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Old October 7th 03, 10:19 PM
Andy Bryant
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Default ebuyer - still have terrible customer service

http://www.ciao.co.uk/opinion_view.p...duktId/5107918

http://www.ebuyer.com - Computer hardware supplier

I've bought stuff from ebuyer on a couple of occassions, with some
success, and some failures. Their ability to process orders for items
that are in-stock is fine. Prices are low, which is the only reason I
keep returning. No problems with ebuyer thus far.

Good things about ebuyer are the range of kit on offer, and the
prices. They generally have most of the items I'm looking for, with a
reasonable variety. The website is efficient, and easy to use. Even
the order management system on the website is pretty advanced,
allowing you to see your orders, and modify them after they have been
submitted. Sometimes you also get tracking information directly from
the ebuyer system. When things go well, it is a delight to use.

Delivery charges are low to average for this sort of supplier.

One minor issue is that they ship from different places, and
occassionally drop ship direct from suppliers. This means that they
sometimes ship in multiple consignments. In my area they use initial
city link, which is probably the worst delivery service I've ever had
the pain to use. They never answer the phone, and will NOT deliver to
a neighbour.

The main problem with ebuyer is that when they encounter an item on
your order that is out of stock - they put a halt on the entire order.
I don't believe they put any effort into ordering the out of stock
item specifically for your order... but just wait for it to come back
into stock. When, and if this item comes back into stock they take
another look at the order. If everything is then in stock, they will
ship, however if any of the other items on the order have gone out of
stock in the mean time, then the order goes on hold again. They don't
reserve items for a particular order. I guess this keeps their
inventory costs as low as possible.

This means that it can take forever to get an order out of them if it
contains more than one item that is out of stock.

On my current order I've got a computer case, that is quoted as being
ordered-on-request with an expected lead-time of 10 days. I've already
broken my order into 2 orders, one containing the items that are
in-stock, and the other JUST containing this case (at my cost!) It has
now been over 30 days, and I've asked on many occassions to understand
if the case has actually been ordered from the supplier - but to no
avail. The team that answers the enote system don't appear to have the
ability to find out any information - but just return enotes with
canned standard answers.

I've tried calling them in the past... but it doesn't usually help
much, and you have to wait for ages to get to talk to someone.

Update - They finally answered the phone, and said the case had been
ordered and would arrive within 7-10 days. The guy actually confirmed
that the product manager had actually just discussed this with their
supplier, and their supplier had confirmed that the case was on the
way.

Update2 - The next day I get an eNote from them saying that the case
has been discontinued, and that my order had been cancelled. I just
don't get why they were unable to do this a month ago.

I logged an eNote on the system expressing my disappointment. It was
closed without response. This is why I'm posting this warning here
for all to see.

Incredibly frustrating process, and a complete waste of my time.

The summary is - if your kit is in stock - then they are a good, cheap
supplier. If something goes out of stock - just cancel the order.

A.