Simply Electronics - WARNING

Matmut

Hello
Yes I'm a newbie here and yes this is my first post, however, like so many others, I have a horror story regarding my dealings with Simply Electronics.
Placed an order on their website which was advertised on Google with a .co.uk address on the 24th May and had the 234.95 taken immediately from account, item in question was shown with 10 in stock and shipped usually with 2-3 days.
After five days of receiving no communication I emailed and received the response of " due to unforeseen demand etc..." the delivery will be now 4-10 working days.
Cut story short, I emailed SE on the 9th June to cancel order as the project the item was intended for had been and passed, however, only to be informed item had been dispatched and tracking details with courier company DPD given ! There site still indicated the status of the order was packed and ready for shipment within 1-2 days, the same it had been for the past seven days.
Anyway, emailed DPD this morning with the tracking details and guess what, although the tracking number was generated on the 4th June, no item is scheduled to be collected and no item in transport to be delivered.
I have during this process been given every excuse as to why and what is the reason for delay by SE, even receiving three different accounts on the same day by three different people. It seemed the only change in the order status upon their site was when I emailed chasing them up.
I emailed them earlier today with the response from DPD copied and pasted and have received an email from SE stating they will be conducting an investigation and will be in touch within a working day, I guess they have run out of pages in the excuses / delaying tactics book!
Really, shouldn't take Sherlock Holmes to work out why I haven't received my item!
Ironically the price of the item was not that much different than advertised elsewhere, so much so I ordered and received the item next day from another online retailer sharing it's name with a South American river " not sure if allowed to name them"
Didn't realise this company was not UK based, therefore, wouldn't of used them, guess so many are fooled by that one!
Anyway, will be spending rest of morning on phone with card company fraud department trying not to sound too embarrassed.
Please avoid the few pounds they advertise you may save really are not worth it.
If all had gone well with the order I would of also commented on my experience, alas I'm not always this grumpy!

Froggitt

Matmut wrote: »

Placed an order on their website which was advertised on Google with a .co.uk address

That's the problem to be resolved IMHO. A few months ago I sent the below to nominet, the co.uk registrar......they ignored it.

Is it just me, or are more and more people “fooled” into buying from a website just because it has a .co.uk domain, only to find their seller is based in Australia or Hong Kong, delivery will take a month, and customs duty will be payable?

In my experience, .co.uk is one of the “trustmarks” on a website, and lately it seems to have been devalued more and more.

Is there any way of “policing” sellers using a .co.uk domain, or only allowing them to be used by companies eg with a UK VAT registration, UK company registration, and applying the Distance Selling Rights?

stupormundis

WARNING ** SIMPLY ELECTONICS ** Do not buy from this outfit. I bought a Nokia 1020 from them thinking they were a UK company. Nokia UK told me that they do not recognise the warranty in the UK and it would have to be returned to Singapore. In addition I have a non-UK operating system that doesn't sit comfortably with Microsoft UK settings not to mention an unwanted Chinese keyboard that pops up every now and again. The purchase has been a disaster. Amazon have an amazing refund track record and I am paying a hefty price for not sticking with them. Ouch.

pixieclaire001

A friend ordered a camera from them and had a 'failed order' message so she reordered it. Then she received 2 emails thanking me for the orders! She rang them straight away and was told to wait 24 hours and ring them back to cancel one order. They refunded her. A couple of weeks later she received 2 cameras - and had only paid for one!!! ssshhhhh!

leedsbird

A brief summary of my recent experience with this company as a 'heads up' to anyone thinking of purchasing. Firstly, they are not UK based as is heavily implied on their website but they are in Hong Kong. I placed an order for a new smart phone after ensuring that it having a full UK warranty which they confirmed it would have. I took the precaution of paying via Paypal as an extra safeguard then waited a week by which time I got cold feet and tried to cancel my order. I received an email saying my order had been dispatched so I waited for delivery with a heavy heart expecting the worst. The phone arrived after 11 days and I've got to say, so far so good, it's working exactly as I expected with no problems. I was worried that it might have been set up for the Far East but everything was in English straight from the box. In summary, I saved about £50 on the UK price for this item and it is working perfectly, I have no complaints. Would I buy from Simply Electronics again? Based on this experience then I would have to say yes but just be aware that delivery is from Hong Kong not UK.

trukdiver

leedsbird wrote: »

A brief summary of my recent experience with this company as a 'heads up' to anyone thinking of purchasing. Firstly, they are not UK based as is heavily implied on their website but they are in Hong Kong. I placed an order for a new smart phone after ensuring that it having a full UK warranty which they confirmed it would have. I took the precaution of paying via Paypal as an extra safeguard then waited a week by which time I got cold feet and tried to cancel my order. I received an email saying my order had been dispatched so I waited for delivery with a heavy heart expecting the worst. The phone arrived after 11 days and I've got to say, so far so good, it's working exactly as I expected with no problems. I was worried that it might have been set up for the Far East but everything was in English straight from the box. In summary, I saved about £50 on the UK price for this item and it is working perfectly, I have no complaints. Would I buy from Simply Electronics again? Based on this experience then I would have to say yes but just be aware that delivery is from Hong Kong not UK.

I ordered a lens from them 5 years ago. It arrived the next day so obviously came from the UK. I even got cashback via Topcashback. They seem to have gone downhill fast since then though! I wouldn't buy from them now...

besonders1

I too have just foolishly ordered a phone from them 5 days ago without checking out the website which is not like me. I also assumed it was a UK based retailer which in my opinion is crafty and not acceptable in terms of misrepresentation. The prices were cheaper but not that much cheaper than the high street retailers so I just thought that this was the cheaper deal, i also ordered other items online before like kitchen appliances from unkown independent retailers and had no problems .

Anyway I ordered the phone which promised 2-3 days dispatch so I kept waiting and checking with family neighbours etc to see if anything arrived but no show. I thought this was strange as whenever I have ordered phones before they have always arrived the next 2 days signed for so not impressed and a little worried I decided to do a search on the internet.

I then found the negative reviews of them on here. 3 issues concerned me that they were based in hong-kong and not in the uk, I might need to pay import tax on top of the price which would make them more expensive than the well known uk shop I compared it with and the fact that the aftersales service could be non-existant or expensive.

I immediately e-mailed them yesterday to cancel the order, but I was told that it was packed and ready to be dispatched today, and would I reconsider. I was in a bit of a catch22 situation as if I did go through with cancelation i could be waiting months to be refunded, they also said that if it had already been dispacthed the refund could take longer as obviously they would need to get the item back before this could take place. My questions were answered immediatly and courtiously which was re-assuring but I could tell by the terminology that i was not speaking to somone in the UK.

So I have decided to continue with the order and take a gamble. I have also paid with a credit card but they dont seem to take paypal like i have seen on earlier posts. If I do get charged by customs then I obviously will cancel. I take note of a 30 day money back guarentee service. Whatever the outcome I doubt I would do this again. I will update you all on the progress...

BTW I am not a newbie but dont post very often unless there's a problem,

Froggitt

besonders1 wrote: »

If I do get charged by customs then I obviously will cancel. I take note of a 30 day money back guarentee service.

Hope you get your item. Some previous posters have said there is no customs duty or VAT to pay. I still don't understand how that can be.


Their moneyback guarantee may be worthless, may involve you sending it back to Hong Kong tracked at your expense, and is likely not the same as EU 14 day "cancel for any reason" rules.

besonders1

yeah well lessson learnt I suppose. Time will tell anyway. I'll let you know what happens

Belgian_Bob

It seems I may just be the only person here to have completed a satisfactory purchsase with Simply Electronics.
Twice.
True, on both occasions the items took longer than they said they would to arrive. This was not such a big deal, as I've learnt to think of lead times on e-commerce as a bit optimistic - Amazon, I'm looking at you. The second time, I knew I'd be waiting 10 days rather than 3, but a £600 saving on a camera is plenty of reason to spend a week waiting, I reckon.
Yes, the camera has an international, not EU, warranty. Could be an issue, but I think any repairs will cost less than that, if they are needed within the warranty period.
So, the only issue is a non-VAT receipt but, as I've effectively saved the VAT amount, I'm not overly bothered.

I might not risk it again though, given all the -ve feedback I've just seen. Sorry to hear everyone else has had such terrible experiences with them.