Trouble with Ibood

darkside71

Just thought I'd post this little story on my recent experience I had with Ibood...
it will also be my last experience with them!

On the 23rd of July, I made the mistake of purchasing a Zyxel HD Multimedia Player from Ibood at a cost of just over €82.45, which included €12.50 delivery. This was only the second time that I had used Ibood, the previous time the item I had ordered had taken 10 working days to get to me. I eagerly checked the site to see the how the delivery was going, it took 5 days before I got a message informing me the item had shipped. I then could use the UPS Online tracking system to track my item. Below is what I saw. Strange this item is shipping from Germany, thought Ibood was Dutch, anyways not a problem.

DE 08/04/2009 8:10 A.M. BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED

Well this is how the item stayed for the next week, on the 7th of August and with no change in the UPS status I decided to call IBood to find out what was happening. I finally got through to their customer care department, the representative checked and indeed informed me of the bad news that something was wrong and they would launch an investigation with their logistical company and UPS and this would take up to 2 weeks, here’s the email they sent me on...

Dear sir xxxxxx,

We contact our logistic partner. They will start an investigation for your order xxxxxx.

The investigation will take two weeks. If we receive information of our logistic partner about your order we will contact you as soon as possibly.

Kind regards,

customerservices IBOOD.com

Met vriendelijke groeten,

Klantenservice iBOOD.com

Seemed like a pretty generic email that is sent out when this happens and not typed up personally for me. On Thursday the 20th of August (13 days later) I rang Ibood again and asked what the status was, I was told this was still been investigated and they had no word back from either UPS or their logistical company and it would take anything from 2-4 weeks for the investigation to be completed!

I told them the last time I was on it was only 2 weeks for an investigation, but they told me that was a mistake and it would be 2-4 weeks for an investigation to be completed. I told them I wasn’t happy with this and, they said they would contact their logistical company and call me back or send me a email with an update with the status... They never did! I rang them up the following morning Friday the 21st and asked them that I wanted to cancel my order “I didn’t want the item anymore”. They told me that that they need to complete their investigation and when it’s finished they would offer me a refund, but I still might get the item delivered... even though I had told them I didn’t want the item now. They don’t seem to listen to you when you say this! Actually it got very annoying that they seem to ignore you when you say this. I asked them how far they had got with their investigation, they told me they would check and call me back by the end of the day. By 3.00pm I had got no call... so I decided to call them back again... I was told they had no news and the investigation had been prioritised! Yeah right! See I had called UPS just before calling them and asked what the status was of the item. They told me that the item never entered their delivery system, they didn’t even have an initial scan so more and likely the item had never been given to them by Ibood for delivery. I also asked them if an investigation had been launched for the item and they told me there was no investigation and if there was it would only take 8 working days maximum for it to be completed. So I put all this to my friendly Ibood customer service manager, and I was told no, no. It does take 2-4 weeks with UPS for an investigation to take place and that it had been launched 2 weeks ago... I asked for a refund and was told “you will get a refund once our investigation is completed or you might still get the item delivered”. What investigation would that be exactly? At this stage I really felt I was dealing with a bunch of cowboys. I just keep asking for a refund nicely, however my friendly Ibood customer manager said I was shouting!! For the record I never once shouted and am very insulted to be told I did. I was then abruptly transferred to another representative, who told me the exact same story, no difference. The whole thing was so painful! I finally came off the phone been told it would take till Wednesday the 26th of August for an update! Frustrating really doesn’t describe the whole experience.

On Monday the 24th of August I noticed that the UPS tracking information had been updated with the following “Lost package tracer”

DUBLIN, IE 08/24/2009 4:48 A.M. TRACER REQUEST / LOST PACKAGE TRACER
DE 08/04/2009 8:10 A.M. BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED

I rang UPS and asked them what this was, they told me that an investigation had been launched from Germany that Morning by the shipper (Ibood), strange was this the same investigation that was supposed to have started over two weeks ago by Ibood!! they also told me the nothing had changed the item still didn’t have an initial scan! I.E. they never got the item, but they are obliged to launch an investigation if the shipper (Ibood) asks.

The main thing that strikes me here is that Ibood seem to be lying about what they are doing or not doing as the case maybe be! Why do they waste people’s time by saying these things if no investigation is taking place! They also seem to totally ignore the fact that you want a refund, even though it’s painfully obvious you never received what you paid for a month earlier! They also are not been truthful on how long it takes UPS to do an investigation. They also seem to ignore the fact that they are obliged by the “distance selling law” to inform you if they can’t deliver the item within 30 days to offer you a full refund there and then, (I’m aware they can take another 30 days to give you this refund) they knew this to be the case with me, but had they offered me a outright refund? No, they said they would offer me a refund pending the completion of their investigation and still gave the line “that I still might get the item delivered” even after I had said I wanted to cancel it and get a refund. Technically they might be breaking the long distance selling law here.

I rang this (Wednesday) for an update and finally got through to someone who seemed to have a little common sense and has finally refunded my money to my Paypal account. However, it has taken me 5 international calls to the Netherlands and a lot of pain and suffering to get this point along with a couple of Nurofen Plus for the head. Using them is a false economy.

I can safely say I’ll never use Ibood again or the likes of Boffer either. My own feelings are these online sites aren't worth the hassle. There a bit like low fares airlines of the online shopping world! If you get the product then great, but if you don't they don't want to know or care...they give you some rubbish and tell you to fe*k off! It’s no way to treat people who have genuine complaints and issues with their service or lack of it. I thought I had a pretty open and shut case and they really did give me so much crap! I really feel sorry for anyone who's situation is not this straight forward, Boxes of Nurofen Plus at the ready!

craichoe

darkside71 wrote: »

Just thought I'd post this little story on my recent experience I had with Ibood...
it will also be my last experience with them!

On the 23rd of July, I made the mistake of purchasing a Zyxel HD Multimedia Player from Ibood at a cost of just over €82.45, which included €12.50 delivery. This was only the second time that I had used Ibood, the previous time the item I had ordered had taken 10 working days to get to me. I eagerly checked the site to see the how the delivery was going, it took 5 days before I got a message informing me the item had shipped. I then could use the UPS Online tracking system to track my item. Below is what I saw. Strange this item is shipping from Germany, thought Ibood was Dutch, anyways not a problem.

DE 08/04/2009 8:10 A.M. BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED

Well this is how the item stayed for the next week, on the 7th of August and with no change in the UPS status I decided to call IBood to find out what was happening. I finally got through to their customer care department, the representative checked and indeed informed me of the bad news that something was wrong and they would launch an investigation with their logistical company and UPS and this would take up to 2 weeks, here’s the email they sent me on...

Dear sir xxxxxx,

We contact our logistic partner. They will start an investigation for your order xxxxxx.

The investigation will take two weeks. If we receive information of our logistic partner about your order we will contact you as soon as possibly.

Kind regards,

customerservices IBOOD.com

Met vriendelijke groeten,

Klantenservice iBOOD.com

Seemed like a pretty generic email that is sent out when this happens and not typed up personally for me. On Thursday the 20th of August (13 days later) I rang Ibood again and asked what the status was, I was told this was still been investigated and they had no word back from either UPS or their logistical company and it would take anything from 2-4 weeks for the investigation to be completed!

I told them the last time I was on it was only 2 weeks for an investigation, but they told me that was a mistake and it would be 2-4 weeks for an investigation to be completed. I told them I wasn’t happy with this and, they said they would contact their logistical company and call me back or send me a email with an update with the status... They never did! I rang them up the following morning Friday the 21st and asked them that I wanted to cancel my order “I didn’t want the item anymore”. They told me that that they need to complete their investigation and when it’s finished they would offer me a refund, but I still might get the item delivered... even though I had told them I didn’t want the item now. They don’t seem to listen to you when you say this! Actually it got very annoying that they seem to ignore you when you say this. I asked them how far they had got with their investigation, they told me they would check and call me back by the end of the day. By 3.00pm I had got no call... so I decided to call them back again... I was told they had no news and the investigation had been prioritised! Yeah right! See I had called UPS just before calling them and asked what the status was of the item. They told me that the item never entered their delivery system, they didn’t even have an initial scan so more and likely the item had never been given to them by Ibood for delivery. I also asked them if an investigation had been launched for the item and they told me there was no investigation and if there was it would only take 8 working days maximum for it to be completed. So I put all this to my friendly Ibood customer service manager, and I was told no, no. It does take 2-4 weeks with UPS for an investigation to take place and that it had been launched 2 weeks ago... I asked for a refund and was told “you will get a refund once our investigation is completed or you might still get the item delivered”. What investigation would that be exactly? At this stage I really felt I was dealing with a bunch of cowboys. I just keep asking for a refund nicely, however my friendly Ibood customer manager said I was shouting!! For the record I never once shouted and am very insulted to be told I did. I was then abruptly transferred to another representative, who told me the exact same story, no difference. The whole thing was so painful! I finally came off the phone been told it would take till Wednesday the 26th of August for an update! Frustrating really doesn’t describe the whole experience.

On Monday the 24th of August I noticed that the UPS tracking information had been updated with the following “Lost package tracer”

DUBLIN, IE 08/24/2009 4:48 A.M. TRACER REQUEST / LOST PACKAGE TRACER
DE 08/04/2009 8:10 A.M. BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED

I rang UPS and asked them what this was, they told me that an investigation had been launched from Germany that Morning by the shipper (Ibood), strange was this the same investigation that was supposed to have started over two weeks ago by Ibood!! they also told me the nothing had changed the item still didn’t have an initial scan! I.E. they never got the item, but they are obliged to launch an investigation if the shipper (Ibood) asks.

The main thing that strikes me here is that Ibood seem to be lying about what they are doing or not doing as the case maybe be! Why do they waste people’s time by saying these things if no investigation is taking place! They also seem to totally ignore the fact that you want a refund, even though it’s painfully obvious you never received what you paid for a month earlier! They also are not been truthful on how long it takes UPS to do an investigation. They also seem to ignore the fact that they are obliged by the “distance selling law” to inform you if they can’t deliver the item within 30 days to offer you a full refund there and then, (I’m aware they can take another 30 days to give you this refund) they knew this to be the case with me, but had they offered me a outright refund? No, they said they would offer me a refund pending the completion of their investigation and still gave the line “that I still might get the item delivered” even after I had said I wanted to cancel it and get a refund. Technically they might be breaking the long distance selling law here.

I rang this (Wednesday) for an update and finally got through to someone who seemed to have a little common sense and has finally refunded my money to my Paypal account. However, it has taken me 5 international calls to the Netherlands and a lot of pain and suffering to get this point along with a couple of Nurofen Plus for the head. Using them is a false economy.

I can safely say I’ll never use Ibood again or the likes of Boffer either. My own feelings are these online sites aren't worth the hassle. There a bit like low fares airlines of the online shopping world! If you get the product then great, but if you don't they don't want to know or care...they give you some rubbish and tell you to fe*k off! It’s no way to treat people who have genuine complaints and issues with their service or lack of it. I thought I had a pretty open and shut case and they really did give me so much crap! I really feel sorry for anyone who's situation is not this straight forward, Boxes of Nurofen Plus at the ready!

Have used them 5 or 6 times now, never had a problem.

Danno

Craichoe - why the need to quote the OP's original lengthy post???

OP - Sorry for your trouble. I will keep it in mind should I ever need to use them in future.

Anglo Upah

I have used then about 6 times and the first 5 times I got the items even though it usually took over two weeks. The last time the item never arrived and I went through a similar ordeal as darkside71. Will never use them again.

craichoe

A huge part of the problem is that Irish people seem to think TNT are a courier service.

In the Netherlands they are NOT, TNT are just the standard postal company like An Post.

The Netherlands privatised the postal sector years ago, so when ordering from Ireland allow for 4 - 15 Working days as TNT just plain suck.

darkside71

craichoe wrote: »

A huge part of the problem is that Irish people seem to think TNT are a courier service.

In the Netherlands they are NOT, TNT are just the standard postal company like An Post.

The Netherlands privatised the postal sector years ago, so when ordering from Ireland allow for 4 - 15 Working days as TNT just plain suck.

@Craichoe,

What has TNT got to do with this problem? Did you even read my post? I had no dealing with TNT... Ibood was using UPS as the courier service, like they did for my previous order with them as well. actually I'm pretty sure they use UPS for sending most items to Ireland.

I posted this to try and make people aware of my issues with Ibood's after care customer service or should I say lack of it after I didn't get my Item. Nothing else!

Sorted

darkside71 wrote: »

@Craichoe,

What has TNT got to do with this problem? Did you even read my post? I had no dealing with TNT... Ibood was using UPS as the courier service, like they did for my previous order with them as well. actually I'm pretty sure they use UPS for sending most items to Ireland.

I posted this to try and make people aware of my issues with Ibood's after care customer service or should I say lack of it after I didn't get my Item. Nothing else!

Sorry to hear your tale. I've used Ibood 3 times: first, no problem and relatively short delivery time; second - took over 4 weeks but finally arrived and third never arrived and I found ibood very unhelpful. I ended up having to get my credit card company to pursue my funds. I can't resist checking into see their daily deals but I'd think, think and think again before purchasing. Okay if you don't mind waiting for a long time for your order...:(