stressed by incompetence!!!

[niceorwot]

Hi all I have a major issue this month with Currys! on the 9th December I ordered a zanussi dishwasher, i was given a delivery option date but on the friday it was due to arrive i was called and told it was not in stock and could i take delivery the following week? yes of course no problem (I thought) Well friday passed and Monday arrived after having no joy on the phone........I called the on the tuesday as i work for a living (i dont think they understood this) i spoke to a customer service person (have their name) and was told that there was only the 27th December left for delivery! but i am going on holiday and i have been waiting for a call this is not a suitable day, the guy was not helpfull and kept repeating himself, i asked for a manager, he came on line and after i explained i ordered on the 9th and it was now the 19th i am still without a dishwasher because no one from the company called me with a date for delivery and it took for me to call them yet again to get a response i am going on holiday and will not be returning for a month! even though i was not at fault i said i would pick one up from my local store and hours drive away, he checked that they could do it and it was arranged for friday the 22nd after 1pm. GREAT
this great turned into fantastic when i then got a call back and the said they miraculously had a delivery slot TODAY (christmas eve) i was told that the delivery men would call to confirm a five hour time slot with me---they did it was arranged that they would deliver to my address, confirmed all details between 9am and 1pm today, has it arrived NO because they got the house number wrong on their paperwork, they checked with the office and they said that they cant deliver it if the paperwork is not correct!!!!!!!! may i point out they were sat at 11 my street when i am at 111!!!!!!!!!!AAAAAAHHHHHH HH, i pointed out that it was their mistake and i have all of the origional order e-mails and identification etc, FLAT BIG FAT NO, they wouldnt drive down the road 40 yards.
i called the customer services and was met with one of the most patronising unhelpful unhuman apparent trained customer advisor for after sales advice in the world ever!
i explained everthing and was constantly interrupted with the line 'it is christmas eve and we are short staffed'
i asked for a supervisor because i felt it deserved a better response and he said none were available, i said i would wait, i did for 3-4 minutes, he came back and said that no one would speak to me regarding this order as it had been cancelled!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!
what? why has it been cancelled i never cancelled it, apparently it is because we werent in at number 11 because we are sat in 111!!!!!!!!!
they cancelled it, this person on the phone is now telling me this and so after he has now told me i cant have it and cant speak to a team leader and i cant have it re delived what do i do because they still have my dishwasher on their van and also have my £249.99 which was taken from my bank on the 11 december, i asked for the onbudsman address and who i can complain to he said they dont have onbudsman addresses! and i had issued my complaint with him and the order was cancelled.
I hung up
HELP

If they have debited your account are they going to refund you the money?

[stycks]

tell you will have your money back and take your custom elsewhere!

[niceorwot]

Originally Posted by natweststaffmember

If they have debited your account are they going to refund you the money?

they will but it will be after the holidays he didnt say exactly when, advised me to call back in a few days, to be honest i was so angry (not abusive at all) i just hung up, checked my bank today and no refund as yet

[niceorwot]

Originally Posted by stycks

tell you will have your money back and take your custom elsewhere!

i will when i cool down from them, it is just so annoying when they say do things online it is easier and quicker and will save you any hassle
i dont honestly think that the last guy i spoke to had any clue what i was trying to say, he just didnt know anything and that is why he wouldnt let me speak to anyone. if a customer of ours ever wanted to speak with me and was obviously not happy with the service i would see them immediatley, i really dont know who they think they are half of the time, and their manners are alot to be desired!!

[stycks]

another idea would be to write a letter marked private and confidential to currys MD. ive heard thats worked for other ppl
stycks

[JonCris]

niceorwot you have a cause of action against them for your time trouble & even compensation for your disappointment.. If you don't have a washing machine because your past or present one is broken you also have a claim for loss of amenity

[niceorwot]

hi well thank you for all of your advice i have written a stron letter and will mark it for the attention of the MD private and confidential, i do believe a restitution and apology is on order
thank you again everyone you have been very helpful
all the very best for the coming new year

[demon_x_slash]

You can post the letter up here if you want someone to take a gander at it.

[shywazz]

WOW sounds like a total botch job, firstly get your money back, thats more important at this time, you can go direct into any currys shop, speak to the manager, whom he should then ring his head office to get the payment confirmed, hence refund you at the same time, I dont know if the shop/company has a policy about missed appointments, where if there dont show, compansation is payable to the customer? you might have to read the small print on your order document!! I dont know if you will be able to claim anything else, as there did try deliver, just to the wrong address, but has the old saying goes, The customer is always right, it might be worth writing to the head office aswell, pointing out that you losted wages while waiting for the delivery, ( if you did that is ) also include what was said to you etc when you called each time, the least you might get, is a few complimentary discount coupons.

[JonCris]

It doesn't matter what it states on the order document.

Provided the customer gave the correct address (& I think that the fact they live there is a pretty sure bet they did) then their delivering it to another address is irrelevant as far as being entiteld to compensation is concerned. The customer has a cause of action for compensation no matter what the supplier may claim as they failed in execution of the contract.

[rosiecotton]

Be wary though that you can only claim for actual financial losses - this would be the cost of any calls you have made, any loss of earnings that you have suffered through waiting in (only if you do lose money through taking a day off) etc.

It's unlikely that a court would award costs for stress or disappointment, as they only tend to do this in exceptional cases (mainly in cases involving holidays, wedding photos etc). Personally I feel this is just as well, as otherwise we'll have "upset" people suing for cash all over the place and we'll rapidly turn into the USA!

Personally I would write to them giving them a short period of time to refund you in full, and then go elsewhere. If they don't refund you, start action against them.

[JonCris]

Hi Rosiecotton

Whilst I agree claimants aren’t usually given compensation for stress it's only because claimants fail to include such damages in their claims when perhaps they should as may be seen from the following matter from last year:

In summary B & Q where recently ordered to pay an additional £500 compensation for 'disappointment' when they failed to fit a kitchen on time. They appealed & lost with the judge remarking that their appeal was unwarranted & a waste of court time.

The matters considered by the court were as follows

Having lost in the original trial B&Q was seeking (a) Permission to Appeal (b) to Appeal against the earlier judgement of the DJ on the basis that the judge erred in law by applying holiday case criteria in assessing damages for distress and inconvenience in a construction dispute and not the criteria of Boynton v Willers (2003) EWCA Civ 904 and Watts v Morrow (1991) 1WLR 1421 which uses 15 of total build price as a guide for the amount of damages to be awarded. B&Q sought for the amount for this item to be reduced from £500 to £163.

The judge heard B&Q’s skeleton argument and then debated the various arguments and interpretations of points of law.

After legal discussion, B&Q conceded that (a) the judge was entitled to regard this case in a similar manner to a “holiday” or “wedding” case and (b) the amount of compensation for inconvenience, emotional distress and loss of enjoyment was proportionate.

Consequently, Permission to Appeal was refused.

All of claimants legal costs were awarded against B&Q (£1450). B&Q’s own costs were stated as £4500. Circa £6000 for the day.

In summing up, The Judge criticised B&Q for wasting court time by bringing such a flimsy and flawed argument to support a Permission to Appeal and for attempting to use this process to recover £350; He said that this case should never have been brought to Appeal