Bad customer service!

[chrkelly]

Right, here's the story...

On the 24th of August I ordered a new double bass pickup and an mic cable from a supposedly respectable company here in th UK. A week later and there's no sign of the order. No big deal at this point so I email the company and find out they have no cables in stock and I'll have the order by the end of the week. It would have been nice if they had told me that when I placed the order. Well, next week comes and still no order. This happens another couple of times and starts to get very annoying. Then during a phone call last week I was told the order had been dispatched and would definiteley be with me on Fri. No order. Since then my emails have now been ignored and my two phone calls today have been responded with 'I'll look into it and call you back in 10 mins'. Like hell they will. No apologies whatsoever and considering my card got charged for over £400 when the order was made over a month ago, I'm slightly worried I'll be severely out of pocket for quite some time. I have asked to cancel the order for a full refund and guess what? No reply!

I'm now running out of ideas so if anyone has any suggestions they'd be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Chris

[chris_b]

Name and shame. Who are they?

[john_the_bass]

Just get a refund on your credit card and buy it from somebody who gives a bugger. I think it's well cheeky that companies charge at the point you place the order and not at the point when they have stock and dispatch the goods.

[phil_the_bassist]

if all else fails, at least you used a c/c so it's insured against this sorta thing.

Defo name&shame, also, in your emails say that "unless it gets sorted soon, you'll tell all your musician friends and collegues about the appauling service" etc. the threat of bad press usually kickstarts a chain reaction to get you your gear! also, a proper hardcopy paper letter sent to the manager/MD can often initiate a response!

good luck gettin it sorted mate!

[chrkelly]

Cheers guys, I think if it isn't sorted by the end of today the card refund is the way to go.

The company in question is Concert Systems in Manchester.

[deksawyer]

Sorry to be blunt, but next time, go into a shop and buy/order it!

D.

[skankdelvar]

£400 for a double bass pick-up and a cable? That sounds like a very expensive cable.

Get the refund...

[thepurpleblob]

Yepp... complain to your CC company, definitely. This sort of thing goes down very badly with the CC company. I have reason to believe that the percentage rate the shop gets charged by the bank for the CC service can be affected if they have to chase lots of customer problems.

[cheddatom]

[quote name='deksawyer' post='294597' date='Sep 29 2008, 03:30 PM']Sorry to be blunt, but next time, go into a shop and buy/order it!

D.[/quote]

You should be able to order online without any issues, as many of us have many-a-time.

[OldGit]

I sympathise and yes - take it to your credit card co.

I ordered a book from Amazon for Christmas last year. In August they finally gave up trying to supply it .... I just left it to see how long they's keep sending me "it's not in yet" notes.
I too believe they shoudln't offer goods for sale that they do not have any chance of actually supplying.

[deksawyer]

[quote name='cheddatom' post='294609' date='Sep 29 2008, 03:49 PM']You should be able to order online without any issues, as many of us have many-a-time.[/quote]

Yes, I agree, but I've been noticing a big trend lately where there's an increasing number of f*ckups by companies who don't give a sh#t! Look at the time/hassle/stress the OP has gone through.

With SC now long gone, there's no excuse not to be using your local music shop.

D.

[ARGH]

[quote name='deksawyer' post='294792' date='Sep 29 2008, 06:46 PM']Yes, I agree, but I've been noticing a big trend lately where there's an increasing number of f*ckups by companies who don't give a sh#t! Look at the time/hassle/stress the OP has gone through.

With SC now long gone, there's no excuse not to be using your local music shop.

D.[/quote]
Yes there is..Stringbusters..I WONT pay near £20 for a set of strings,nor stare at a wallfull of Japcrap.

[Dubs]

Don’t bother emailing again if they’re not responding - Next time you phone them up (I’d suggest tomorrow) tell them that you’re royally f***ed off with their incompetence and that you’re giving them the chance to cancel the order right now before you take it to your credit card company to deal with and don’t let them put the phone down on you until they can confirm that they have processed the refund and let them know that you will be checking this directly with the credit card company after you get off the phone…that’s what I’d do anyway, but then this sort of thing really gets on my tits as a consumer/customer Although this is obviously depending on being able to get the parts you need from elsewhere. If you can’t get them elsewhere then you’re in a catch 22 situation.

I've had stuff turn up 4 or 5 months after I've ordered it before and I'd forgotten that I'd actually ordered it - this was small stuff though like CDs and DVDs from play.com. When there was the Royal Mail strike last year, some stuff that I had ordered from Strings Direct got lost in the post. They replaced it within the week and completely took care of the claim against the Royal Mail for the lost goods to minimise my inconvenience - now that was a good mail order service

[markytbass]

I payed a hefty deposit on my CC, after the deal didn't go through (their fault not mine) I was pissed around when trying to get the dep back. In the end my CC company suggested they refund me the money onto my card and take action to get the money back. When I told the dealer this they paid up within 24 hours.

[chrkelly]

[quote]Yes, I agree, but I've been noticing a big trend lately where there's an increasing number of f*ckups by companies who don't give a sh#t! Look at the time/hassle/stress the OP has gone through.

With SC now long gone, there's no excuse not to be using your local music shop.[/quote]

While I do like to support my local music shops, a lot of the stuff I buy is very specialist and most of the time I have to buy from the US to get them for an affordable price.

Anyway, I gave them a third rather impatient call and got the same old story, they promised they'd call me back with a full explanation before closing and didn't. I immediately then sent them an email and again recieved no response. So I've now phoned my card company and set the wheels in motion. I've also sent one stating what I've done to Concert Systems. I wonder if I'll get a response :wacko:

[noelk27]

[quote name='chrkelly' post='294575' date='Sep 29 2008, 02:00 PM']On the 24th of August I ordered a new double bass pickup and an mic cable from a supposedly respectable company here in th UK.[/quote]

You don't specify how the order was placed - but it's worth noting that, other than for contracts concluded face to face, the term of the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 apply. Regulation 19 allows the retailer 30 days to make supply, failure to do so allows you to cancel - which must be in writing, either letter or email. The retailer is allowed 30 days from the date of cancellation to make full reimbursement.

[chrkelly]

[quote name='noelk27' post='294929' date='Sep 29 2008, 09:53 PM']You don't specify how the order was placed - but it's worth noting that, other than for contracts concluded face to face, the term of the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 apply. Regulation 19 allows the retailer 30 days to make supply, failure to do so allows you to cancel - which must be in writing, either letter or email. The retailer is allowed 30 days from the date of cancellation to make full reimbursement.[/quote]

Cheers, that's good to know. The order was placed online via their website. I have emailed them stating I want to cancel the order on Sat when it didn't turn up but they chose to ignore it and seem to not want to discuss it with me on the phone either. I've had some problems with mail order before from other companies but they've always been amazing at sorting it out. These guys just couldn't care less.

[jakenewmanbass]

[quote name='chrkelly' post='294595' date='Sep 29 2008, 03:25 PM']Cheers guys, I think if it isn't sorted by the end of today the card refund is the way to go.

The company in question is Concert Systems in Manchester.[/quote]
I'm really surprised by this Chris, I used to be based in Manchester and have had CS supply PA on many gigs. They've always been good. Perhaps their retail skills are not up to their PA service. It's bad news. Hope you get your money back
Jake

[Protium]

Talking of bad customer service - Don't expect to get any useful info from emailing Orange (amps) customer services.

Edited September 29, 2008 by Protium

[chrkelly]

[quote name='jakesbass' post='294945' date='Sep 29 2008, 10:17 PM']I'm really surprised by this Chris, I used to be based in Manchester and have had CS supply PA on many gigs. They've always been good. Perhaps their retail skills are not up to their PA service. It's bad news. Hope you get your money back
Jake[/quote]

I'm surprised too Jake. They're a big company and have a lot of very high profile venues (Albert Hall, Wembley, NEC, MEN etc) on their client list. I've not personally dealt with them before but I was certainly expecting better than this given who they usually work with.

[cheddatom]

[quote name='deksawyer' post='294792' date='Sep 29 2008, 06:46 PM']Yes, I agree, but I've been noticing a big trend lately where there's an increasing number of f*ckups by companies who don't give a sh#t! Look at the time/hassle/stress the OP has gone through.

With SC now long gone, there's no excuse not to be using your local music shop.

D.[/quote]

My "excuse" is my negative bank balance and reluctance to face the populus of Stoke. Some online retailers are good, and others are bad. It's not as though they've formed a cartel of bad customer service, they're still all in competition and competition should force bad retailers to improve or close.

[bass_ferret]

I have just ordered some stuff online. Most of the sellers I looked at had no information about whether the stuff I wanted was in stock, and emails were not answered. I ended up ordering from 3 different sites and paid 3 lots of P&P cos they were the only sites that said what I wanted was in stock. Already got 2 of them and I only ordered on Sunday.

[chrkelly]

Finally got a reply to my lengthy email today. Someone must have really thought long and hard about the reply. It read...

"Your order did get processed ,I assure you"

That's it! The entire response simply cut and pasted. He didn't even bother to attempt putting the comma and space in the right order!

If you're ever thinking about ordering anything from this company, DON'T!

[Dubs]

[quote name='chrkelly' post='295589' date='Sep 30 2008, 04:25 PM']Finally got a reply to my lengthy email today. Someone must have really thought long and hard about the reply. It read...

"Your order did get processed ,I assure you"

That's it! The entire response simply cut and pasted. He didn't even bother to attempt putting the comma and space in the right order!

If you're ever thinking about ordering anything from this company, DON'T![/quote]

They obviously aren’t taking it seriously or really give a sh*t that they’re going to have a credit card company asking for an explanation as to why they’ve been utterly incompetent dealing with a £400 order for one of their customers. Bad days when your company makes the Bass Cellar customer service look good…

[SteveK]

Chris,

You don't say whether you used a [b]Credit[/b] Card or a [b]Debit[/b] Card. Unfortunately a [b]Debit[/b] card doesn't offer you the same protection.