Ideal world took money knowing out of stock

wingers82_2

Hi im new im not sure where i should put this but i need help!! Ive order 2 tablets for the kids for xmas theyve been bugging for months so a last minute decision i thought what the hell i'l do it and paid there and then and ordered 2
ive ordered once before and it all went smoothly only there xmas delivery cut off was 9th dec i ordered on the 7th first item i choose was out of stock when i got to the checkout so went back and added similar item anyway my order status says nothing i rang today got the most dumbest women ever!
Literally it was like an annoyin automated telephone service lol so i hung up waited half hr then called back got a man this time i explained id hung up before and only wanted to if my order had been noted processing/ warehouse knew etc as i hadnt a clue i mentioned the xmas deadline delivery only or him to reluctantly saying erm the warehouse nos of the order buy the manufacturer has sold out!! So i said sold out? Why would you allow people to pay place an order of a sold out item he then says estimated dd is 14th but should get another batch in for the weekend, if i dont hear anything pls call back in 14-18 days ... Yes i did say its xmas u wil b closed! I needed it for xmas thats y i ordered on the 7th.
What can i do? Are they allowed to stil sell items that are no longer in stock and not notify customers?
obv i have to wait around for them but what happens if i hear nothing buy 14-17th dec? Stuck.. help any advise is appreciated

shocky_2

Sorry to hear that, its really bad customer service although their T&Cs will probably cover them.

You could ask them for a refund, but I guess this close to Christmas that probably won't help.

InsideInsurance

There is no legal requirement for a company to have live stock information nor for them to hold stock before taking your money - if this were the case then almost no furniture store would be legal as sofas etc are virtually always built to order and not stock items.

Ultimately it is your choice if you want to wait and see if they get the stock in and can get it out to you in time or if you want to cut your losses, cancel the order and take your business else where

pmduk

Actually ofcom require that the live tv shopping channels only sell stock which is available. It's in the licence conditions of the channels concerned. It doesn't seem to be enforced as strictly as it used to be however. Nowacays they sell sock en-route or held at wholesalers in their name.

Ideal World are an atrocious organisation when things go wrong. They often deny it but they do have a UK customer relations dept on 01733 860534. They're not much better than their Indian call centres, chocolate teapots spring to mind, but at least they understand English better.

fozmcfc

Watched quite a few of their tablet presentation shows, as I was in the market for a tablet myself.

Having watched several of their tablet presentation shows, they always appear to be telling people they are running out of stock.

As they keep saying as well, tablets are the most requested item for Christmas.

They are constantly selling out of tablets during their presentation shows. Their website is constantly changing the tablets available also. This suggests they are struggling to meet demand, but this is likely to be, because the suppliers can't supply enough to meet demand.

I don't think it is strange for companies to accept orders when they are expecting stock in after a short while. As tablets are mega, mega, mega popular gifts to have this Christmas, I think the manufactures are having trouble keeping up with supply and demand.

Plenty of other places that do tablets though, could you not just get a refund and order elsewhere.

fozmcfc

pmduk wrote: »

Actually ofcom require that the live tv shopping channels only sell stock which is available. It's in the licence conditions of the channels concerned. It doesn't seem to be enforced as strictly as it used to be however. Nowacays they sell sock en-route or held at wholesalers in their name.

Ideal World are an atrocious organisation when things go wrong. They often deny it but they do have a UK customer relations dept on 01733 860534. They're not much better than their Indian call centres, chocolate teapots spring to mind, but at least they understand English better.

Yes they do seem to have a number of complaints on their Facebook page as well.

pmduk

I've made 4 purchases over the years, when it goes smoothly it's great, but when they go wrong... So far 50% went well. I bought a tablet after watching it demonstrated, but bought it from a local retailer for 60% of the ideal world price.

munchpot

As the TV channel is advertising you could always make a complaint to the ASA.

There are rules about advertising items for sale when you don't have stock. Teleshopping channels are always being pulled up by the ASA - although they may have a legal super on display saying 'Some of the items may no longer be avialble' which they do on the crafting channel.

If they are only selling one item in the slot then you could argue with the ASA that s they knew they were out of stock they broke the rules by advertising the product

wingers82_2

Thanks i gonna give our uk guys a call and ask about when restocking, ive also commented on there fb haha, thats the thing people wil order all the time and have no probs we ordered once before back in jan no probs at all until now and with it being xmas its more stress full to get them quickly. So lets see what they say this time being on hold 30mins just makes u more pee'd off :-)

Just gave them a call lady seemed help-ish my order been marked to widget?! The tabs are coming from thwn but there was no date on any restock and its not fair waiting around for if they cant get any til after xmas so shes emailed them and if she gets a reply they wil call us, so wil leave it til monday if nothing by then may aswell get a refund

wingers82_2

Lady just called me back very fast response didnt really expect a call back today, anyway company is hopin to have more in by begining of next week so as she was nice enough to sit and be on hold since i rang her half hr ago i said id hang on til then, call her back and then if stil nothing she wil arrange a speedy refund for me thanks for the uk number so much better than other dimwits!

fozmcfc

munchpot wrote: »

As the TV channel is advertising you could always make a complaint to the ASA.

There are rules about advertising items for sale when you don't have stock. Teleshopping channels are always being pulled up by the ASA - although they may have a legal super on display saying 'Some of the items may no longer be avialble' which they do on the crafting channel.

If they are only selling one item in the slot then you could argue with the ASA that s they knew they were out of stock they broke the rules by advertising the product

I don't think they are deliberately selling stock they don't have, I just think that their tablet sales have been so manic, that they are putting through numerous orders within a few seconds and it mean some people miss out, or will need to wait.

I had a similar thing happen on Ebay the other week, a special on England footy shirts. I ordered 2 when they had less than 5 available.

I clicked to buy and it took me to the payment page, I paid via Paypal, but they must have sold out as I was paying. A message came up to say an error had occurred. The money was still requested though from my bank. Then I got an email from Paypal saying the payment was being looked into. I got my money back in about 5 working days after ordering them.

I think there is a good chance this has happened here, but Ideal World haven't informed those that missed out, they will need to wait, which isn't good customer service.