Ideal Customer Service

I bought a webcamera from Ideal Computing. At the end of January it became
faulty, so I sent it back to them. This is the level of service that I have
experienced. It started ok, but I would like your comments.

February 4th 2004

Dear Mr Procter

Your return item as been tested, and displayed the fault as described in
your return RMA request. I am now in the process of obtaining a replacement
item for you. I must inform you that the product was returned incomplete
i.e. incomplete packaging and CDROM disk missing. While it is not always the
case, this can lead to delays in processing the replacement. I will work to
keep any delay to a minimum and return your replacement as soon as I
possibly can.

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact then
online sales team.

Best Regards,

Matt Hill

Online Sales Team

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February 19th 2004

Dear Mr Procter

An update on the situation regarding you returned item. Mercury have ceased
production of the 16MB model and as such I have been provided with the 8MB
model as a replacement, I appreciate there has been some delay however the
faulty item was returned incomplete, and I had explained that this may lead
to some delay.

In the absence of a similar alternative product I propose that I provide you
with the 8MB binocam, with the balance provided either in the form of a
credit with Ideal Computing.co.uk, or as a payment by cheque.



Ex. Vat Inc. Vat

Mercury Binocam 16MB £56.00 £65.80

Mercury Binocam 8MB £33.00 £38.78



Total To Credit (Gross) £23.00 £27.03

Return Carriage (reduced) -£3.50 -£4.12

Total To Credit (Net) £19.50 £22.91



I trust you will find this satisfactory in the circumstances. Please contact
the Online Sales Team to discuss this further.

Best Regards,

Matt Hill

Online Sales Team

Ideal Computing.co.uk

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February 24th 2004

Dear Mr Procter

Addressing your emails of 20th and 23rd February 2004.

I regret that you are disappointed with the level of service you have
received at Ideal Computing.co.uk and the delay in response to your email of
20th February, though this was dispatched by yourself at 4:30 on the evening
of 20th February and unfortunately our offices are not open to deal with
enquiries over the weekend period. In addition Ideal Computing.co.uk
receives many enquiries on a daily basis and these must be dealt with on a
'first come first serve basis'.

I contacted you via email on 4th February 2004 to inform you that your
product had been tested and was due to be returned to the manufacturer for
replacement, I also informed you at the time that the product had been
returned incomplete, with a missing CDROM driver disk and incomplete
packaging, and that this could lead to a delay in the processing of your
return product. On 19th February 2004 I was informed by the stock department
that a replacement item had been returned to Ideal Computing.co.uk, this was
however not a Mercury 16MB Binocam, but in fact the 8MB Binocam. I was also
advised at the time that it would not be possible to obtain a replacement
16MB Binocam, and as such I contacted you with an optional solution to the
matter.

Having received notification of your wish not to accept this as a solution,
I have returned the matter to the purchasing department where every effort
is being made to obtain a replacement for your faulty item at the earliest
opportunity. I note your reference to the availability of stock at another
Edinburgh retail store, and I accept that there is every possibility that
other retail outlets have remaining stock of this particular item, this
however, is not the case at Ideal Computing.co.uk.

I regret to hear that you feel it necessary to seek legal advice in this
matter, since all actions taken so far have been accordance with the terms
and conditions of the Ideal Computing.co.uk webstore as displayed
http://www.idealcomputing.co.uk/code...ages=TermsPage and the
returns procedure
http://www.idealcomputing.co.uk/code...s=RMAProcedure , both
prepared in accordance with the distance selling regulations 2000.

I expect within the next few days to have reached a conclusion regarding the
replacement, or not as the case may be, of your Mercury 16MB Binocam. At
this point I will contact you with the relevant information, and a proposal
on behalf of Ideal Computing.co.uk.

Meanwhile I can be contacted direct or

Tel. 0871 7000 153 if you wish to discuss this matter further. Please be

assured that Ideal Computing.co.uk is doing everything in it's power to
provide you with a timely and satisfactory solution to this issue.



Best Regards,

Matt Hill

Online Sales Team

"Proctor" wrote in message
...
I bought a webcamera from Ideal Computing. At the end of January it became
faulty, so I sent it back to them. This is the level of service that I
have
experienced. It started ok, but I would like your comments.

snip

To me it sounds they were being pretty reasonable. Did you try for a refund?

I'm not sure what brought you to seek legal action though - if I was in
business and someone threatened me with legal action I would not be so
willing to help them out, and would probably just do the legal minimum to
"stuff them". I'd rather spend my time helping out the guys who are more
understanding - the product is no longer made and they have no stock, so
they can't get you a replacement full-stop. I don't know if the alternatives
they've offered are any good, but it sounds like they are trying pretty
hard.

Did you/could you try phoning? It's still the best way to sort these kind of
things out, IMHO. The personal touch usually gets things done quicker and
with less aggravation than impersonal emails.

Jim

"Proctor" wrote in message
...
snip

Online Sales Team




Are you posting to compliment them on their service?

Seems like they have been superb.

Why did you leave out your replies?, makes it harder to follow.
What legal action are you trying to take?.

I've never used ideal but i might now, they seem excellent.

Anyone else used them , are they always that polite and helpful in all
their email replies?

On Wed, 25 Feb 2004 14:27:41 -0000, "Proctor"
wrote:

I bought a webcamera from Ideal Computing. At the end of January it became
faulty, so I sent it back to them. This is the level of service that I have
experienced. It started ok, but I would like your comments.

snip

Sounds perfectly reasonable to me. Of course you havn't included your
emails to them I noticed.

It implies from the posting a) you sent them an incomplete package
returned which *will* bugger them about b) you complained that another
shop had the item - so what its another shop and may have been old
stock c) you threatened legal action of some sort d) you complained
about them not responding to emails quick enough.

They seemed fairly prompt at responding compared to most companies to
me.

Did you ask for a credit note or refund and they refused? I could
understand that being a little off.

"Proctor" wrote:

I bought a webcamera from Ideal Computing. At the end of January it became
faulty, so I sent it back to them. This is the level of service that I have
experienced. It started ok, but I would like your comments.

Your problem is what, precisely? It's difficult to follow without
seeing your own correspondence to them but from what I've read it
seems Ideal Computing are genuinely trying to help out.

It is outside their control if the manufacturer has ceased supplying
the product you purchased and they have no stock from which to provide
a replacement. They have offered you an alternative which you are
entitled to accept or reject in favour of a refund.

Why on earth are you threatening them with legal action when it seems
abundantly clear to me that they're genuinely trying to help!?

--
iv Paul iv

"Proctor" wrote in message
...
I bought a webcamera from Ideal Computing. At the end of January it became
faulty, so I sent it back to them. This is the level of service that I
have
experienced. It started ok, but I would like your comments.


Your return item as been tested, and displayed the fault as described in
your return RMA request. I am now in the process of obtaining a
replacement
item for you. I must inform you that the product was returned incomplete
i.e. incomplete packaging and CDROM disk missing.


And your point is?

To me, all they are asking is that you send back the other stuff (i.e. CDROM
drivers and packaging) and they will be happy to refund you.

But no, you kept fighting on... for whatever reason.

--

- Tony Sutton
- http://www.hyperboard.co.uk - The Biggest Message Board!
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The first self-extracting compression program.
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On Wed, 25 Feb 2004 14:27:41 UTC, "Proctor"
wrote:

And the conclusion we draw is:

1) Good Trader - Ideal Computing

2) Don't deal with 'Proctor'!
--
Bob Eager
begin by not using Outlook Express...

"Proctor" wrote in message
...
I bought a webcamera from Ideal Computing. At the end of January it became
faulty, so I sent it back to them. This is the level of service that I
have
experienced. It started ok, but I would like your comments.


I have to agree with others here...

They have IMO acted entirely resonably- in fact more than reasonably. The
words polite, courteous, helpful and apologetic spring to mind.
I would suggest that if you did take legal action against them then that
would stand in their favour.

I'm not sure if you were attempting to praise the vendor here, if so, well
done for bringing it to everyones attention.
If you were trying to paint a bleak portrait of poor customer services, then
all you've done is illustrate how even the most helpful approach will never
satisfy idiots like you.

g.

"Proctor" wrote in message
...
I bought a webcamera from Ideal Computing. At the end of January it became
faulty, so I sent it back to them. This is the level of service that I
have
experienced. It started ok, but I would like your comments.


Err that sounds pretty good?
--
Andrew

NOTE: Return E-mail address is a spam-trap and does not get read!