Time for a rant................................. So, I have been having problems ordering certain parts over the past few weeks, some which the suppliers are at fault, others couriers etc. This got me thinking....... I have yet to find a company within the UK that has good enough sales and customer service, which has lead me to start ordering my parts from China of which so far I cannot fault the Chinese suppliers that I have been using (eBay & direct). Does this mean that the likes of Aria, Scan, eBuyer and this week Dabs are becoming worse? To me it seems so, my problems with major suppliers is that they seem to take for granted the problems that occur and do not resolve this in time. My latest is a purchase from Dabs which was in stock, out of stock, reordered and finally cancelled by me, all of this was without notification to me. I have purchased lots from Chinese companies where I have also had problems, but they seem to resolve the issues quicker. Whilst I will be waiting for 30 days for a refund from Dabs, I purchased something from a company direct from China, it wasn't received in the time frame they stated, I contacted them, and within 24 hours a refund appeared back on my CC. I reordered 2 days later and it was delivered with a hand written apology (reasonable written English as well, better than most native British people I might add). I do use other UK suppliers for some items, Novatech, CCL, Quiet PC, X-Case etc. but these aren't the main IT suppliers of the UK in my mind, so their business is more based around Customer Satisfaction. It would seem that Dabs & eBuyer cannot compete at any level with smaller companies when it comes to CS, which is disheartening. I am even considering ordering from Newegg in the future, it would seem I have heard nothing but praise from others regarding their ordering experience from them - maybe time to try. To say I am not happy in an understatement, I was hoping to get a job done this weekend, with Dabs failing on every level, it would seem that it would be to my benefit that ordering from Newegg might have been a better solution to start with (if I order my part now, I can get it by Friday from Newegg from USA). I am aware that others do not have the same problem with some suppliers and I know about business and it isn't easy to keep up with supply and demand, but surely to keep customers they need decent CS. I point blank refuse to deal with eBuyer & Aria now through lies from them, Dabs has made it to the list now as well, Scan I have had problems in the past but now I only purchase items which are low cost and not needed within a short lead time from them. I still do not have a UK supplier that I trust, each transaction is usually treated at my end with caution, until I find someone willing to accept my money for parts & service I require I cannot really find anyone in the UK that fits the bill. Don't get me started on Couriers ether, I only trust 1 courier which is DPD, RM isn't that bad, all others are a waste of space. /Rant over
Scan used to be great I found, but their customer service has quickly gone from weakness to weakness. I've bought components from them for it to arrive second hand and broken. Then they would not admit it was a fault on their end, but opened and repackaged. Never mind the physical damage on the card before I even fitted it. Barely even got an apology out of it. Scan also seem to take criticism on this forum awfully, and their customer service team will just make up excuses a lot of the time. They used to be my favourite, but similar to you, I only buy cheaper items from them, because they simply lost all their trust I had in them.
The problem is selling IT in the UK is an incredibly low margin business, if your selling something and making less than 10% on that you can't afford good customer service, especially when large companies that are doing the volume of ebuyer or amazon can squeeze the margins even more. The sad fact is stuff gets cheaper then something has to give and the first thing to go is customer service...
I have noticed of late that Scan's website appears to have items in stock. When ordering every goes through but then getting an email telling me that an item is now out of stock. This happened a week or two ago to a friend who ordered parts for a complete system, luckily what he had to change was only the RAM but still their website should reflect actual stock level not just show that an item is in stock.
I've not had much trouble with the sites but have always shied away from scan. The whole scansure insurance thing smells like ambulance chasing to me. I'm not paying extra for my statutory rights and a company suggesting I should is, (in my eyes), learning nothing from the PPI scandal. Last build I did, although I used a combination of the it suppliers websites to select parts, I found most things on Amazon for as good or better price and know they have good processes in place to handle problems. Couriers are a bigger problem. I mean really is there anyone that has not had a bad experience from yodel? They are monumentally crap in an industry with a pretty shaky reputation!
Only major player I avoid is Aria, had an almost impossibly thick CS team member have me do a 120 mile round trip to come away empty handed when a GPU of mine died. I don't know but ordering stuff say 10 years ago from ebuyer/scan/ocuk the CS was bloody terrible and it was always a little heart in mouth until your order came through. Aria aside the others have been pretty decent to me.
Strange that you've all had bad experiences, I've used Aria, Scan, OCUK, CPC, Microbyte etc etc for as long as I can remember. Goods have always arrived on time, no issues (Unless they use Hermes/Yodel). I've ordered 1 item from aria that was out of stock, they swapped it for an upgraded version FOC. One time paypal used the wrong address, I contacted scan and they updated the delivery no problems. I get a little confused as to how people need to consult customer services on a regular basis, i feel like I'm missing a page from my e-shopping manual... Page 32: How to be difficult.
I have stopped using Scan as my main component supplier because of their worsening customer service and tend to use Overclockers. Who conversely had a terrible customer service but over the last couple of years or so have turned this around and now are really good. But on the subject of customer service overall a lot of companies once they seem to reach a certain size seem to not bother so much with this side of their business. I tend to vote with my feet and will no longer use a company that gives me poor service ever again. These companies include Vodafone, British Gas, Sky and O2 or whatever they are called these days. How can companies such as Amazon still have probably one of the best customer service reputations in the business world? Why do they see it as a major part of their business to be good in this area where others just don't give a Sh**?
Exactly! My last big order from Ebuyer (never had a problem with them) came by Yodel and was left at work unsigned for and hidden round the back without a card through the door. I found it by accident days later just after I had put in a claim. If I was unscrupulous, I could have kept it and had a free 2nd i5 CPU etc... That has put me off Ebuyer. I have used Scan too, and had no problems. The free delivery via dear old BT is a boon, especially as it is via DPD who have been brilliant every time with clear communication and saying which hour they will deliver. I know that the strength/quality in any organisation is what they do when things go wrong, and have yet to test either yet. Back in the photo industry through the 1990s and 2000s it was as Kronos says; some companies became 'too big to care'. Kodak was one of them, and look what happened to them
I'm pretty sure amazon is higher priced than other component suppliers.The Chinese guys are going to make a larger margin purely based on economy differences. Customer service seems linked to profit
While I can't complain about the german suppliers, I haven't bought a lot of stuff recently, and when ,then through Amazon. As long as they're responsible, their service is great. Gotta watch out for Dispatched from and sold by Amazon or Fulfilled by Amazon though, and even the second one may mean you're stuck with postal costs when something is wrong. I do have a feeling that, especially with electronics, the amazon marketplace is taking over, with much lower standarts.
I have not had PC parts delivered for a while as i live 5 Mins from Aria and 30 mins from Scan so I can easily drive and collect which is what I usually do. I try to avoid ordering bigger things from Amazon because I have huge issues with where I live and the fact i live in flats. Recently I missed an amazon Delivery and rang them up promptly to get it redelivered the next day as I would be in, I gave them my phone number so the driver could ring me. Next day comes and goes and no delivery. I ring Amazon to track it and find out that It was actually delivered to my neighbor the same day I rang up to change the delivery and nobody told me. Yodel I wouldn't trust to deliver a plank of wood. My old employer used to use them for its delivery provider so I would from time to time get delivery's from them. One day answer the door, Guy from yodel (not normal guy) asks me to sign passes me the delivery bag. 30 mins later I open the bag and realise the bag has loads of holes in it like the bag was dragged across a concrete floor. and the 7 phones inside the bag are soaking wet. I get asked why didnt you check the bag which i should have done but in the situation It wasnt easy to do so. RM as well the ammount of times I have had issues with them not leaving delivery cards so I have to play sherlock holmes to find my stuff or the driver leaves a card saying your item is at the depot, But its actually in another depot. As people above have said Love DPD they are great, Get a nice and specific delivery window their drivers contact me if theres and issue with getting into my building. While for most CS is a bit lacking at times And i think this is a fault for most major retailers in some way or another. I think they are really not helped by the delivery companies most of them seem to go with.
I've probably had a hit and miss service from almost every technology supplier around, with the exception of Kustom PCs (they've still got a clean record so far)... though they're very small with little selection of what most people would actually want. Most issues I've had with Scan were wrong things arriving, open boxes and peripherals/components missing vital missing (e.g. I had a DVD drive with no button to open the drive). I'd say 9/10 they've resolved the issue, however they do make it one hell of a challenge to get anywhere with you having to speak to numerous people on the phone and emailing them photographic evidence of everything... topped off by making you wait an eternity for any communication on the status of a replacement or refund. I'm fairly certain nobody at Ebuyer knows anything about computers, everything arrives broken these days and if you ask them anything you wait ages for a response that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. They used to use CityLink for my area, so absolutely nothing arrived when it should have and when it did, the condition was less than pleasing. Out of all of the notable suppliers, I'd say OverClockers are the lesser of the problematic ones as of late. They seem to be one of the few who are at least trying to improve their services, though their forum support is toxic. I find that Yodel are actually one of the better of the couriers in the Cornwall area, I'd say I strictly use either them, Parcel Force or DPD when I order something. However I've gotten to know my drivers very well, so that could also be part of the reason I always have good dealings with them. I usually won't use a shop unless they list one of those three companies for their deliveries.
Depends on where you get it shipped from, if you get it from Europe then you're generally fine, you can often get a pretty good deal if you shop from a supplier based in Germany/Italy (unsure about other countries). If you get it from the USA/AU/Asia and there's a high possibility of a substantial import tax, a higher than usual shipping and handling fee from whichever courier picks up the parcel and a very long delay in getting anything resolved if you do have to send something back.
I have never paid any import duty from goods received from China or Hong Kong but the USA is another matter.
