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Remember what retailing
used to be like?
You went into the seller's premises, you
got bad service, you said so, you got the situation resolved.
You didn't get the situation resolved? You told all your friends.
The fact that you were a customer actually mattered to the seller.
They felt that they had something to lose if they treated you
badly. |
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Welcome to the future.
With ecommerce the seller doesn't have to give a damn about
what you think of them. Their terms and conditions always contain
a line that says "tough luck if I don't deliver - as long
as I give your money back I'm in the clear". If you hate
them who cares? The web's a big place. It's not like you're
a web designer and search engine promotions professional is
it? How else are you going to get the word out? |
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Oops.
Congratulations Datakits.co.uk. My mother may not have got the
MP3 player I ordered from you for Christmas but you've got your
very own website from me. I'll soon have this site ranking alongside
your own in response to search engine queries for your company
name. I'll also be pushing the site to print media and making
some noise in the newsgroups too. |
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So what did Datakits.co.uk
do?
Tuesday 13th December I ordered a combined MP3 Player and FM
Radio from Datakits.co.uk. Datakits.co.uk tell me the item is
currently out of stock - but there's no need to worry. The further
stock of this item arriving this week means they can guarantee
delivery in time for Christmas if I buy now. I buy - all sorted! |
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Up in smoke
Tuesday 20th December I pick up an email sent 16:33 Monday 19th
- subject is "Order Update" - that'll be my MP3 on
it's way then. Erm... no such luck.
Unsigned from Datakits.co.uk wrote -"I am really sorry
but we are now out of stock of this item until after Christmas
so i have refunded the amount back onto your card. Please accept
our apologies Your order has been updated to the following status.New
status: REFUNDED. Reply to this email if you have any questions.
" |
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Questions?
Well, I did have a few. Why did Datakits.co.uk say at the time
of ordering that they could guarantee delivery of the MP3 player
before Christmas? Why did they think that an unsigned email
of apology, whose tone was clearly "it's just one of those
things" was sufficient? Where was I going to sort a replacement
present in time for Christmas now that I was overseas and I'd
missed last posting? Why weren't Datakits.co.uk offering an
alternative product? Could Datakits.co.uk care less? |
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Imagine you're
in a restaurant.
You pay in advance, you wait ages for your food. In the
middle of the night, after all alternative restaurants
are shut, you're told that your chosen dish is out of
stock. You aren't offered a replacement, your money's
refunded and you are shown the door. Can you imagine this
actually happening? No - in the real world you wouldn't
have to take this type of crap. Is this crap OK because
the company's online? I wrote directly to the Managing
Director of Datakits.co.uk with my complaint. |
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Helen from
sales at Datakits.co.uk replied
"I am really sorry that you are unable to buy an alternative
gift. We felt we were doing the right thing in refunding you
as soon as we knew we wouldn't have enough items to give you
the chance to buy else where. We are unable to offer you an
alternative at the same price.
Please accept our apologies. Regards- Helen" |
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ihateyoureshop responds
If Datakits.co.uk were actually sorry they wouldn't have initially
fobbed me off with nothing more than an unsigned email and no
offer of a solution.
Datakits.co.uk would have been "doing the right thing"
if they hadn't taken my money and wasted my Christmas shopping
time on the false promise that they could deliver an item that
they did not have and (as it turns out) could not obtain.
Datakits.co.uk were able to offer me an alternative product
at the same price (their store had other items in stock) but
they decided that my dissatisfaction was preferable to them
being out of pocket. |
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Bad idea
Sometimes it actually costs less to do things right.
This site will soon be optimised for search engine listings
and receive an online marketing campaign. Early in 2006, the
site will feature a facility for users to submit their own experiences
of Datakits.co.uk, along with full public stat tracking and
a facility to enable users to detail any products that they
decided to buy from competitors of Datakits.co.uk.
I'll also consider including other nominees from web users to
widen the overall concept appeal - so check back soon! |
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Disclaimer
ihateyoureshop does not claim that Datakits.co.uk acted outside
of the terms and conditions of the purchase arrangement with
the site author Laurence Jones. Although the website of Datakits.co.uk
made claims that items could be delivered before Christmas 2005
that turned out to be false, their terms and conditions of sale
absolve them from any liabilities in this area. The experience
detailed above does not represent a contractual breach by Datakits.co.uk
and none is alleged by this website or the author. In short,
although Laurence Jones thinks they've treated him like shit,
he accepts that they're perfectly legally entitled to do so. |
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