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helenicIf you are ever considering buying anything from Overclockers, don't. I ordered a Creative Sound Blaster Audigy SE 7.1 Sound Card from them in early February. There was only one UK shipping option, so I ticked it.
About ten days later I got a card from Initial City Link couriers, claiming that they had tried to deliver it while I was out, and that I could either pick it up from their depot (which is several miles out of town up the A14 and thus impossible to get to without a car) between the hours of 7-8pm that evening, or call their number and arrange redelivery. The number I called put me through to an automated machine which said "please pick a day for redelivery and leave your consignment number and postcode, then hang up". There was no option to give them a new address or speak to a human operator. At the time I knew I could be in the house on Wednesday (I had unavoidable work commitments on the other days), so I requested redelivery for the next Wednesday and stayed at home to wait for it. It didn't arrive, but I got another card through the door a few days later. There was nothing I could do but call up again and request redelivery, this time for a Saturday. Again, I made sure I was in. No sound card arrived.
I gave it another few days, and called up Overclockers. It was now late February. It took me several days to get through to them, as the first ten or so times I tried I merely got an engaged tone. Eventually I got through, and after being on hold for half an hour or so I explained the problem - that the times Initial CityLink tried to deliver unavoidably clashed with times I was required to be elsewhere. I was told that by default the courier only attempted one redelivery before returning the item to the suppliers, and that the soundcard was back with Overclockers. It could be reshipped free of charge, however, using Royal Mail. If I was out when it was delivered, therefore, I could pick it up from the Royal Mail depot off Newmarket Road. This seemed sensible, so I thanked them, and they sent me an email with the dispatch details.
Two weeks later it still hadn't arrived. What had arrived, however, were two more cards from Initial City Link. I called up Overclockers and, after waiting on hold for a certain amount of time, eventually got through to a sales assistant. Because I've worked in a number of customer service jobs, I attempted to explain as clearly and as courteously as I could what the nature of the problem was. The guy on the phone offered no explanation or apology for the fact that it hadn't been sent out by Royal Mail as promised, and said that the soundcard was currently on its way back to them from the courier, but hadn't yet arrived. Could he assure me that when it did arrive, it would be reshipped, I asked? I was anxious because of the earlier mistake. Could he promise me that it would definitely be with Royal Mail this time? After all, I pointed out, it was in their interest to actually get it to me and therefore not have to spend any more money on shipping. Yes, he said, he could assure me of both those things, and he promised me it would be sent out with Royal Mail.
Ten days later and I had received no dispatch notification from Overclockers, no collection cards from Initial City Link, and no sound card. I called them up again, waited on hold, eventually got through, and repeated the entire saga, and asked if they knew what had happened to my order. I remained as polite as possible, although I concede that by this point the conversation was slightly wearying. I had, after all, paid for this thing two months ago. The sales assistant seemed to be intensely bored. He kept disappearing to check things, and leaving me on hold.
Eventually, he came back to the phone and told me that they could only reship things once, and after it had been returned to them the second time they had cancelled my order. Without informing me. I was told, as if the fact that they'd failed to honour their promise of delivering with Royal Mail was somehow my fault, that it cost them too much to ship things out again if people weren't in to collect them. The person I'd spoken to the second time had either been completely ignorant of the procedure, or had lied to me; they had promised to deliver it by Royal Mail twice, and broken those promises both times, and then they cancelled my order without feeling the need to inform me. I had to call them to find out, and when I did I didn't even get an explanation, let alone an apology. They simply could not care less.
The sales assistant I spoke to was dismissive, unbothered, unapologetic and patronising. I asked about the complaints procedure and he said airily that I could write a letter if I really wanted, but it probably wouldn't get anywhere. I kept him on the phone at least long enough to check my bank statements online and note that I had, in fact, been refunded, before hanging up. I've wasted hours on the phone, no small amount of energy and patience, and if they hadn't kept this farce up for quite so long I could have got a new sound card from somewhere else two months ago.
Never again. Please, please do not buy from these people. They are negligent, untruthful, irresponsible and rude, they will happily waste your time and money without a second thought, and they openly do not care less how much inconvenience they have caused you and freely admit that your opinion means nothing to them. As their forum rules state explicitly that expressing anti-Overclockers sentiment will cause not only the posts to be deleted but your forum account, I am left with no way of telling people how much they suck apart from writing it here. Spread the word. They really, really should not be able to get away with this shit. Gaaaaagh. I am distinctly unimpressed.
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no subject
on 2006-03-30 04:37 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2006-03-30 04:50 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2006-03-30 05:05 pm (UTC)I've used that company in the past, but I've never found their prices that appealing, nor their service very good, although I never had to go as far as you. I usually just stick with Scan, Dabs & Ebuyer (who are a lot better than three years ago) for computery purchases.
no subject
on 2006-03-30 05:05 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2006-03-30 05:23 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2006-03-30 05:27 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2006-03-30 05:27 pm (UTC)Might be worth at least a look in the back of PC Zone magazine in WH Smiths and see if they still have the watchdog section, and try it if still around.
no subject
on 2006-03-30 05:28 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2006-03-30 05:53 pm (UTC)if you have any spare time you could read this (a story from an exOCUK employee) http://forums.overcockers.com/viewtopic.php?t=90
so at least you know you're not alone.
CustomPC
on 2006-03-30 06:05 pm (UTC)I have to say, I have a feeling most of the actual errors were down to ShittyLink, but the OCuk service line is known for being understaffed, mostly engaged, and not that helpful.
no subject
on 2006-03-30 06:35 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2006-03-30 06:45 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2006-03-30 07:00 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2006-03-30 07:03 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2006-03-30 07:15 pm (UTC)"Overcockers". Heh. That thread does make me feel slightly better, and give me slightly more sympathy for the kids on the end of the other phone. The fact that it mistreats its staff to the extent that they cease to give a shit, however, doesn't excuse the company and doesn't make me any more inclined to buy from them.
Re: CustomPC
on 2006-03-30 07:39 pm (UTC)CityLink didn't help, but Overclockers promising to resolve the problem and then doing the exact opposite, twice, and then being hard to get hold of and untrustworthy, failing to meet their promises, failing to know their own systems, failing to communicate with me at all, and failing to accept any responsibility for any of the above, was entirely their own problem.
no subject
on 2006-03-30 07:41 pm (UTC)Thanks for the recommendations - I'll bear them in mind! I still need to buy a damn soundcard... ;)
no subject
on 2006-03-30 09:18 pm (UTC)Do I take this to mean that you still don't have a soundcard? because i have an audigy 2 that I can't use because it lacks a midi port (the seller lied to me). It cost me a tenner, you can have it for a fiver if you like :)
no subject
on 2006-03-30 09:20 pm (UTC)(2) Go to the library or somewhere else that has free access to magazines. Get the letters page or complaints/watchdog (email) addresses out of all the PC magazines. Send them all a copy.
(3) http://www.howtocomplain.com/cgi-php/complain1.php3?MajorID=2&MinorID=1&ID=2586
See also: http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=13691
PS: Scan and eBuyer both have similar reputations for stupendously useless customer service departments, although I've never had a problem with things I've bought from either and so have never had to deal with them.
no subject
on 2006-03-30 11:20 pm (UTC)I have never encountered anything but polite, knowledgeable, helpful and courteous staff. All products have been as stated, and I have been very pleased with them.
Dennyd mentions eBuyer, I've had problems with them, as have several people I know - problems which were far worse than the ones you've had with Overclockers.
I suggest that your experiences are the exception, not the rule.
no subject
on 2006-03-30 11:50 pm (UTC)Ordered
Received confirmation
No delivery
Called them up. Sorry, I was told, but the order had been misplaced. He's now fixed it and it'll be in the post tomorrow.
No delivery.
Called them up, was told that the item was out of stock, contrary to the opinion of their stock records and the website. This is completely contrary to what I'd been told 2 days before, so I accused them of lying to me. They got a bit uptight and said it was only a few days to the next delivery, so I decided to wait. They'd send me an email when the delivery came in.
No email, no delivery.
Called them up. According to this man, there was to be no delivery for x weeks, so perhaps I'd like a different item? At half as much again? After complaining quite a lot and being so sarcastic that people on the other side of the office were giving me looks, I said, No, thanks, I'll wait. It's not urgent.
No delivery.
Called them for the fourth time. Man goes out to warehouse floor, finds abandonded box with my stuff in it. Sends it out next post.
So, lied to not once, not twice but three times. No refund, not even a bloody apology. Avoid at all costs.
Not as bad as Scan, though.
no subject
on 2006-03-30 11:50 pm (UTC)World of Computers (woc.co.uk) are pretty good at the customer service thing, but obviously their prices are usually a little higher, and the killer for me is that their stock range is limited enough that they're usually just not selling the kit I want to buy :-(.
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on 2006-03-30 11:51 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2006-03-31 07:28 am (UTC)no subject
on 2006-03-31 07:55 am (UTC)no subject
on 2006-03-31 07:56 am (UTC)no subject
on 2006-03-31 07:57 am (UTC)no subject
on 2006-03-31 08:28 am (UTC)I'll certainly do a fair amount of public posting, but I'm not sure I want to spend that much more time and effort on this sorry excuse for a company. I've already posted a number of posts in IT forums and some unfavourable reviews.
The Inquirer article is fairly dissatisfying. It starts off well enough - I didn't know I had that many rights, it's interesting - but then just sort of fizzles out. Having the rights, apparently, doesn't do any good, as OCUK are still screwing him over and he doesn't really seem to be able to do anything about it. There's no actual advice there. Oh well.
no subject
on 2006-03-31 08:28 am (UTC)no subject
on 2006-03-31 08:30 am (UTC)If you can't be bothered to put tooooo much effort into it, then you won't want my advice to do item 1 again in three months, six months and nine months :) Nothing like persistent slagging off to really stick in Google :)
no subject
on 2006-03-31 08:32 am (UTC)I don't mind buying a new sound card - I've been trying to, after all. I might have a look while I'm in Leicester with my parents this weekend.
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on 2006-03-31 08:34 am (UTC)no subject
on 2006-03-31 08:36 am (UTC)no subject
on 2006-03-31 08:36 am (UTC)no subject
on 2006-03-31 08:37 am (UTC)no subject
on 2006-03-31 10:40 am (UTC)You could report them to the BBC's Watchdog (http://www.bbc.co.uk/consumer/tv_and_radio/watchdog/)
There is also Which (http://www.which.net/aboutus/index.html), the Consumers' Association.
no subject
on 2006-03-31 11:19 am (UTC)no subject
on 2006-03-31 04:55 pm (UTC)Sure, you got bad service. Happens to lots of people in many places everyday. So does good service, and not many people mention that. Up to you if you choose not to use them again, and to be fair I wouldn't blame you, but your case was not typical. This comment http://libellum.livejournal.com/178692.html?thread=3400196#t3400196 was much like my experiences of eBuyer. A friend of mine would most probably murder the entire staff given half a chance. Yet I know many people who have never had fault with either Overclockers or eBuyer.
City Link fucked up twice, Overclockers fucked up in not resending it via Royal Mail. It's perfectly understandable that they cancel orders after unsuccessful delivery, sure they should have let you know. Finally, you got a bored customer service droid.
People make mistakes, sometimes they coincide such that it makes someone else's life a little more difficult. I find it difficult to get wound up over something like this, YMMV.
no subject
on 2006-03-31 04:57 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2006-04-18 10:05 am (UTC)Overclockers
on 2006-06-16 08:38 am (UTC)Hosted
------
Part 1 - http://www.filefactory.com/?edd990
Part 2 - http://www.filefactory.com/?a3479b
Re: Overclockers
on 2006-06-16 08:39 am (UTC)They are the Dons room archives.