Spares2Go - Con Artists ?

Ebe_Scrooge

Has anyone had any experience of Spares2Go.co.uk ? A month ago I ordered a spare part for my cooker, and so far have seen hide nor hair of it. The company studiously refuse to answer any email enquiries, and the only phone number I've managed to find has an automated message telling me to email them ! Their online order tracking system just says the part is "On Order", as it has been for the last month.

Are they just a bunch of con merchants ? I'm about to contact my credit card company to get them to chase it up, but thought I'd check here to a) see if anyone else has had problems, and b) warn the good folk of the MSE community to avoid this company like the plague.

*** rant over and thanks for listening ***

loobs40

We are having exactly the same problem with them. If I don't hear anything back in the next few days, I will be contacting my credit card company

underlay_guru

Hi,

Firstly, their registered office address (36A Milton Road) is the address of an accountant, so it would be pointless contacting them. Here are the details of the website registrant:

Domain name: spares2go.co.uk
Registrant: Des Coffey
Registrant's address:
71 st.mary street
southampton
Hampshire
SO14 1NW
United Kingdom

.....and this business is trades at the same address:

Southampton Service Centre (Domestic Appliance Repairs)
71 st.mary street
Southampton
SO14 1NW

Tel: 02380229832
Fax: 02380333898
Email: [EMAIL="sales@soton-service-centre.com"]sales@soton-service-centre.com[/EMAIL]

Perhaps these landline phone or fax numbers are worth a try....

young_team

loobs40 wrote: »

We are having exactly the same problem with them. If I don't hear anything back in the next few days, I will be contacting my credit card company

We are in exactly the same position... After 8 weeks of emails from them about getting the correct parts from their supplier, we received an email (18th Nov) that our order had been dispatched... No package has arrived and their are not answering any of our emails... (5 and counting). The telephone number is an answering machine and has no facility to record a new message...

I am unsure if I can claim the charge from my Bank as I paid by my Maestro card... It's only just £30 that I have lost, but I cannot believe that such a company can continue offering such a rip off service and getting away with it?

Any advice or comments would be greatly appreciated...

prelude2a

Just a little note to balance up this thread. People seem to be too keen to bash companies these days.
I get that we are all paranoid and scared of fraud, but it would be really nice if people checked their facts before shooting off and bad mouthing a company.
The internet is known for 'instant gratification' and 'bargain discount prices' or at least - thats what is supposed to happen, and yes, there are some places out there who sell just one thing - or maybe a limited stock of maybe 100 things. Either way it is pretty easy to keep enough items in stock to fulfill demand quickly.
As an example, I ordered a toner refill for my printer yesterday and it turned up on my doorstep this morning. Cheap, easy and I didn't even have to leave the house.
There are some items available for sale that really make it easy to do things this fast.

The domestic appliance spares market is NOT one of them. I used to take my items in to Southampton Service Centre to be repaired years ago, they are a family run business and they have a level of expertise that is absolutely necessary when identifying parts for an appliance. I don't know how many shelves they had in their shop, but everytime I went in there I was impressed. No way I would know what half of the stuff was they had in there.

They closed their shop in Southampton sometime in 2002 ish I think, and started trading on the internet as Spares2go.co.uk - If you take a look at the website you will quickly see they have LOADS of spares listed there for practically every household appliance possible!
I very much doubt that they have everything in stock - in fact it wouldn't make any business sense at all to carry stock of all the items they list. This means they would have to order items in before they can be sent out to customers.
I've ordered things from them over the past few years and never had a bad experience - maybe thats because I appreciate that its not about just getting some monkey to go and get an item off the shelf and stick it in a jiffy bag for me. Maybe it's because I have patience.
Everyone is in such a rush these days.
Spares2go provide a really valuable service and have gotten me out of trouble several times. Sometimes they are fast, sometimes they are slow, I certainly don't think they are conning anyone. If they were they probably wouldn't have been in business as long as they have.
A quick check on the wayback machine shows spares2go has been around since 2002 and soton-service-centre.com was about in Feb 2000. I know that southampton service centre were in Hanover Buildings in Southampton in 1982. Would a con company last 27 YEARS? I don't think so. Check your facts before you start mud slinging.

hawkwinddotcom

prelude2a wrote: »

Would a con company last 27 YEARS? I don't think so. Check your facts before you start mud slinging.

I wonder who you work for?....... :rotfl:

Mally_england

prelude2a wrote: »

Just a little note to balance up this thread. People seem to be too keen to bash companies these days.
I get that we are all paranoid and scared of fraud, but it would be really nice if people checked their facts before shooting off and bad mouthing a company.
Southampton in 1982. Would a con company last 27 YEARS? I don't think so. Check your facts before you start mud slinging.

I think the point they are making is not that the product dident arrive next day, but they cannot contact the company that (a) took the card details (b) took payment for goods (c) will not return email messages ? or contact the customer, maybe if they did that they wouldent get a bad press on here. Even better if you know them so well get them to buy an answer machine so people can leave a message;)

prelude2a

Mally_england wrote: »

Even better if you know them so well get them to buy an answer machine so people can leave a message;)

Hmmm, weird that because I've called them and left messages, and they've called me back... maybe I'm just special.

DarkConvict

If they are indeed an ok company, they need to improve customer service otherwise they will be having credit card companies down on them constantly with people wanting refunds.

prelude2a

hawkwinddotcom wrote: »

I wonder who you work for?....... :rotfl:

I'm unemployed at the moment - what does that have to do with anything?

cruisersl

Update on my experience with spares2go: I will upgrade them to 4(of5) stars because they did indeed repay my expenses including return shipping. This after I posted the following on several web sites, and then emailed them telling them that I had rated them badly:

Let my experience be a warning: I ordered a control know for my blender; they sent a wrong part, did not fit. Cost: ~$35.- I wrote an email asking for return instructions; to my surprise they immediately replied with: "MODEL NUMBER REQUIRED - Hello again - Yes, we should be able to help, but we will need the full model number from the product."
So I wrote them the model number. Then they asked for a photo. I sent them a photo - and after that, nothing. I've email 4 x and never got an answer back. Clearly their web site had the wrong model associated with the part. But they are ignoring my emails, and I am left with a $ 35.- knob that does not work!!!