better value.
I would also like to know where I stand in regards to having to
pay for the return of goods that should have been correct in the
first place, especially since all this has caused me considerable
inconvenience, and if anything they should be seeking to compensate
me for that inconvenience with some gesture of 'good will' not
be looking to make me pay out even more to have it resolved.
Links to Other Ebuyer stories: Link1|
Link2 |Link3|Link4
|Link5
