Disapointed with Scan

I am bringing this across from the forum on PC Pro as that forum is closing on the 10th and I wanted other people to be able to read about my issues with Scan. I don't think there is anything any of the mods can do to rectify the issues now - they have gone on too long.... but feel free to try.

Posted by me on Tue Dec 04, 2007 6:30 pm

Scan Returns are driving me mad.....

This is my story:

A couple of weeks ago I ordered £600 worth of components from Scan to build myself a new PC.

Asus P5KC, iP35, S 775, PCI-E (x16)
2 x (2GB (2x1GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR)
500 GB Western Digital WD5000AAKS
LiteON DH-20A1S-18C Black 20x DVD±R
256MB Asus 8500GT Silent PCI-E (x16)
Gigabyte Triton GZ-XX1CA Black Midi
530W Hiper HPU-4M530 V2 SLi Ready
Intel Core 2 Quad-Core Q6600
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium

When the products were initially ordered it took a phone call to Scan the day after the items were ordered to have the order marked as urgent in order for the items to be picked and dispatched. This meant the items were a day later being delivered than originally promised. CityLink then failed to put the items on their van at the start of the round (I was told they couldn't locate the packages), so further calls to both Citylink and Scan to find the items resulted in me having to collect the items from the citylink depot (if I wanted the item when expected, having spent all day waiting in for the delivery).
On receipt, when one of the items failed within a couple of hours I was very pleased with the profesionalism of the technical support team in assisting me in locating the problems and arranging the return. Returning the items last Wednesday cost me £19.45 which wipes out any savings I might have made in purchasing from Scan. Whilst I appreciate Scan cannot ensure products are fault free but I noticed on the Scan website feedback from other people with problems have had return carriage arranged for them by Scan. This was certainly never offered to myself as an option.
Within several hours of the items being returned to Scan they had been tested and the motherboard was found to be at fault, again this is a testament to the technical team that they can test things so promptly. This is where things start to go wrong again. I was very suprised when the item wasn't replaced and return dispatched to me the same day, nor the following day. When I phoned on Saturday I spoke to Mark who although friendly was unable and unwilling to help in any way only promising that the return would be shipped by Tuesday or Wednesday this week as there was stock and just the new invoice had to be created. I spoke to Mark again yesterday, again he checked there was stock and assured me that I would get my Motherboard and returned non-faulty items back to me today. When I hadn't heard anything more by this afternoon I called again and spoke to Mark, is he the only one in 'customer service'? (I use that term loosely) This time he told me that the motherboard is now out of stock (Asus PK5C) and there is no ETA for new stock. He was argumentative, unhelpful and unwilling to admit that this is poor service. He insisted that Scan were well within their rights as they have 28 days to offer a refund or replacement. They might be within their rights, but how can they continue to trade if they regularly offer service as poor as this?
I certainly won't be buying anything more from Scan, neither would I recomend to anyone else. I have requested that Wesley (Mark's boss?) call me tomorrow, but I won't hold my breath for a quick resolution.
Does anyone else have a more reliable contact in Scan customer service that I can use?

Cheers

Phil

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Posted by Chris_Scan on Tue Dec 04, 2007 7:00 pm

Your thread has been passed directly to the Returns Manager to look inti, I am sure he will be in contact tomorrow.

Best Regards
_________________
Retail Sales Manager / Moderator

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Posted my me on Tue Dec 04, 2007 7:12 pm

Thanks Chris,

I have PM'ed you with my invoice and RMA details, I will let everyone here know the outcome.

Cheers

Phil

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Posted by me on Fri Dec 07, 2007 10:42 am

Well here I am 4 days later and my motherboard has still not been dispatched. I wouldn't mind but I have chased this every step of the way with at least one call a day to Scan, usually speaking to Wesley. In fact yesterday at 3.45 he promised 1000% (his words) that my motherboard would be with me today. And funnily enough I received an email this morning saying due to dispatch difficulties Wesley has now authorised a Saturday delivery and I will receive the motherboard tomorrow. Am I supposed to be grateful that they have upgraded me to a Saturday delivery?
This is pretty much the end of the road for me with Scan. This is the worst service I have ever received from an internet retail company, I now wish I had shopped elsewhere. And the worst thing is I don't feel that Scan care about this poor service. There has been no consideration of my time and out of pocket expenses. I have called them pretty much every day for the last 10 days, each time it is at least 5 minutes on hold and at 10p a minute it adds up. As it is my wife is over 9 month pregnant (she was due 2 weeks ago) life is stressful enough with frequent trips to the hospital, this extra is just not needed. I really don't think there is anything that Scan can do now to get me to be a customer again, their loss.....

A very disapointed Phil

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Posted by IanScan on Fri Dec 07, 2007 11:02 am

Phil,

I have just passed your message on to Wesley and he has asked me to pass on these details.

A turn around in 6 working days is well within our acceptable targets for this time of year, we have tried to assist you at every step during this return and I apologise for the glitch in our despatch department last night causing the delay. We have no obligation to upgrade this to a Saturday delivery yet have done so as a gesture of good will to aid in a prompt resolution to this issue.

Regards,

Ian
_________________
Technical/Returns

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Posted by me on Fri Dec 07, 2007 11:10 am

I think you have said it all there Ian.

Thanks.....

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Posted by me on Sat Dec 08, 2007 12:24 pm

CityLink now can't find the parcel promised to me this morning, it hasn't reached the local depot. So out of two deliveries, the original and the return, City-Link have screwed up both.

It's a bit like a plot from One Foot in the Grave, I must admit I am starting to sound like Victor Meldrew.

Maybe it is time for Scan to listen to their customers and get a new parcel carrier?

Or maybe Scan use City-Link as a way of making their own customer services look efficient? Without doubt they will try and deliver on Monday whilst I am busy with the birth of my first baby. At least that will take my mind off things

Thanks for listening to my rant

Phil

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Phil this all happened between the 4th and the 8th of December? It doesnt seem that long and it is that time of year.I can imagine the stress and your eagerness to go ahead with a new build, something I am in the process of doing as well, but its Christmas and I wouldnt have expected it back for a few weeks.

Why not simply ask Scan for a refund on the item and get the motherboard from elsewhere or get them to offer you an alternative/upgrade or pay the difference? I suppose its hindsight and you wouldnt know all this was going to go wrong. City Link have always had gripes , but not surprising for the millions of customers they supply.

If it was me I would simply get a motherboard possibly in person from somewhere and tell scan to deal with the return if citylink cant find it. Hopeyou get it sorted soon.

Pfffff, another one of these "change the courier" threads.

Thanks Tigger,your words of reason are appreciated.

Scan think CityLink will deliver it tomorrow. I am past caring now, with my wife now in hospital I have more pressing matters! I just wanted to express my anger at the time, maybe it will help other people who are considering returning an item to Scan. Don't expect your return process to happen smoothly. Also don't beleive the les that you will be told by Scan. If I had known i would take so long at the outset I might be a bit less dissapointed. The fact that they managed to test my motherboard and authorise a replacement within 3 hours of receiving it was what led me to beleive the whole process might happen quickly. I have now waited over a week and half for them to get the replacement to me. I did discuss an alternative/upgrade with Scan when the Motherboard first went out of stock early last week, but decided to persevere - maybe that was my mistake.

As regards CityLink, what is a good service from them? 90% of parcels delivered on time, 10%? I don't know, all I know is I'm currently experiencing 0% success.

if you wanted to express your anger at the time, why take the time to re-post it in a new forum.

Because I am still angry?

phild71

As you are aware you have already dealt with me on a number of occasions, after which being taken over by my immediate manager Wesley. From the outset we did make you aware that a normal turnaround would take 3-5 working days from the day we recieved your faulty item back to shipping you a replacement. The fact that you expected to recieve your replacement on the Friday the following day after we recieved your faulty motherboard leads me to believe your expectations were a little optimistic to say the least.

Yes there have been problems with your replacement getting to you, not least because the motherboard going out of stock and also despite our best efforts city-link have managed to mess things up aswell unfortunatly we have no control over this. As a gesture of goodwill Wesley organised for the replacement to be shipped to you for delivery on Saturday over and above what we would normally offer after this length of time. Your replacement DID leave us Friday for delivery Saturday however i believe after your conversation with my colleuege Michael on Saturday this did not happen.

Michael has sent you a seperate e-mail detailing when you can expect to recieve your replacement motherboard.

I appreciate no amount of words can make up for the poor level of service you feel have recieved however i would just like to make it clear that throughout all we have been in contact with you, both on the previous PCPRO forum Hexus forum and various phone call's and e-mails.

Is it just me thinking maybe Mark shouldn't be replying to this? Nice to see Scan do reply to these complaints, but as an individual person was part of the complaint, does it not seem wise to get someone other than that person to deal with it? Otherwise both parties could well be a little biased towards the outcome ;)

I see no issue here and no reason to ask anyone else to post on behalf of Mark when the information posted by Mark is factual, not a personal opinion.

"Patience is a Virtue"

Scan beats Microdirect any day, don't get me started on how much worse other companies can be. From what I hear, Scan are being much more professional about it than you'd even expect.

-Gobbob

this is reasons why i don't buy of the net any more , scan is 40 minutes away so the drive there is worth getting something there and then, despite some times 50 people waiting and only 2 people on the counter serving .

1.It seems its the frustration of a new build and over optimism. I never expect a turnaround of less than ten days,especially at this time of year. It doesnt do Scan any good to try too hard, but there were unfortunate circumstances..If I was urgent id have negotiated an upgrade. There are lots of alternatives for the P5KC.
2.I think its good Scan do all these replies,it gives them a human face and its good PR that ultimately pays off in an enhanced reputation and repeat custom.
3.Sorry to hear your wife is in hospital Phil. Hope she gets better soon.
4. I have dealt with a lot of online retailers Phil and Scan have always been great which is why they get my custom. I wouldnt let it put you off, just notch it down to experience, they are only human.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by andyspc

despite some times 50 people waiting and only 2 people on the counter serving .

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Hmmm - can't say I've seen this?

When was this, day and time, and I'll check on the register details.

Sorry but we have never had 50 people in our queue with only 2 people serving.

Saturday's would be our busiest day, to accommodate us have a minimum of 5 people serving never only 2.

Best Regards

Before you launched Q-collect I've spent many hours in total waiting in your store. This was due mainly to people turning up with absolutely no idea what they want and not through lack of staff etc.:confused: Maybe you should open a noob queue so that others aren't held up.:mexican:

kinetic

We have found since Q-collect que times have improved considerably, how have you found the service since Q-collect.?

Kinetic, You ever been in B&Q?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ChrisP

kinetic

We have found since Q-collect que times have improved considerably, how have you found the service since Q-collect.?

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No problems at all, the longest I've had to wait was around 10 minutes.:bowdown:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SHare

Kinetic, You ever been in B&Q?

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Yes, why do you ask lol?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ChrisP

kinetic

We have found since Q-collect que times have improved considerably, how have you found the service since Q-collect.?

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I've been coming to Scan for at least the past 9 years I think and I have to say it used to be awful, but I put up with the wait because your prices were so good, but also because your counter guys were very knowledgeable about your products, something that the likes of PC World could never claim. I would call in on my way back to the office from Manchester just to pick something up and I could easily have been there for an hour, which didnt look good when I was meant to be working, so sometimes I would have to walk out and try again some other time. But since Q-collect things have improved greatly, my only "complaint" if you could call it that, is that occasionally you can see your item being passed through "the window" for it to then sit there being ignored while everybody gets handed their gear :crazy:

You've come a long way as a company since I first started shopping with you, and whilst every company has teething problems at some time or another, you have to be commended for the first class service you provide along with the great prices. (I'm not an ass-licker honest! :embarrassed:)

Keep it up! :)

Rofl... jason and that woman i belive serving? and some lad collecting for a woman whos leaving ( donatation ) - quite a big lad was dragged to help them, but before hand it was 2 people dealing with a large amount of people.... this was a week ago friday... i did actualy say it seems abit busy and they said " tuesday is the best day as its never to busy "

Thanks for the posts guys - on topic and off!

CityLink finally delivered the return this morning, beaten by the midwives though, they managed to deliver my new baby boy at 11.25 last night, both are late, the baby by 15 days, the return took 10 working days.

My wife and baby Samuel are fine. I just wish I had the time to rebuild my PC now!

Have a great Christmas.

Cheers

Phil

Excellent news, congratulations!

Good to see you got this sorted, Citylink are a mixed bag to say the least. They seem to be in the process of un-franchising(word?) all their depots to bring them all up to scratch. I've had a couple of bogey deliveries and many good ones.

Just remember, it's Christmas and you've got double the excitement with your new kid. Better get that PC built before the missus starts making you change nappies, otherwise it'll never get built! :)

Have a good one!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by slinger

but also because your counter guys were very knowledgeable about your products, something that the likes of PC World could never claim.

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Jason off the sales counter used to work in PC World!:mrgreen:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SHare

Kinetic, You ever been in B&Q?

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Hell yeah, 20 staff wandering about trying to look busy, massive queues, 2 tills open, 18 closed.:)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by phild71

<snip>

Maybe it is time for Scan to listen to their customers and get a new parcel carrier?

Or maybe Scan use City-Link as a way of making their own customer services look efficient? Without doubt they will try and deliver on Monday whilst I am busy with the birth of my first baby. At least that will take my mind off things

Thanks for listening to my rant

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I've never been a great fan of CityLink - partly because their local depot is 25 miles from me. I prefer normal Royal Mail as I can easily collect stuff from the local sorting office. Having said that, I am waiting for something from Orange via the ‘Home Delivery Network’. A very secretive organisation - They left a card on Monday – no depot address for collection, only a note saying they’ll try again tomorrow with a phone number hidden away. I called and said I want to collect. They wouldn’t give me details, I have to give them a phone number and wait for them to call me (“within 24 hours”). 3 days later, no call. I called Orange to get it rerouted to my office – can’t do via Orange, will have to call carrier but have managed to lose the card. No phone number or depot location on web site. There’s more but I won’t bore you! At least CityLink are easier to deal with.

I have also had problems with ParcelF*rce...

have always had *excellent* service from Scan over a number of years. I highly recommend them.

(standard disclaimer re no personal relationship with them other than satisfied customer)

Rgrds

Peter

Congratulations Phil. Hope you and yours have a very peaceful Christmas.In the big scheme of things I think you will look back and realise its Christmas, you were a bit unlucky and there are more important things.

Maybe test the MB now just in case and a fast trouble free rebuild for you. Citylink have always been fine for me.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by phild71

Thanks Tigger,your words of reason are appreciated.

Scan think CityLink will deliver it tomorrow. I am past caring now, with my wife now in hospital I have more pressing matters! I just wanted to express my anger at the time, maybe it will help other people who are considering returning an item to Scan. Don't expect your return process to happen smoothly. Also don't beleive the les that you will be told by Scan. If I had known i would take so long at the outset I might be a bit less dissapointed. The fact that they managed to test my motherboard and authorise a replacement within 3 hours of receiving it was what led me to beleive the whole process might happen quickly. I have now waited over a week and half for them to get the replacement to me. I did discuss an alternative/upgrade with Scan when the Motherboard first went out of stock early last week, but decided to persevere - maybe that was my mistake.

As regards CityLink, what is a good service from them? 90% of parcels delivered on time, 10%? I don't know, all I know is I'm currently experiencing 0% success.

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Just to add a little to the City Link saga, when I buy things and there is a choice of postage I ALWAYS opt for City Link why? because not even once have they let me down I could set a clock to within 15 minutes of when my delivery will arrive, maybe in my area they work it different but they get it right EVERY time.

So I would imagine Scan will do figures and notice that in this area they have zero complaints and maybe in others the same so they choose to use City Link and believe they are doing right, of course I believe they are because I have always had perfect transactions, I am one of the biggest moaners there is I could win a copetition for it I'm so good but today after reading time and time again about delivery problems I thought it might help to note it's not all bad.

Sorry for hyjacking your thread and I hope your sorted out now.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by phild71

Thanks for the posts guys - on topic and off!

CityLink finally delivered the return this morning, beaten by the midwives though, they managed to deliver my new baby boy at 11.25 last night, both are late, the baby by 15 days, the return took 10 working days.

My wife and baby Samuel are fine. I just wish I had the time to rebuild my PC now!

Have a great Christmas.

Cheers

Phil

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Very nice to hear hope you have a great Christmas and lets hope the New Year brings you all plenty of joy and happiness.:)

Just on the flip side iv order 3-4 full computer systems and numerous components through scan over the last few years and iv always been amazed at how good their customer service is, the prices they offer & just the way they treat their customers.

I know there is always the odd problem, but i wouldnt hold it against them. Im yet to find a better customer service team.

:)