Disappointing first order with Scan

[IanAG]

I placed my first order with Scan on Saturday for bits to make a server, a £500+ order. As I wanted to build it ASAP I opted for the Q-collect service.

Before placing the order I phoned through to confirm that given all the items were in stock I would be able to collect the same day. Having placed the order at about 1:00pm, after waiting a while and receiving no emails regarding my order I phoned through to check the status and that I would definitely be able to collect that day. Customer services confirmed that this would still be possible and that I should receive the emails in about an hour to confirm that my order was ready to collect.

At 3:30pm I had still not received anything further than the initial email acknowledgement and was getting concerned about whether I could collect on Saturday. I phoned through again and was told that my order would be ready to collect if I came over and they would phone down to the warehouse to make sure. I drove over from Manchester and arrived at 4:15pm only to be told that my order wasn't ready and I would have to wait 20 minutes. At 4:55pm my order was finally ready and I was able to return home.

Or so I thought, because of the delays with my order, I left Scan at about the same time as everyone else left the Bolton game so eventually got back home at about 6:00pm. What I thought would be about a 1 1/2 hour round trip max turned out to be a 2 1/2 hour one.

I don't mind delays, inevitably things happen beyond a suppliers control. To be frequently given information which turns out to be false really annoys me though. I ended up wasting virtually my entire Saturday afternoon over this order. To be honest I am unlikely to use Scan again if this is an indication of the service provided.

[Chris P]

IanAG

Sorry for the issues you seem to have experienced. I will look into this for you tomorrow. If you can PM me the name of the person who confirmed the order would be ready for you before confirmation via E-mail arrived please do.

If you were told this, you should not have been.

As we state online when the order is placed and via the following link below.

http://www.scan.co.uk/qcollect/

" Please await the "Stage 3 of 3" order confirmation email prior to collection the parcel or view the parcel tracking site. Please bring this order confirmation with you."

"As it's difficult to anticipate volumes, the average turnaround time for a Q collect order can range from a few minutes to a few hours, but we will always aim to turnaround same day. Please be assured we will process your order with the utmost urgency and we’ll email as soon as it’s ready."

We ask customers to await confirmation via e-mail to directly prevent issues such as this. I will look into this and speak to CS and see if I can shed any more light on this to prevent this from happening again.

I again apologies, we treat all customer issues seriously. Isolated problems here and there are an unavoidable consequence for any company, but we believe a company really shows its worth in the way it deals with issues that do arise and we hope we can restore your faith in Scan.

Regards

[IanAG]

Thanks for the reply Chris.

Unfortunately I didn't get the name of the person who told me it would be ready to collect, I only know that it was a woman. My invoice number is *edited* in case that is any use for your investigation.

I had read all the terms and instructions for the q-collect service, this was the reason for my phone calls as the emails were not recieved when expected.

Incidentally I didn't receive emails for stages 1, 2 and 3 until 9:26am, 9:38am and 9:39am. I guess it is the q-collect notification system that needs looking at, its hardly realtime is it?

Regards
Ian

[Chris P]

The e-mail updates are real time; there may be a slight latency, which is normal. I can assure you the Q-collect system is sound in design and very successful.

Tracking information shows the e-mail confirmation times sent at:-

Invoice number 000*edited*
Invoice Date 13 Jan 2007 00:16:52
Requested Delivery Date 17 Jan 2007

1. Invoice Printed 13 Jan 2007 13:14:00
2. Payment Authorised 13 Jan 2007 16:19:00
3. Picked 13 Jan 2007 16:52:00
4. Despatched