Appliances Direct - When It Gets It Wrong, It Blames You, The Customer

LoveParasite

Appliance Direct – My Worst Nightmare Realised

Appliances Direct failed to fulfil my original delivery. On its second attempt to fulfil the original delivery it duplicated items. 

It has failed twice to collect the duplicate items - despite me agreeing dates and timeslots.

It has been a shambles from the start with numerous emails and complaints made.  In a further attempt to move matters forward, today I contacted the Direct Head of Customer Service. That was, unfortunately, a mistake.

Despite not delivering, over delivering and then failing to collect the items twice the Direct Head of Customer Service, had the temerity to blame me for the situation and threaten me with legal action.  The email had all the finesse of a grenade going off and perfectly illustrated why, to this point, customer service had been so appalling.  It’s endemic.

The fact that yesterday I spent another 5 hours in an empty, freezing apartment, for a second time, awaiting collection seems to be of no consequence to Appliances Direct.

When my phone rang at 1.00pm yesterday and it was Appliances Direct’s courier ArrowXL I was relieved.  The relief was not to last.  The  ArrowXL courier said he was outside, ready to collect the items but couldn’t get a reply.  I’m not all surprised by this… he was at the wrong house. They'd turned up at a completely different address at the other side of the city!?  5 hours!  Again.  Freezing for nothing, except continued incompetence.

If you want to order electrical items that won’t be delivered, then arrange another delivery day only for duplicates to be delivered, then spend months trying to sort out the mess, then arrange collection dates where the courier never materialises and where staff blame you, and threaten you with legal action, then Appliances Direct is the company for you.

Appliances Direct's mistake is, in law, unfortunately my responsibility.  However, I have been more than flexible, particularly reasonable and take exception that such a brazenly incompetent company could, in these cisrcustances, even consider blaming me, let alone threatening me with legal action.  I am truly gobsmacked.

 

 

LoveParasite

UPDATE: 

Appliances Direct organised a date of collection for the items with its courier.  The only fly in that ointment is that Appliances Direct had not even bothered to contact me to see if the date was suitable.  It wasn’t. I got a text from the courier no update or information from Appliances Direct.

I contacted Appliances Direct about this.  Still I received updates from the courier on its way to collect the items.  Appliances Direct didn’t even have the ability to cancel a courier.

The items have now been collected (on the third occasion) and I am glad to see both the back of them and of Appliances Direct.

This matter should have concluded on the 15th February – the date all of my items were supposed to arrive. Instead, I have been harangued till the 5th of April, attempts have been made at bullying and explicit threats have been made against me – all because Appliances Direct failed to deliver and then fail to collect items.

An absolutely appalling company that is best avoided.

GrubbyGirl_2

I'd be tempted to take a pic of the email and post it on their Twitter page together with the break down as to what happened.  I bet you get an apology in return for removing it

Murphybear

LoveParasite said:

UPDATE: 

Appliances Direct organised a date of collection for the items with its courier.  The only fly in that ointment is that Appliances Direct had not even bothered to contact me to see if the date was suitable.  It wasn’t. I got a text from the courier no update or information from Appliances Direct.

I contacted Appliances Direct about this.  Still I received updates from the courier on its way to collect the items.  Appliances Direct didn’t even have the ability to cancel a courier.

The items have now been collected (on the third occasion) and I am glad to see both the back of them and of Appliances Direct.

This matter should have concluded on the 15th February – the date all of my items were supposed to arrive. Instead, I have been harangued till the 5th of April, attempts have been made at bullying and explicit threats have been made against me – all because Appliances Direct failed to deliver and then fail to collect items.

An absolutely appalling company that is best avoided.

I’m sorry to hear that.  We used them 15 years ago and they were brilliant.  

SevenOfNine

Contact your local Citizen's Advice & find out what your rights are regarding collection of goods you did not order, given that they aren't holding up their side of the 'collection' process.

LoveParasite

ANOTHER UPDATE: Appliances Direct.  Urgh! Appliances Inept, more like.

The bullying, threatening behaviour continues. It is THE WORST and by far the most aggressive customer service you will EVER encounter.  It’s staff cause the problem. It’s staff solution to that problem?  Threaten the customer with court action due to it’s owin staff’s incompetence.

I thought I was done complaining about the breathtakingly incompetent and harrassing Appliances Direct.  But I'm not... It should be called Appliances Inept.

It duplicated a delivery. It took three attempts for it to collect the items, constantly incoveniencing me.  It’s chosen courier failing to turn up – one attempt even turning up at an address across the city?  You honestly couldn’t make this stuff up. It took weeks to sort out. Now it claims other items where not returned?  Throughout weeks of communication it never once mentioned ‘other’ items.  Not once!  How am I expected to return items I’m not aware of?  How is that possible?  How is that reasonable?  It's a whole new level of stupidity. 

It’s staff are fond of intimidatory tactics.  Cold-calling then ending the call when you answer (as it has done before) only to almost simultaneoulsy send an email.  It really is a grubby organisation. 

The email came from the STOS department which I will now forever refer to as the Slow Thick Often Stupid department. Ordinarily, I would prefer to keep matters civil but having been previously threatened with legal action by the company that caused the problem and harrassed beyond reason, civility is in the rear view mirror.  It’s now at it again!? I'm threatened with legal action - again!!! 

I'm renovating a new home for a vulnerable adult. I'm doing this remotely. It's stressful enough without this absolutely awful company threatening me with legal action. I understand it's not a member of any ombudsman service or regulatory body - it wouldn't get away with this type of behaviour if it was.

Thinking of buying from Appliances Direct?  DON’T!  The prices seem reasonable?  DON’T!  Cheap or cheaper are two words that adequately describe the level of customer care you will receive - if you receive any.  Don't be fooled by sometimes cheaper prices - they are awful to deal with.  The absolute worst.  AVOID!

Let's see if the review bots manage to notice the number they are requesting is already provided?

Order Number: 47378785

lincroft1710

Threatening a customer with legal action is one thing. Actually carrying out that threat when you have a weak/non-existent case and your costs will be more expensive than your customer's (and will be even worse if you lose) is something else 

LoveParasite

The bullying, threatening behaviour continues. It is THE WORST and by far the most aggressive customer service you will EVER encounter. It’s staff cause the problem. It’s staff solution to that problem? Threaten the customer with court action due to it’s own staff’s incompetence.

I thought I was done complaining about the breathtakingly incompetent and harrassing Appliances Direct. But I'm not... It should be called Appliances Inept.

It duplicated a delivery. It took three attempts for it to collect the items constantly incoveniencing me. It’s chosen courier failing to turn up – one attempt even turning up at an address across the city? You honestly couldn’t make this stuff up. It took weeks to sort out. Now it claims other items where not returned? Throughout weeks of communication it never once mentioned ‘other’ items. Not once! How am I expected to return items I’m not aware of? How is that possible? How is that reasonable? It's a whole new level of stupidity.

It’s staff are fond of intimidatory tactics. Cold-calling then ending the call when you answer (as it has done before) only to almost simultaneously send an email?  Is Appliances Direct unaware of calls logs that indentify the company?   It really is a grubby organisation.  Its staff were informed, in writing, that they no longer had permission to use my email or telephone number and must contact me at my postal address.  I hadn't stopped communication, I had attempted to manage it.  They ignored it: calling and emailing - harrassing. 

The emails came from the STOS department which I will now forever refer to as the Slow Thick Often Stupid department. Ordinarily, I would prefer to keep matters civil but having been previously threatened with legal action by the company that caused the problem and harrassed beyond reason, civility is in the rear view mirror. It’s now at it again!? I'm threatened with legal action - again!!!

Given that Appliancces Direct chose to harrass me again I will now wait for the court action.  I am done being polite. I'm done attempting to assist. I will, for legal reasons, reply to any letter they send.  However, I will not jump through any further hoops for this atrocious company.

I'm renovating a new home for a vulnerable adult. I'm doing this remotely. It's stressful enough without this absolutely awful company threatening me with legal action. I understand it's not a member of any ombudsman service or regulatory body - it wouldn't get away with this type of behaviour if it was.  As part of this renovation I've dealt with two large, recognised companies Appliances Direct and Wren.  Both have been utterly appalling to deal with.  Small, local contractors / suppliers did as I'd have expected. No fuss. No Drama. No harrassment.  My own lesson is shop with smaller companies - they seem to understand what customer service is.

Thinking of buying from Appliances Direct? You might want to reconsider? The prices seem reasonable? The customer service is unreasonable.  Cheap or cheaper are two words that adequately describe the level of customer care you will receive - if you receive any. Don't be fooled by sometimes cheaper prices - they are awful to deal with. The absolute worst.

P.S: I won't go into the detail of all of this.  Suffice to say I am not alone - just look at the Trustpilot reviews re: deliveries, or lack thereof.

HumberFlyer

Hmmm..........I did look at the reviews and 80,000+ have given 5 star reviews. You are referring to Appliances Direct and not appliancedirect ?

LoveParasite

HumberFlyer said:

Hmmm..........I did look at the reviews and 80,000+ have given 5 star reviews. You are referring to Appliances Direct and not appliancedirect ?

I did mean Appliances Direct.  I was referring to the 11% one star reviews and the 2 and three star reviews too.

eileenann59

Have had the misfortune to have dealt with this company. In our case it was a faulty hob with went haywire within 12 months. I won't reopen the wound but suffice to say the company steadfastly refuses to understand consumer legislation (as did Tesco bank when we turned to them for a refund, by the way).

Just wanted to let folk know that there are many companies in this group (Bathrooms Direct, for instance) and I would personally avoid them all. Our son had a very similar experience with Bathrooms Direct and I would put money on all of the group being exactly the same - fine if all goes well but a nightmare if not.