I was looking for a wireless router, and i duly searched through all of the online shops that i could find to get the best deal, i knew i wanted a linksys WRT54G, and ebuyer was the cheapest i could find.
I read a couple of reviews of the company, there seemed to be a few complaints, but i figured that this was normal for any company and i thought i would go ahead with the purchase.
Five days later, the router arrives... so far so good. But then three days later, the router died. dead as a dodo. I tried reboot/ resets/ reconnections, the lot, but the router was not accessible from the outside or the inside. So i call up linksys technical support (how by the way do answer very quickly but are infact completely useless- clearly following a script) and they inform me that the router is completely dead and i should returned it to the shop.
So, off to ebuyer i go, and as instructed, request an RMA number. This is given to me, and i send the router back by first class insured royal mail. A week later, i have not heard anything from ebuyer, and royal mail have confirmed the parcel as delivered. So i leave ebuyer an 'enote' for those of you that or not familiar with this, it involves posting a note to them through their website that will then be answered sometime later...
A week past and i still had no answer... so i left another note.... still no reply. So i bit the bullet and called their national rate customer services, knowing i would have to wait an age for an answer. And, sure enough, 45minutes later the call was answered. I was told that they had never received the parcel, and me giving them the royal mail ticket number to track online was not proof of delivery. I needed to call royal mail and have proof of signiture sent to me. Apartently ebuyer couldn't do this. So i did, and three days letter post from royal mail, with proof of signiture. I posted this to ebuyer and awaited a response.
A week or so wait again... and still nothing so more enotes, to which i had now got a response saying 'we have not updated the status of this RMA request because we have not received the item.' So i called up again... waited 45minutes to be told, sorry our computer system is down, we can't help you. Couldn't the IVR at the beginning of the call have said this?!?!?!?!
Getting slightly
now, another called to customer services a few days later, and they told me that they hadn't received the proof of signiture from me. Somebody is not checking their post, methinks. Very annoyed now, and knowing what it is like working in a call centre, i asked to speak to a manager. The agent i spoke to said 'no'. That was it, just 'no'. not an apology, a reason, excuse, nothing! me very
now. So i asked for the agents name, VALERIE. a surname? no, ok so i can understand why not, an extension number? no. 'I am the only valerie here.' Hmm... not very happy with this, but it will have to do.
A couple of stiff drinks later, another phonecall to them, asking if they had yet received the proof of postage... no we haven't, and we can't do anything until we do. 'sometimes royal mail are very unreliable' i was told. This time, i managed to have a call back from a manager organised. I waited in baited breath, i was promised a call back the same day. Two days later, nothing at all... so on the phone again. I reluctantly agreed to send the proof of signiture again (i had taken a copy) and thought this would resolve the issue.
Nope, two more days and nothing. Now it was time to call trading standards, over 6 weeks had passed and there was no sign of a refund, and i had no router, no money to buy another one, so lots of unhappy housemates. Trading standards said they needed 24hours to examine the case, then they would get back to me. They did so, and said yes, they would call ebuyer to investigate. Later that day, trading standards phoned me back to say that ebuyer had told them they had never received the parcel, or any proof of signiture from me.
So, i phoned ebuyer AGAIN... this time they knew that i had complained to trading standards, and miraculously they found the proof of signiture, but said they couldn't have associated it with me because i didn't provide a covering letter. Which of course, i did. At this point i was absolutely fuming and informed ebuyer i was going to issue a rit against that and wanted the postal address to have it delivered to. The agent got me to hold while she went to find out. Funnily enough, when she came back they had refunded the money onto my credit card. I wasn't happy with this though... so i asked for the address anyway with the intention of legal action to recover the costs of my postage/phone calls etc and the agent refused to give it to me. Onto a manager again, told them the whole story. 'Which valerie was it you spoke to?' i was asked, i don't know, she said she was the only one there. 'well you have to understand we are a very large organisation and there is likely to be more than one valerie.' At this point i was scared that i would break something or somebody in my house, so i said '**** this for a laugh, **** you, **** your company, see you in court' and hung up. I know it was harsh, but you can understand my frustration.
To this day, i have not recovered the money, got a solicitor i know to write to them to demand the money and threaten legal action, but they never replied, looks like that got lost in the post too
cost of posting item back: £5.60
cost of sending proof of signiture: 56p
cost of phone calls: £23.
It would have been cheaper for me to get a taxi to the nearest pcworld and buy it from there!!!!
So my advice...
insight and
dabs, much better than ebuyer.
