On February 3rd I ordered a Shoprider Lugano powerchair from goactivemobility.co.uk .
They say on their website that:-
“All items are dispatched depending on stock availability within 24 hours of placing your order, with a standard delivery time within 3-5 working days.”
The item was listed as in stock (I have a screencap to prove it), which meant I should have had it sometime this week, especially as I downloaded, completed, and emailed back the VAT exemption form on Friday as well.
On Monday, the 6th, I got a phone call saying that, oops, it wasn’t in stock, but they’d get one and I should have it by Friday. To be sure, I emailed on Thursday, and, at shortly after 10.00, I was assured that it would be the case.
Friday – no bloody chair.
Got a phone call from the company at 12.07 (no great sense of urgency, then), saying that the courier, TNT, had failed to collect my chair on Thursday, and it would be delivered now on Monday. That means I have to cancel a vital cardiology appointment, as without electric wheels I just can’t do it. (My current powerchair is just too knackered, and my manual chair out of the question unless/until I get better heart meds.) Trust me, if my heart ends up even more fucked up because of that, somebody’s getting sued.
Severely pissed off, I tweeted about this, naturally blaming TNT – who tweeted back asking for details, which I duly provided.
Click to view full size, Back to return.
(There’s no breach of copyright – Twitter is a public forum.)
After a bit of to-ing and fro-ing it was established that TNT had tried to collect my chair, as you can see, but found the premises closed. The time, 14.48. Who the hell shuts up shop at that hour? Especially as the branch from which it was to be collected is supposed to be open from 09.00 – 18.00 Monday – Saturday.
So I emailed the company, including a screencap of TNT’s tweet, and asking for an explanation. Reply said they they’d been open. Subsequent email 2 minutes later was just incomprehensible!
In addition, I initially opted for engineer-accompanied delivery (to unpack and assemble the chair), at £70 extra. Because it turned out NOT to be in stock, the timescale became too tight and I changed that to courier delivery, which is free. So they now owe me £70 – but not the slightest hint of a refund. Their delivery terms clearly state Free Courier delivery on all items over £40 – I have a screen cap, as I usually do now as I once had some bugger change the conditions after receiving my order, and especially when spending so much money.
So unless there’s a card refund transaction record taped to my chair, I’ll be sending a debit note without delay.
And in the interest of fairness I have no proof as yet who is at fault over Thursday’s non-collection, but I do know that TNT are instigating an investigation. When I know who is at fault, I’ll say so.
Personally, though, I find it hard to accept that the TNT driver would be dumb enough to put his/her job at risk by lying. It’s one thing fudging a delivery, but quite another when it comes to collections – that’s the money end of the business. It’s been clear from the Yodel saga (Ron’s Rants passim), which eventually embraced quite a lot of couriers (though, to be scrupulously fair, I don’t recall TNT featuring), that no-one cares over-much if the recipient is inconvenienced.
On February 3rd I ordered a Shoprider Lugano powerchair from goactivemobility.co.uk .
They say on their website that:-
“All items are dispatched depending on stock availability within 24 hours of placing your order, with a standard delivery time within 3-5 working days.”
The item was listed as in stock (I have a screencap to prove it), which meant I should have had it sometime this week, especially as I downloaded, completed, and emailed back the VAT exemption form on Friday as well.
On Monday, the 6th, I got a phone call saying that, oops, it wasn’t in stock, but they’d get one and I should have it by Friday. To be sure, I emailed on Thursday, and, at shortly after 10.00, I was assured that it would be the case.
Friday – no bloody chair.
Got a phone call from the company at 12.07 (no great sense of urgency, then), saying that the courier, TNT, had failed to collect my chair on Thursday, and it would be delivered now on Monday. That means I have to cancel a vital cardiology appointment, as without electric wheels I just can’t do it. (My current powerchair is just too knackered, and my manual chair out of the question unless/until I get better heart meds.) Trust me, if my heart ends up even more fucked up because of that, somebody’s getting sued.
Severely pissed off, I tweeted about this, naturally blaming TNT – who tweeted back asking for details, which I duly provided.
(There’s no breach of copyright – Twitter is a public forum.)
After a bit of to-ing and fro-ing it was established that TNT had tried to collect my chair, as you can see, but found the premises closed. The time, 14.48. Who the hell shuts up shop at that hour? Especially as the branch from which it was to be collected is supposed to be open from 09.00 – 18.00 Monday – Saturday.
So I emailed the company, including a screencap of TNT’s tweet, and asking for an explanation. Reply said they they’d been open. Subsequent email 2 minutes later was just incomprehensible!
In addition, I initially opted for engineer-accompanied delivery (to unpack and assemble the chair), at £70 extra. Because it turned out NOT to be in stock, the timescale became too tight and I changed that to courier delivery, which is free. So they now owe me £70 – but not the slightest hint of a refund. Their delivery terms clearly state Free Courier delivery on all items over £40 – I have a screen cap, as I usually do now as I once had some bugger change the conditions after receiving my order, and especially when spending so much money.
So unless there’s a card refund transaction record taped to my chair, I’ll be sending a debit note without delay.
And in the interest of fairness I have no proof as yet who is at fault over Thursday’s non-collection, but I do know that TNT are instigating an investigation. When I know who is at fault, I’ll say so.
Personally, though, I find it hard to accept that the TNT driver would be dumb enough to put his/her job at risk by lying. It’s one thing fudging a delivery, but quite another when it comes to collections – that’s the money end of the business. It’s been clear from the Yodel saga (Ron’s Rants passim), which eventually embraced quite a lot of couriers (though, to be scrupulously fair, I don’t recall TNT featuring), that no-one cares over-much if the recipient is inconvenienced.