MAPLINs,no refund but sent me an old pc filled with piracy & pornography

biscuitboy11

You just can't make up what i'm going to tell you !

Early in april,i bought a pc motherboard bundle from MAPLIN's online ,this comes as the motherboard,2 gig of RAM(memory)the processor and all leads instructions and driver cd included ,all to go in a computer case.

For reference

maplin.co.uk/Search.aspx?menuno=83881 don't forget to add the 3w's for the address

When it turned up,l later descovered the fault with it during setting this thing up ,basically two plastic sockets came away from the board when i removed the detachable leads that fit into them from my dvd and hard disc drives,as i was chopping and changing where my dvd drive and hard discs were to go.

So i emailed Maplins with the problem and also stated that i'd want a refund (as per their T&C),so they told me to send this back to Maplin's engineers,their policy is they have to have their engineers look at the item before any refund,repair or replacement is undertaken .

So it was all sent back,(not before taking pictures of everything that i was returning)all cables and such ,as without returning all the items,Maplin's would not give a refund.

A week later i was sent a replacement motherboard,no refund ,along with an engineers letter stating that i had caused the fault.

So i thought maybe i'd just keep the replacement and began setting it up with my cables,as Maplins had not returned the ones i sent back to them and also the cd that is needed to install this motherboard had also not been retuned,along with two of the manuals,so what they had sent me was next to useless.

So i began removing the leads that i had already connected to this worthless replacement and just as with the first faulty motherboard,when i removed two of the leads,off came two of the same plastic sockets with the leads,leaving just the tiny metal pins standing on the pc motherboard!

So again i emailed Maplins,told them of this second fault and about the missing items and again asking about getting my money refunded ,they agreed to a refund when their engineers have looked at it and made their judgement.

I returned this second faulty motherboard bundle and just waited for my refund,(as stated by their customer services in their emails),just over a week later and i checked my debit card's balance to see if there was a refund yet,nothing,but when i came home on tuesday 12.5.2009,i found a card stating a box had been left with my neighbours,surley not from maplins i thought.

So today wednesday 13.5.2009,my brother goes and collects the box,i see him struggling with it,it big enough for me to fit inside and by the way my brother is red faced ,there is no little thing inside.

So when it's inside the house,i see the big MAPLIN's sticker on the side of this battered and torn box from hell,and inside i find the returned motherboard's little box( it's about the size of a christmas selection box but 6" thick)and underneath this was a dirty old desktop pc case and a letter from their Engineer,basicaly stating that they won't fix this fault,"as i've caused it"!

(i had to get my camera to take pictures of all this again)

It seems obvious to anyone, that they were a bit peed off at me asking for a refund for the second time ,"so we'll(MAPLIN's) stick in an old heavey pc inside the biggest box we can find ,send it back and that will be the end of it".

Frankly this is not the behaviour of an adult and on further examination of the smelly old pc ,it had two disc drives,one lightscribe multi drive and a normal cd drive,then looking through the transparent side panel,what did i notice was also still inside,you guessed it ,the hard disc,and then i thought to myself ,hmm surely they can't have done what dixons has done in the past,yes they did !

On this hard drive is lots and lots of pirated music which has been dowloaded using Limewire,also pirate or commonly known as "cracked games" and lots of pornographic images,quite some of the 4 legged variety i kidd you not, to say i was shocked and sickened at is an understatement !

All i wanted was my refund,instead i get made to feel ,i don't know, what words could i use to describe it as?

starsky365

I would be writing to TS and having a little chat with PC Plod if I were you

isplumm

Hi,

I would be tempted to find the address & name of MD of Maplin & send him recorded delivery letter ... recording the details as here ... don't get angry .... try & keep letter to point ... also contact local paper / watchdog, etc.

Mark

biscuitboy11

isplumm wrote: »

Hi,

I would be tempted to find the address & name of MD of Maplin & send him recorded delivery letter ... recording the details as here ... don't get angry .... try & keep letter to point ... also contact local paper / watchdog, etc.

Mark

This is something i had been thinking about,but what's also been going through my mind is a huge feeling of guilt ,no not guilt but feeling that i have actually done wrong,thinking that if i complain ,then those who sent this to me hoping "that's the end of that akward customer" will say or try to make it out as actually belonging to me .

isplumm

biscuitboy11 wrote: »

This is something i had been thinking about,but what's also been going through my mind is a huge feeling of guilt ,no not guilt but feeling that i have actually done wrong,thinking that if i complain ,then those who sent this to me hoping "that's the end of that akward customer" will say or try to make it out as actually belonging to me .

Well I wouldn't stand for it .... you didn't ask for this :mad: - kick a fuss up!!!

Mark

fwor

biscuitboy11 wrote: »

This is something i had been thinking about,but what's also been going through my mind is a huge feeling of guilt ,no not guilt but feeling that i have actually done wrong,thinking that if i complain ,then those who sent this to me hoping "that's the end of that akward customer" will say or try to make it out as actually belonging to me .

I have no connection with Maplin other than having bought stuff from them for years. They do make occasional mistakes, but their Customer Service has always been very good for me.

The most likely explanation for this is that it's just a mix-up. Someone has sent the PC that you now have to Maplin, and they've made an error and returned it to you by mistake.

If you just phone them up and explain - calmly - what's happened, they will almost certainly be very apologetic and try and help to resolve it.

The_Pedant

Some of the content you describe on the 'replacement' PC would be classed as illegal, under more than one statute (especially under some of the newer laws of recent years) and therefore not something you'd want to be in posession of. I would say therefore that you would be doing your 'civic duty' to duly inform the police of your findings.

In parallel to this, I would duly take all of the action noted above (the MD, trading stds etc), standing firm in your original claim, but also in notifying them that you were obligated to notify the authorities due to the illegal content found on the system they sent you.

Coupon-mad

If Maplins have refused 2 refunds for you already, maybe they are going to have you down as a troublemaker. You have done the right thing with your photos when you returned some items. And you have witnesses as to the heavy box most recently delivered, so they won't be able to say you're making that up and it didn't come from them...

I think I would publicise it (Watchdog or the national press, either would shame them into sorting this out for you I expect). And report it to the police as well.

fwor

Coupon-mad wrote: »

And report it to the police as well.

Come on now, lets get a sense of proportion here!

Given that Maplin themselves aren't likely to have created this PC just to upset the OP, some as yet unknown person was (allegedly) a file sharer and had some pron on their PC, and it is now accidentally in the hands of the OP. Whose interests will be served by calling the police? What "good thing" will result from that?

biscuitboy11

Coupon-mad wrote: »

And you have witnesses as to the heavy box most recently delivered, so they won't be able to say you're making that up and it didn't come from them...

This dirty old desktop that they sent me is covered with one of their own stickers ,with reference numbers and dates written on in ink by their employees,so that's one thing which proves it is theirs.

Here is the pictures i took on the day.

img40.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=map194.jpg

What my first step shall be is trading standards, they should be able to do what's needed to get this matter resolved .yes!

Also ,trying to google the email details for Maplin's top man brings back nothing1

biscuitboy11

fwor wrote: »

Come on now, lets get a sense of proportion here!

Given that Maplin themselves aren't likely to have created this PC just to upset the OP, some as yet unknown person was (allegedly) a file sharer and had some pron on their PC, and it is now accidentally in the hands of the OP. Whose interests will be served by calling the police? What "good thing" will result from that?

I'm thinking that this was maybe some pc that their engineers used for testing things out on,(as it has no motherboard inside,just everything else and it's dirty, battered, bruised and bent,unlikely to be from a customer in this state) and also used for "recreational purposes" as lot's of employees do on company time.