Lx Direct

[yellowplum]

Well I suppose it was bound to happen that I wouldn't receive my Wii in time for Christmas....

 

Although the real reason why I want to rant and rave regarding LX DIRECT (part of Littlewoods) and there handling of the whole sorry saga.

 

I first pre-ordered my Wii in October 2006. Now like everyone else I received confirmation of my order and assurance I would receive it on the day of release, 8th Dec 2006.

 

Well surprise surprise it didn't turn up and the date was altered to the 18th Dec 2006.

 

Sitting in waiting on that day for the nice courier to deliver my Wii. Oh about 3pm I decided to check online to see how my account was and see if I could locate my order.

 

There it was hiding away, with now an anticipated delivery date of 25th Jan 2007!

 

What had happened? Where was my Wii....and more importantly why did I not receive any communication regarding this lengthy delay in receiving my order.

 

I was fuming....So I wrote a polite note to them...

 

I ORDERED THIS ITEM SOME TIME AGO. I WAS TOLD THAT IT WOULD BE AVAILABLE FROM THE 8TH DECEMBER 2006. I WAS TOLD THAT THE ITEM WOULD BE DELIVERED BY MONDAY 18TH DECEMBER 2006. HOWEVER, RECENTLY CHECKING YOUR SITE TO CONFIRM THE DATE HAS BEEN ALTERED TO 25TH JANUARY 2007. I HAVE NOT RECEIVED ANY COMMUNICATION FROM YOU TO INFORM ME AS TO WHY THERE IS SUCH AS DELAY IN SUPPLYING THIS ITEM. IT WOULD BE COURTEOUS TO INFORM ME RATHER THAN EXPECTING ME TO LOOK AT THE DATE EACH TIME. IN ANY EVENT IT IS TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE THAT YOU ARE TAKING THIS AMOUNT OF TIME TO SUPPLY AN ITEM.

 

To this I received a reply today....

 

Thank you for e-mailing LXDIRECT.COM - Great looks for you and your home! with your comments.

 

All customer feedback is welcomed.

 

It proves invaluable to us when we look at improving our service to our

customers.

 

Please be assured your comments have been noted.

 

Please also accept my apologies for any inconvenience or disappointment

you may have felt. Our aim is always to help you enjoy the best in home

shopping with LXDIRECT.COM - Great looks for you and your home!

 

Kind Regards

 

LXdirect Customer Care.

 

On behalf of Jeanette Clennell Customer Experience Manager

LXDIRECT.COM - Great looks for you and your home!

Shopping on line made easy.

 

I found this extremely patronising. The fact remained that they had not answered my query and just merely sent out a standard response. How long is a reasonable time to wait for such an item that one has ordered?

 

What can - if anything be done about it?

[rosiecotton]

OK, normally the time of delivery isn't a condition of the contract unless the consumer has made it so - i.e. if you order a sofa and it says "delivery 6 weeks" and it takes 10 weeks to come, you have no right to redress unless at the time of order you state that you must have the item by [date] and this is agreed with the trader.

 

However, as you have ordered this online you can bring in the Distance Selling Regulations.

 

These Regulations give a trader 30 days to perform a contract (ie deliver the goods) unless a different date has been agreed with the consumer, in which case they must adhere to this date. In your case, it's fair to say that the 8th December was the date that was given to both parties.

 

If the trader does not meet the agreed delivery date (or deliver within 30 days if no date has been agreed), then they are in breach of contract and must refund the customer in full unless the customer has been notified of the delay and has agreed to extend to another delivery date.

 

So there's your answer - you can argue that they are in breach of contract and get a full refund.

 

Unfortunately you can't force them to deliver something they don't have, galling though it may be. Possibly you could argue that you now have to buy it elsewhere and it may cost more and therefore claim for loss of bargain, but I doubt they will go for this and that means you'd have to take it to court and the judge might not see this as reasonable (unless perhaps you had been very adamant that the delivery date was important, for example if it was for a Christmas present etc). In addition, I bet it's nigh on impossible to buy the thing anywhere before Christmas now, anyway.

 

I agree, very poor customer service indeed.

[yellowplum]

Well they didn't show much interest in the fact that they had breached the DSR. The only comment was it's not our fault our supplier hasn't got enough.

 

'Tough' was the response....

 

It was for a gift for someone, however, I have had to purchase something additional so as not to have nothing to give. Although I still promised the Wii...

 

Not much else I can do is there?