How to spend £11.46 on absolutely nothing
By Davey Winder in Editorial
Posted in Blog, e-commerce on
I have written before about the problems of why ecommerce fails and the undeniable truth of the matter is that it usually comes down to treating customers like crap.
So here is a cautionary tale of how to spend £11.46 on absolutely nothing.
It all started when I purchased a Netbook. Yes, I know, I am a sucker for shiny new gadgets and the electric blue allure of an Acer Aspire One was just too much. Plus, it happened to be the perfect replacement for my elderly Sony sub-notebook from which I had managed to erase all the keyboard lettering over the years. I wanted something even smaller and lighter to drag around the world with me as I like to travel with one small bit of carry-on luggage when flying off for a day or two.
Which brings me on nicely to why I found myself searching online for a smaller power supply, one that would take up less room in my kit-bag than the relatively big thing that Acer supply and which consumes at least half as much space as the Netbook itself. What a daft idea, a tiny computer with a big PSU.
Anyway, a travel PSU is what I wanted, and preferably one that came with interchangeable plug heads for wherever I happened to end up on the planet. I found just the beast at Expansys. A shade under £30 including the all important Royal Mail Special Delivery option. All important as I needed it delivered the next day, but was not going to be around to take that delivery due to prior work commitments. I needed it the next day, as the next day was Friday and I flew off on the Monday. Most couriers would call, leave a not in card and then want to deliver it on the Monday while I was driving to Heathrow. The postman, on the other hand, would leave a card and I could just drive down to the depot on Saturday morning and collect it. Perfect.
Apart that it wasn’t.
When I unwrapped my package and got over just how small and light this thing was compared to the original Acer PSU, and made a mental note to annoy the Acer PC people next time I bumped into one as a result, I thought I had better live up to my ‘be prepared’ geek reputation. So I made sure the thing worked before packing my bag and flying off.
It didn’t.
Work that is. No power coming into my Netbook at all from it in fact. It was an ex-PSU, it had ceased to be, etc.
Oh well, once I got back from my trip, heavy PSU and all, I went through the annoying process of completing a ‘RMA’ returns form, emailing that to Expansys and getting the official RMA Request form to include when I sent it back for a refund.
There was no point getting another PSU, the trip had been and gone, along with my confidence that I could trust this particular device.
Imagine my surprise, then, when the refund is made and I discover it is not for the full amount. Instead, Expansys has deducted the cost of delivery, plus VAT. Immediately I am £6.41 out of pocket through absolutely no fault of my own. Expansys had sold me a dud, and charged me £6.41 for the privilege. Wow, nice going chaps.
Add the cost of returning the item to them, which I also sent Special Delivery (£5.05) to ensure it arrived in one piece, signed for and within the time limit for faulty returns, and I am £11.46 out of pocket.
Yes, I have spent £11.46 for absolutely nothing at all, and I am not even a certificated idiot. I tend to do my research and tend to pride myself on not getting caught by the short and curlies by shyster outfits. Which makes it hurt more when I am caught in the same area by a company which I have always thought of as being highly reputable.
Of course, a quick email was rattled off to customer services, and the chap who originally emailed me to let me know the short-change credit note had been issued responded that he had passed my ‘request’ for a refund of postage costs on to the accounts department. A week later, and another email exchange of ‘I have passed your request on the accounts department’ later and I am still £11.46 short with nothing but an increasing temper to show for it. Not even the name of the person in the accounts department who is dealing with my ‘request’ so I can talk to them, as I had asked for.
It isn’t really about the money, you know, even in these Credit Crunched times I can survive with a tenner less in my back pocket. It’s more to do with the injustice of being a mug punter, simply trying to buy something and instead getting a right royal shafting.
I suspect, and I haven’t bothered to look, that there is something buried on the Expansys site about customers having to pay delivery costs even if the item delivered is totally buggered. If that is the case, I would be hugely interested to know if this constitutes a ‘fair contract’ or is allowed under consumer law.
Meanwhile, I have learned my lesson and added another company to my ‘not with a bargepole’ blacklist…
Rated: 60% (5 votes)
Loading ...Comment by CAB - September 30, 2008 on 2:21 pm
Don’t put up with it! If they sold you a faulty item, they are responsible in law for ALL costs including delivery each way.
Claim your money from them, if they refuse then make use of the Small Claims service, and add a reasonable amount for your time. £10 an hour is considered reasonable.
Comment by XOC - October 1, 2008 on 10:07 am
While I understand your frustration, an analogy can be drawn to a bricks and mortar store. If in a similar situation you had to drive out to a store, bought a product, drove home, found it to be faulty then had to drive back to the store to return it, would you expect the store to reimburse you for the money you would have spent on petrol driving back and forth? I wouldn’t think so…
S#!t happens. Occasionally you get a dud. If you had requested a replacement, they would have probably sent you a working one. The fact that you no longer had a use for it is not their fault. I’m sure that they did not sell it to you on the condition that it would be useful to you on your holiday.
Many people seem to think that when they purchase a product online, that the delivery cost is in some way included as part of the cost of the product and if the product fails they should be refunded the whole lot, but this is not how it works. Delivery is a service and is not refunded to the sender if the receiver decides to return something. While the point could be made that online retailers should account for this by increasing the margins on their products, this would turn many customers off that retailer as they would turn to ‘the guy across the street’ who is selling it cheaper. Many of the big online retailers are where they are because of the low prices they offer (and subsequently low margins) in the hope of luring more customers.
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