Maplin Electronics - Product not as Advertised Plus..

[reidnet]

Customer Services Manager

Maplin Electronics Ltd

Valley Road

Wombwell

Barnsley

S73 0BS

 

 

COMPLAINT

 

 

I am writing to you to complain about recent service I have received from your company.

I Placed an order for one off Pro Sound L60AW Tie Clip Radio Mic system online on 29/06/07, It was not clear until I received my order acknowledgement Email that in fact this Item was out of stock and that would not be available for around 28 Days.

I Contacted your Aberdeen Branch ( Your Closest Branch to Dundee) on Friday 6Th July to check if they had this item in stock. They Informed me that they had 2 of these in stock

I contact your Customer services department on 0870 429 6000 the same afternoon to see if it was possible for me to collect one of these Items from the Aberdeen Branch as I required it for a Function on Sunday 8th July. Your Customer advisor advised me that this would not be a problem and told me when I arrived at the store to collect the item to ask the store to contact Customer Services and they would issue a credit to the Aberdeen store and I would be able to take the Item away with me. This sounded a reasonable solution to me. Since my requirement to obtain the item had changed since I initially placed the order with the late booking of a wedding function which I required the Additional Tie Clip Radio Mic for the Minister to use so that the full service could be clearly heard and recorded.

When I arrived at your Aberdeen Store I spoke to Ewan regarding what I had discussed with Customer Services, Ewan then went off to discuss this with the store Manager, and when he returned stated that he would contact Customer Services. After some time of Ewan trying to find a telephone number for Customer Services I gave him the Number from the rear of my Order Advice Note.

When Ewan contacted Customer Services he was told that nothing could be done regarding any credit until Monday. Ewan then asked me to call back at the store on Monday. I of course told him that this defeated the whole Purpose of me making the 3 hour round trip Journey from Dundee to collect the item. Ewan then told me there was nothing else he could do to rectify the situation.

I then contacted Customer Services myself regarding this and was even more annoyed when I was told that the actual order had been cancelled, but there was no record on the account as to which customer service advisor had cancelled the order. I was then again told that the Credit would not drop (whatever that means) until Monday and there was nothing Customer Services could do about it. I asked for confirmation that the credit was being paid back to my credit card and was told yes, that was what would happen on Monday.

I then thought at least we have a solution now, and I then went back into the store and went to Purchase the item. Again it was Ewan that I dealt with, I initially checked as soon as I arrived in store that they did in fact have 2 of these items, an assistant checked the computer and confirmed that there were 2 showing as being in stock

When Ewan went to get the item from the store he returned and said he could not find them and that the only one they had must be the one on display and he would find the box etc for it ( I may add that this took around 20 Minutes in total). When he eventually returned with the Box I noticed that it was not a Pro Sound item but a system made by Chiayo (Model R-1001) a manufacturer that I have never heard of. The Receiver unit looked nothing like the Pro Sound L59AW system receiver unit that i had previously Purchased from your Aberdeen Store some months ago. Also when checking the contents of the box there was no Headset Microphone in the pack, Ewan then told me the item only came with the Tie Clip Microphone.[/font]

The Specification for this Item clearly states the following :-,

Tie-Clip Radio Microphone System (L60AW)

 

Manufacturer: ProSound

 

High quality VHF radio microphone system ideal for anyone wanting to create a wireless set up

Ideal for schools, small clubs, pubs etc

Crystal-clear sound transmission

Supplied with belt pack transmitter, tie-clip microphone, headset microphone XLR mic lead, receiver, &quarter;inch jack connecting lead and plug in mains power supply

Low battery consumption

License-free

Operates on 174.1MHz

Both microphones run on PP3 9V batteries (sold separately)

 

The kit transmits on 173.80MHz and 175.00MHz which means it may be used in conjunction with both the L58AW handheld radio mic kit and L59AW twin handheld radio mic kit with all four mics running simultaneously. Note: This radio mic system is not compatible with any other radio mic system, even if it operates on the same frequency

As you may understand I was not at all impressed with Maplins at this point.

As a Chiavo R-1001 is not a ProSound L59AW Tie Clip mic system and also did not contain the headset Mic as advertised ,nor ordered the following will apply.

 

Under the Sale of Goods Act 1979 traders must sell goods that are as described and of satisfactory quality. Clearly the above item does not match the description.

13. Sale by description

Where there is a contract for the sale of goods by description, there is an implied term that the goods will correspond with the description.

 

This is a matter I will be taking up with my Local Trading Standards at the earliest opportunity.

As I have been a long term Customer of Maplins I feel that on this occasion your company have let me down badly with Poor Customer Service, Untrue product description and a lot of my time and expense.

 

I look forward to your Prompt response to my complaint, which may in some way help to restore my faith and custom with Maplins as a company. With today’s experience I can assure that I have lost all faith in your company.

Ian Reid

[Bookworm]

Errrr, you want to reformat that so we can read it without getting a migraine, luv?

[reidnet]

Just did Bookie,

 

Its Microsoft Office 2007, Disnae like Cut N Paste for some reason..

 

Can you also please edit the quote in your above to remove my Contact details Please..

 

Thanks

 

Ian

[Bookworm]

Done. Sorry, it was that bad, I didn't even notice your info there. My eyes go funny like that.

[Bookworm]

Ok, the problem I see with your letter is that it is a letter of complaint, yes, but you do not state what you would like to achieve with it. I would suggest that you state what you would like to see done to resolve the matter to your satisfation, whether be an apology, compensation, or whatever it is you think appropriate.

[gyzmo]

It is generally a good idea to state that you want appropriate remedial action so that you are not limiting yourself to what you can get (so, don't just say you want a repair or a replacement, as the company may offer a refund if that would be desirable).

[MATTYFEZ]

That is one confusing letter!

 

On the first line you state:

"I Placed an order for one off Pro Sound L60AW Tie Clip Radio Mic system"

Than later state:

"when checking the contents of the box there was no Headset Microphone in the pack, Ewan then told me the item only came with the Tie Clip Microphone"

 

I guess that was a typo on the first line and should have said "headset"....anyway it seems that you have inspected the offered alternative product (Chiayo), decided it was unsuitable and then accepted it anyway?

 

Thats hardly Maplin's fault is it!! and its not really unreasonable for them to be out of stock.

[reidnet]

Hi Matt,

Maybe a bit confussing, the system was a Tie Clip Mic System which also Included a Headset Microphone, 2 Microphones and 1 Transmitter.

 

I never accepted the Item, It was originally ordered online as my Nearest Maplin store is an Hour and a Half drive from Dundee, As the Item was needed quickly it was arranged that I collected one from the Aberdeen Store who had 2 of these in stock,rather than wait until the came back in stock at the warehouse.

 

As for being out of stock , I was not advised it was out of stock until after the order had been placed, The fact that I had to wait was not a real problem until we got a last minute function on Sunday.

 

Ian