Topic: What a set of Tossers

[Tony]

Right, I bought a "second user" Dell 17" Trinitron monitor from a firm off Ebay, to go with my two existing Dell Trinitons, which I had also bought through Ebay 22 months ago. The younger but inferiour bog standard Compaq monitor that made up my three monitor setup, was past it's best. So time to pass it on to my mate, who has detached reteiners... hang on before you start sending me hate mail. Look he has a tight wife who wont let him get shut of his 15" Tiny monitor thats completely knackered, he has it on 600x400. Last time he saw a full page, was when he was oggling page three of the Sun. And yep he thinks his hand me down 17" Compaq is wonderful... he really must get those reteiners seen to...or a new Miss'es.

Anyway I diegress,  right it turned out that its replacement was a tade long in the tooth, 7 years and 4 months long as it happens, about the same ago os my mates Tiny. And you know what....the tube was on the way out to. Anyway the firm who sold it to me, totally ignored my complaint email, Big Mistake. Anyway I eventually managed to show them the error of their ways [we are on the best of terms now] and we arranged for the monitor to be picked up this Thursday for a full refund. By the way they are not the "Tossers" in this story... mind you I ain't got the cheque yet...there again they ain't got their monitor back yet... so lets be patient.

Anyway this experience, led me to the conclusion, from now on ...only new monitors for me. Now as I run three monitors, I'm really restricted to 17" monitors and that?s fine. Unfortunately with the transition of business users to LCD monitors, good professional 17" New "Trinitron/ Diamondtron" CRT monitors are all but extinct. Iiyama have stopped making their 17"  Dimondtron offering,
and so have CTX with their PR705F. So in the end I decided to buy a CTX EX700F from Ebuyer, it?s a supposedly a flat shadow mask monitor. Standard delivery , order Friday should despatch Wednesday, sit back and wait.

But hang on, there I am surfing checking out price runner, and bingo??..Simply Computers have one CTX PR705F for sale, its CTX?s very last CTX 17?  Trinitron in Britain?.or the world even. Well that?s what the man from CTX said on the phone, after I emailed their Tech support , he told me they had not produce that model for ages, must be old stock, he said  But who cares it?s a ?Trinitron?, I must say CTX tech support are really quick to reply to emails, the guy emailed back said give me your phone number and I?ll ring and discuss it with you, now where do you get that kind of service these days.

Right that?s it, decision made, Ebuy have not despatched the EX700F, and so I cancel it. And email Simply , asking as it is the last end of a range monitor, will they do a deal, two days pass Zilch form Simply. Sod it, if somebody else buys it, I will kick myself, so Friday I order the Pro705F from Simply Computers, plus its free delivery for orders placed in July. I get an email saying?order accepted, will deliver latest Wednesday, sit back and wait.

Well they are picking up the faulty Dell Sony I bought of Ebay Thursday, so come Wednesday dinnertime I thinking where is my new monitor !!!!! So I look on the Simply web site?and bugger me?they are still offering for sale the one and only last Trinitron standing monitor. Straight on the blower, did you despatch my monitor, and if so how come your still offering it for sale??just a moment sir?..guy comes back ?..I?m transferring you to customer service???.right straight into that irritating musack crap?.interspersed with messages reassuring me that my phone call is important to the. Eventually after ten mins an Aussie comes on the line and informs me the Website is wrong?..well excuse me?I could have told you that??Well when I say wrong ?.I mean we have not had PR705F?s in stock for yonks.  YOU b*****dS, you took my order told me when it would be coming, and you never had one in the first place, your nowt but as set of TOSSERS .

All is not lost, we can still do it, back to Ebuyer, reorder the EX700F pay extra for priority delivery. In stock, order, acknowledgement email, confirmation email, despatch email with you tomorrow tracker number??now that?s a proper firm.
Sure thing, today I?m a proud owner of a new EX700F, just one thing the tube is no better than the one sat in the hall waiting to go back to that Ebay IT firm.  How do you get Ebuyer to talk to you, do they answer those ?Enote?  thingies?ever

[Lona]

You're not having much luck, Tony.  I'm glad now I didn't win that monitor on ebay.

Here's where I got mine. It's the 19" HP one

http://www.itcsales.co.uk/acatalog/19__Monitors.html

[Clive]

That gets "Best story of the Year" nomination Tony!  

[Simon]

Yup, almost[/b] a match for my CCL episode.    Must be something about buying monitors online.  

[Camstop]

Donno why it's gotta be a trinitron Tony  :slightlymad:


Mind you i did always say you'd go blind  :whistle:


Seen loads said about these >>>


They had a batch of at least 110 of these last week and sold them all in 2 days at £129.98 inc vat hence this batch is a little more expensive    

[Tony]

In reply to your question cammy, I would first have to verify if you have had a "Trinitron" or aperture grill monitor yourself. If you can see a Shadow Mask monitor and an aperture grill monitor running on the same system side by side I think you will see the difference. Colour depth better, and sharper text.

That said I have not seen a Samsung Dyna Flat monitor though I have often toyed with buying one. But the DynaFlat like all Shadow Mask monitors are not true flat monitors. The tubes sit behind a flat front glass, and you have that massive mask around the edge of the screen,  whereas Trinitons are wall to wall flat graphics.

If you want the best CRT monitor out there you  just got to go for an aperture grill monitor, I think Adept will back me up on that statement.

I thought that 21" Sammy was terrific value but discounted it on size. Mind you it would not  bother me, but if you wanted to run it at higher resolutions it struggles with the refresh rates. There is always a reason for a low price, and lets be fair people usually buy big monitors usually because the wanna see more stuff on their screen...hence using bigger resolution settings.  I see they only put the price up on it yesterday, mind you off the top off my head its £250 ish on Dabs [they had 3 in stock Wednseday]

Lona, your HP looks OK, and its got a low  dot pitch as well. I see the top monitor advertised is a Dell Triniton , but the following blurb below says its a Shadow Mask monitor, it cannot be both.

I'm hoping to swop the CTX SM monitor for a 19" OK I'll have to squeeeeeze it onto my desk Iiyama VM PRO 455 [Diamondtron] at £158 delivered, IIyama have exellent support and it comes with 3 years on site warranty.

Clive, Simon ...yep it is a fair saga...and not finished yet.....Ebuyer have yet to reply to my Enote.......thats what I like about CCL ...you can phone the buggers....just as for my mate Wassem he'll sort it for you
     

[Camstop]

In reply to your question cammy, I would first have to verify if you have had a "Trinitron" or aperture grill monitor yourself.

Well in my business we judge monitors on TV lines   and they range from 320-800 TVL on colour monitors and side by side there is a big difference  8) But on their own you'd be happy with any of them  

Now here in my office i have a 19" AOC "TFT" Digi/analogue with built in speakers(not the best ) and 4 usb posts down the side...Now i think it's the DB's   but side by side with a Trinitron it might look a little round from the DB's  

So your problem is that you want to replicate your best screen  8)

Solution
Buy 3 cheap monitors that are all the same (you'll soon get used to them ) and sell your good monitors on E-bay and it'll hardly cost you a thing  

Easy innit  

[Tony]

hehe cammy working on the principle of.....if you don't know any better..... and what the eye cannot see....you have a fair point mate.

But as I'm stuck in  front of these monitors hours on end, and I have seen the promised land   I ain't prepared to put up with mediocre  

Still silence from Ebuyer, oh dear what is it with online customer services.........is it the fact that they do not need to confront customers face to face, that they reckon you will eventually p**s off if they ignore you!!!!!

Having the wrong kinda people at the customer point of contact...or not as the case is in this instance. They the company miss the last chance they proburbly have of redeeming their companies good name with the customer concerned.

So the polite approach brings an responce deafening in its silence, which roughly interpeted, if you can interpet silence is ....p**s off, we cannot be arsed to communicate with you...we've got your money..so what if the product is faulty ...why do you think warranties were invented....I fcking hate this job...people are always fcking moaning...is it brew time yet Sharon?

STAGE TWO: Persistance [or how of reply to silence]

I have tried in the absence of a reply to my Enote to try the returns method of contact. I'm auto advised I have to contact CTX under their warranty terms. Well excuse me, but as the goods arrived faulty I wish to return the goods to Ebuyer.The law supports me in my right to do so, either under the 2000 "Distance Selling Act" even if the monitor was not faulty, but in this case it is.And as is the case in this instance under the Sale of Goods Act as "not fit for purpose"

Now I have offered to take a monitor that is twice as expensive as the faulty CTX. But if refusing to answer my query is a sign of Ebuyers commitment to customer support, I will withdraw my offer to upgrade to a more expensive monitor.

Now we can do this the easyway or the hardway, but you will at some point have to communicate with me regarding the issue sooner or later. And sooner I can assure you would be  better for all concerned. I hope you don't force me to come down to you head office personally to sort this problem out


Disgruntled of Droitwich

[Tony]

Ebuyer proves its Tosser credentials are up there with the cream of the Tossers.

http://www.computeractive.co.uk/print/1151742

Consumeractive: The trouble with bargains
When customer service falls victim to cost cutting
Dinah Greek, vnunet.com 30 Dec 2003

There are bargains galore to be had online but too often these savings come at a price of e-tailers cutting corners - and a lack of awareness about consumer rights.

Luckily this last issue is something the Office of Fair Trading hopes to rectify, so the problems experienced by Eric Jones and Alan Tosney should become a thing of the past. Both were customers of Ebuyer and their one major gripe was how difficult it is to get hold of the company when things go wrong.

"I can't fault the delivery service of the company but I found the website misleading," Mr Jones told me.

"I wanted a USB2 external drive kit and FireWire card but when they arrived [Ebuyer] had supplied the USB2 kit but the card was a USB1 card. I wanted to return them and sent them emails and phoned, but the number was always busy and I couldn't find the company address on the site."

Mr Jones also believed he would incur a restocking fee of 20 per cent.

Mr Tosney had very similar problems when a DVD player he bought from Ebuyer turned out to be duff. He returned the item with no problems, but although the Ebuyer website offered him a choice of replacement or refund, before he made up his mind the site made it up for him, he claims.

Weeks later there is no sign of a replacement.

"I can't find their address, the phone number is always busy and no one returns my emails. My confidence is shaken by this," said Mr Tosney.

I contacted Ebuyer about these complaints and they have resolved them swiftly. I asked why the e-tailer charged a restocking fee, and was told that this was a misunderstanding.

Even though Mr Jones should have returned the items within seven days, Ebuyer said it would provide a refund if he still wishes to return them, and no charge will be made.

I did find Ebuyer's address on its website but you have to dig down into the terms and conditions, so I believe it should be more prominently displayed.

I also asked them to investigate Mr Tosney's missing DVD player and was told that it no longer in stock and that a credit had been applied to his account.

When I told Ebuyer he wanted a refund it agreed to make this payment to his credit card.

The problems reported here are very common. Customer service levels suffer as companies cut overheads to keep product prices down.

Some things, however, can be put right at little extra cost. Hopefully the OFT guidelines will aid companies, and this should ultimately benefit their customers.

STILL NO WORD FROM EBUYER CUSTOMER MISSERVICES.

[Tony]

And theres more

http://www.clik2complaints.co.uk/DPs/ebuyer2.html



I dare say some of you have used Ebuyer and found them OK, but the ACID TEST is have you had to return anything. Heres a guy who also thought the were OK, untill he had a complaint
 
http://www.clik2complaints.co.uk/DPs/ebuyer4.html
This s a cracking page

I thought that ebuyer was a good company, I have built a few systems from them and although I did get a few faulty parts everything was in the end sorted out. However they must have had on hell of a Christmas party this year!!!! I order a printer, cables and cartridge on Dec 23rd. Payment was taken immediately but I was not to expect anything until 6th Jan. On the 5th Jan I recieved an enote telling me that the cartridge was out of stock and what did I want to do, I tried ringing them but couldn't and still can't get anything other than an engaged tone, no matter what phone I try ringing off. I sent them an enote asking them to take off the cartridge from the order and ship everything else as I needed the printer urgently, this they said they would do. On the 8th Jan I recieved a small box with my USB & PS2 extension cables - but no bloody printer. I thought I'd give it a day or two before I would again copntact them via enotes, I did this on Mon 12th Jan, but have still had no response. I am not very satisfied at all.

Like I said I was previously satisfied with ebuyer with their cheap prices I was slightly prepared to put up with a less than perfect customers services department but I think that this is the last straw, I would not recommended them to anyone. Boo to ebuyer!!!! James Skipper ...14 January 2004

Are heres a good bit of advice [same page]

I have also run into this problem with them over faulty goods but my advice is to buy all goods with mastercard as the dealer has to collect within 30 days or the faulty goods are yours to dispose what ever you way you see fit. And within 60 days you will receive a full refund from the card issuer. The good thing about this is you will get a receipt from the courier and you send a copy of this to the card issuer as proof of return,its like everything else in life you only find the good dealers after you have had problems,we could ask the main card issuers to remove their credit status to protect other users interests in this matters.
Brian Hunter ... 7 May 2003


And guess what I only ever use MasterCard for my online purchases.

[Lona]

Hey Tony, you're not obviously using the Lona approach.  . If you want me to sort them out for you I'm available. I love a challenge.  

[Tony]

Well after reading all the disgruntled customers [ and thats only those who found their way to "clik2complaints.co.uk" I realise I may be in this for the long hau, so I contacted MasterCard. As Ebuyer have not debited my card yet I cannot yet take any action, I was told to contact Mastercard next week, and once my account has been debited they will start "dispute" proccedings over the payment.

If hassel is what Ebuyer want then all I can say is they have come to the right bloke.

 
Enote No 3. [still no answers to one and two]

 After reading the likes of http://www.clik2complaints.co.uk/DPs/ebuyer4.htm and http://www.computeractive.co.uk/print/1151742 I realise your customer services are a total disgrace. And it is unlikely that you will reply to my requests to return the faulty monitor.

I have therefore contacted Mastercard, and when payment is taken from my account by Ebuyer I will start dispute proccedings regard your non compliance in relation to the Distance Selling regs and the Sale of Goods Act.

You have still got time to sort this out amicably, but if you refuse to comply with your obligations, I will be reporting the company to the Tradiing Standars Office.

Of course there is still time to sort this out the easy way.

Bloody Fuming from Barrow-in-Furness


And it could have been sorted so easly....I'm just speechless....and so are they apparently  

[Camstop]

I only had to return one item to them and i went through the correct procedure and it was plain sailing  8)


But yes it is well known that is their worst point  

[Tony]

Thanks for your offer Lona, but I'm fine thanks, just having a bit of trouble getting the enemy  [yes war has been declared] to commit to the first contact. But they will have to come out and fight eventually...............yesterday I was a customer....today I'm a fighter for consumer rights.

I dare say not many companies can turn a paying customer into an arch enemy over night....I reckon the must have Dubiya on the Board of Directors  

[Tony]

I only had to return one item to them and i went through the correct procedure and it was plain sailing  8)


But yes it is well known that is their worst point  

both hands on the key board cammy   and pay attention , I first tried "Enoting" customer services AND THEN I tried raising a RMA number... go back to the begining of the thread and start again.

Or just point out exactly where I went wrong  

Here I'll save you the trouble I have tried in the absence of a reply to my Enote to try the returns method of contact. I'm auto advised I have to contact CTX under their warranty terms. ....end of the road my boy....now go away...theres no RMA's being dished out on your CTX ...................you still here are you thick or summat