Hi there,

Just thought I'd have a whinge about the service I got from BroadbandStuff.co.uk.

I ordered a Linksys SPA-1001 on Thursday 28th Sept and I expected a wait as there was none in stock, but found that they had already taken the money out of my account even though they did no thave the stock!

They waited until Thursday 5th Oct to tell me the following:


On Thursday 5th I EMAIL'd them to say that I'd accept the replacement if it could do the same as the item I ordered and that I would not be charged anymore.

On Friday 6th Oct they EMAIL'd me back to say that I would be charged the extra for the other item. I replied at 14:30 the same day to say that I'd like the order cancelled + my money back in my account as quickly as they took it (straight away)!

The money was not back in my account Saturday 7th Oct, so I EMAIL'd them again - still no reply/no money.

I have just phoned them and they asked if I wanted to cancel my order!

They are saying that it might take until Thursday to get the money back in my account!

They took it out quickly enough, so why take upto 3 days to get it back in!
Last edited by Mark in Essex : 09-10-2006 at 14:20

In their defense they appear to have acted pretty quickly and fairly reasonably. The refund probably isn't their fault - all traders tend to use card merchants and it's up to banks to sort themselves out. Don't forget a cheque still takes days to clear, you can't blame a retailer for that.

Plus do remember weekends aren't working days for bank transactions - asking for a refund on a Friday afternoon, you are being unreasonable expecting it there on a Saturday. Check your bank statements - no BACS payments happen on a weekend, the only transactions you'd be likely to see is any money you directly deposit or withdraw yourself by hand.

All retailers of integrity only take the money (process their payment ) when dispatching the goods!! These aint Retailers of integrity.

Avoid!

Naturally one should only make payment via a Credit card A good card such as The Nationwide will offer protection
Last edited by bogstandard : 09-10-2006 at 17:20

well your the unlucky one i'm afraid i bought my pap2 off broadband stuff and had no problems and the service was first class. so i think its a bit hard saying avoid. and card payments over the phone are a lot faster than processing a credit on a card !

and no i dont work for broadband stuff lol

It's worthwhile saying many retailers take money before goods are dispatched. Would you for instance call Argos a retailer of disintegrity then by that standard?

It just seems more of a case of both sour grapes (which yes I can see it from your point of view, it's disappointing), plus a bit of misunderstanding on how online retail systems work (your money is debited, but it was just a stock error), and a gross misunderstanding of how banks work.

The ones I usually deal with do not take the money until the item has been dispatched (Amazon, Dabs, and even including Argos (as you mentioned)).

Also the company IT247.com that I ordered my replacement PAP2 from did not take the money when they did not have it in stock!

The gripe I have with them is that they took the money without even having the item in their stock!
Last edited by Mark in Essex : 10-10-2006 at 18:04

As I said I EMAIL'd them at 14:30 on the Friday - I would have expected the working days to have started from then (instead they did not even know that I wanted to cancel my order when I had to phone them on Monday afternoon after 2 EMAIL's requesting to cancel my order))!

Also they can take your money instantly without even having the item in their stock, why can't they do an instant transfer of the money (as I can paying other people via internet banking) seeing as it was their fault taking the money (I'd understand if they took the money without dispatching it a bit more if they actually had the item).

Just seems a case of keep the money in their bank as long as possible to earn intrest (if they were really bothered they could transfer the money instantly no problem).
Last edited by Mark in Essex : 10-10-2006 at 18:10

Yep - guess that I am unlucky that they did not even have it in their stock and decided to take MY money!

I know for one that Argos take money straight away as I have used them in the previous two weeks. You probably think they haven't if you have a very fast delivery, as transactions can take anything between 2-5 days to process. Use a credit card in Tesco and it won't debit until 2 days later, look at that from a mail order timescale and you may well be under the wrong impression that they haven't taken money - it simply hasn't had time to leave your account.

In banking, making transactions during any partial time throughout a working day means that day is not included. It's not rocket science, you're partly right saying it's earning interest. It's not the company earning interest though, it's the banks themselves.

Those brightly lit buildings in Canary Wharf don't pay for themselves you know!

Even if they have not even had the items in stock?

We have bought several bigger items from Argos in the kast year (chairs etc) that they did not have in stock and did not take the money until they had them in stock + also the company that I ordered the replacement ATA from did not take the money when they did not have it in stock.

I know what you mean about banks having the money though.
Last edited by Mark in Essex : 10-10-2006 at 18:14

never decide to buy a kitchen from B&Q mark they never have any stock lol

never decide to buy a kitchen from B&Q mark they never have any stock lol and it makes you wonder when they checked on the pc to do your transaction why it allowed it ? most point of sale systems wont allow a transaction unless it shows it has stock to deduct it from ?

Cheers - I'll watch out for that.

I guess I've been lucky most of the time with stuff like that.

I guess it will change soon though when companies do it more and more.

Thanks for all the replies with me having a whinge, have just had a few things go wrong over the last week and that added to it.