Maplin Ride-on Quad 1x£34.99 2x£64.98 B Grade £19.99

akabee

http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?ModuleNo=99044

Bento_2

I would certainly think twice before buying anything from their website:my experience was this:

ordered metal detector from site it was listed as out of stock but money removed from my account instantly(its usual practise to wait till day of dispatch),metal detector delivered approx 1 week later,unfortunately sent just in its factory packing box for all and sundry to see the contents resulting in some "form of incident" at the couriers warehouse resulting in a completely smashed detector being delivered squashed into another box about 40cm shorter than the original.
Returned it to the courier,phoned maplins explained to them what had happened "we are very sorry sir,we will send a replacement today" 1 week later(clock ticking towards Christmas) i use their chat box customer service facility and talk to "Donna"
"hello,how can i help you"
When will my detector arrive?
"this item is out of stock and is due in on the 31st"
no further responses to my continued enquiries and the chat box is closed..which added insult to injury.
Followed it up with a telephone call,they were most apologetic and said it must have been some technical hitch..yeh right! Confirmed not due in till 31st(remembering they told me they would instantly send out a replacement) asked them to check stock for local shops 2 instock 70 miles away but they would not organise for one to be sent..i could have one reserved and pick it up myself or cancel the order. Great service Maplins..one customer lost.I have had to buy from another source at twice the price.

jaffacat_2

looks like you can check stock locally in store

dickibobboy

Bento wrote: »

I would certainly think twice before buying anything from their website:my experience was this:

ordered metal detector from site it was listed as out of stock but money removed from my account instantly(its usual practise to wait till day of dispatch),metal detector delivered approx 1 week later,unfortunately sent just in its factory packing box for all and sundry to see the contents resulting in some "form of incident" at the couriers warehouse resulting in a completely smashed detector being delivered squashed into another box about 40cm shorter than the original.
Returned it to the courier,phoned maplins explained to them what had happened "we are very sorry sir,we will send a replacement today" 1 week later(clock ticking towards Christmas) i use their chat box customer service facility and talk to "Donna"
"hello,how can i help you"
When will my detector arrive?
"this item is out of stock and is due in on the 31st"
no further responses to my continued enquiries and the chat box is closed..which added insult to injury.
Followed it up with a telephone call,they were most apologetic and said it must have been some technical hitch..yeh right! Confirmed not due in till 31st(remembering they told me they would instantly send out a replacement) asked them to check stock for local shops 2 instock 70 miles away but they would not organise for one to be sent..i could have one reserved and pick it up myself or cancel the order. Great service Maplins..one customer lost.I have had to buy from another source at twice the price.

It's the first time i have heard of such problems reguarding packaging, normally items set out are well packaged from my experience. What i do not understand is how come you ordered it when it was out of stock, i would steer well clear of buying if it mentioned that on the listing.

The problem with Maplin stock is that its mainly shipped from abroad, the dates stated where stock is due is estimated dates and is often pushed back as obvious problems occur when stock is shipped over such as customs etc..

Your point with to send out the item from a store brings some problems. The way the maplin stock works is that items are sent from the warehouse to the store, the stock is then written onto the store system and belongs to the store. Transfering stock back to head office for them to send out would be quite a lot of paper work and the stores don't have the facilites to package up items and send them off for customers.

I agree though that some more help from them should have been given to you in my opinion

Bento_2

I'm sure it qualified as "well packaged" when it left the dispatch area.The mistake they made was to use the original factory box with photo of contents on the outside,this advertises what is inside which in my experience increases significantly the chances of a "mishap" occurring during shipping.People don't worry about what's inside a box if they don't know..however advertise whats inside it and ..well your asking for trouble.
The further mistakes made were terminating the chat help during a conversation,and not dealing with the re-order as a "special" and just tagging me onto the end of current order list which again led to the item being unavailable in time for Christmas.