Where do I stand? Laptops Direct

briman1983

Hey guys any advise that ye have on this issue is much appreciated and any lessons learned from this post that will hopefully help other people make the same mistake as me.

To begin I was looking for a laptop to purchase and saw one of the P-100 series Toshiba laptops that Laptopsdirect.ie had on sale with around 500E reduced off it. Just over 1000E for a great spec laptop. They had according to there site over 100 is stock. Anyways was looking at the site the next morning and saw there was only 10-20 left so I said I better order.

Made my order on the 14th of March and about 10 minutes later got a phone call looking for a landline number to confirm. Rang me back on this straight away. There I was thinking to myself great, the few bad reports I heard about them can't be that bad as they were getting everything in order straight away.

Roll on friday and according to there website deliver to Ireland is 1-2 days. No laptop. Wasn't too annoyed.

Monday was a bank holiday so didn;t expect a delivery then.

Tuesday, rang laptops direct. Was talking to Liz. Asked when I shpuld expect my laptop. Was told it had been shipped but the courier had lost it and another one had been dispatched and should expect it tomorrow or day after. Still wasn't too annoyed whats another day or too. Mind started to boggle a little though as I have worked previously doing tech support for a major laptop manufacturer dealing with couriers issues like this before and they don;t just sort themselves over night can take weeks.

Thursday rand laptops direct. Asked where my laptop was??? Was now talking to Beckie. She asked what had I been told previously. Explained that laptop had been lost and was waiting on a new one. Beckie explained that I still had up to half 5 for it to be delivered. Now I'm used to telling customers this crap as well just to get them off the phone so suspensions were getting bigger now. Asked if I could get a courier tracking number, she said she would forward it on to my email and said good bye and basically hung up the phone

Not at this stage I knew something was up, rang back straight away and demanded to know what was happening to my laptop. I was eventually told that they did not have a laptop in stock and never had one for me.

So all this time I was being lied to and waiting at home for a laptop that was never going to come and this ha cost me money.

Have called and have asked to speak to a manager many times since then and have never been successful. I kept getting fed with lame excused.

Am going to ring back again tomorrow and this time i'm gonna keep ringing tell I get this sorted.

Any advise on where I stand legally on this???

marktsang

this is the exact reason i didnt use them, i had basically bought a laptop from them except i had to transfer money to their back account (didnt want to use cc), read aload of similar stories on the net and decieded not to go with them

thats pretty bad, did they say when they would have them in stock again?

briman1983

Just got through to them there, got an apology and a refund... Now back to the drawing board.

The problem is they are extremely competitive with there prices but as for customer service and looking after the customer... Not the best.

Regards, Brian

e18165

AS I write I'm still waiting for a laptop I ordered last wednesday. Yes there was originally an issue with my credit card, declined for some unknown reason, however my big problem is the time lag between each communicaiton from them. Had they been prompt in dealing with things, it would have been sorted last week. I've spoken to just about every member of customer service, including the manager "Steve", and while they are most apologetic, they will neither acknowledge any failure on their part, nor are they prepared to accept that when dealing with a 1-2 day delivery period, a day between each communication (most of which I had to initiate) is unacceptable. It is also really annoying that it is impossible to speak to the same person more than once, despite being advised to ask for them by name, and being assured that you will be put through.

Despite the fact that all successful contact has been on my mobile number, they insist that they tried unsuccessfully to contact me on my work number, which while that may be true, does beg the question. If they could not get me on my work number why did they not call the mobile? The claim this was to verify the delivery address, but this morning they tell me the laptop has been dispatched, despite the fact that they have never spoken to me on the work number.

Basically, their attitude (especially Steve) is really "well what do you expect me to do about it?", as if they worked for a different company. Be warned, they promise a lot, but delivery falls far short, and your 1-2 day delivery could turn into an expensive and long process, I hate to think of how much I've spent on phone calls to UK number to try to sort this out.

In short, avoid them like the plague, they do not deliver on their claims, their customer service is worse then useless and totally impersonal, and their tracking is a joke (despite being took on the phone that my order has finally been dispatched, it still show as awaiting dispatch on the tracking link).

e18165

It's now wednesday 20th, 5pm and I've just got off the phone from yet another frustrating call, as there is still no sign of my Vaio.

I'm now informed that, despite the fact the Steve (remember the Customer Service Manager) had told me yesterday that the laptop had been dispatched on the 18th, my order it is in fact out of stock. This is despite the fact that they have also taken payment for it, which appeared on my credit card yesterday.

The only conclusion I can come to is that, not only are laptopsdirect incompetent, they are also not above lying to customers when it suits them, and that, in his efforts to get rid of someone who would not be fobbed off with the usual platitudes, Steve lied to me yesterday purely so that he could terminate the call. Surprise, surprise, when I ask to speak to him today he's unavailable.

Take warning from my sad tale, do not be sucked in by their promises of speedy service and low prices, laptops direct will be quick enough to take your money under any pretence, and then attempt to fob you off to sales who will no doubt try to flog whatever spare stock they have on hands.

Over a week after I placed my original order, I have demanded an immediate and full refund, and will happily pay the extra to Peats or the Sony Shop, in the knowledge that at least I will be able to walk out with my laptop the same day, and know where to find them should I have any problems. It's not so easy to hang up on a personal caller

All in all, I think I'm glad this deal fell through, I really hate to think of what would have happened had I received the laptop and subsequently had a problem with it, if their customer service before they get a ligitimate hold on your mony is anything to go by, I wouldn't hold out much hope for their post sales service.

BE WARNED AVOID LAPTOPSDIRECT LIKE THE PLAGUE

Colonel Sanders

I bought a laptop off them last year. Had no problems getting it delivered etc but used their irish web address. Was quoted a price in Euros but was billed in sterling (needless to say my CC company used a different rate to laptops direct so it cost me more than was quoted). Never bothered chasing them up over it so its my fault but bad service still.