My Terrible Ebuyer experience...

[ian@huth]

Had quite a few things from Ebuyer and never a problem with them. Mind you, that doesn't make them good for everybody, just look at NTL who have some people saying that they have never had a problem with them.

A lot of problems are caused by courier companies who don't know how to handle goods, read maps or comprehend the English language. Marking an item "fragile" means the courier should throw it into the van first and then toss as many heavy items on it as they can. Before noon delivery means anytime after their afternoon nap if they happen to pass your street, otherwise leave it till tomorrow.

Last year I had a motability scooter delivered after chasing the couriers up for over a week. I think that they went through the entire A to Z of delivery excuses as to why it took so long. When it did eventually turn up on a large lorry the driver knocked on the door and asked me if I could get it off the lorry for him as he had a bad back. The delivery note clearly stated that a tail lift and pallet truck was required, but neither were, and the packaging clearly indicated what was being delivered.

[The_real_dj]

For any broadband equipment i would really recomend http://www.nickknows.co.uk/ . Really quick delivery and also put a free bag of jelly beans in the parcle!!

Proper Bo!!

[Shaun]

Originally Posted by Jon T

yes, dabs delivery is good, but their returns policy smells of poo!

Jon

The printer we bought was delivered the next day, I was very impressed until I opened the box a few days later hooked it up to the new comp and it made this terrible noise. Canon say that as its DOA it's Dabs that have to sort it, but they just don't respond to emails.

I won't be using them again, I'll stick with Savastore.com.

[Macready]

about a year ago noww, my computer went bang, so I was given about £200 to rebuild the PC, I needed a new motherboard so decided to bite the bullet and upgrade.

I ordered an

AMD Athlon XP 2000+ (Retail)
MSI Motherboard
512 Meg PC2700 RAM
and a case with power supply / side window

All came in at about £200 by the time postage and all that was added up.

Arrived via delivery

Power supply was DOA on the case, (Found out after fitting that with everything)
The Ram was proven faulty, (tested it in my mates PC, that same day)
Motherboard was also DEAD, tested that with a Spare PSU that I had around

Athlon is installed and has worked fine to this day.

The whole system of returns with ebuyer is appalling, the stuff I sent back took about a month and a half in total to get them to return the money for, as they issued a replacement motherboard out in error, which meant that I had to pay for two lots of posting on that one motherboard.

Ebuyer are cheap enough, but personally I would never buy anything from there that I cant take back to a shop immediately after that experience.

I dont mind the fact I pay a few quid more for my goods now at the local PCWorld or Computer shop, its worth it just not to have to go through all that hassle again.

[Gareth]

Have used ebuyer and not had any problems (touch wood).
Have used PC World and have had problems (never using 'em again).

Horses for courses!

However, the best company for delivering promptly and on time has to be www.pcnextday.co.uk - bought an old socket 370 mobo from them that I couldn't find elsewhere, ordered it at about 4:30pm, and it arrived at 8:00am the following morning! Was very impressed with that.

[ZoMBiE]

Originally Posted by monkeybreath

cost of posting item back: £5.60
cost of sending proof of signiture: 56p
cost of phone calls: £23.

just a nice little note. i heard this on the radio so this is how it goes....

when a firm ask you to do something like prove the item was sent, they are asking you to do work for them. you should tell them that to send proof you will have to actually work, and therefore there will be a charge of £xxx for you to do this and yo will send them then bill and the proof.

On the bill state you are giving them15 days to pay, and remind them that if they dont pay, they must be broke and you will file for bankrupcy against them.

The vast majority of firms will pay. this also includes companies like NTL who have done things like this.

[Chris W]

Originally Posted by ZoMBiE

just a nice little note. i heard this on the radio so this is how it goes....

when a firm ask you to do something like prove the item was sent, they are asking you to do work for them. you should tell them that to send proof you will have to actually work, and therefore there will be a charge of £xxx for you to do this and yo will send them then bill and the proof.

On the bill state you are giving them15 days to pay, and remind them that if they dont pay, they must be broke and you will file for bankrupcy against them.

The vast majority of firms will pay. this also includes companies like NTL who have done things like this.

now that is quite cheeky :pp but i like it

[zoombini]

The returns policies on Dabs & Broadbandbuyer both look very
dubious.
I.E. they only appear to give you a 28 day refund/replacement guarantee, after that you only get a repair?

I was under the impression that if its guaranteed for 12 months then it should be the customers decision whether or not it gets repaired.
Also, if they repair it & the customer is not happy with the repair (I.E. its ben done with a welding torch rather than an SMT soldering iron) has the customer comeback?

I want to order something but am wary of mail order unless I have a really good returns policy to back it up.

[Shaun]

No, they have it right, after 28 days the order goes: repair, replacement, refund. unless a repair or replacement is going to inconvenience the customer by an "unacceptable amount", exactly who decides whats unacceptable is anyones guess. We tried to return a DVD recorder to Argos the other day as it has started having trouble, but they insisted that they would only repair or replace, Jay rang trading standards and they confirmed Argos were right

As for Dabs, they are crap, I try not to deal with them now, if something goes wrong you have to send it back to them so they can test it and then they will refund you the amount, then you have to buy it again (and pay a second lot of postage )

[andygrif]

It is worth noting that during the first six months after purchase, it is the responsibility of the seller to prove that any fault was not present at the time of buying, irrespective of their terms and conditions.

If they cannot prove that the fault was NOT present at the time of the sale, then you are entitled to a refund, repair or replacement. If you ask for a refund the retailer is within their rights to reduce the amount you receive based on the number of months that you have had use of the product.

Also as long as you bought the goods on a credit card (not debit card) then the credit card company has the same legal obligations as the retailer you bought them from.

[SMHarman]

Originally Posted by ZoMBiE

just a nice little note. i heard this on the radio so this is how it goes....

when a firm ask you to do something like prove the item was sent, they are asking you to do work for them. you should tell them that to send proof you will have to actually work, and therefore there will be a charge of £xxx for you to do this and yo will send them then bill and the proof.

On the bill state you are giving them15 days to pay, and remind them that if they dont pay, they must be broke and you will file for bankrupcy against them.

The vast majority of firms will pay. this also includes companies like NTL who have done things like this.

Works even better when the company has a tarrif of charges. It's very easy to do this, Like NTLs £50 call out charge, they have done the work as to priceing a reasonable cost for the work they are asking you to do.

Same with banks, they make an error on your account, look up what it would have cost if you made the same error.

Hmm, missed this thread originally. Funny how different people have different experiences. I use ebuyer for work and spend £1000's with them in a year - and have never had a problem - including returns.

[Ramrod]

Originally Posted by timewarrior2001

I have found DABS.COM to be the best for delivery, they use royal mail parcel force. I ordered after 6pm one night, standard delivery, it arrived before 10am the next morning.

Same here....amazing delivery!

[Mauldor]

OK, about time to add my experiences of online shops and real shops as well for good measure....

Ebuyer - Bought a 17" TFT - arrived DOA, called support number (0845) got them to pick up at there cost. They took 1 week to fix the problem (dead power supply) and using it now. Def will be carefull what I order through there.

BigPockets - bought many a blank DVD/CD from here, arrived always the next working day (depending at what time I ordered it) and even happily replaced a batch that were in a bad condition (dye missing etc). A1++

Dabs - Everything i have ever bought over the years from here is either Dead or fauly or has broken since. Returns is a nightmare and pray you dont have to return anything as it can be a uphill struggle to say the least.

Scan - I think these people are fab, gfx card i had for some time died, i rang them up and they sent me a brand new one and picked up the old one, no questions asked. All they asked on the phone was if i knew what i was talking about (techie then) and were happy with the diag i gave them.

PC World - Very Bad on Price but the upshot is that if it all goes wrong, very easy to return though they struggle with long term broken things such as a DVD writer i once bought years ago which at the time cost me £500+ - in the end i had to take them to court and I won.

Local shops - well my only bad dealings so far was a local shop in Doncaster, faulty motherboard but in the end had to talk to trading standards to get them to give my money back even though i was happy just to recieve a replacement, a diff model etc. They banned me from there - no loss this end

[SMHarman]

Originally Posted by The_real_dj

For any broadband equipment i would really recomend http://www.nickknows.co.uk/ . Really quick delivery and also put a free bag of jelly beans in the parcle!!

Proper Bo!!

I thought he did DIY programs not broadband equipment!