Online shopping - is it worth the Hassle?

[Mauldor]

Quick Story
To save me legs, I ordered a Lamp from Argos Online, placed order on Sunday and web page told me deleivery would be 8am-6pm on Tuesday (just gone). So like some kind of Idiot I sat in the house on tuesday and no sign of any lamp. I rang today and it had been Delivered On tuesday, I was Out and the delivery dude allowed a neighbour to sign for it (so I was told).
So off I went to a few houses both sides of me and across the road to go and locate my said new lamp. Nobody I spoke to had signed for such a thing and knew nothing about it. I rang back to try and get the name and address of who the Hell he gave it to, they have to submit for the document from the delivery company and this can take upto 5 days (working I would imagine).
I was told to call back within 5 days (what like 1 or 5?) and they would tell me who/what happened.

Im not sure if there is more running around aftert this but tbh - It would have been quicker to go to the local Argos, Buy it and walk back. I dont think i will be buying from Argos online if this happens, god know when I will see my product I have paid for ....

My point been?
I read about people buying from Ebuyer, Argos and god know what else, all going wrong - if the product does arrive and is broke, then its a battle against the company (as per seen on the Ebuyer thread) - Argos told me they wont give the name of the Carrier as they use more than one and have no idea which one sent it, even if they did, the carrirer would not tell me over the phone anyhow. As it has been delivered, they have to follow this process now. At least when you buy from a shop in town, you can take it back, get it straight away and so forth - yes the prices might be higher but is it worth saving a few £ for all the hassle ??

I have been shopping online for over six years and have had very little "hassle".

[JediMaster]

I know what you mean

I have been shopping online for about 2yrs. But I NEVER buy Electric Items (like TV's) Only had a Dell. But that has a 3yr Next Day service.

If there is 1 Faulty item in Shop, I will get it. 4 Mobiles FAULTY, & 3 VCR's.

So I only buy things like that in Asda *1yr Cover is GREAT.

Ebuyer is the only other place I use

[Paul K]

I think that asks questions of either the delivery driver or the neighbour he got to take it in. Surely they must realise that he would write down what address it was left at (if he did leave it at another address) and therefore can't just deny knowledge of taking it in. If it's the driver then he risks his job if someone doesn't receive an item and he falsely signs it as delivered to another address.
Mind you it may be that you have to walk a little further down the road to find your lamp as we've had a delivery taken to a house 10 doors away as they were the only one who answered the door when he knocked

And what is wrong with putting a note through the chuffing door saying the number of the house the package was left at?All it needs is some fecking common sense.At least the Post Office get that bit right.

[Raistlin]

I don't think I've ever really had any problems with online shopping.

The only times that things have gone wrong I've always found the company concerned have sorted things out quickly and with a minimum of fuss.

I've certainly always found that the added convenience of shopping online has outweighed any minor inconveniences that may have arisen.

[Mauldor]

Originally Posted by Paul

I think that asks questions of either the delivery driver or the neighbour he got to take it in. Surely they must realise that he would write down what address it was left at (if he did leave it at another address) and therefore can't just deny knowledge of taking it in. If it's the driver then he risks his job if someone doesn't receive an item and he falsely signs it as delivered to another address.
Mind you it may be that you have to walk a little further down the road to find your lamp as we've had a delivery taken to a house 10 doors away as they were the only one who answered the door when he knocked

But the strange thing Was - I was sitting there in the house, my rought guess, he went to the wrong address (god knows where) and handed the item over. On another note its great that they drop things off at neighbours but as proven it would have been best to leave a "your not in" note and me going to local depot to collect.

Im just annoyed now I have to wait and wait until they figure out who signed for it and then either knowning the name (I dont know the name of everybody in my street) or telling them to send me another..I understand they have to have rules/procedures in place as I could have been lying and got the goods etc. Another point, if the neighbour (who ever it was) took in the item, then would they not have knocked on my door my now?

Oh Well

[paul11974]

Originally Posted by Mauldor

But the strange thing Was - I was sitting there in the house, my rought guess, he went to the wrong address (god knows where) and handed the item over. On another note its great that they drop things off at neighbours but as proven it would have been best to leave a "your not in" note and me going to local depot to collect.

Im just annoyed now I have to wait and wait until they figure out who signed for it and then either knowning the name (I dont know the name of everybody in my street) or telling them to send me another..I understand they have to have rules/procedures in place as I could have been lying and got the goods etc. Another point, if the neighbour (who ever it was) took in the item, then would they not have knocked on my door my now?

Oh Well

as i have said in a few other posts it is a great advantage if these companys use royal mail or parcelforce because if you are not in it is taken back to the delivery office or with parcelforce it is taken to your local post office

[Halcyon]

There are good things and bad things of online buying, with a majority of votes going towards good things in my opinion.

It all depends on the company. They have to remember that they are dealing with a larger audience of shoppers when putting their business online so it is important they can accomodate multiple orders and dealing with customors. This is where some companies fail and become run down with back orders thus time wasting.

There is then the fact that some companies do not realise the amount of help and advice that is needed. We are not in a shop and assistance is only possible by phone or E-mail, or in the case of Ebuyer, nearly no way of contact. They need to make sure they have allocated enough staff for dealing with customors.

Lastly, it depends on who the company ships with. If they use a private firm it may be faster and more efficient than Royal Mail.

I think that buying online is great as I've been able to get things I havent found elswhere, and also products at cheaper prices. Some times I find rare CD's I'm after, vinyl from abroad and small record labels, cheap computer parts, and booking holidays.
Just recently, I booked a hotel, car parking, and flights, through the net in next to no time.

Only on two occasions have I had problems with goods that needed sending back but the company was good and I didnt loose a penny.
Some companies ask you to pay to ship back faulty items and that is really taking advantage of you !!! That should be illegal.

I wouldnt do all my shopping online as 1) it would be unhealthy to stay in all day long, and 2) it is important to keep the little local shops in business, but it certainly is a good thing.

[Shaun]

Originally Posted by Incognitas

At least the Post Office get that bit right.

Wanna swap posties Incog?

[Mauldor]

Well two ways to look at this tbh:

Good Experience
I ordered a Washing Machine from Curry's online recently - got a call to ask if everything was OK (now thats good), had a fault with new machine but rang number, put through to people who make it via automated system - next day Engineer came out, replaced faulty seal and we were back in business.
This was a example of how to get it right via the online ordering - I even knew between 10am and 2pm as to when they were delivering the good.

Scan - recent order, tracking and I know where about the parcel is.
Old order - Video card died (badly - blew up) and they sent a new one, picked the old one up at the same time. This was after quite a few months as well.

Bad Expereince
I already mentioned Argos, not there fault but No tracking etc.
E-Buyer - Jump through Hoops if the item you get is broken
Dabs - Sending Back and Forth many items as they either were broke on arrival or died after a short while, many arguments on the phone having to explain to there tech guys the problem with the item and only THEN for them to send me a new board.

Conclusion
If a company is running a service where the product you buy is online and is a Item (i.e. not a holiday etc), then a few simple things can make the difference between a great place to shop or something to steer clear of.

A Online status / Tracking feature - Its good to see at what stage the good are at.

A decent call centre - calling with problems on your new item or ideed Lost items in my case, should not involve fighting with the said company, sitting on a phone in some queue for XX hours just to get through. Anything such as E-Notes etc or emails should be a route to contacting them not something to fill in and forget about (E-Buyers E-Note system is a waste of time).

After Sales Support - Support is often the line that divides one company from another, I would Happily shop at scan even if there prices on a item were slightly Higher just on the fact its not a battle when you have a problem.

Now walking into a Shop, such as Dixons, Currys or PcWorld - there prices are def High (though some things are cheaper) but you can walk in, have a poke at the item, walk off home with it, if it does not work, is not quite what you thought it was and so on, head back to the shop, get a refund, changed etc.

Im obiously on some master computer - any orders placed online in my name is automated through the gird and they go off to the shelf marked "Broken" and sent it promptly. Dabs, every single thing in the history of time I have ordered arrived broken or died a bit later. Local PC Shop, motherboard I bought was faulty from day one. Washing Machine - Arrived with a hole in the seal. Argos - Lost my order as you saw. Case I bought from Scan arrived smashed to hell - and the list goes on and on.

I better stick to shops

[Stuart]

Good experience
Amazon
Play Uk
Dabs
ebuyer
overclockers
Crucial
Simply computers (in the past)
Pugh computers (specialist Educational and Charity software reseller - You have to work for an Educational Institution or Charity, or be a student to order)
IKEA
Bad experiences
Simply

Last time I ordered from Simply, it was my router and a PCI wireless NIC. It didn't turn up. I phoned, they said it would turn up the next day. It didn't. After a week, I phoned again and was told it had been sent out, Citilink had tried to deliver it and no-one was in. Now, I knew this was bull. My sister was actually in at the time they claimed to have tried to deliver, and even if she weren't, they should have left a not. I phoned Simply, and they gave me a number to call at Citilink. The woman at Citilink said she didn't know what had happened and would call me back.

I got the call back a week later. Citilink said that because they had tried to deliver the item (they didn't) and didn't get an answer (they would have, had they delivered), they left a note for me to pick up the router (they didn't). Because I hadn't picked up the router (I would have had I known where to go to pick it up) for 2 weeks, they had sent it back to Simply.

When I phoned Simply, they said they hadn't recieved it, but would issue another one, which, to Simply's credit, arrived 3 days later.

Now, I don't blame Simply for this. It was actually Citilink that caused the problem. The only reason I won't order from Simply now is they still use Citilink (I think).

letsbuyit.com
Where do I start? I ordered a 32 inch Wega widescreen TV for £800 from them. I took a day off on the day they promised to deliver it. They didn't. I phoned them. They promised to deliver it another day, and, again didn't turn up. This carried on for about a month. A month later, they delivered it.

The delivery men turned up, put the TV down in my Hall. Left me to carry this TV (which weighed nearly 20 stone according to the packaging) into the living room and put it on the TV stand I had bought for it (from IKEA). I managed this, and set it up. Turned it on, and the standby light came on. I pushed the button to bring it out of standby mode. The light went out, then came on again. Then I noticed a huge crack in the side of the TV.

I talked to a friend who has done some TV repair work. He suggested that the main circuit board was probably cracked as well. I phoned letsbuyit, and after arguing with me, they agreed to pick it up. I won't go into too much detail, but they eventually picked up the TV nearly a month after they said they would, and after some quite severe phone calls (and a written threat of legal action from me), they eventually refunded my money. Funnily enough, if they had replaced it within a reasonable time, I probably would have accepted it.

I then went into my local Sony Store, bought a 28inch Widescreen Wega TV, playstation 1 and VHS video for £800 (the same price letsbuyit charged for the 32 inch). The Sony Store were brilliant (in fact, I would recommend them to anyone), they took the order, offered to help take it to our car if we wanted to pick it up there and then, or free delivery if we didn't. The delivery men turned up on the morning they said they would, and even carried the TV into the right room. They wouldn't lift it onto the stand though, which was a bit of a pain

Tesco
We recently ordered a VAX upright cleaner 3 weeks ago (after our Dyson died) from Tesco. It finally turned up on Tuesday (great 3 day delivery eh?), with no phone call (because they count it as a large item, Tesco were supposed to call to arrange delivery). No one was in when it turned up, so what did the delivery man do? Leave a note and take it back to the depot? Nooo... He "discretely" hid it under our Welcome mat. It wasn't at all obvious.

Still, at least we got it.

[Halcyon]

I highly rate:

- Amazon.co.uk
- Overclockers
- SPD Limited Computer parts.
- CD Wow
- RyanAir
- Crucial Memory
- Juno.co.uk (vinyl specialist)

[STONEISLAND]

Amazon.co.uk
Play.co.uk very good and free delivery
and Heals (for the mrs)

I recommend online shopping for a hassle free process

[Mauldor]

Update ref Argos - lol

They took a Signiture Only of who signed for it, as they cannot determine who signed and where - this now passes to yet another department, upto 7 working days now while they investigate what went wrong. They will call me and once idendified that it was not me who signed for it, then they will send me another lamp - all this for a £29.99 lamp eh.

All the delivery guy had wrote on the document was Neighbour took in, grabbed a siggy of them (mr. Smith?) and drove away...Amazes me tbh.