Novatech - lost the plot?

Rant Begin

A major hard disk crash meant that I had to order a new one in a rush.

I placed an order with Novatech online last Thursday morning for delivery on
the Friday. I even confirmed over the phone that the item was in stock, and
that it would be with me before the weekend.

Took the day off work, and waited, and waited... etc. 16:45 on Friday I
phone them to check what was happening (Securicor Omega Express website
tracking system was constantly unavailable on both Thursday and Friday). I
was informed that they had no idea where my parcel was, and that since the
courier was closing shop at 17:00, they would chase them on Monday, and then
decide what to do next. When I suggested that this was not what I had in
mind when I paid for a next day delivery I was informed by their CS rep that
if I was going to be rude over the phone then they would not deal with me at
all. When I suggested that since the fault was on their part (well, their
courier) they should consider sending a replacement immediately for Saturday
delivery, and sort out their problem with the courier at their own time, I
was told that this was not possible. This was also reiterated to me by their
CS manager. Oh, and I cannot recall the word 'sorry' mentioned even once
during the 20 minute conversation (on which they made around £1.20 profit on
their 0870 number...).

Needless to say that I cancelled my order there and then, and placed it
elsewhere. Despite spending thousands with them over the last few years, I
will not be dealing with them again.

Rant End

Just check Securicor's tracking system - item was out for delivery at noon
today.

Next day delivery = 4 days for some...


"News@PlusNet" wrote in message
...
Rant Begin

A major hard disk crash meant that I had to order a new one in a rush.

I placed an order with Novatech online last Thursday morning for delivery
on
the Friday. I even confirmed over the phone that the item was in stock,
and
that it would be with me before the weekend.

Took the day off work, and waited, and waited... etc. 16:45 on Friday I
phone them to check what was happening (Securicor Omega Express website
tracking system was constantly unavailable on both Thursday and Friday). I
was informed that they had no idea where my parcel was, and that since the
courier was closing shop at 17:00, they would chase them on Monday, and
then
decide what to do next. When I suggested that this was not what I had in
mind when I paid for a next day delivery I was informed by their CS rep
that
if I was going to be rude over the phone then they would not deal with me
at
all. When I suggested that since the fault was on their part (well, their
courier) they should consider sending a replacement immediately for
Saturday
delivery, and sort out their problem with the courier at their own time, I
was told that this was not possible. This was also reiterated to me by
their
CS manager. Oh, and I cannot recall the word 'sorry' mentioned even once
during the 20 minute conversation (on which they made around £1.20 profit
on
their 0870 number...).

Needless to say that I cancelled my order there and then, and placed it
elsewhere. Despite spending thousands with them over the last few years, I
will not be dealing with them again.

Rant End

News@PlusNet wrote:
Rant Begin

When I suggested that since the fault was on their part (well, their
courier) they should consider sending a replacement immediately for Saturday
delivery, and sort out their problem with the courier at their own time, I
was told that this was not possible. This was also reiterated to me by their
CS manager. Oh, and I cannot recall the word 'sorry' mentioned even once
during the 20 minute conversation (on which they made around £1.20 profit on
their 0870 number...).


Compare that to US companies. I ordered a CD from Walnut Creek in
California several years ago, and when it hadn't arrived several days
after the upper end of the time scale (it was something like 7-10 day
delivery) I e-mailed them just to enquire and ask if they could check
with their carrier and received a reply almost immediately apologizing
and stating that they were shipping a replacement on express delivery
(couple of days) which duly turned up as promised (the original arrived
several days later). Must have cost them a fortune - certainly wiped out
any profit on the sale.

Parish

"Parish" wrote in message
...
News@PlusNet wrote:
Rant Begin

When I suggested that since the fault was on their part (well, their
courier) they should consider sending a replacement immediately for
Saturday
delivery, and sort out their problem with the courier at their own time,
I
was told that this was not possible. This was also reiterated to me by
their
CS manager. Oh, and I cannot recall the word 'sorry' mentioned even once
during the 20 minute conversation (on which they made around £1.20
profit on
their 0870 number...).


Compare that to US companies. I ordered a CD from Walnut Creek in
California several years ago, and when it hadn't arrived several days
after the upper end of the time scale (it was something like 7-10 day
delivery) I e-mailed them just to enquire and ask if they could check
with their carrier and received a reply almost immediately apologizing
and stating that they were shipping a replacement on express delivery
(couple of days) which duly turned up as promised (the original arrived
several days later). Must have cost them a fortune - certainly wiped out
any profit on the sale.

But made you even more of a fan of theirs I would guess...

Everyone can put products in boxes and ship them on time. The quality of
your service can only be judged when thing go wrong.

Ever dealt with amazon.co.uk? They are one of the only decent size UK
e-tailers that use "American" standards of service in my experience. Wonder
where their parent company resides... Unfortunately they didn't have the
item that I was after.

On Tue, 21 Sep 2004 09:36:49 +0100, "News@PlusNet"
wrote:



"Parish" wrote in message
...
News@PlusNet wrote:
Rant Begin

When I suggested that since the fault was on their part (well, their
courier) they should consider sending a replacement immediately for
Saturday
delivery, and sort out their problem with the courier at their own time,
I
was told that this was not possible. This was also reiterated to me by
their
CS manager. Oh, and I cannot recall the word 'sorry' mentioned even once
during the 20 minute conversation (on which they made around £1.20
profit on
their 0870 number...).


Compare that to US companies. I ordered a CD from Walnut Creek in
California several years ago, and when it hadn't arrived several days
after the upper end of the time scale (it was something like 7-10 day
delivery) I e-mailed them just to enquire and ask if they could check
with their carrier and received a reply almost immediately apologizing
and stating that they were shipping a replacement on express delivery
(couple of days) which duly turned up as promised (the original arrived
several days later). Must have cost them a fortune - certainly wiped out
any profit on the sale.

But made you even more of a fan of theirs I would guess...

Everyone can put products in boxes and ship them on time. The quality of
your service can only be judged when thing go wrong.

Ever dealt with amazon.co.uk? They are one of the only decent size UK
e-tailers that use "American" standards of service in my experience. Wonder
where their parent company resides... Unfortunately they didn't have the
item that I was after.

Personally I think Amazons standards have slipped a bit. ON the mail
order games side, you would usually get the game on release date
(typically a friday). These days its the following Monday. It doesn't
seem much but they used to arrive on the release day or sometimes the
day before.

"News@PlusNet" wrote in message
...

Ever dealt with amazon.co.uk? They are one of the only decent size UK
e-tailers that use "American" standards of service in my experience.
Wonder
where their parent company resides... Unfortunately they didn't have the
item that I was after.

If Amazon have US standards of service then I don't want them. Be grateful
they didn't have what you wanted.

Just before Christmas I ordered a £400 camera and, as a separate order, a
camera tripod. Both were said to be in stock for dispatch within 24 hours.
The camera arrived but looked as if someone had played footie with it. It
was obviously second-hand and badly marked with the bits not in their
original packing, some parts missing and the included batteries used and
dead. The serial no. showed it was very, very old stock.

The tripod hadn't arrived after a month and I lost count of the promises for
delivery I got over the phone and by email. Eventually got it 3 months later
when I'd lost the will to live but was packed in just a polythene bag and
the plastic winder was broken.

I spoke to trading standards and seems to be quite a common experience.
Might be OK for books provided there isn't a glitch but for more expensive
items beware. See other experiences of their US style service he
http://www.pricerunner.co.uk/retailer/2137/reviews

"RB" wrote in message
...
"News@PlusNet" wrote in message
...

Ever dealt with amazon.co.uk? They are one of the only decent size UK
e-tailers that use "American" standards of service in my experience.
Wonder
where their parent company resides... Unfortunately they didn't have
the
item that I was after.

If Amazon have US standards of service then I don't want them. Be grateful
they didn't have what you wanted.

Just before Christmas I ordered a £400 camera and, as a separate order, a
camera tripod. Both were said to be in stock for dispatch within 24
hours.
The camera arrived but looked as if someone had played footie with it. It
was obviously second-hand and badly marked with the bits not in their
original packing, some parts missing and the included batteries used and
dead. The serial no. showed it was very, very old stock.

The tripod hadn't arrived after a month and I lost count of the promises
for
delivery I got over the phone and by email. Eventually got it 3 months
later
when I'd lost the will to live but was packed in just a polythene bag and
the plastic winder was broken.

I spoke to trading standards and seems to be quite a common experience.
Might be OK for books provided there isn't a glitch but for more expensive
items beware. See other experiences of their US style service he
http://www.pricerunner.co.uk/retailer/2137/reviews

No argument that you've had a bad experience.

However, 19 reviews on PriceRunner considering their level of business
hardly give a representative picture. I would assume that happy customers
don't tend to leave comments (I haven't praised Novatech service here or
elsewhere when everything have gone smoothly...).

I have dealt with Amazon on at least 20 occasions over the last few years -
mostly for books etc, but recently for electrical stuff as well, and never
had any problem. On the one occasion where a month after sending a friend a
birthday present I realised that it has never actually arrived they
immediately despatched a replacement and grovelled for a few minutes on the
phone. I might have just been lucky, but I somehow don't think that I am
the exception.

On Tue, 21 Sep 2004 12:33:00 +0100, "News@PlusNet"
wrote:


No argument that you've had a bad experience.

However, 19 reviews on PriceRunner considering their level of business
hardly give a representative picture. I would assume that happy customers
don't tend to leave comments (I haven't praised Novatech service here or
elsewhere when everything have gone smoothly...).

I have dealt with Amazon on at least 20 occasions over the last few years -
mostly for books etc, but recently for electrical stuff as well, and never
had any problem. On the one occasion where a month after sending a friend a
birthday present I realised that it has never actually arrived they
immediately despatched a replacement and grovelled for a few minutes on the
phone. I might have just been lucky, but I somehow don't think that I am
the exception.


I've found then generally excellent as long as you accept that next
day isn't gonna happen. Usually its 3 to 4 days for anything which I
can live with most of the time.

"News@PlusNet" wrote in message
...

No argument that you've had a bad experience.

However, 19 reviews on PriceRunner considering their level of business
hardly give a representative picture.

Perhaps not, but you are slating Novatech on the basis of a single problem
(your parcel didn't arrive next day as you wanted so you cancelled) and
despite spending "thousands with them over the last few years" which
presumably went glitchfree you now say "I will not be dealing with them
again". A bit fickle perhaps?

I'm telling you about the two purchases I made from Amazon which both went
pear-shaped in a way far worse than your single bad experience experience
with Novatech but you seem to regard any US company as some sort of paragon:
"They are one of the only decent size UK e-tailers that use American
standards of service in my experience".

Others on that link have reported similar delivery problems with Amazon.
Will you be back later to replace Amazon on the pedestal with someone else?

Personally I wouldn't place Novatech on a pedestal either, they gave me the
runaround over a router for weeks a while back. But I try to take a more
balanced view than thinking that because I haven't had the problems with a
retailer that others have had then they must be perfect - or the reverse.

"RB" wrote in message
...
"News@PlusNet" wrote in message
...

No argument that you've had a bad experience.

However, 19 reviews on PriceRunner considering their level of business
hardly give a representative picture.

Perhaps not, but you are slating Novatech on the basis of a single problem
(your parcel didn't arrive next day as you wanted so you cancelled) and
despite spending "thousands with them over the last few years" which
presumably went glitchfree you now say "I will not be dealing with them
again". A bit fickle perhaps?

Fair enough. It was their attitude that made me decide to stop dealing with
them, not this (potentially) isolated case.