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Friday 21 May 2004

Ebuyer Beware [slim]

I've previously sang the praises of computer etailer ebuyer. The prices are good, the site is very good, delivery is quick and I've had no reason to think that they weren't worthy of my praise...
Until the dreaded returns procedure is experienced. Now this isn't something unique to ebuyer, I've been through returns with both scan and dabs before, and they were far from ideal. Ebuyer however was utterly useless. It started off well with them providing a highly automated system for generating rma numbers, a printable lable to stick to your box, clear instructions, all sorted. Box got there a bit late, but thats the wanking posties fault not ebuyers. They tested it within hours of recieving it, pronunced the bit dead and approved a replacement immediately, so far so good.
Then nothing happened. My bit sat in my orders screen on 'awaiting picking' for three days. I 'enoted' them, ebuyers preferred contact choice, no response. So I phoned em, bloke says ahh... yeah... ok I've sorted that out, you'll get it tomorrow, soz. Cool, except tomorrow comes, no change in status. Phone again, same story, it'll go out tomorrow sir, you'll have it thursday. Thursday arrived and it wasn't even dispatched let alone arriving, a week had passed since the bit was approved, still no sign of the fuckers sending it. Another phonecall gets a bit more info, it seems that ebuyer dont actually stock things themselves, they use 3rd parties, who ship the bits to ebuyer once you buy em, and ebuyer send them on. Weird! Anyhow the supplier in question was being a div, and still wouldn't send the bit. Give me a refund I say, ok say they, sorted, start again with dabs, who dispatched the fucker a few seconds before I'd completed ordering it...
You'd think I'd be happy? Well, no. I'm a couple of weeks without a pc, which is a pretty serious situation for me, and I've lost out on the cost of the postage of the item back to ebuyer and the postage and 'handling fee' for buying it again from dabs, so in the end I'm only a few fucking quid up. Add it to the postage I paid when I bought the thing in the first place, and we're well above the price I'd have paid if I'd have bought it on the high street.
This internet shopping thing, it'll never catch on!

7 comments:

  1. I'm glad you mentioned the fact that you're not buying from them, but rather through them - it's something I meant to blog on a while back.
    The etailer explosion has been a massive benefit to loads of folk, but it's the returns policy and procedure (as you've now experienced for yourself) which seems to clog the wheels.
    I personally want an industry body to force etailers to identify in easy to read and easy to find letters where *exactly* you are buying the kit from.
    A good example is 'Pixmania.com' - essentially a camera outfit online. Bloke at work bought the Pentax Optio S30 from them and when it turned up, all the docs were in French.
    Hardly what he expected. Turns out, buried in the technical specs is the only hint that it's not an item Pixmania hold in stock:
    Bottom of the page there, it says the manual is in French, and of course that's where the camera kit is shipped from.
    etailers really are the dictionary defintion of 'caveat emptor'.

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  2. I'd have been happy had they refunded my postage costs at least, the catalogs do that for returns.

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  3. Of course Pixmania is actually a French web site and is basically a well known grey-importing route to the UK, hence the prices...

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  4. The postage is a pain in the arse. You buy more from the etailer to save on combined postage, but as the bits go wrong you're hit with the return posage. Then possibly redelivery postage if you order elsewhere, I've no idea if they bill you for delivery on the replacement part, did ebuyer try that slim?

    It's a pain in the chuff and no mistake.
    I got my return off them no problem on the shocking Tosh DVD burner I ordered since it was inside a month of use. RMA lasts 60 days too. Just flag one next time, even if it does work :)

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  5. Slim, get in touch with Ebuyer and complain about the postage thing, threaten not to use them etc... and if you can provide proof of the postage cost, they will refund it to your account.
    Well that's what they told me when I returned a PSU that cost me 9 quid to post back, they ain't refunded the postage yet, but I haven't chased them up. Might be worth a try anyway.

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  6. I always weigh up the savings versus the pain if it goes wrong - I guess we all do. I'll buy local if it costs just a little bit more. Also I recently bought a tent for £30 more than internet price at a local store cos I could see it, and select it as being best and got loads of advice - It seemed right to support his business. Today I saved £70 on a surfboard online for a commodity product where the shop alternatives offered no service.
    Sort of on topic - if anyone wants cameras's etc Digitaldepot.co.uk has their shop just up the road from my work in Swindon. They will match EVERY internet deal, anf have english manuals! and will sell at the same price in the shop or online. I've had many bloody good deals from them over the past few years.

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  7. Heh, yes because ebuyer have a history of being reasonable...

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