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I
too have just ordered some HI FI equipment via empiredirect.co.uk and
now wish I hadn't!
The Sony Tuner was missing in the delivery. I've phone sales and been
told call service, but can never get a reply even waited 20mins on one
occassion. I've emailed them twice, but get no reply.
I ordered a couple of components from another trader and received them
next day. But not so with empire direct! Peter Hindley... 20 November
2002
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I ordered a washing machine from empiredirect
only to be told i should receive the said item with the
next 6 to 10 days, a month later after various phone calls, rude comments
from the staff etc. I decided enough was enough,i cancelled the order
only to find out they held on to my refund for a further 3 weeks.The company
is a disgrace and should not be allowed to operate in this manner, i would
shudder to think that there are other innocent people out there who are
going to have the same problems as the rest of us on this site.
Dr J Bingham...24 November 2002
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Me too! They took the money from my Barclaycard
for a Hotpoint washing machine THREE WEEKS AGO! and I
have had exactly the same problems with endless phone calls, non-return
of phonecalls when promised, made-up names of people I have dealt with/promised
calls from, differing stories about delivery times/dates, three proposed
delivery dates being 13th, 19th and 24th Nov 02. I faxed them. emailed
them, posted a letter to them, no response whatsoever. I have spent a
lot of money trying to resolve this, but to no avail. I have had to pay
my Barclaycard bill and Empire have said I can cancel and they will refund,
but only on receipt of the goods and paperwork from their courier Endeavor.
The whole problem with the delivery is that they cannot apparently match
up the goods and paperwork, so how on earth can they give me a refund????
I WILL NEVER RECOMMEND/ORDER FROM THESE PEOPLE AGAIN.
Sally Anne Smith...25 November 2002
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I ordered a scart cable (QED-AV2110) on
the 11th Nov and have yet to receive my goods. When I
phoned which took 45min to answer they did not know anything about my
order. Eventually they acknowledged my order but have failed to deliver
or reply to any of my complaints. I have ordered numerous online purchases
from both big and small companies from all over the world and this is
by far the worst service ever. Be warned cheap prices cheap service!!
T.Campbell...26 November 2002
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I ordered a 24inch Wide Screen Television
on the 8th of November and was promised delivery the following week while
I was on holiday from work. On Wednesday the 13th a 28inch
tv arrived. I phoned empire direct and was told to expect a call back
none came. I made further phone calls on the Thursday and Friday when
I insisted that a delivery day for the correct television would be given
to me. "Gemma" assured me that the correct television would
be delivered on Tuesday the 19th. I wasn't surprised when another 28inch
television arrived.
A fax was then sent and when no phone call was received I again phoned
them, waited 25mins on hold, shouted alot and was told again to expect
the correct television later on in the week. It's now the 26th and still
no television. All I can say is stay well away from Empire Direct!
Miss H S Bridewell...26 November 2002
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Exactly the same problems.
I ordered a 21 inch Sony TV from them and my card was debited on 8th November
02 with delivery promised in 3 to 5 days. Nothing has arrived. I have
called them 6 times (suffering long queues), sent in e-mails and now I
have resorted to fax. When I get through to someone all they can say is
we will phone you back. I have not yet received one call from them. Appalling!
I am starting to wonder how I will ever get my goods or my money back.
A Hawkins.. 27 November 2002
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I am having exactly the same problem - Im looking
into taking legal action..
My story: I ordered a SCDT100s (Panasonic Hifi) from Empire
Direct on the 5/11/02 on the website. ref: 19XXXX
They made the finance option sound so easy that I opted for it.I received
the forms a week and a half later ( I had to order a second copy as the
first one 'mysteriously' got lost in the post.)
So a week after this, the finance company authorised the agreement, and
i had to await a phonecall from Empiredirect.
I waited a few days - no phonecall.... So i rang them...several times....when
i finally got through they advised that the model i was after was discontinued...but
when i first ordered the item - they were in stock....
So after about an hour of deliberating with various customer service people
they offered to upgrade to the new model for the same price... but.....I'll
have to sign another agreement form...I now have to copies of the agreement
form and they say exactly the same thing...
I rang up again on the 25th/11/02 and thay said that they received the
finance agreement and did i want it wednesday (27/11/02). I said yes...only
to be called later on in the day saying that this wasnt possible - how
about Friday?? I said yes.
They rang at 08:05 this morning (27/11/02) and left a message(demanding
that i called back straight away, which i did but the offices werent open.)
stating that they needed to know if i was paying by credit card or debit
card??
I rang later on in the afternoon and apparently the order has been cancelled
after I took an upaid leave day to be at home, which is going to cost
me about 100 pound.Now i have no idea where I stand and the repayments
are going to start soon. Rhys Morgan...27 November 2002
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I ordered a washing machine on 24 October by phone,
was told it was in stock and would be a week, two at most.
They never call back, never give the same answer twice, and have taken
my money. I will contact my local Trading Standards office tomorrow. It
may be worth us ganging up on them. Tony Farren..27 November 2002
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Wish I had found this site BEFORE dealing with Empire
Direct. My order on 19.12.02, which they guaranteed for
delivery by 24th Dec, as it was a Xmas present...was "Lost"
by the courier.
Empire Direct had told me that Parcelforce were delivering...it turned
out to be a company called Amtrak....which conveniently "Lost"
the item, on Xmas Eve.
After many hours waiting for a reply from the Customer "Service???"
department, a replacemnet was promised...still to be delivered. Mails
go unanswered, staff are the rudest I have ever come across.If you dare
to argue with them, they put the phone down on you!! The most unpleasant
lot of people ever!
Anyone know who owns this outfit?
Have sent letter to MD, claiming compensation for expenses, will copy
to Watchdog and Web Trader.
S Iwaniszyn...31 December 2002
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Update on Empire Direct!!
I have actually received the replacement CD player,
this time sent by Parcelforce.(Was the first item ever
sent, I wonder?)
It hasn't been fitted yet, so I'm not celebrating too soon....heaven help
me if it doesn't work!!
Although I have bought hundreds of items via mail order and internet,
ranging from dog food to a brand new car, I have NEVER come across a firm
as bad as this, and will never recommend them to anyone!
(I still haven't received any compensation for non delivery as a Xmas
present, or the expenses incurred in phone calls etc, and will be very
surprised if I do!!)
S Iwaniszyn... 4 January 2003
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I ordered some Sony headphones, and found that they
were £2 cheaper with empire, so i ordered them there.
They say they will contact you shortly afterwards to "confirm details."
All I got was a poxy email saying what i'd been told on the site. Why
didn't i just buy them from Amazon i don't know! And still, two weeks
later, nothing. I have tried to contact them several times, but as being
a student with a pay-as you-talk phone, this doesn't last long.
Mohan Paul... 20 January 2003
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This all sounds very familiar, I've
been waiting two months for part of an order submitted at the end of November.
They have now promised it for next week. Apparently it should have been
shipped on the 3rd December but Amtrak 'failed to pick it up from our
depot'.
Apparently Empires stock control is so bad they don't know if items are
in stock or not, their despatch is so bad they don't realise when parcels
are left behind in their depot and their delivery agents in the South
(Amtrak) are a complete joke locally. Empire won't respond to letters,
faxes or emails. Can't complain to WebTrader any more because Which have
closed down the scheme. Strongly recommend that no-one deals with this
company. For some reason though the comments section of their website
is full of glowing praise, do they make it up I wonder...R Brookes...23
January 2003
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Cancellation. Just to add my own two pennies
worth. I ordered a freeview set top box from Empire Direct
on the 3rd of December. This was an in stock item. I waited ten days then
gave them a ring to see what was holding the delivery up. I was then told
the item was out of stock so cancelled the order and was told my account
would be credited.
This has still not happened even though I phoned empire twice and was
assured that the money would soon be back on my card. Still hasn't arrived
so I emailed customer service and they didn't bother to reply. I have
now claimed via my card insurance but am still waiting for the issue to
be resolved.
Marcus Riseborough..31 January 2003
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I ordered a Sony Digital Camera from Empire Direct
and was told it was to be delivered in two days time. On this
day nothing arrived so i telephone Empire who suggested i call the courier
service ! Not them to do the donkey work but the customer! I then proceded
to find out they provided the wrong address and my camera was somewhere
in the westend of London.
Once Empire had established the problem they were not exactly helpfull
to say the least i was left to chase the order around different postal
depots all over London as they could not place the delivery with the address
given by Empire. In the end i asked for it to be delivered to my home
which they didnt bother to inform the courier Amtrak to deliver on a Saturday,
so it would have turned up on the monday when i wasnt at home but back
at work for the original address.
I havent even bothered to explain to Empire what to do next , if it doesnt
turn up tomorrow i shall just simply cancel. The company is a complete
shambles and a letter is on the way to them from me. They have complete
incompetent staff plus a manager who is as usefull as a chocolate teapot.
I would steer well clear of this site ! Alex Wright.. 31 January 2003
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Must admit after reading all the complaints about
Empire I felt I must voice my complaint about the unprofessional service
provided by them. I purchased a cd player via internet, quite
an expensive one.I left to achieve room temperature for the first 48 hours.
Unboxed and connected the cd player in accordance with the manafacturers
guidelines.Inserted a cd and immediately the machine skipped parts of
tracks, i tried lots of cd's but got the same result.I phoned the branch
in leeds and talked with somebody who advised me that initally machines
like this required a running in period to stabilise circuitry,and i would
be well advised to give the machine a few days, which i did. On and off
over next 2 weeks.The result a cd player that didnt recognize and disk
i tried.
Still less than a month old, i called empire who asked me if i was aware
of their repair policy, which i wasnt.I was asked to take the machine
to the repair centre in bradford(still only a month old), where it would
be checked by engineers who would determine wether it was faulty or a
replacement machine.
I was gobsmacked to be told that although i had been sold a faulty machine
thay they expected me to take it to bradford for repair.However i did
this and enquired how long it would take to the engineer,who told me normally
48 hours, but because of the amount of repairs would be more like 4 to
5 days.So for my money , i have got a faulty machine, not one which developed
a fault, less than a month old, now have no cd player until this one is
repaired and have had to incur the expense of taking it for repair,and
will no doubt be expected to incur more expense collecting it.
I will definately never buy from EMPIRE again,and any body who asks me
of the service they provide, i will let them know my experience.Too often
do i read in magazines that the extra few pounds paid by going to a responsible
outlet is worth it, and that really is the best advice Edward Firth...
5 March 2003
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