Ordered item as said in stock, money taken but on backorder?

senileturtle

I ordered an item from WOW HD as it was 'in stock' on the 9th of December. The money was taken from my debit card yet I go check the order status now as I find it odd it hasn't arrived yet and it says 'back order'.

Are they allowed to take money without actually dispatching the order or having the item in stock?

It was only about £10 but I'm furious that they have done this and without even contacting me about it not being in stock when I ordered it.

ThumbRemote

senileturtle wrote: »

I ordered an item from WOW HD as it was 'in stock' on the 9th of December. The money was taken from my debit card yet I go check the order status now as I find it odd it hasn't arrived yet and it says 'back order'.

Are they allowed to take money without actually dispatching the order or having the item in stock?

It was only about £10 but I'm furious that they have done this and without even contacting me about it not being in stock when I ordered it.

Yes they are, but it's rather bad practice. Cancel the order and shop elsewhere.

bod1467

Is WOW HD the same people that used to be CD WOW? They're based in Hong Kong.

Either cancel the order for a refund, or wait until after Xmas and file a chargeback claim for non-delivery. (You need to leave 15 days from order for a chargeback). ... Or wait for it to come in stock and get shipped.

InsideInsurance

bod1467 wrote: »

Is WOW HD the same people that used to be CD WOW? They're based in Hong Kong.

CD Wow went into administration and its assets were bought by an Australian company which then changed the name to Wow HD


There is nothing wrong with a merchant taking payment before dispatch and is indeed normal practice otherwise you'd find you dispatch goods and then find that the payment is declined and the merchant would struggle in many cases to get the goods back (and lose the postage costs).

The contract is bound by English law so you can cancel your order under the Distance Selling Regulations and get your refund if you dont want to wait.

senileturtle

Well I sent a complaint either way (just didn't mention trading standards). Other big sites often only take the money when the item is processing or dispatched so I find it odd to take money with no guarantee of the goods ever arriving.

Also sites really should not claim an item is in stock if it's not. Surely all sites have systems in place that electronically count orders and compare with stock?

senileturtle

ThumbRemote wrote: »

Yes they are, but it's rather bad practice. Cancel the order and shop elsewhere.

Unfortunately they are the cheapest for this particular item

ThumbRemote

senileturtle wrote: »

Unfortunately they are the cheapest for this particular item

They may be cheap, but they don't have it in stock and appear to have poor customer service.

How long are you prepared to wait?

senileturtle

I don't know how long I'm prepared to wait, but as I say, it was in stock when I ordered it so there should've been no issue.

I will wait and see what their reply is before I consider cancelling the order and looking elsewhere.

InsideInsurance

senileturtle wrote: »

Surely all sites have systems in place that electronically count orders and compare with stock?

It depends, most have a basic system for it but depending on the number of distribution channels they have, the scale of their operations etc it may not work in realtime or may not exist at all.

Even if they do have one there is always the risk of stock going "missing" and thus the system saying theres 2 in stock but the warehouse not being able to find any. Some get round this by having a "low stock" marker on their websites but you have to balance the potential lost business from people who dont risk it -v- the bad will by selling things and then having to say they're on backorder.

senileturtle

Well I got a reply back:

Order ***** is for ****) . When the order was placed on December 9th .it had an estimated despatch time of 7-10 days after ordering (as indicated on the product's description page as “Expected to ship within 7-10 days”). This is why the item was not dispatched yet.


As indicated on our shipping page the suggested latest shipping date for United Kingdom is December 6th. Therefore, you should not be able to receive the order before Christmas time. If you would like to cancel instead, please kindly let us know and we will help you accordingly.

http://www.wowhd.co.uk/go/christmas-shipping

They didn't bother to answer why they put me on a back order when the item was clearly in stock and I don't recall a 7-10 day dispatch time.

I don't get why they think 6th december is a reasonable end date time for xmas orders (even though mine was a general purchase and not intended for xmas) when other like companies are still posting xmas orders.

I ordered an item from GAME on the 16th. It arrived this morning. That is certainly quick posting, especially for GAME.

So why is WowHD so slow and incompetent? It's bad enough they expect customers to pay double or triple the price (this item I bought seemed to be an exception to the rule) that other retailers sell at then have abysmal shipping expectations?

How on earth does this company survive?

bod1467

The goods come from Hong Kong (I believe), so longer delivery times (hence earlier Xmas cut-off) is to be expected.