One of our guys raves about Ebuyer, always very cheap, the very epitome of internet shopping!
My first time was remarkably painless, I needed to get a Google Nexus for the daughter, it was long promised she could have an e-reader/Tablet and this looked like the one, BUT nobody had any and her birthday was near, ordered it on-line, and it arrived fine the next day and rapidly became my daughters substitute for conversation, activity, indeed the only thing that got her away from it was a TV screen of one sort or another (In reality she still leaves the Nexus on but completely fails to multi-task).
However after a couple of months one Saturday morning it fails to turn on, (now our normal reaction would have been to take it apart and fix it, BUT… it’s virtually new and under warranty), we phone Ebuyer to discover they not only have Sunday off, they don’t have anyone in on Saturday either, not exactly 20th Century Internet service (Let alone 21st!)
On the Monday they basically fob me of to Asus, Google’s manufacturer of Nexuses (Nexii??) (Who half-heartedly pretended to know who Ebuyer were) but did not suggest anything we could do, only send it back and they would return it a week later, that is what happened it was collected and we heard nothing for 7days, it re-appeared (It was the same unit), and worked other than that nothing, no indication of what had been wrong, nor any advice of what had been done. I strongly suspect that simply a pin and a factory reset, but I guess they don’t want to loose revenue fixing them when the warranty runs out – oh, do we get 53 weeks to make up for the missing week in its life? (Asus could learn here from Western Digital, Seagate etc., we return something we get emailed “We’ve received it”. “We are working on it”, “We’ve finished”, “its on its way back”! We are even able to check progress on-line, even three.co.uk are up to this and they don’t have any idea how websites work (Thats a different rant though!))
So second (and undoubtedly last) purchase off Ebuyer, I want a TV for my mothers house, Ebuyer send me a mail-out advertising a DGM (Digimate) monitor with all the features I want (although I really was thinking Samsung, LG for Quality!), but hey they are forty quid cheaper than anyone else and we know Digimate from when they were in Manchester.
But the killer is free delivery, so put it in the online basket and run to checkout.
Hang on I’ve said I want it tomorrow, and they said free delivery, so what’s this £10 twenty something delivery cost ? it seems free delivery means the TV is packaged up given a map and some sandwiches and told to hitch hike to us and will get here in three to five days or maybe not?, and If I want it for tomorrow its £10.20 extra
Now due the next day (Friday) were three deliveries for other suppliers plus a warranty delivery from HP (from Holland), we had paid a charge of £8.34 for one of these (several hundred pounds worth of PC supplies), the other three had no carriage charge. Nonetheless I wanted this TV for Saturday when I was going to my mothers, and after all, even with the carriage they were £30 cheaper than elsewhere, I placed the order and paid them.
Friday arrives and (if you remember last Friday?) we had a little snow, anyway first arrival Patricia (We have a post lady, so not Pat) with our mail, then another Royal Mail delivery with our DVDs from HP, then City Link with the Hard Disk from Holland, next came DPD at 10:35am (due between 10:30 and 11:30) , two items left and Interlink express had advised a delivery time for one of the remaining orders between 3:30 and 4:30, but as lunchtime passed nothing from Ebuyer. I became unsettled, I tried to track their order online, they had sent me a way to track their expensive courier via the Parcel Force website, however when you selected “track order” and entered the reference it simply returned to the “track order screen”, bad vibes indeed !. I emailed Parcel force and got a computer reply!
Time passed, I phoned Ebuyer (no mean task in itself as they only publish numbers that make them money while costing you for holding in a queue (See discussion on http://www.saynoto0870.com/cgi-bin/forum/YaBB.cgi?num=1060608154/0 )) and spoke to Reece who told me that there was bad weather and the couriers were pushing deliveries back to Monday. I advised him that was simply not good enough, all our other couriers had made it and really a dusting of snow was no good reason to stop business. I made it clear I was happy to accept a delivery up to 5pm Saturday despite having paid an exorbitant cost of “Next day”, but after that.. forget it!
Half an hour later we got an email from Ebuyer
Hang on – this isn’t bad weather this is a broken trailer, why a days delay – surely only a couple of hours – still it is coming on Saturday!
Our second scheduled delivery arrived in the first five minutes of the hour “window”, they don’t seem to have snow problems?
Saturday Morning
We have no deliveries due, we had some snow last night, but still several delivery wagons pass through and we get our mail delivery.
Time passes and doubts begin, no point talking to Ebuyer they don’t do Saturday, I’ll try Parcel Force Website and lo it works!
well that’s clear enough the driver can’t get through.., frankly snow seems a good excuse for skiving, roads from Stoke to Macclesfield are open and Macclesfield to here? so its a bit of effort, but by heck (or eh Up) I’m a customer so surely worth the effort, I phone Parcel Force and its fairly clear they couldn’t care less, that they are a mickey mouse outfit (sorry Disney!) and “other couriers” might not be delivering from Stoke. They’ll deliver it on Monday, I tell them not to bother and send it back, frankly I doubt if they will find their way here at all..
Interestingly their schedule above suggests it only arrived at their “Hub” at 8:30 Friday night, what happened to the broken trailer or the bad weather on Friday ?, stories don’t tie up, who is telling the truth and who isn’t?
Monday
I phone Ebuyer and speak to Reece again, (as they cant seem to be contacted by email – you have to do an “enote” on their site, but this system is like their 0871 and 0845 numbers it just fobs you off with journeys through their FAQs or returns procedure but doesn’t (as far as I can find) let you tell anyone anything!) I tell him I’ve returned the goods and want my money back (are you listening Reece?, all of it!). He firstly tries to tell me they wont get the return for three to five days (well I guess its Parcel force and about 65miles??), but he means they wont do anything till then, and he’ll make a note that he’s told me that..
One of the other interesting things you can do on-line nowadays is file a small claims case, now who are you betting copes with on-line best, Gov online, Parcel Force or Ebuyer?
Oh, I’ve just received this from Parcel Force:
Dear A J
Thank you for your email.
We only received the item into our network on 18th, so could not deliver something we did not have.
I can see from our records that the parcel was refused and is now in the process of return to sender.
This parcel will be attempted to be delivered back to the sender’s address within 1 to 2 working days.
I apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused you.
If you require any further information or assistance, please reply to this email showing all conversations we have had on this enquiry.
Our hours of business are Mon to Fri: 8am to 5:30pm
Now what I wonder do Ebuyer say about this? certainly the two stories are way, way apart from tallying,
I also wonder when I’ll get my money? perhaps they’ll send it Parcel Force
* NB I know we are not in Yorkshire but I am a Yorkshireman so can say “Eh ba eck” “Bhat tat” and suchlike