[zabiqapara]

Ebuyer.com Silences Dissent
Detailed below is the rather sad history to date of my relationship with this company.
It subdivides into two distinct but complimentary sections.
The first outlines the actual business deal between Ebuyer and me. The second deals with my attempt to communicate with their online forum community and the vicious response by their moderator ‘dagwoood’
Section 1; This was posted on Ebuyer’s forum

Dear all, having ordered a laser printer from this company and having received a response both confirming the order and informing me of the expected date of delivery I can only described what happened next as going pear shaped.
Catalogued below is the history and reason behind this question to anyone that, have any of you been treated by this company in this manner, if so how did you pursue it, if indeed you did, and what was the eventual outcome. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Kindest regards
S. Halston

Tue, 12 Aug 2008
Dear halston,
Your order has been cancelled for one of the following reasons:
You have requested the order to be cancelled.
The item(s) you have ordered are no longer available or have been discontinued.
We apologise for any inconvenience. If you still require the order, please reorder the goods online.
Please note; if payment has been taken for your cancelled order, we will refund the money as soon as possible. The refund will take up to three working days to clear.
Kind regards,
Ebuyer Customer Support


Tue, 12 Aug 2008
Dear halston,
Many thanks for using our website for your customer service query. We are currently replying to all queries within 2 business days, please bear with us while we process your query.
A new eNote, number 1023374, has been raised, which reads:
Dear sir/ madam,
It is with great anger and disappointment that I pen this communiqué. On Friday the 8th of august I placed with you an order for a laser printer, your catalogue showing several in stock I placed the order in good faith. Having received on the same day a confirmation of both the receipt of my money and a confirmation of the expected date of delivery I naturally assumed that, as in the past when dealing with you, everything was fine.
However this has not proven to be the case, because on Mon, 11 Aug 2008 I received email from you stating that, “Unfortunately we were unaware of this stock discrepancy until your order went through to our warehouse to be dispatched” thereby supposedly and immediately making your systemic failure my problem, why is this?! It most certainly is not my problem. To add insult to injury when I rang you to find out just what had happened I was fobbed off with the excuse that the manager was not there to answer my questions but would most assuredly contact me by phone the next day to resolve this issue, But wait that didn’t happen did it? So when at last and in desperation I rang you I was informed that the printers were out of stock and my money would be refunded, again making this my problem. Understand this I placed an order, my money was accepted; this by anyone standards is a contract, a contract as far as I am concerned that is valid, you are in breach of it and are insisting, or rather the sales representative is insisting that there is nothing she can do about it, no offer of an alternative no offer of an accommodation, nothing. This shoddy way of treating people certainly does not echo your supposed “business philosophy” of giving “consumers and businesses what they want, when they want it. We never stop improving our world class operation by putting our customers - and their needs - first.”
I expect to receive an alternative to the printer advertised at the same price as the one originally ordered I further expect that your problems are not again made mine.
Halston
Account No …….


Wed, 13 Aug 2008
Dear halston,
We have replied to your eNote, number……., as follows :
Dear halston,
Thank you for your contact with our Customer Support Team.
We would firstly like to offer our most humble apologies for the annoyance and frustration which this matter has caused however as advised, unfortunately we were unaware of this stock discrepancy until your order went through to our warehouse to be dispatched.
As quoted in our terms an conditions, agreed to upon submission of an order, if after acceptance of your order we discover within 14 days of such acceptance that all of the goods are unavailable, we may terminate the contract and refund or re-credit you within 7 working days for any sum that has been paid by you or debited from your credit card for those goods. In accordance with this, a refund has been issued to you.
By way of a goodwill gesture, we have added a free shipping token to your account so that you can order an alternative if required. This will be used against the next order that is placed on a next day service and weighing up to 10kg.
Kind Regards
Sarah
Ebuyer Customer Support Team

Addendum for this forum, it should be remembered that had a seller on Ebay reneged on a deal like this they would have lost their account. It seems to me that Ebuyers terms and conditions boil down to nothing more than, if we wish to renege on a deal within 14 days we can and there’s nothing you can do about it, and if you should be cheeky enough to seek advice in our forum we will take it off line because we don’t like being criticised.
Any feedback to this post would be welcomed
Many thanks
Halston

[IrrettelatWet]

No offense but I found your approach a little arrogant, especially the whole "How is this my problem, it's your problem". Fair enough it sucks but of course it's your problem too especially since you didn't read their Terms & Condition which to be honest are fairly standard. They are giving you a refunded for God's sake, what are you expecting? I don't really understand what you think you are entitled to. You don't legally have a leg to stand on and never did which makes the tone of the letter even more surprising.

[kertionderf]

At least you recieved a "free token" thing

The problem i'm having is totally opposite.....the company sent the product after i cancelled it AND is now saying if they don't get it back in 7 days i'm bound to a contract.


[cursing]

[Saduyre9de]

Sounds like you didn't read their terms. Yeah it sucks, but I don't see anything out of the ordinary here. An error is an error. Yes it is their mistake, but if their terms really do state that part about discrepancies, then they are in the right. Maybe not very good business practise (had it been my business, I would have sent you the next model up for the same price), but they gave you a nice token, which they didn't have too.

[Âåðåùàãèí]

Sounds like you didn't read their terms. Yeah it sucks, but I don't see anything out of the ordinary here. An error is an error. Yes it is their mistake, but if their terms really do state that part about discrepancies, then they are in the right. Maybe not very good business practise (had it been my business, I would have sent you the next model up for the same price), but they gave you a nice token, which they didn't have too.

My thoughts too. Although not ideal, eBuyer actually did nothing wrong and the fact they threw in some free shipping is better than getting nothing.....

[boffincash]

I really don't see the problem. They're a big company and sometimes mistakes occur. They refunded your money and appologised for the mistake, there's little more they can do.

Not like they can magically produce a printer from the managers ring piece....

[Eh085zE7]

Chill out, take a deep breath, realise it's not the end of the world and order your printer from somewhere else.

It's annoying, but this kind of problem isn't exactly uncommon, so I'm surprised you made the effort to complain (a little arrogantly, as mentioned above) and post it on a forum.

You got your money back, so end of story, surely. You could write a strong letter to The Times, but I don't think it will help you.

[zabiqapara]

To answer as many of the points raised in the replies on this board as I can. Whilst I can understand the comments accusing me of arrogance please bare in mind the piece was penned after waiting for the supposed phone call promised by the company, the one that didn’t come, the comment by Metalex “this kind of problem isn't exactly uncommon” is exactly the crux of the anger I felt. Time and again it seems that most of us simply accept poor treatment and service from businesses, the likes of which we would not accept from our families and friends. If I were to give an assurance to one of them that ‘X’ would happen or take place, then no matter what all effort would be expended to make that so, none of us I hope would feel comfortable knowing that we had welched on a deal. This onus we experience is naturally occurring echoing the moral responsibility we feel to those around us. However , and this is were the differential creeps in, for some reason those obscured as it where, behind the collective façade of company, business, etc metaphorically shrug their shoulders and mouth the well worn phrase ‘nowt I can do about it mate, its just business’, I fully realise that ‘business’ in this context is merely a euphemism for the abstract concept of capitalism, but ultimately let us not forget that each and every shoulder shrugger is in fact a fellow human being deserving in my opinion the same respect, And whilst it is true that capitalism as an abstract does not have a moral component we as humans do. To argue otherwise is to allow for any behaviour to become acceptable, and I am sure we are all aware of the atrocities we are capable of when such thinking becomes the norm. On a lighter note recent developments you may find amusing, after posting the original thread on Ebuyer’s Forum Blah Bar and having it removed by a moderator going by the name of ‘dagwoood’ I wrote back explaining my thoughts on censorship, a debate ensued but before I could contribute further, when attempting to log in I was greeted with the splash of,
“You have been banned for the following reason:
Abusing staff Date the ban will be lifted: 19-08-2008, 03:00 PM”
This was in response to the following
“Message to the cartoon persona of ‘dagwoood’,
Let me explain a few things to you the actual person behind the persona, in removing my post inviting assistance from other forum users you are blocking the promulgation of truth. In stifling freedom of expression in this arbitrary fashion, I can only conclude that in this act of desperation you are little more than a petty bully skulking in the shadows sycophantically pandering to your, one can only assume, disreputable pay masters. In suppressing free interchange between forum users you do everyone a huge disservice, inclusive of yourself I might add, and ultimately the very pay masters you no doubt believe yourself to be serving. Surely even the meanest of intellects must realise that without free and unfettered communication any business can not avail itself of that most precious of commodities, genuine feedback. Forever living in a delusional state they become flaccid and moribund. No doubt fearful of genuine interchange you will take it upon yourself to remove this note in the same fashion thereby compounding your idiocy, no matter there are other channels of communication beyond your capacity to interfere with, i.e. the Overclockers UK forum, the Futuremark/Yougamers Community, Hexus.net forum, PC review and Pricerunner forums to name but a few. You are in the final analysis sad and it saddens me to have to inform you of this fact.
Yours in sympathy Halston”

Apparently most of us fall foul from time to time to egotism, I fully include myself in this observation but rarely do I act to censor dissent, that being said I can not for the life of me see just where I have abused anyone. Thanks for all your replies they have made for interesting reading and give food for thought.
Thanks again
Halston

[irrehoobe]

Huge wall of Text crits you for 49670

I've got an enter key, a tab key, and a spacebar I'll sell you for $10.

[antiggill]

I've got an enter key, a tab key, and a spacebar I'll sell you for $10.

Me too but I'll throw in free shipping as a sweetener.

Although you're not to blame for this debacle Halston, reading your initial letters makes me angry to think that someone would expect to get their way after writing such a sarcastic, arrogant and down right rude mail.

[quottrethew]

Time and again it seems that most of us simply accept poor treatment and service from businesses,

Sooo ummm... They made a mistake and gave your money back AND gave you free shipping on whatever else you want and your still feeling emo raged? Humans arent perfect and neither are businesses. They tried to correct there mistake and your still being a ...

[boffincash]

I see things from both sides, since I work in the industry and I get it in the neck regularly from jumped up little people who think the world revolves around them.

A week after my mother died I was back at work listening to people complain how the wireless router they bought wouldn't work over 50 meters etc etc. Like it was the end of the world. I wanted to punch them in the face for being so downright petty. I learnt a very simple lesson:

Some things in life are worth complaining about, other things are not.

Not recieving your printer, but recieving an appology and free postage on another item is NOT worth complaining about, especially not in the terms you have.

[AngelinaTheElf]

To answer as many of the points raised in the replies on this board as I can. Whilst I can understand the comments accusing me of arrogance please bare in mind the piece was penned after waiting for the supposed phone call promised by the company, the one that didn’t come, the comment by Metalex “this kind of problem isn't exactly uncommon” is exactly the crux of the anger I felt. Time and again it seems that most of us simply accept poor treatment and service from businesses, the likes of which we would not accept from our families and friends. If I were to give an assurance to one of them that ‘X’ would happen or take place, then no matter what all effort would be expended to make that so, none of us I hope would feel comfortable knowing that we had welched on a deal. This onus we experience is naturally occurring echoing the moral responsibility we feel to those around us. However , and this is were the differential creeps in, for some reason those obscured as it where, behind the collective façade of company, business, etc metaphorically shrug their shoulders and mouth the well worn phrase ‘nowt I can do about it mate, its just business’, I fully realise that ‘business’ in this context is merely a euphemism for the abstract concept of capitalism, but ultimately let us not forget that each and every shoulder shrugger is in fact a fellow human being deserving in my opinion the same respect, And whilst it is true that capitalism as an abstract does not have a moral component we as humans do. To argue otherwise is to allow for any behaviour to become acceptable, and I am sure we are all aware of the atrocities we are capable of when such thinking becomes the norm. On a lighter note recent developments you may find amusing, after posting the original thread on Ebuyer’s Forum Blah Bar and having it removed by a moderator going by the name of ‘dagwoood’ I wrote back explaining my thoughts on censorship, a debate ensued but before I could contribute further, when attempting to log in I was greeted with the splash of,
“You have been banned for the following reason:
Abusing staff Date the ban will be lifted: 19-08-2008, 03:00 PM”
This was in response to the following
“Message to the cartoon persona of ‘dagwoood’,
Let me explain a few things to you the actual person behind the persona, in removing my post inviting assistance from other forum users you are blocking the promulgation of truth. In stifling freedom of expression in this arbitrary fashion, I can only conclude that in this act of desperation you are little more than a petty bully skulking in the shadows sycophantically pandering to your, one can only assume, disreputable pay masters. In suppressing free interchange between forum users you do everyone a huge disservice, inclusive of yourself I might add, and ultimately the very pay masters you no doubt believe yourself to be serving. Surely even the meanest of intellects must realise that without free and unfettered communication any business can not avail itself of that most precious of commodities, genuine feedback. Forever living in a delusional state they become flaccid and moribund. No doubt fearful of genuine interchange you will take it upon yourself to remove this note in the same fashion thereby compounding your idiocy, no matter there are other channels of communication beyond your capacity to interfere with, i.e. the Overclockers UK forum, the Futuremark/Yougamers Community, Hexus.net forum, PC review and Pricerunner forums to name but a few. You are in the final analysis sad and it saddens me to have to inform you of this fact.
Yours in sympathy Halston”

Apparently most of us fall foul from time to time to egotism, I fully include myself in this observation but rarely do I act to censor dissent, that being said I can not for the life of me see just where I have abused anyone. Thanks for all your replies they have made for interesting reading and give food for thought.
Thanks again
Halston

Get your head out of the dictionary and talk like a normal human being for Christ's sake, fancy words impress no one! If I had received your email it would have instantly been condemed to the recycle bin!

You have to understand that a company the size of Ebuyer deals with thousands of orders a day. I think they have done very well in replying to you in the manner they did, and to offer you free delivery when they had no reason to goes beyond the call of duty. If you had taken as much time to read their T&C's as you did to pen your over the top emails to them you would have saved yourself a lot of aggravation, and quite frankly, embarassment

[xgnuwdd]

They made a mistake, it happens, they apologized refunded you and gave you free delivery, what the hell is the matter with you?

I have order upwards of £1000 of PC Hardware from them without a hitch.

[MormefWrarebe]

They made a mistake, it happens, they apologized refunded you and gave you free delivery, what the hell is the matter with you?

I have order upwards of £1000 of PC Hardware from them without a hitch.

same

2 RMAs this year though, they picked up the duff bits at my house and processed my RMAs in 3 days [surrender]

Ebuyer are one of the better and reliable online retailers in UK IMO.

[Lhiistyssdds]

Sooo ummm... They made a mistake and gave your money back AND gave you free shipping on whatever else you want and your still feeling emo raged? Humans arent perfect and neither are businesses. They tried to correct there mistake and your still being a ...

Exactly... wtf...

To the OP - you have no leg to stand on - it was in their terms and cond & if there's a lil mistake in stock on their system - then **** happens. You're getting a refund and free shipping - but a different printer :S

[brulpcoersero]

same

2 RMAs this year though, they picked up the duff bits at my house and processed my RMAs in 3 days [surrender]

Ebuyer are one of the better and reliable online retailers in UK IMO.

Agreed and with the rest above.

[Âåðåùàãèí]

Wall of text that seriously needs an English teacher and a red pen

Ok, its clear your being an idiot now. You honestly think using big words that 10 year olds wouldnt understand makes you more important and clever then the rest of us? In all honesty I am hardly surprised they deleted your wall post with the attitude you give, and damn if I was the manager I would ask you not to shop with us again. Seriously, we would all love £1000 compensation for each mistake, but your taking the biscuit here.

And to be honest the manager probably didnt call you back because he thought this himself and your not worth the hastle.


Please, drop it.

[CefGemYAffews]

In my opinion eBuyer are a stand up company who offer exceptional customer service (for the past 2 years I have been using them). I must have ordered upwards of £5000-£6000 worth of equipment from them in this time for myself, family and friends and whilst inevitably there will be hardware issues/faults, they have always got them sorted quickly.

You're getting worked up over nothing. They have operated within the T&Cs you agreed to when you made the order and offered you a goodwill gesture for any inconvienience caused. The sheer logistics of having a huge warehouse, hundreds of warehouse staff and thousands of items, mean that there are going to be stock discrepancies from time to time.

Get over yourself, the comments you wrote made you look stupid and you hoped people here would consol you, patting you on the back along the way. [no]

[Eh085zE7]

To answer as many of the points raised in the replies on this board as I can. Whilst I can understand the comments accusing me of arrogance please bare in mind the piece was penned after waiting for the supposed phone call promised by the company, the one that didn’t come, the comment by Metalex “this kind of problem isn't exactly uncommon” is exactly the crux of the anger I felt. Time and again it seems that most of us simply accept poor treatment and service from businesses, the likes of which we would not accept from our families and friends. If I were to give an assurance to one of them that ‘X’ would happen or take place, then no matter what all effort would be expended to make that so, none of us I hope would feel comfortable knowing that we had welched on a deal. This onus we experience is naturally occurring echoing the moral responsibility we feel to those around us. However , and this is were the differential creeps in, for some reason those obscured as it where, behind the collective façade of company, business, etc metaphorically shrug their shoulders and mouth the well worn phrase ‘nowt I can do about it mate, its just business’, I fully realise that ‘business’ in this context is merely a euphemism for the abstract concept of capitalism, but ultimately let us not forget that each and every shoulder shrugger is in fact a fellow human being deserving in my opinion the same respect, And whilst it is true that capitalism as an abstract does not have a moral component we as humans do. To argue otherwise is to allow for any behaviour to become acceptable, and I am sure we are all aware of the atrocities we are capable of when such thinking becomes the norm. On a lighter note recent developments you may find amusing, after posting the original thread on Ebuyer’s Forum Blah Bar and having it removed by a moderator going by the name of ‘dagwoood’ I wrote back explaining my thoughts on censorship, a debate ensued but before I could contribute further, when attempting to log in I was greeted with the splash of,
“You have been banned for the following reason:
Abusing staff Date the ban will be lifted: 19-08-2008, 03:00 PM”
This was in response to the following
“Message to the cartoon persona of ‘dagwoood’,
Let me explain a few things to you the actual person behind the persona, in removing my post inviting assistance from other forum users you are blocking the promulgation of truth. In stifling freedom of expression in this arbitrary fashion, I can only conclude that in this act of desperation you are little more than a petty bully skulking in the shadows sycophantically pandering to your, one can only assume, disreputable pay masters. In suppressing free interchange between forum users you do everyone a huge disservice, inclusive of yourself I might add, and ultimately the very pay masters you no doubt believe yourself to be serving. Surely even the meanest of intellects must realise that without free and unfettered communication any business can not avail itself of that most precious of commodities, genuine feedback. Forever living in a delusional state they become flaccid and moribund. No doubt fearful of genuine interchange you will take it upon yourself to remove this note in the same fashion thereby compounding your idiocy, no matter there are other channels of communication beyond your capacity to interfere with, i.e. the Overclockers UK forum, the Futuremark/Yougamers Community, Hexus.net forum, PC review and Pricerunner forums to name but a few. You are in the final analysis sad and it saddens me to have to inform you of this fact.
Yours in sympathy Halston”

Apparently most of us fall foul from time to time to egotism, I fully include myself in this observation but rarely do I act to censor dissent, that being said I can not for the life of me see just where I have abused anyone. Thanks for all your replies they have made for interesting reading and give food for thought.
Thanks again
Halston

Sorry, but that was utterly unreadable, not to mention pretentious to the point of hilarity.

You need to step outside of your ******** and realise that they banned you for good reason. Your reaction to this non-issue makes me wonder how you would react if you were treated genuinely badly by a company. Maybe that's why we ban guns in this country.