Whittard of Chelsea Online

***cupcake***_2

Never, ever ever, will I shop with them again.

Utterly appalling catalogue of mistakes, and now I'm stuck for a pressie for DH. :mad:

Ordered a posh Black Gaggia coffee maker online at the end of November - plenty of time til christmas I thought. WRONG!!

A week later a phone call from them to say the coffee maker was out of stock (was instock at time of order), only 6 left in the country..............they would ring and let me know.

THought - ok, nice to ring, will wait and see. (wait I did)

2 weeks later - nothing (but interestingly nearly £200 :eek: missing from my account taken by them).

Another phone call last friday, now the coffee maker will only be availible at the end of January! Not exactly in time for christmas.

HOWEVER - if I'd like to pay them another £20, they could send me the next model up, by courier, this week. No model number, no description, just that it would be red. Hmmn I thought. Not black, but red could look ok. Got the hard sell - no others available, blah blah blah, and I am ashamed to say I fell for it. I was worried, with only a week to go - where would I find another coffee maker - how long would they take to process a refund - and the promise of one this week was enough to sway me.

But get this - she wanted all my card details there and then (already paid them online via secure server) and would process the extra £20. So i gave my card details over the phone. (I know - its a lesson hard learned).

So today, the cofee maker turns up, direct from Gaggia - a previously opened box, looks like ex display, and not just red, but shockingly bright glow in the dark red. Not at all DH's thing. (If he's reading this - sorry - I've spoilt your surprise). No paperwork - nothing.

A seperate box turns up via Royal Mail - with the original order crossed out and marked "out of stock" on the invoice, and the coffee I'd ordered with the coffee maker. No mention of the fact a different machine had been sent, and more money paid. SO I have no purchase proof for this machine, or the money spent..

So I phoned again, and was told I could take it back to their store (nearest one 25 miles away) or send it back (how long would that take this time of year??!!) and I would be refunded. This is getting silly I thought - so opted to take it into store in the hope of an instant refund - and funds to buy DH a pressie.

In store, they were lovely, but had been told by the online people to pressure sell another coffee maker as an alternative rather then a refund. They were also told to only refund the original amount - not the extra £20.

SO another phone call - on speaker phone for the whole store to hear - and I was told shockingly, that I (allegedly) hadn't been charged the extra money YET - my bank and card details had been written down and were in the supervisors CUPBOARD!!!!!!!!! Rude, and agressive (them not me) and not in the slightest bit bothered. I was appalled - no apology - nothing. ANd to top it all I got the 'I'm sorry you're breaking up' excuse as I was asking her to sort it out, firmly but politely. The SA's in the shop were just as disgusted as me - they simply couldn't beleive what they were hearing!

So I'm out of pocket over an hour on the phone, a 50 mile round trip, and the thought of my card details in a cupboard, with NO coffee maker, and no present for DH and Christmas is looming...............

I'm taking this further - but hold out no hope of even an apology.

Miserable rotten incompetent service :mad:

Thanks for letting me rant.;)

Anetares

Your card details in a cupboard??? Well there goes their responsibility to keep your details securely (unless there's a padlock, har har). I'd cancel the card, refunds can still be processed, then you prevent the "supervisor" doing his/her own christmas shopping on your account... Sorry, but from what you've said, I wouldn't put it past them. They seem to have all the professionalism of a fart at a banquet.

As for not paying the £20 extra, did you check if it's been debited from your card yet? I find it hard to believe that a company would send you a model up without charging you, unless it was offered as a goodwill gesture, which it doesn't sound like it was.

Give watchdog a go if you get no joy, they like the 'ruined my present' angle, and I wrote to them recently with something I didn't think was big enough to really take notice of, but they have done. They seemed to be the catalyst for a proper dialogue, it's funny how cooperative people can become..