bitsandpiecesuk.com-"Our suppliers in liquidation"

[horace4831]

Hello all. Is anyone else having trouble obtaining their refund from bitsandpiecesuk.com? Early in December 07 I placed an order for over

£170-00 worth of Christamas presents. Waited patiently for delivery but nothing arrived, no goods, no email, no letter, no phone call. Emailed many times to their customer services, no reply. Ever. Reluctantly phoned their 0871 989 7962 customer services number after Christmas (by the way, when is it going to be made illegal for firms to use these numbers and charge you when they HAVEN'T provided a service to you???) and was told their Dispatch Company had gone bust and that customers would be sent a refund. Nice of them (not) to advise us all by email, I said. No apology was offered, no reference Number given, I was just told refunds would be going out in the next 7-10 days. Another call to them on 24th Jan produced same result. No-one can tell me the name of the failed company, so it is difficult to check their story. I have contacted Manchester Trading Standards and await

the outcome of their enquiries.

Today I phoned their order line and attempted to place an order which they refused to let me do, on account of their "suppliers having gone out of business-ring back mid-February".Fair enough- but an attempt to purchase online at their site met with no such refusal. Obviously I did not actully click on "Buy"! ....Also today phoned their CustServs again- apparently there are "thousands" of people in the same situation with them- and the representative WAS apologetic. "Refund by the end of February", I was promised. ........By which time they will have wound up their operation and disappeared altogether?? Ideas, anyone? In the same situation, anyone?

[Bookworm]

Why don't you do a chargeback on your card?

[Goldlady]

One of my clients runs a distribution company and when one of his sub-contractors went into liquidation the entire contents of the building were seized by the liquidators. All this stuff was goods on the way to customers. It took several months to get the goods back as they were clearly not the property of the company which had gone bust. But it caused major problems for everyone - I spoke to the liquidators several times trying to get the goods out but they would not release them. I would suspect this situation is similar. So therefore they are probably still accepting orders on their website as they will now be using a different distributor and those goods should get there.

[Caveat_Emptor]

This company seem to appear every Christmas and take payment for goods in their catalogue or on their website. The first clue you get that all may not be well is the non-confirmation of your online order. Then you find you get no reply to emails to their customer service department, and all you get when you phone them and are put through to their customer services "helpline" is a recorded message saying they are unable to take your call. I'm in the process of waiting till 15 days has elapsed after they debited my card, after which time my card company will (I hope!) reimburse my account on the basis of non-delivery of goods. Anyone in this position needs to be able to show they did all they could to resolve the problem with the company, and so phone them, email them and write to them (catalogue gives their address), keeping notes and copies of everything. Do NOT tell them to cancel the order or you will lose your right to reimbursement from your card company.

[cedas]

Although the quote is a few years' old, I wish I'd seen it earlier. Seems this company hasn't changed much. I ordered some stuff over 2 wks ago which has not yet arrived (ok not too long you may say) However, on same day I ordered xmas gifts from several other web sites. All have arrived exept those from bits and pieces. They have taken my payment. (on a 'pay as you go' visa which offers no comeback in such cases) but they do not respond to emails querying late delivery and their phone number simply answers with a recorded message saying that they cannot reply due to high number of calls. all I can say is DO NOT BUY FROM THEM. If they haven't improved in a few years they are not going to do so

 

Hello all. Is anyone else having trouble obtaining their refund from bitsandpiecesuk.com? Early in December 07 I placed an order for over

£170-00 worth of Christamas presents. Waited patiently for delivery but nothing arrived, no goods, no email, no letter, no phone call. Emailed many times to their customer services, no reply. Ever. Reluctantly phoned their 0871 989 7962 customer services number after Christmas (by the way, when is it going to be made illegal for firms to use these numbers and charge you when they HAVEN'T provided a service to you???) and was told their Dispatch Company had gone bust and that customers would be sent a refund. Nice of them (not) to advise us all by email, I said. No apology was offered, no reference Number given, I was just told refunds would be going out in the next 7-10 days. Another call to them on 24th Jan produced same result. No-one can tell me the name of the failed company, so it is difficult to check their story. I have contacted Manchester Trading Standards and await

the outcome of their enquiries.

Today I phoned their order line and attempted to place an order which they refused to let me do, on account of their "suppliers having gone out of business-ring back mid-February".Fair enough- but an attempt to purchase online at their site met with no such refusal. Obviously I did not actully click on "Buy"! ....Also today phoned their CustServs again- apparently there are "thousands" of people in the same situation with them- and the representative WAS apologetic. "Refund by the end of February", I was promised. ........By which time they will have wound up their operation and disappeared altogether?? Ideas, anyone? In the same situation, anyone?

[horace4831]

Hi all. I am really sorry to see that this thread has been added to... just to update from where I left off in2007, the UK arm of B&P did apparently go into liquidation then.

It had then, and probably still has, an American parent company, which if you delve deep enough asI did at the time, also had a terrible reputation for customer service.

To sum up what happened in my case, I lost all my money, we had a ruined Christmas ( and I thank my family for being so sympathetic! ). I chased B&P as hard as I could.

Never managed to find out who the receiver or liquidator was, never received ANY written correspondence over the matter either. Eventually approached the bank whose DEBIT card I had used for the payment (as advised in this forum) only to be told that there ws no ChargeBack system in place for that particular card, and that it is always safer to use a CREDIT card for Internet purchases. About 7 months later I received literature from my bank saying that the card now had a chargeback facility!

 

Then.... Guess what?? Early December 2008 a Bits & Pieces catalogue dropped through the letterbox... addressed to my wife!! The cheek of it! We were blown away.

I got straight on the phone to them (number had changed) asking about reimbursing me. They were obviously ready to field questions of this sort... I was told to write a code number they would give me on to my next order and they would let me have a 20% discount! There was "nothing further they could do" as the UK arm was being operated "under new management"... (same products, same catalogue, though!) I told them where to stuff it and binned the catalogue.. the same as I have done evey year since.

 

This shower REALLY need exposing for what they are! Someone needs to start a "DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY" website!

I am gutted to hear that their wayward practices are still continuing. Trading Standards and other authorities really need to be involved now...

[cedas]

Well I finally got through on the phone - after a considerable wait. The lady who answered sounded extremely nervous or harrassed. She tells me that I didn't get any replies to my emails because they go to the parent company in Canada (???) No explanation about previous inability to get through on the phone. The web site gives the opportunity to choose your country and needless to say I clicked on the union jack for UK and my order confirmation states "bitsandpieces UK", so why on earth do emails go to Canada??? and even if they do why on earth don't they set up a simple forwarding system to get them dealt with in UK?

 

She also told me that they had written to me to say that one item had been out of stock - no letter has been received and finally she said that the missing item was now in stock and the parcel has been sent off today.

 

I post a message when the parcel arrives.

[horace4831]

Just found this..

http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/investigations/2008/10/the-mail-order-firm-that-didnt.html

 

I also posted this at the time...

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/I_am_searching_for_owner_of_bitsandpiecesuk.com

 

http://www.complaints.com/complaintofthedaydecember282000.1.htm

 

http://www.uktoystores.co.uk/bitsandpieces.html

Sorry to say that checking out these links will not get you your money back, but may offer a small crumb of comfort in the knowledge that you are not alone.

[Caveat_Emptor]

Further to my previous post, I am happy to report my goods have arrived. I too spoke to someone who blamed Canada for the lack of response to emails to customer service (see above) and the non-confirmation of my online order. This was on November 26th, and she assured me then my order had been dispatched. It finally arrived on December 14th. This person's job was taking orders however, not customer service. I've never got through to customer service on the phone (I think they are just a voicemail machine) but I did send them a polite letter on December 3rd, asking them to confirm dispatch, keeping a copy just to prove I'd done all I could to settle the matter amicably. I was surprised to receive the goods but like everyone here, I regard this outfit as highly iffy and will never order anything from them again.

[cedas]

Glad to hear somebody got their order. I placed an order in November. Payment has been taken from my credit card. Emailed - no response. Phone - automated reply indicating they had high volume of calls and couldn't answer. Finally got through on Dec 10th. Was told a letter had been sent to me (one product had not been in stock) however my order was being despatched that day. One week later - yes the letter arrived in between times - sent 2nd class mail (not what you expect when you order over internet - why didn't they email?) No my order wasn't despatched last week - problem with pickers and packers or some such rubbish. Has been despatched today. Today snowing heavily - so nothing likely to get out for days and anyway too late to repackage and send on Xmas gifts. Same date I ordered from them I ordered other products over internet from a variety of suppliers - all arrived safely ages ago by Royal Mail or courier. AVOID THIS COMPANY LIKE THE PLAGUE. Check out on other sites - full of complaints.

[horace4831]

Hi Cedas. which other sites??

 

Hope you get your goods ok

[cedas]

I ordered Xmas presents from a variety of places (eg Presents for men, original gifts, various ebay supliers, bright minds, waterproof world, some Glasgow supplier for admirality charts (kelvin hughes or something like that) and Littlewoods. None were ordered before bits and pieces - many ordered same day , some were ordered after (ie after 25/11/10) . ALL HAVE ARRIVED - in fact all arrived days ago. Even though I live in what some might call a remote location. Still waiting on bits and pieces. Clearly given bad weather over last two days - nothing will arrive before Xmas and anyway I had planned to re-package and send on to family members in other parts of UK

[cedas]

Maybe I should add to previous thread, that I can recommend all the suppliers mentioned. No excuses, no late delivery, - in spite of weather conditions. All well packaged and arrived safely. I can heartily recommend any of the suppliers I mentioned in my list. Some actually contacted me to advise of potential late delivery due to weather conditions. I didn't notice any significant delay. All items ordered, bar those from bits and pieces, have arrived in good time.

[cedas]

Receiving parcels every day this week -mostly ebay pruchases - some sent Royal Mail some by courier - all ordered within last 8 days. BUT still no sign of my bits & pieces order from November.

[horace4831]

Sorry to hear that, Cedas. Fingers crossed for delivery today...?

Happy Christmas to you anyway !

[cedas]

Thanks for that. I really have to say that despite national news reports of delayed deliveries due to weather conditions - and in spite of living in a really remote place, I really haven't had any problems apart from the one discussed in this thread. Royal Mail delivieries have been great - postman coming daily even when conditions of road have been very bad . Most frequent courier around here is Skye Express - again they have been delivering regularly despite road conditions. Other couriers have delivered occasionally. But I am still waiting for Bits and pieces. Even if the gifts do arrive sometime - it is now too late for Christmas gifts. So once the Christmas period is over I will be writing letters/emails to trading standards and wherever else I can think of in the hope generating enough publicity to prevent this company spoiling Christmas yet again next year for other people

[cedas]

29th December. Goods still not arrived. Spoke to them again - they say despatched on 17th Decmber and I have to allow 28 days for delivery. (Previously they said despatched on 10th December) I said "but I ordered on 25/11/10 so that's more than 28 days." She replied it is 28 days from despatch, not all your goods were in stock. I said "you could have sent a part order and you could have let me know what the problem was" She replied that they had written to me on 9th December. This is true - it was posted 2nd class mail. I suggested that she could have emailed and that I had emailed them several times and had no response. Her reply was that they 'don't have time to give priority to emails' - now that just doesn't make sense. It takes as long to write a letter as to email and if I order over the internet in the year 2010, I do not expect communication about any issues to be by 2nd class mail.

 

Their catalogue says "Last date for pre-Christmas ordering is 18th December"

 

Christmas has gone - the articles are no longer useful to me.

Catalogue also says "If any product does not meet with your expectation for any reason, please return it to us and we will refund the item value". My expectations were to get the stuff before Christmas. Even if it does arrive now - could I trust them to refund my money? Anyone had any recent experience with returning good to this company?

[horace4831]

I honestly wouldn't put anything past this lot. They need to be barred from trading in the Uk. (After you've got your refund or delivery)

They're a bloody nightmare. The question is... how do you let EVERYONE in the UK kow what they're up to? It's impossible. So Trading Standards have got to close them down. But they'll find a loophole.

I don't have much time on my hands these days.. too busy earning a living to devote endless time to pursuing them (B&P) but I'm going to look into starting a "Don't Buy From Bits & Pieces" Facebook page. I also, at the time , emailed many of the companies who promoted them via links on their sites, many of whom removed them. but there were SO many links it was impossible to contact them all without devoting years to it, unfortunately. Your case has certainly rejuvenated my interest in this shower of Shysters. There are many other things I'd like to sort out in this now-awful country too..... I'll post again when the Face book page is up and running...

[cedas]

Amazing - the parcel has acutally arrived. One item broken, one item missing. The broken item was a mug - packed in cardboard box but no bubble wrap or padding. All items were then packed in thin plastic envelop. The items that I did get were as described and quality was Ok, Great pity they are let down by poor customer service, inadequate packaging and 'conflicting information' Now have to decide on my next step - really items no use to me any more but am wary of sending them back - wondering when would I get my money back - if at all. They've already had my money over a month.

[cedas]

Although I am very disappointed that my order didn't arrive before Christmas and even when it did arrive one item missing and one broken - I have to be fair to them they have refunded the money for the broken item. The missing item was on my order form but not on their delivery form - and it hadn't been charged to me. I will have to save the bits I have for next Christmas:-)

I hope someone from bits and pieces follows this blog: if so bits and pieces please read on:

Qaulity of items is acceptable but they really do need to get their act together so far as customer service is concerned. eg

1) Learn the art of communicating with customers where there are delays/out of stock items etc

2) Make sure items are appropriately packaged

3) Recognise that in 21st century if someone orders over the internet they expect to be able to communicate by email

4) Recognise that failure to respond to emails plus only recorded messages on phone leads to panic in customers (I think they did realise and maybe got extra staff - recently it has been easier to contact them by phone)

5) Avoid confliciting information about delivery times and conflicting reasons for non-response to emails - if you cannot despatch pretty quickly LET THE CUSTOMER KNOW and give them opportunity to cancel.

6) Each and every member of staff who communicates with customers is "the face of the company" so if there has been a problem they need to learn that an apology in time goes a long way to soothing irate customers - I haven't heard the remotest note of apology anytime I have got to speak to them

 

I buy many items over internet bits and pieces could take lessons from any of the suppliers I have mentioned in earlier posts. This is the only negative experience I have had - any other potential problems have always been dealt with quickly by suppliers letting me know things are out of stock or that delivery may be delayed.

[Annabelle1]

Oh no, wish I had read all your comments before spending a load of cash on the B&P catalogue this year, glad one of you got your stuff. It is strange, I also had odd feeling of discomfort when there was no confirmation of order e mail, and I called them the day after the order was made online, was informed not to worry , they dont do e mails for web orders, which I thought was strange, the man said I would 'probably' get one when they process the order, so ordered early November, another call last week, told , its on its way, clearly not as called them yesterday and said they would dispatch the stuff then. Again not, oh its not so much being ripped off that does my head in, but that fact that I chose the stuff for friends and family , I dont hold out any hope now after reading your comments, it is only money I suppose and there are a lot worse things that can happen, but Im still angry , yes their brochure arrived last year as well and I was tempted, fortunately I forgot, wish I could get all that type of stuff somewhere else.