Simply Electronics - WARNING

Froggitt

Online retailers generally take an authorisation for the funds with the order, but process the payment/take the money a day or two later.

Newdubsciple

It's now about 36 hours since I placed and then cancelled my order. Their website shows the cancellation as 'submitted' as yet no funds have been removed from my account. Tempted to tell the bank I've lost the card so they won't be able to process the payment.

Froggitt

Its already been authorised, therefore the bank will pay them the money, and take it from you.

Newdubsciple

They've still not taken any money. How does it work? I ordered but cancelled almost immediately on Saturday. Lots of email to and foe since, they've stated they've cancelled the order so I see no real reason for them to actually take the money even though technically they can. Is there a time limit on how long they can wait before they remove the funds they don't actually need to remove?

Froggitt

Maybe a month......its like the authorisation a hotel takes when you check in, and they don't take the money till a day or two after you check out.


Why wouldn't they take the money.....they don't want to cancel the order and I doubt they are under any legal obligation to do so.

Rikester

Going from past experience, if they don't debit the money I'll be very surprised.

Simply Electronics will say they have cancelled, but one of the next emails will be "they are pleased to say your parcel has been despatched"

They are complete and utter charlatans.

MC.Cain

I chose to purchase from Simply Electronics because they had the best price for the mobile phone I wanted. My payment was processed quickly by Skrill, and that's where it all started going wrong. 10 days later Simply Electronics still hadn't processed my order. After telling me it could take another week I chose to cancel the order and get the phone off Amazon instead. It took a week of jumping through hoops to cancel, and when it was finally processed, I was told I would receive refund confirmation within 1 week. This confirmation never came, and so began over a month of regularly calling and emailing, questioning where my refund was. I was told over and over again that my case had been escalated to the correct department, but no one seemed capable of giving me a refund. After 6 weeks, the credit card I'd paid on expired, and I knew this would now mean the refund would now not go through. I tried calling and speaking directly to a manager or the accounts department, but apparently "they have no phone number, there is no way you will be able to talk to them." Finally, I called Skrill directly, who got in touch with Simply Electronics. They arranged right away for the money to be refunded. Unfortunately for me, Skrill charges to withdraw money, and they may you pay up to £3 to verify your credit card. Which meant, I now had to pay to get my refund, and because they charge a fee, I would never get a full refund.

If I could blacklist this company and prevent anyone from ever using them again I would. They seem to be fine if people actually receive their order, but should anything go wrong you are screwed. Horrible customer service. Horrible customer treatment. Horrible policies. DON'T USE THEM. It's not worth the cheaper prices.

Dorsetman

Ordered a digital camera at the end of February. The order tracking on the website kept me informed of progress. I eventually received the item about 3 weeks later.

It was exactly as ordered, except that I had to change the language on the camera display from Chinese to English. It even came with a UK plug for the charger.

The item was delivered from Amsterdam by a well-known courier and I was given the tracking number by Simply Electronics. Looking at the delivery code on the label I suspect it was flown from Hong Kong to Amsterdam.

The camera was £70 cheaper than in John Lewis. If you want to save money you have to be prepared to wait up to a month for delivery and expect something like the default Chinese language on the display (which is easily changed). I suggest you be patient after ordering and not cancel, as that appears to be where people have a bad experience.

Pointy99

Simply Electronics: 0/5 - would *not* recommend

However, if you've cancelled an order from them and not received the money back, keep chasing them. After about 6 weeks of hassling them I've finally been refunded for a Samsung Galaxy Note I orderd mid-January but was never dispatched.

After a month of excuses about delays / priority dispatch and other bluff and bluster, I cancelled my order around mid-February, and over the next 2 weeks it then went through a series of convoluted stages including "Cancellation Received", "Refund Submitted" and "Refund on Priority Rank", where it got stuck for yet *another* 2 weeks.

No amount of chasing via email or telephone helped - they repeatedly told me the refund was in progress and would be completed "in the next couple of days". I eventually filled in the contact form on their site with the following message:

---

Hi,

I still haven't received a refund for my order XXXXXX-XXXXXXXX despite repeated promised from yourselves that it will be paid into my bank account.

Please note that if the funds do not arrive within the next 48 hours I will be initiating a Chargeback with Visa and taking the matter up with the Hong Kong Police and the Hong Kong Consumer Council.

Yours Faithfully,

Pointy99

---

The order went pretty much instantly to "Refund Completed. Your order has been refunded. Kindly allow a few working days for the funds to hit your account.", but when the money still hadn't arrived after 48 hours I called my bank and told them I wanted to initiate a Visa Chargeback for a purchase which the supplier had failed to deliver on the agreed date. They asked me for all the details of the purchase, and when they asked me what the agreed delivery date was I told them the item had "in stock - usually dispatched within 2-3 business days" on their site when I placed the order.

Another 48 hours later after raising the Chargeback, the money from Simply Electronics appeared in my account via Skrill. The ironic thing is that the Visa Chargeback had also completed so I've actually been refunded twice :-). (SimplyElectronics will probably initiate a Chargeback Reversal to claw back their duplicate refund, but I'll wait for them to initiate that).

These people rely on you not knowing what their pressure points are - the Visa Chargeback process is your best leverage, but wait until you've chased them yourself for a while before talking to your bank otherwise it may get declined. Also, make sure you use the specific phrase "Visa Chargeback" when you call your bank. The first time I phoned them about a refund they told me it couldn't be done because I'd cancelled the order myself. When I phoned again asking about a Visa Chargeback I got transferred to someone straight away.

I fully believe I'd still be waiting for a refund if I hadn't sent my last message to them. Hopefully this will help some other people get their money back as well.

Love and cuddles,

Pointy99

Newdubsciple

I can confirm I've now had my refund! Just under a week from ordering, cancelling and being refunded. It wasn't a smooth process and I jumped straight in with curt emails but they've stuck to their word and the money is back in my account.