(This is probably the wrong forum, but saw no where else to put it, as its not really tech support. And this is where all the e buyer complaints were a few months ago) Okay my scenario might not sound horrendous but it's got to the point of driving to Aria's retail counter and 'conversing' with them face to face. Round One First I RMA'd my board, as its FP audio header was broken and because it didn't like my 12GB of RAM I decided to opt for a refund. On the Aria returns policy - "If a fault occurs within 28 days of delivery, you have the option of an exchange or refund." On the RMA email I received - "For all items returned we will repair or replace the item at our discretion" Anyone else notice the massive contradiction. The email said nothing about the option of the refund. Nothing major I thought, so last Thursday I dropped them an email asking for a bit of clarity...and heard nothing back...all weekend. It's Easter weekend so I let them off (although Aria's website said the shops were open as normal), but with still nothing on the following Tuesday, I tried to ring customer services. 10AM - Instantly on hold, waited 10 mins, gave up 11AM - Instantly on hold, waited 15 mins, gave up At this point I gave up and sent the parcel back anyway, against my better judgement. I was quite concerned if indeed they do just send me a replacement, when I'm holding the new board it's a bit too late to debate my eligibility for a refund. So I rang them again 4PM - Ring for 2 mins, on hold for 20, gave up. Now because it rang I cant help but feel there was a line free, just no one bothered to answer. On the Tuesday morning I had posted on Aria's forums with my question, and on Wednesday evening they finally answered. But the email I had sent now over a week ago has still not been acknowledged. Round Two...Ongoing I sent them my board on the Tuesday and in the RMA email it states: "Upon receipt of your package we will send you an e-mail. This is only to confirm that your package has arrived with us. You will then receive an automated e-mail explaining that we have booked your item(s) in for testing and an estimation of the time this will take." Royal Mail tell me it got there at 11.30 on Wednesday (at the cost of £21!), but Aria have told me nothing. Nada. Again I waited, but 2 days later I thought it best to email them nice and early to give them chance for the reply, but nope, still nothing. I've also posted back in my thread on the forum but again, nothing. So they won't tell me if they have my £270 motherboard or not, or what they plan to do with it. What to do now After that very long winded rant this is what I've been building up to. Some advice. My problems compared to some, are small, granted. But that's just it, simple questions, that would take 5 seconds of Aria's time to answer aren't being sorted. I'm the customer I should not have to do this level of chasing. I mean I ran up 45 mins of 0870 phone bill to them to hear the same damn jingle on loop. My Dad (haha I am 20) is one of these shouty mouth exec's and wants to go to their retail shop and essentially ask them to pull their finger out. His plan is go in -> yell -> if they insist on testing grab a coffee nearby -> get refund. Based in Leicestershire it's a fair old drive to the nearest one, but I need to go back to university on Tuesday, and currently all I have is a 5 year old laptop and a mountain of computer components. Do you people think going to the retail shop really is a good idea? What would you do in my shoes? I mean I am a patient person, and I'm happy to wait xx days, but the fact I've heard NOTHING, and I feel very much like I'm being ignored, my patience is wearing thin rapidly. On a side note, I've built 4 PC's from Scan with a few RMA's and had nothing but butter smooth service. The first time ever I go to Aria for the better prices this happens. More fool me eh? In fact, reading over this again before posting, yeah it's definitely the feeling of being ignored that's winding me up. Small niggles like these I can deal with. Being ignored after parting with 2 and a half grand to them is a little bit peeving. //Rant
Dont worry i hate being ignored aswell. Ive had some really bad service from time to time even from the good etailers, nobodies perfect after all. Going to your nearest store and shouting isnt going to achieve anything though!! have you tried ringing a different number thats not a premium line? saynoto0870 lists 0161 248 1600 as Sales, Tech Support, Customer Services, Accounts, IT, Purchase. If you still dont get any joy you could try trading standards, explain the problem send them the emails you've sent/recieved and they will get it sorted pretty quickly. Just dont have a rage its not worth it.
I think Aria have caught a lot of people's eye with their aggressive pricing, I always wondered if they had the service to back it up. I think I will stick with a known quantity like Scan.
Never had much luck with Aria, or found their prices that competitive either personally. They wanted to charge me £125 restocking fee for a TV I wanted to return within 7 days completely unopened. Had to get Trading Standards involved before I got all of my money back. Haven't used them since. I hope that you manage to sort your problem out, nothing more frustrating by feeling ignored and having trouble with something that in theory should be easy.
Well since Gibbo joined Aria they have been aggressive with their offers, advertising in CustomPC, etc. I'd never heard of them before then so I've been a bit cautious about buying from them.
Ahh the voice of reason. If they won't answer the phone, or my emails I don't see what else there is too do. And if I have to drive two hours to Manchester to get there, there's no way I'll leave empty handed, and to get what I want on the spot may involve raised voices The first real time they caught my eye was when they had a 5870 AVP edition for £259.99 on a daily super special!
TBH they use headline offers and only offer a few at that price. Same as when I saw their latest advert in CustomPC, I checked their advert and none of their prices were as low as the advert claimed.
Prices have gone up recently due to currency fluctuations. Aria are guilty of offering very few items at their exciting new prices. OP - Post all your experiences on their website. They soundreally poor atm so everytime you try and call leave a post of the times and your experience. Keep it civil though and they'll be easier to deal with. I usually phone from work where I don't have to pay the bills though as I imagine it might start getting quite expensive!
I thought that Gibbo bloke went to Novatech. http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=212974 If you read that thread you can see that OCUK treat their staff like scum as well as their customers.
Aria don't seem to answer emails or the tech support line. I only got sorted through their forums. I assume I have as I can't check until my mastercard statement comes in. Their customer support is appalling to say the least.
Well tomorrow I'm gonna try their sales line instead of their customer services line. They might be a bit more keen to answer that one All my components were bought on a credit card, so I am tempted to ring the bank and tell them to freeze the balance temporarily. If nothing else it will get their attention, and force them to actually talk to me for once Glad you said that, I was going to as soon as the refund came through pre order a Rampage III and as they're the only e-tailer with it I was going to have to use them. Now I think I'll wait
I bought an Asus Xonar ST off OCUK, when I got it home, it didn't work. I rang them up, as the shop is like 45 mins away and was queuing at 10p a minute for 10 mins, so lost a quid, right out of the door. Got through to some sales guy who wasted my time umming and arring and decided to put me through to someone who handles tech issues / returns. His tone and attitude towards me was basically of contempt. He said that I could return the card but htey would have to test it to determine a fault. It could take 24 hrs before they 'had time'. I explained to him in no uncertain terms that the honus was not on me to prove it was faulty by letting them test it, but for them to prove it worked when they sold it to me. He just became irritated and I said I was pop in the next day and he could give me another card, and that I wouldn't be waiting, as I don't have time. Next day, waded in, asked for a refund, they didn't even blink they just gave it to me, and I made a point of telling the guy at the till, that due to the attitude I copped off the 'tech' guy I was going ot buy one elsewhere. He didn't evne say sorry, wasn't bothered. But none of them had the balls to say to me I had to wait for them to test the old one, once I was there in person.
The following is an extract from a Business, Enterprise Dept (BERR) Fact Sheet detailing your rights as a UK consumer under the Sale of Goods Act and later amendments/legislation. It may help with one or two points raised by the op. Relevant Legislation Sale of Goods Act 1979. Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982. Sale and Supply of Goods Act 1994. The Sale and Supply of Goods to Consumers Regulations 2002. Key Facts: • Wherever goods are bought they must "conform to contract". This means they must be as described, fit for purpose and of satisfactory quality (i.e. not inherently faulty at the time of sale). • Goods are of satisfactory quality if they reach the standard that a reasonable person would regard as satisfactory, taking into account the price and any description. • Aspects of quality include fitness for purpose, freedom from minor defects, appearance and finish, durability and safety. • It is the seller, not the manufacturer, who is responsible if goods do not conform to contract. • If goods do not conform to contract at the time of sale, purchasers can request their money back "within a reasonable time". (This is not defined and will depend on circumstances) • For up to six years after purchase (five years from discovery in Scotland) purchasers can demand damages (which a court would equate to the cost of a repair or replacement). • A purchaser who is a consumer, i.e. is not buying in the course of a business, can alternatively request a repair or replacement. • If repair and replacement are not possible or too costly, then the consumer can seek a partial refund, if they have had some benefit from the good, or a full refund if the fault/s have meant they have enjoyed no benefit • In general, the onus is on all purchasers to prove the goods did not conform to contract (e.g. was inherently faulty) and should have reasonably lasted until this point in time (i.e. perishable goods do not last for six years). • If a consumer chooses to request a repair or replacement, then for the first six months after purchase it will be for the retailer to prove the goods did conform to contract (e.g. were not inherently faulty) • After six months and until the end of the six years, it is for the consumer to prove the lack of conformity. Where can I get further advice? Contact Consumer Direct at: www.consumerdirect.gov.uk (Tel: 08454 04 05 06). Consumers in Northern Ireland should contact Consumer Line on 0845 600 6262.
May as well as play hard ball with these people... Speak to trading standards and email them again threatening court action as well as informing every single IT tech forum in the UK of the appalling service you are getting. Tell them what you are doing and quote links to all the forums.. Also think about speaking to your credit card company and 'dispute' the payment so that Aria doesnt get its money for supplying faulty goods. This story alone convinced me that my next IT kit order is going to Scan. Id rather ensure I got a quality service from beginning to end (and they have never let me down before)
Aria... Well I have a resolution to all this mess. After many many phone calls it turns out they didn't know where it was etc, I told them they had signed for it and eventually they tracked it down. After explaining all my fuss, as a gesture of good will they agreed to the refund there and then on the phone, without testing, which was a nice touch I thought. OCuK... They got some EVGA E760's in stcok which was the mobo I wanted right at the start of this build, but was out of stock at every single etailer, and EVGA USA kindly informed me was super hard to get hold of. I looked around a bit more on Froogle etc, but still no where had it except the 7 in at OCuK so I took the plunge. Credit due though, ordered 11.30pm on a sunday evening and it was there tuesday morning, well packaged. After hearing all the horror stories I must admit I was a bit dubious, but from my point of view great service. Scan... Ahh the god's themselves. Ordered a few tail end bits and bobs off them, cable extenders, fans etc just to tidy up. My credit card got stopped for fraud, so had to ring them (twice because the first time it still didnt work) and they answered instantly both times. Then I got it dispatched to my uni flat by mistake, but even though it had gone to city link they still got it re directed for me in time. Again after answering the phone instantly. Their good's might seem dear in the world of Aria, Nova, Dabs, OCuK etc.. but you really do get what you pay for.
