Concord digital camera £19.99 [CLOSED]

looby75

Hi everyone. This is my first post on the chat forums so please be kind

I ordered this camera after reading about it in the weekly email and thought that a 3mp camera for £19.99 was a bargain. I opted for the empire account option, money is a bit tight for me at the moment and the choice of paying for this little luxury in interest free instalments was a good one. The item I ordered was the 3mp camera and the email confirmation I received also stated that it was indeed a 3mp camera. Needless to say today I only received a 2mp, cheap and rubbish camera which was nothing like the one pictured. I contacted empire and was told it was a "Mistake on the website" but was advised I could give it a try and see if it was worth £19.99 anyway. So I took a few pics and realised just how rubbish it really is, so decided that I would return it and while I was online looking for details of how I could do that I noticed the weekly newsletter from Martin and the link to the forum.

Anyway to cut a very long story a bit shorter, I got onto empire (via the saynoto0870 number, thanks to the forums )and got a total prat of a customer service person who has put me off shopping with empire for the rest of my life, even more than this whole fiasco has. He gave me the line about "mistake on the website" and when I commented about the fact I had email confirmation of a 3mp camera too, he said "yes that was wrong too" He also constantly referred to the fact there had been a "note around about the mistake" and that they were aware the offer had been promoted on "some freebie websites". I was told I could send the camera back for a full refund if I wanted, and I said that is what I intend to do, and that I also intend to close my account with empire as soon as the camera was confirmed as returned. The rep then said "what for this one incident....don't you think that's a bit dramatic" I replied that as this was my first ever order with empire that it hadn't exactly instilled me with confidence and that I saw no reason to deal with a company who I felt I couldn't trust.....his reply? "ok do what you feel you need too, goodbye"

Yeah great customer services!

The only silver lining out of all this is that for once, at least the mistake wasn't mine! lol

codetown

silps wrote:

I just had a thought, aren't they switching of analogue transmissions in a few years. Don't know what i would do with this tv then. Have a look at the following completed auction eBay link for a good laugh :rotfl:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PALLET-OF-100-5-5-TV-B-W_W0QQitemZ7599230421QQcategoryZ48461QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Oh well, now we also know the source of this Empire freebie and the cost (less than 2 pound each inc P&P)! The boxes are exactly the same as Empires, but the ebay ones were sold as faulty though. Has anyone actually switched the Empire BW TV on ? :rolleyes:

Jamie85

:rotfl: the thing is though, I doubt Empire bought them off ebay, considering that ebay seller must have made a profit on selling them at under £1.50 each, Empire must have picked them up for under a quid a piece :rolleyes: a small price to pay for totally ripping a whole bunch of people off with those dam cameras!

looby75, sorry to hear about your misfortune at the hands of this "company". I too will be requesting they delete all my details from their database as soon as my balance is wiped, we are fully within our rights to do so, especially given the appalling service received.

Still not had ANY reply to my email here :mad: I'm livid, as if being ripped off wasn't bad enough, they don't even have the decency to reply to me to put it right, will resend the email a couple of times, see if that brings any sort of response. I was just going to request that I return the items for a refund.....but now it will be going straight to Trading Standards, the majority of you received a far inferior model, I got that too as well as being billed 2X what was quoted at checkout and in confirmation emails.

LD

When I first looked at the site it was a 3.1 MB (with no picture) but by the time I got my brother in law to order one (for my nephew) it had dropped to the 2MB but decided to get a camera that was $90 last year for £10 with the discount code

I was kicking myself for not ordering it directly myself when I first looked.

Okay that's not the reason I'm posting, just to remind all of the Kodak camera fiasco a couple of years back - Kodak capitulated - so I'd say hold firm to all.

And Empire aren't doing any favours saying you can return it - you have that right anyway

glatisanta

Hello,

I ordered when it was a 3.1MB with a photo of a silver camera. Saw the pik of the replacement camera on the same order code yesterday, and snorted. Mine has yet to be ready for dispatch, so I've yet to have the pleasure of returning it.

However, I ordered it with a £15 off £30 first order code I found on hotukdeals under Google cache (the hukd site was down at the time). I added a camping starter kit to the order which was on sale from nearly £60 (the equivalent is in Argos for about £45) to £20.99.

My order email confirmation split the £15 discount between the two items, however, when the camping kit arrived yesterday the invoice shows the entire £15 discount, with a charge for the kit of all of £5.99 ... that's for two very cheapy sleeping bags, two bed rolls, two ruck sack things which are fine for occasional use and a blue two man tent, which the kids will love.

Am happy with that - my daughter is off sleeping in a museum with the Brownies this weekend, and she can't fit in her kiddy sleeping bag anymore, so that's a s.bag and a rucksack with a use already.

Dunno about finding out that the 'free' dinner service to be delivered today is yellow though ... reckon the hospice shop can find a use for it.

Bests

mancfrank

£60 for 512MB SD card?!?!??!?!

try http://www.ebuyer.com/

1GB SD card for £22.50, 512MB for £14!!!!!

mancfrank

Reading through the thread I think this could well have been a relatively cheap way of Empire to build up their database of contacts, sure they've had the hassle of handling the calls but they've collected a lot of data on new customers. Probably quite a few people who bought the camera couldn't be bothered returning it. Also Empire have opened quite few accounts - I'm sure that must be one of the key KPI's (key performance indicators) for their type business.
That's why they customer service agents have not been too happy with people closing their accounts.

unknown_786

Ordered camera..received it....gave it back...kept the tv.....same as a lot of people here......this is the SECOND time I have ordered a camera from Empire...and the SECOND time it is going back...but I now have a horrible yellow plastic dinner set and a black and white analogue TV for my troubles...is it worth it? hmmm..

Minerva69

bertha wrote:

This is "sold out the credit/debit card payment will only be charged when the items are despatched". I do, though, now have a customer account number so can look up "my account" on the empire web site which tells me

"19 Mar 2006 SW6826 DIGITAL CAMERA 1 (19.99) 20 Weeks"

I got the same thing too. I spent £32 when I ordered the camera and used the £15 off voucher. I bought a top that should have been £11.99 but on my delivery note it says it's free. Shame it doesn't fit :rolleyes2

I got the lovely plastic dinner set too, and a welcome pack, but no telly. Oh well, my toddler likes the plates in the dinner set!

One thing I did notice is that when I logged in to check my account, it says I placed my order on 17th March but I actually did it in the early hours of the 15th. Has anyone else noticed this?

Paul_Varjak

So, if the wrong goods are delivered, perhaps they can be treated as unsolicited goods?

If that is the case, you can tell Empire Stores to collect the goods. If they do not collect them then, under the Unsolicited Goods Act, they become your property.

Perhaps someone could advise on the legalities?