A very peeved customer

[bug850-4300]

Firstly, I'd like to say that I've been shopping at scan for a few years (about three). I've added the products I've bought up to a little over £3000, so I'm not an insignificant purchaser. I've had mixed deliveries, some have been good, some bad, but I've given you guys the benefit of the doubt in almost every case, instead turning my ire on City-Link and RBS. Not any more.

Last night, I made an order on your website, for an XFX 5870. It was a good price, was in stock, and I selected delivery for Wednesday using the Scan@Hexus delivery scheme. The price was not better than anywhere else, I add, I merely used Scan because they've served me ok in the past. My payment went through, my invoice was printed, and I rapidly passed through the stages of the order. Throughout the day, I was fairly happy because I had confidence in Scan and expected my shiny new 5870, replacing my ageing 8800gts. Whilst I had seen problems in Scan stocking first hand before, I knew that since Scan now openly advertises 'Scan holds stock', my card would already be in City-Link's network for prompt delivery.

That was until I checked my email.

Now, at 9:28am, I get another email. In it, it says:

The estimated delivery date of your order is 24 Feb 2010 (unless you have requested a Saturday delivery).

which pleased me, as I wanted to try out the graphics card promptly.

At 6:40pm, nearly 22 hours after I ordered I received this email.

Thank you for your custom. We're writing to give you an update on your order and the out of stock item(s) listed below:

1GB XFX HD5870 DDR5 PCI-E

As detailed in our previous email, the estimated lead date given to us from our suppliers was 16/02/2010.
Suggested Replacement = 1GB XFX HD5870 XXX 875MHz £279.84 Ex. VAT

You've got to be taking the piss. How could it possibly take 22 hours to work out that a product is out of stock, at a time when you are about to close, thus making any likelihood of sorting anything out today all but impossible?

It's not just that. You didn't email me previously to give me the estimated lead date, and had I known that the product was out of stock since last Tuesday I darn well wouldn't have bought it last night!

Next, you suggest that I swap to a different card, because clearly it's unlikely that you'll get any more stock in of my card. Yes, if there was an equivalent, with an equivalent price I'd be more than happy to swap. Unfortunately, your replacement costs twenty quid more, which makes me somewhat suspicious, and whilst I don't like jumping to conclusions, I can't help but wonder whether that's what you originally wanted me to buy.

This is tiring, and when you put full page adverts that say 'Beware of virtual stockists - they sell cheap but don't buy stock until you order', I just think you're being slightly hypocritical, either by listing products as in stock when they aren't, or using an outdated ordering system that doesn't record actual stock levels thus confusing customers into ordering components which are out of stock. This is not the first time this has happened - it happened last July as well, except I gave you the benefit of the doubt then.

Specification + Service = Satisfaction, certainly, but Specification on it's own = Massive Dissatisfaction and disappointment.

Honestly, when I could have bought an equivalent for less than a can of Red Bull extra from a site that openly claims '50 in stock', I really don't know why I ever chose to shop with Scan.

I now don't expect to see any sign of a product until at least next week, and it's just disappointing that a company is so happy to take your money before casually informing you, over 22 hours later (eg a full working day later) that they in fact don't have any stock. It just takes the piss.

I'm sure you have many satisfied customers, who have used your shop and enjoyed it, but over half of my orders with Scan have been unsatisfactory where I've given you the benefit of the doubt. In this case, I can quite happily tell you that after £3000, you've lost a customer, and that my only regret is that I didn't realise after £2000 that your stock promises are only true to a very low level of accuracy.

I'm not sure why, but shopping with Scan often leaves a bad taste in my mouth, and after three years of orders, I'm not sure that I want to repeat it.

Doubtless I'll get some kind of email in five days time informing me that the product is now in stock, and that it will be dispatched ASAP, or even to be left in the lurch for over a week like a guy further down in this forum was. It's just not good business practice, and I'm sure you at least acknowledge this. Regardless, I still won't have my card tomorrow, which is just irritating, and based on how my previous experiences have gone I won't be seeing it before the weekend. Major disappointment all around.

[Chris P]

bug850-4300

Thank you for the feedback.

Very disappointing to hear this and we can only apologies, I have looked at the stock sales and the last order shipped with this card was on the 8th February so I know stock has not been allocated to another customer, I can also see that the card was added to our re-order list on the 16th February, 6 days prior to you placing your order so this would have triggered an automated e-mail which would have included the suggested replacement -

LN 29625 - 1GB XFX HD 5870 XXX, PCI-E 2.0(x16), 5200MHz GDDR5, GPU 875MHz, 1600 Cores, DP/ 2x DL DVI-I/ HDMI

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/1GB-X...-DL-DVI-I-HDMI

I can't understand why a card that sold out before you order was placed was showing in stock and is something we are going to look into and confirm.

On a more positive note I have located the card ordered, we had a card allocated to a System build location to reserve for a system order, I have managed to free this stock up so I have now allocated this card to your order so we can ship this out tonight for delivery tomorrow for you.

This wasn’t the cause of the issue or a reason why stock could have shown in, but hopefully this is an adequate resolution.

Best Regards

[bug850-4300]

Hi,

I just opened my box (thanks for making sure there was prompt delivery by the way) and I discovered that there was no coupon for DiRT 2 inside. This is currently advertised as being in the box, so I wonder if by virtue of it being a system builder copy the voucher code was removed from the package? If it was, is there any chance you could pm the code to me? I would obviously like the game since I have heard very good things about it.

HD-587A-ZNF9 - 1GB XFX HD 5870, PCI-E 2.0(x16), 4800MHz GDDR5, GPU 850MHz, DisplayPort/ 2x DL DVI-I/ HDMI + Dirt2*
* Consumers who purchase this card get a voucher to download a free copy of Dirt2, the first video game to take full advantage of Microsoft® DirectX® 11

[bug850-4300]

Hi,

I just opened my box (thanks for making sure there was prompt delivery by the way) and I discovered that there was no coupon for DiRT 2 inside. This is currently advertised as being in the box, so I wonder if by virtue of it being a system builder copy the voucher code was removed from the package? If it was, is there any chance you could pm the code to me? I would obviously like the game since I have heard very good things about it.

This has now been resolved, a very helpful member of staff offered to post me a key.