Scan customer services experience

[Dashers]

Not sure the best forum for this, it's retail related, but most definitely not therapy (although I might need some now) - and this isn't for the Scan forum either!

Being a Hexus member, I enjoy as many of us do, free delivery from Scan. I try to err towards smaller companies like Scan over Amazon, because I'm not a fan of monopolies, but often find that smaller companies have questionable customer service. Whilst I'm not a major customer, I've bought various systems and odds and sods from Scan for many, many years, and have never had reason to doubt them - but recently I've had to deal with their after-sales and returns process.

Oh dear, what a joke.

I am posting this as a warning to anybody else who makes use of Scan - I'm not saying don't do business with them, just sharing my experience.

As you may be aware, I bought a PowerColor Red Dragon (review here), which ultimately was RMA'd due to instability, it could not function as intended. A fairly common issue, if you start to search around the net.

Lucky for me, in the UK we have good consumer protection laws. If an item is not fit for purpose or of suitable quality then you're entitled to a full refund, and to be restored to your previous position. I acted quickly, and within a week I knew this product was not working, so I sent it back under a RMA - which was duly rejected. Why? Because the card was faulty. Scan refused to refund me the full amount as the card had diminished value.

Ironic, given than I was returning it because it didn't work. More specifically though, they were rejecting it due to physical defects. They sent me some fuzzy mobile-phone images of the card, which alluded to a tiny scratch on the soft aluminium back plate, and a not entirely straight bracket. And the accusation was on me, as the customer, that I had damaged it. Despite the law clearly stating that the burden of proof is with the retailer to show that it wasn't faulty when sent out (not possible).

As it happened, I had clocked the tiny scratch on the backplate, and the slight gap on the bracket when I unboxed it, but not being that picky I didn't think much more of it - as they were a tough spot and materials like this are never perfect.

Anyway, this went on for a couple of weeks, I told Scan that I'm not responsible for manufacturing disputes, they kept saying they won't refund me fully. Ultimately I had to raise a dispute with my credit-card company. You do buy your kit on credit card, don't you? If the item is over £100 and you use your credit card, the card provider has the same obligations as the retailer. So I went through the process of raising a dispute and informed Scan that they'd have to deal with them - and then Scan went quiet. A few weeks later, whilst my bank was collecting information, a refund appeared in my bank account.

On speaking to my bank, they hadn't been in contact with Scan yet, so it looks like the threat of raising the issue with a third party was enough for them to start playing ball. I haven't heard anything from Scan since about my RMA.

I'm still down £11 for return postage - again, something I'm entitled to receive under law - a receipt Scan has been furnished with, but now I've got to decide whether to peruse them through the small claims court at a gamble of £30 or cut my losses. Has anybody here taken this route?

So whilst I'm not saying you should avoid Scan, it's with disappointment that I can no longer support them and will reluctantly be buying from Amazon in future. I happened to be able to cope with a £400 black hole in my account with no item to show for it, fortunately this was a luxury upgrade and I had my previous card to keep my livelihood going - be warned.

If you do buy from them, be sure to go through your item with a fine-toothed comb and insist on nothing but manufacturing perfection, because they sure as hell will do the same if you try and return it.

[PC-LAD]

Not sure the best forum for this, it's retail related, but most definitely not therapy (although I might need some now) - and this isn't for the Scan forum either!

Being a Hexus member, I enjoy as many of us do, free delivery from Scan. I try to err towards smaller companies like Scan over Amazon, because I'm not a fan of monopolies, but often find that smaller companies have questionable customer service. Whilst I'm not a major customer, I've bought various systems and odds and sods from Scan for many, many years, and have never had reason to doubt them - but recently I've had to deal with their after-sales and returns process.

Oh dear, what a joke.

I am posting this as a warning to anybody else who makes use of Scan - I'm not saying don't do business with them, just sharing my experience.

As you may be aware, I bought a PowerColor Red Dragon (review here), which ultimately was RMA'd due to instability, it could not function as intended. A fairly common issue, if you start to search around the net.

Lucky for me, in the UK we have good consumer protection laws. If an item is not fit for purpose or of suitable quality then you're entitled to a full refund, and to be restored to your previous position. I acted quickly, and within a week I knew this product was not working, so I sent it back under a RMA - which was duly rejected. Why? Because the card was faulty. Scan refused to refund me the full amount as the card had diminished value.

Ironic, given than I was returning it because it didn't work. More specifically though, they were rejecting it due to physical defects. They sent me some fuzzy mobile-phone images of the card, which alluded to a tiny scratch on the soft aluminium back plate, and a not entirely straight bracket. And the accusation was on me, as the customer, that I had damaged it. Despite the law clearly stating that the burden of proof is with the retailer to show that it wasn't faulty when sent out (not possible).

As it happened, I had clocked the tiny scratch on the backplate, and the slight gap on the bracket when I unboxed it, but not being that picky I didn't think much more of it - as they were a tough spot and materials like this are never perfect.

Anyway, this went on for a couple of weeks, I told Scan that I'm not responsible for manufacturing disputes, they kept saying they won't refund me fully. Ultimately I had to raise a dispute with my credit-card company. You do buy your kit on credit card, don't you? If the item is over £100 and you use your credit card, the card provider has the same obligations as the retailer. So I went through the process of raising a dispute and informed Scan that they'd have to deal with them - and then Scan went quiet. A few weeks later, whilst my bank was collecting information, a refund appeared in my bank account.

On speaking to my bank, they hadn't been in contact with Scan yet, so it looks like the threat of raising the issue with a third party was enough for them to start playing ball. I haven't heard anything from Scan since about my RMA.

I'm still down £11 for return postage - again, something I'm entitled to receive under law - a receipt Scan has been furnished with, but now I've got to decide whether to peruse them through the small claims court at a gamble of £30 or cut my losses. Has anybody here taken this route?

So whilst I'm not saying you should avoid Scan, it's with disappointment that I can no longer support them and will reluctantly be buying from Amazon in future. I happened to be able to cope with a £400 black hole in my account with no item to show for it, fortunately this was a luxury upgrade and I had my previous card to keep my livelihood going - be warned.

This Applies to all companies that are not Amazon. I have had this experience with ebuyer, OCUK and Especially Scan. Small claims never seems to go anywhere from what I read at the time but It'd be great to hear your experiance in ssc if you decide to pursue. From what i found in my research at the time, they give you a partial refund as British not European law says then send the product back to the manufacturer as if they are the client. They then proceed to cut their losses by reselling the product. I've always found, if you can, going directly through the manufacturer the best (EVGA) course of action. Sadly that is not the case with some products, MSI being an example on their motherboards.

Edit: appologies, didn't realise it was a navi. being within the first 6 months you should be entitled to a replacement as defacto.

[Kanoe]

I do find it the real test of a company when a need to return an item arises.

You can be buying for years from them and as long as nothing goes wrong you think they are great. Times like this are when you see their true colours.

I see it as an opportunity that they should take to impress and ensure continued customer loyalty but more often you are just a problem to them that they dont want to deal with.

Although I haven't given up on them entirely I do factor in the poor experience I had in the past when something went wrong into my buying decision and they would have to be offering either a product I really want but cannot get elsewhere or be cheaper enough than the competitors to warrant the possible headache if it goes wrong.

I had a gfx card that packed up and sent it back to them as a return and they did very quickly verify that it didnt work at all and committed to send me a new one but thats when my issues started as the replacement card was more broken than the one I send back to them.

The supposed *new* replacement card had the GPU cooler missing some screws to the board, cosmetic damage all over it and the back plate was not even on the card but loose in the box. Trying to get them to acknowledge that despite several phone calls and pictures emailed over was no easy job but did get a new replacement card eventually.

[badass]

I'm still down £11 for return postage - again, something I'm entitled to receive under law - a receipt Scan has been furnished with, but now I've got to decide whether to peruse them through the small claims court at a gamble of £30 or cut my losses. Has anybody here taken this route?

The Credit card company is jointly and severally liable for the postage as well. Just raise it with them. It's free but will involve a bit o back and forth with letters probably. Make sure you add reasonable costs for your time for everything as well. Keep records.

I say that as someone who got over £11.5k for a £9k item from a credit card company when I had used if for the £500 deposit..............

[Jonj1611]

A story I know all too well, which is why I now buy from Amazon!

[TooNice]

Kind of remind me of my first experience with Scan. This was aaaages ago, long before they started offering free shipping with Hexus (and before the Hexus forum wipe).

Long story short, several months and many, many phone calls later I was *relieved* that I "only" lost on shipping (both ways), time, sanity and phone bill. All for a computer case with a door that fell right off the moment I opened. Friends were quick to point out that it was my fault for ordering something from "scam.co.uk".

Needless to say, I had very mixed feelings when Hexus started Scan, and for a very long time stayed away from them. Eventually I did crave in, in part because of the good community feedback and I was hoping that their presence on this forum would ensure that their service had improved. And for a good couple of years, I found them okay. Like most e-tailers, everything is fine as long as you do not get into the unfortunate situation of having to RMA something. The next time I had to RMA something, they just referred me to the manufacturer.. and while unimpressed at having to do that, it turned out to be one of the smoother RMA experience I had, so I guess that's that.

Since I am seldom in the UK and hasn't had a desktop in over a decade, I've not used them for a very long time. What's unfortunate I suppose is that despite all the uneventful experience, that first experience (and the first negative online shopping experience) from nearly two decades ago, is still something I can not forget. And given that Amazon has yet to let me down, even in the rare instances where I had to return something, they are my first and often only stop when I am passing by the UK.

I seem to remember getting into a discussion about how Amazon is evil and whatnot, and that they can only provide the excellent return service by sacrificing something else.. but as a buyer who isn't out there to defraud e-tailers, but simply do not want to get stressed and/or waste time in the off chance that I receive a dud, they are hard to beat.

[Saracen999]

It's disappointing to hear of Scan acting like that because, based on that account, they appear to either be in ignorance of their legal obligations, or ignoring them. That said, most stories have two viewpoints.

I've had no problems with Scan CS, who have been pretty good. That said, my issues were financially trivial and not recent.

As for experience with Small Claims Track and small amounts, I do have experience ... sort-of.

Long story short - an insurance company jerked me about for months, trying to weasel out of liability for this, that and the other. Eventually, after several months of having a damaged car, I told them (in writing, as I had done or at least confirmed with everything) that I had booked it in at XYZ Garage (the authorised Ford dealer I had bought the car from, not a back-street shop) and gave them a month's notice of the booking date. If they wanted to inspect (which nearly 6 mobths after the accident they still hadn't done) to either arrange it with me in the next month, or direct with the garage. A later claim of theirs was that they hadn't had a chance to inspect damage. I thanked them for their letter msking that fatuous statement given that 7 months was a decent time to organise it, and told them I'm sure the judge would view that as grossly unreasonable in the event I had to take court action,

I also told them, when I informed them I had booked the car in, that I expected them to settle with the garage before I was due to collect (some £3500, all told) and that if they didn't, I would pay by credit card and add any interest I incurred to my claim.

I'm getting to the point, and yes, this is the short version. Very short.

So ... on collecting the car .... yup, no insurance payment. So I put it on my card.

The next few weeks saw a succession of offers, starting at about half my loss. After several, I pointed out that I wasn't accepting ANY offer that was short of my full losses, not even a penny short and oh, by the way, I now expected an additional £30-ish, that being the credit card charges incurred because they'd dithered another month, and I'd cleared all outstanding card charges except to the card.

Next thing, I get a cheque for the amount of the claim, in full, except those card charges. I tore in up, sent it back to them with a pointed letter that in exactly 7 days from the date of my letter, and on the advice of my solicitor (which was true, though he was also a friend) I would be starting a court claim at which point, I would add legal and court costs.

This time I got a phone call. Some smarmy ar .... erm .... backside told me "we don't pay credit card charges. Be reasonable, it's only £30".

At that point, I rather saw red.

I told him I'd been reasonable enough to wait nearly 8 months. I'd ONLY incurred that cost because despite having nearly 2 months warning of how to avoid that cost, they STILL hadn't xettled, thereby causing the cost. And that at this point, I was positively salivating at the notion of explaining the case history to the judge and finding out just who he/she (the judge) thought was the unreasonable one. And by the way, your 7 days runs out tomorrow, at which point I take the claim to the court, in person. And I absolutely meant it.

Three hours later, the cheque, including the £30-ish, was delivered by bike courier.

I have never come across a bigger bunch of small-minded, penny-pinching conn7ving, devious bleeping 'backsides' than that household name insurance company.

So I've sorta gad experience with going after the trivual amount £30) when the msin amount (£3500) was sorted. But once they got it through their blockheads that I meant it about the court action, they caved.

That said, just because that company caved in those circumstances doesn't mean any other company would, in other circumstances. I had advice that their actions throughout were pretty much the definition of unreasonable, and I had a very lengthy paper trail documenting it which, as much as it ever does, pretty much guarantees the judge was not going to be happy with a huge insurance company jerking around a sole consumet the way they had.

And I must say, I was almost more plessed about getting the £30 than I was the £3500. It was hugely satisfying.

Rationally, it probably wasn't worth pursuing, having got the £3500 cheque and tearing it up was a gamble. But them declining the £30 was just the final insult, the petty, mean, miserly straw that broke the proverbual camel's back and getting it out of them was so, so SO satisfying.

[Dashers]

Thanks Saracen, I entirely understand the satisfaction of getting what is fairly and legally yours. Unfair companies really push my buttons, but unfortunately they seem all-too-common.

I've had similar bad experience with Ebuyer on a GeForce 970, which MSI asked me to return the card to the retailer as it was faulty, but because Ebuyer couldn't reproduce the fault they rejected the refund. They didn't care, but managed to get a refund on the 3.5GB/4GB debacle instead.

I've updated my post with the main advice I can give when dealing with Scan.

If you do buy from scan, ensure that the product is nothing but manufacturing perfection. They will require the same if your item is returned, and don't care that's how the item was sent to you.

[Macman]

Had one a while back with Scan - had ordered a motherboard, few months after installation. The PC just wouldn't turn on or when it did it would just be stuck in a boot loop. Tried various methods to get it to power on and stabilise, nothing.

After various trouble shoots on PSU, Motherboard and Memory sticks, the fault seemed to lie with the motherboard. Contacted Scan, explained the situation and carried out whatever they recommended I tried before returning the item.

They agreed it needed to be return, so I start the process and return it to SCAN. This is where it all starts, they refused to honour the warranty as a few pins were bent, now, this may of been caused in the removal of the CPU. However the first fault on the motherboard was occurring before the CPU was even removed but they didn't address that at all. They just said you bent pins, we ain't fixing it so tough titties.

After several back and fourth they stood their ground and I accepted defeat on the basis, ok since I had bent the pins on the removal of the CPU and I need a working PC. I need to buy another motherboard, they returned the faulty item. I sent it off to MSI and I bought a new one from Amazon.

End result was MSI replaced it free of charge and I returned the one from Amazon.

I have since future proofed my PC and don't intend to be purchasing from SCAN again, Amazon return policy has much less hassle.

[Saracen999]

Thanks Saracen, I entirely understand the satisfaction of getting what is fairly and legally yours. Unfair companies really push my buttons, but unfortunately they seem all-too-common.

I've had similar bad experience with Ebuyer on a GeForce 970, which MSI asked me to return the card to the retailer as it was faulty, but because Ebuyer couldn't reproduce the fault they rejected the refund. They didn't care, but managed to get a refund on the 3.5GB/4GB debacle instead.

I've updated my post with the main advice I can give when dealing with Scan.

If you do buy from scan, ensure that the product is nothing but manufacturing perfection. They will require the same if your item is returned, and don't care that's how the item was sent to you.

This manufacturer/retailer thing is quite tricky.

Retailers cannot just punt you off to the manufacturer becayse their responsibities are statutory.

However .... sometimes, advising you to go that roure may be good advice.

The manufacturer warranty may give far better cover than the retailer's consumer law obligations, and it may be much faster too.

But ultimately it's your choice.

The example I use is a tailor (with big online operation too) I use a fair bit. I haven't checked recently but they used to offer 2-month unconditional guarantee. The actually said, you're covered if your dog chewed it, you're covered if yiu spilled red wine on it, or cigar ash burnt it, etc.

I asked them outright, doesn't that get abused? They said, "Sure .... but surprisingly, not much. Most people are honest and reasonable". They gave such a strong guarantee, albeit only for two months, because they wanted to imbue confidence in their product so that people would try it, confident that for any reason, at all, they could return it.

And they pointed out that those few customers that repeatedly took liberties, well, they'd simply decline to accept furthercorders. But, they said, it didn't happen often.

Now that, in my opinion, is true customer service and the few things I've sent back, usually due to sizing, were replaced oretty mych by return post.

The result? I've used them for years, have considerable confidence and will continue to have until such time, if ever, that they mess me about.

On the other hand, there are companies I will never deal with again, for however long I should live, based on past experiences.

I would just caution - I don't blacklist a company based on a single experience, especially from a single (and often junior) member of staff. But if it gets escalated and managers are just as bad ....

[AGTDenton]

I'm glad this post exists. What's already been said is similar to my experiences with Scan so I won't bother repeating.
But in summary Scan made it impossible to do a refund, put every hurdle possible to waste everyones time, I just gave up in the end losing £150 was easier than pulling my hair out.
I'd like to point out that it was always an inconvenience for the person at Scan to answer the phone when I rang, it was like I was the worst human being before I'd even spoke, poor customer service skills. At least be somewhat enthusiastic you have a job, be positive and aim to be helpful when someone calls.
It's now been well over 5 years since buying from Scan, possibly coming up to the 8 mark, I've strived to buy elsewhere. A shame as they used to be my go to for everything home & business.

My other gripe is with eBuyer, while the person at the other end of the phone was worlds apart from Scan, their policies are to only refund your shipping up to a certain amount and the refund for the product & P&P is in the form of store credit only. You won't get your money back should you be in a position to have to buy elsewhere. I bought an item that arrived DOA (Yodel), but went out of stock after having to return it. I provided all the proof which they had no problems accepting, but having to have their credit meant I had to buy something from them again. And the credit expires I might add.

Another I have started to avoid, no matter how good a deal it may seem.

I agree with Kanoe, the real test of a company is when you have to return something.

[MrJim]

I had problems with Scan's return policy many years ago, & haven't bought anything from them since. I'm not a fan of Amazon and their stance on taxation, but the last time I needed to RMA an item, their customer service agent was incredibly helpful, and the refund was in my account before they had received the item in the post (which they paid for). I really would prefer to support smaller companies like Scan, but they really need to learn the meaning of after-sales service.

[grimpy]

After spending close to £8000 at scan i had a very bad experience in returning a monitor which they accused me of scratching the base of it and they tried to knock £150 or so from my refund. I didn't even use the base as i mounted it on a stand so there was no way the damage was caused by myself but regardless of how good a customer you have been they won't give you any grace.

I still buy the odd thing from scan but i will never buy anything of value from them or recommend them to friends and family.

[Ttaskmaster]

Yep - There's a reason why we call them Scam...

I have only bought from them through their Amazon site, and then only small items. I've heard tales about various companies, but none so consistently bad as those about Scam.

[GoNz0]

Stopped using them years ago, got banned from the scan forum section as they don't like it when you point out how bad the CS is.
+1 on why they're called scam, it all seems great until you have an issue. I think they buy a lot of stuff without proper warranties hence them worming out of honoring at every opportunity.

[jimborae]

Interedsting that no one from Scan has posted here yet to refute anything or give their perspective.