Chemist Direct???

sittinpretty

I ordered an 'in stock' item from them ten days ago and heard nothing, not even an order acknowledgement! Have emailed three times but heard nothing, they are truly dreadful. The order status on their site states being 'processed'. Ten days to process an order? Wow, I guess efficiency isn't their strongest point.

I did a search for them on Google News and the following very recent (Jan 2010) news items gave me a laugh:

From https://www.realbusiness.co.uk:

"Twenty entrepreneurs have found themselves the subject of celebrity photographer Rankin's camera once again, as BT's Essence of the Entrepreneur exhibition opened last night.

A panel of judges, led by Dragon entrepreneur Peter Jones, looked at Britain’s most innovative businesses that use technology successfully, and selected 20 winners to be photographed by Rankin.

“The Essence of the Entrepreneur winners are bucking a trend, creating stand-out businesses, harnessing the developments of technology and thriving,” says head judge Peter Jones.

The wide spread of sectors amid the winners illustrates just how alive the UK’s entrepreneurial spirit still is – for example, the winners include online greengrocer Fruit Of The Office, jelly sculptors Bompass & Parr, online chemist Chemist Direct, and a small knitting shop, Loop Knitting."

also from https://www.realbusiness.co.uk:

"Chemist Direct's Mitesh Soma is branching out from budget paracetamol to ball point pens as he launches his online stationery and office supplies store Stationery Direct.

"I got the idea when we were buying stock for the Chemist Direct office. I noticed we were just randomly buying things on credit card – printers, paper for invoices, that sort of thing. I thought there must be cheaper options."
A little investigation into the mark-up on stationery goods confirmed Soma’s suspicions: “I found there were really good margins and an opportunity to undercut the big players.”

It's a model he’s confident will work. Just two years on from its launch, Chemist Direct has rocketed to a £20m-turnover business by drastically under-cutting high-street pharmacies.

A quick squizz at the website shows you just how much you’re saving by buying your pencils and paperclips at Stationery Direct. A price comparison page lists, per item, what you’d pay at Viking Direct, Staples and Rymans. The savings through Soma’s discount website are impressive – up to 95 per cent on some items.

With Chemist Direct fast becoming a household name – not to mention scooping the prestigious Young Company of the Year gong at our recent Real Business/CBI Growing Business Awards – Soma will fancy his chances at turning Stationery Direct into the go-to site for consumers looking to cut costs."

and from https://www.onlineprnews.com:

"The founders of award-winning online discount pharmacy Chemist Direct will tomorrow launch a new online venture, Stationery Direct (website address: https://www.stationerydirect.co.uk).

Mitesh Soma and his wife Krishna, both 33, set up Chemist Direct in November 2007 and last year the business recorded a turnover of more than £10 million.

The new company, which will operate from a warehouse in Smethwick, West Midlands, will sell cut-price stationery and aims to take on giants such as Staples, Viking Direct and Ryman as it builds a share of the £2.5 billion UK stationery market.

The website will target small and medium businesses in particular.

Mitesh claims customers will be able to make average savings of 50 per cent on stationery compared with High Street retailers. More than 20,000 items will be available through the new website.

Mitesh says: "With conditions as tough as they are firms are looking at ways to save money wherever possible, which is why we believe the timing of this site is right."

By 'wherever possible' I think he means keeping peoples money and not doing expensive things like replying to their enquiries or sending out the goods they have paid for.

By the way, who on earth would want to go and see an exhibition of photographs of entrepreneurs? It beggars belief. The people who would want to really scare me :eek: Can you buy a poster of your favourite entrepreneur to put up on your bedroom wall? I must e-mail the exhibition.

Stompa

sittinpretty wrote: »

"The founders of award-winning online discount pharmacy Chemist Direct will tomorrow launch a new online venture, Stationery Direct (website address: www.stationerydirect.co.uk).

Thanks, at least I now know that Stationary Direct is also one to avoid!

Sterlingtimes

What a dreadful set of reviews Chemist Direct has around the internet.

Nearly all on-line retailers process orders immediately.

This company has a service model that will result in its self-destruction.

I have cancelled my order and cancelled my credit card details but looking at the experiences of others this will not be simply resolved.

giddy-aunt

My first order was placed on 4th February.

I have been checking my account daily to see if the items had been dispached.

Last Friday was 8 days since placing order so I managed to get on my 3rd attempt at contacting someone online, successful. I was assured that I would have my order in 2 to 3 days.

I will be waiting eagerly tomorrow for my delivery.

The status of my order remains unchanged.

(04-Feb-2010Order Being Processed)

This is my first and last order.

The_Face_Man

I was going to use them but then i read some of their reviews and they seem to get a hell of a lot of negative ones

But they do seem to be registered i just dont know how reliable they are.

sarune

I ordered loads of goodies from them on 29 Jan (stupid me, should have read the posts on this forum first!) and haven't heard anything from them for 3 weeks! I emailed them 4 times and didn't get any reply, but luckily the parcel turned up on 13 February!

What's most annoying is that it says on their website 'buy for £40 to get free FAST delivery'. Wow, 16 days - is it what they call fast delivery?

Will never use them again!

SkippyJoe

Absolutely terrible company! Customer Service is almost nonexistent. My first order was fine but the second took over a week & they didn’t once respond to any inquiries regarding my order. I wouldn’t recommend them in the least!

SkippyJoe

They’re probably so overwhelmed with complaints that they’d have to pay someone to sit there for a week addressing every issue!

withabix

Hopeless company.

Don't order from them.

I'm still waiting for an order placed two weeks ago and they don't reply to emails at all.

I hope they go bust soon, because they deserve it.

Anjiedee

I too had been stung by the company called ChemistDirect, placed an order on the 18th Feb for 41.00, they took my money on the 23rd, no delivery, i kept checking the website and it repeatedly kept on saying order being processed. I phoned them to ask what was happening and all they could say to me is "I dont know why you have not recieved it, its in stock" i asked them if they could contact the warehouse, and they said no, its a ticket system. They said they would sent a high priority ticket and my order would be with me soon........ did i recieve? Well no. I then rung them Tuesday 22nd March as i was running out of patience and no order has arrived and i asked to speak to the manager. They said he could not come to the phone but he would ring me back. 2 hours later he did i told him to cancel the order and i will never ever use the company again. All this fast delivery on order's over 40 pounds is just a lie!!!!!
Well my refund still had not arrived today so when i was at work i searched for them on the internet and the link to this site came up. I seen the email for the director and emailed him straight away, about an hour later i had an email back from [TEXT DELETED BY ABUSE TEAM] customer services manager really apologising and saying my order was out of stock, which i know it was not as i had been told there was plenty in. She said i would have a refund to my paypal account by the end of the day.
Low and behold the refund has arrived. I just wanted to say to all those that are still in dispute. There is light. I was so angry that these people were quick enough to take my money but not stump up the goods.