DABS.CO.UK are useless

ASTRACLUB

Lads

Just wish to share the experience with you.
DABS (www.dabs.co.uk) has just started delivering to EIRE for a min. charge of 5.5 sterling. Ordered an item thru them and it was showing as 3 in stocks. Next day checked order status and found that part is awaiting stocks???
well sent a mail to them and got reply next day(so called within 8 hours) by saying that i have put my card info wrong and they could not proceed. I check all details and they were OK. anyway, i provided card info again and they have changed the status as @awaiting stocks. They initially promised delivery within 3 days if the part is in stock.
now its been 8 days and the staus is still same and in addition they have just reduced the price of same item by 5 sterling and i am still paying previous prize. One moe thing they also charge 2.5% credit card tr, charge while you don't really know untill last moment that money would be taken from you instead of them paying for it.
My recommendations--NO NO NOO NO NO NO
NEVER NEVER NEVER
regards

AC

ASTRACLUB

Lads

News of the month
Dabs have just canceleld my ordered after 11 days, reason:- credit card and delivery address were not secure,,,,
??????????
these guys are just uselss they dont have any contact number so peopl can really ring them and give them out,
I recommend this as : NO NO NO NO NO, A

---

)

pwd

I got my PC from dabs (.com I thought) maybe 18 months ago (they've not only just started delivering here). They had the best value at the time for a ready-made PC, and I was happy with all aspects of their service. I think they, Komplett.ie and simply.co.uk are the best sites for buying hardware.

Tenshot

When I've bought stuff from DABS before, the 2.5% credit card charge has been listed on the invoice, but it has been included in the overall price, not added to it (i.e. DABS have paid it).

I thought I was being charged extra until they pointed this out. It's just for informational purposes. (Unless their policy has changed recently.)

A Dub in Glasgo

All transactions from retailers in the UK include a 2.5% 'fee' for credit card transactions even if you pay by CC, cheque or cash. It is a tax evasion scheme they run where they do not need to pay VAT on the 2.5%. The UK government are onto them.

http://www.gnn.gov.uk/Content/Detail.asp?ReleaseID=83551&NewsAreaID=2

Ciaran500

What does this have to do with home entertainment?

Our man in Havana

I had a similar experience with dabs, 50 items in stock, as soon as you order its "Awaiting Stock". They seem to have a problem with Irish CC companies. Maplin are the same. I find ordering from amazon.co.uk is much better and hassle free!

jozi

i ordered before xmass of them.
had some problem with cc card but e-mailed them about it to get it sorted.
took a few days as i think the card was maxed out but once the payment went trough i had it in less than a week.
i think if i order again it should al go fairly smooth, they have my details and all now....

Jozi

DublinWriter

I am currently at my wits end with Dabs.com regarding their complete ignorance and potentially fraudulent disregard for EU VAT laws.

I operate through an Irish registered Limited Company and I’m VAT registered in Ireland. The situation is that if you are purchasing goods from a company in the EU outside Ireland who are also VAT registered in their own country, then you do not have to pay VAT at source when purchasing the goods.

My previous supplier in the UK, Insight.com, had no problem doing this, and I was never charged VAT at source by them as I had provided them with my Irish registered VAT number to begin with.

However, I had to switch from Insight to DABS because of the limited selection that Insight now have.

And here’s where the fun starts re DABS.

After my initial couple of purchases and providing them with my Irish VAT number, they charge me UK VAT at 17%.

After putting through a call re their web site (they never list their phone numbers) I got a curt reply back saying that they have an Irish registered company and were registered for Irish VAT. Yet they fail to tell me what their Irish registered company is and what it’s VAT number is. The name of the Dabs employee was not put on the reply email.

I send a second reply through their convoluted web support system and get a reply from an individual stating that this shouldn’t have been the case and that I’ll get a refund and an amended invoice shortly. That was in September 2004 and as yet, I’ve got nothing, even after several emails to the person in question.

Back in February 2005, I’m stuck again and need to get something only available from Dabs. I order the goods, and guess what? Their invoice, from their UK operation, with their UK address and UK VAT number now has the VAT at 21% and not the UK standard rate of 17.5%!

Even if I was a regular individual in Ireland buying from them, they should be charging the UK rate (17.5%), not the Irish rate (21%).

After several emails (I still can’t get their phone number from their web site), in desperation I’ve turned to a friend of mine working in the Bureau of Fraud Investigation in an Garda Siochana. He recommended that I contact HM Customs and Excise in the UK about this ASAP.

I would warn any Irish customer, individual or others, to be very aware of this when dealing with Dabs.com

cgarvey

They still send me legal threats for a mysterious 100 quid .. after I went through a similar story over Irish company order.. coupled with GLS delivery of 2 grand going "missing" (after initially claiming it was delivered).. but in the meantime they have registered for VAT in Ireland, so they should be charging you 21% VAT.. but they should also be giving you a VAT invoice with a valid Irish VAT number. All EU companies selling to Ireland over a certain amount (can't remember what that amount is but it's on revenue.ie) are meant to register, even if the company is not Irish based. So rate is right, invoice (with GB VAT No.) is wrong. I'll never shop with Dabs again, and I used to shop there quite a bit. It's all rosey until one thing goes wrong. They never actually read my emails, ever!

good luck with it!

.cg

DublinWriter

cgarvey wrote:

All EU companies selling to Ireland over a certain amount (can't remember what that amount is but it's on revenue.ie) are meant to register, even if the company is not Irish based.

Are you sure about that? I know that an *Irish* sole-trader or Ltd. company is obliged to register for VAT if their turnover exceeds something like 20K, but other EU companies too?

How in practise would that ever work with say UK's Amazon having to VAT register in all EU member states? Would they have to set up an Irish registered business to register for an Irish VAT number in the first place?

Sound's crazy to me!

BTW - I never had any problems, delivery or accountwise with Insight.com (using their UK operation).

abis

DublinWriter, check PM

A Dub in Glasgo

dabs phone number is 00 44 1942 853000

Taken from this very handy website

http://www.saynoto0870.com/search.php

DublinWriter

Many thanks to all who have supplied me with DAB's phone number.

Why do I suspect that if I call them regarding this, I'll be paying Eircom for the privilege of listening to 'Greensleeves' for 20 minutes and will eventually be put through to a Muppet, who will in turn put me onto his/her supervising Muppet who will then put me onto another Muppet in a completely unrelated department just so I can explain the situation for a third time?

Just call me Nostrodamous.

At this point, it's useless contacting anyone in DABS unless it's at board level. I'm cutting my loses and preparing a letter of disclosure and a file of evidence for both HM Customs and Excise and the Revenue Commissioners.

As a point of interest, does anyone remember the thread on here a few months ago started by someone that DABS charged 99p for a completely new multimedia PC for? I remember at the time the MD of DABS in the UK came in mid-thread - or was I just tripping?

secret_squirrel

One of the big cheeses from Dabs posted here when someone had another complaint thread going. As I recall he also gave his email address. A quick search should find the post. It was all sorted out to everyone's satisfaction.

Personally apart from a coupla credit card auth (ulsterbank master card Im looking at you) problems I've found them great.

cgarvey

DublinWriter wrote:

Are you sure about that? I know that an *Irish* sole-trader or Ltd. company is obliged to register for VAT if their turnover exceeds something like 20K, but other EU companies too?

Thou doubtest!! .. There's a detailed doc on (or linked from) revenue.ie somewhere ..b ut I could only find this http://url.ie/60 ... but you get the picture.

DublinWriter wrote:

How in practise would that ever work with say UK's Amazon having to VAT register in all EU member states? Would they have to set up an Irish registered business to register for an Irish VAT number in the first place?

Amazon, to use your example, do just that. I'm not sure if Komplett have set up a company here, or just applied for a VAT number .. you don't need a company anyway, as long as you're EU based, (and, I think, have an exsisting EU VAT number).

DublinWriter wrote:

Sound's crazy to me!

but true .. but it is only Distance Sales (which has a separate classification doc on revenue.ie as well).

.cg

commited

I've had no problems with DABS

Raskolnikov

Made two big orders there from dabs for a new PC. Everything went through super fast, no credit card hassle. The one problem I had was a mouse was dead on arrival. Instead of having me send it back to them, they just sent out a new one.

Me a happy camper, would definitely use again, they're a touch cheaper than komplett usually too.

Giblet

Hey Wowbagger!

Sarn

I have ordered twice from Dabs, first time no problem at all, great service.

Second time however, I had the misfortune of ordering a laptop from them. Apart from it going to France and getting lost. I asked if they could send me another one instead of waiting, but they wouldn't send me out a replacement unless I paid in full again! So I had to wait for it to be found, returned to their headquarters, reprocessed and sent out again. Their automated responses to my e-mails drove me insane. Most of them didn't answer my questions, not to mention being completey irrelevant. I tried to get a refund on delivery (when it was a lot more expensive), needless to say after countless irrelevant e-mail responses from them I gave up.

When I finally got it it was delivered in an unmarked van by a guy who didn't even ask for a signature, just handed it to my brother. Oh, and it was faulty. At this point I decided to deal with the laptop company (Sony) directly as Dabs weren't very helpful. As you can imagine I had very little faith in it actually being delivered to Dabs using their service. Sony collected it, shipped it to France (well traveled laptop) and back in a week, completely free.

I will never buy a serious piece of kit off them again. If you have no problems it's a great service, but their anonymous e-mail support if something goes wrong is diabolical.