Ash
14-Nov-2008, 09:42
I hope this isn't repeating a previous rant, but here goes.
MW Classic in the UK should only ever be used as a last resort. I say this having attempted to purchase from them a number of times.
I had sent emails and received slow replies or not at all, and when phoning the English gent was fine and understandable but the gent with the accent found it difficult to understand anything I say - I don't talk with an accent, only the typical British sounding.
Battling past this I made a couple purchases (this order of events goes back over a year or two so I may be omitting some details).
First ever sale was absolutely fine. Can't complain, would recommend them even.
Second sale was alright, but shipping was slow as hell and one or two of the items weren't as good as described.
I called up to purchase something about Christmas time (one before last), specifically asked if it was still in stock and was told "yes great! We'll get that off to you today" only to receive a call a day or so later apologising it had already been sold, and all other items of the same type were more expensive and could not be sent before the new year.
Benefit of the doubt time
Third sale was okay but the item took a long time to arrive, even when I begged to pay the extra for faster courier shipping. The sales person seemed disinterested in answering basic questions, wasn't bothered about taking my money, and even less interested in being prompt with postage.
Fourth sale was for a small accessory. I received the wrong item even though there are images on their site of each exact piece with a reference number. I had to complain down the phone to eventually receive the correct piece, as he could not tell which should be which.
After this, and after calling up a number of times in between I decided it was worth taking money elsewhere even when the cost was a little higher. MW Classic have very competitive pricing, but sometimes paying an extra 10-20% is worth it when you know you'll receive the item when promised, and in the condition it should be.
So it's been over a year and I decide I'll try them again, they have a small accessory for the Calypso and Nikonos underwater cameras (land use X-sync adapters) so I call up 3:30-ish on a Tuesday and a very helpful new voice assures me and is friendly. I think "well they have a new site, and this guy sounds like he knows what he's doing, maybe it'll be alright". I give all my details to him, and we chat that if I had been 30 minutes earlier I could have had the item sent the same day.
Having bad luck with RM in the past, I ask to pay the extra for courier postage as the items are small and likely to be lost in the post, and if it was possible to have them definitely sent on the Wednesday to arrive by the end of the week "yea of course, I'll get that sorted for you now so you have it by then".
I sit at home and miss a lecture Thursday morning waiting for the post. Nothing. Call home to ask if anything has arrived today. Nope.
What left but to call up and ask for certain when the item will be arriving. The gent with the accent answers the phone and he - as last year or the year before - couldn't understand a single word I say. I had to shout and speak very slowly. He finally gets it, asks the person beside him and they say "uhhh what? Oh! Yes! It's right here ready for the invoice, I'll get that done for tomorrow". When you aren't put on hold, you hear all the bad stuff.
Nope!
When he comes back on the phone he tells me "okay.....yea... that...will be sent.....tomorrow..... I'll go to the post office.... tomorrow and send that...." and I ask "but I asked for it to be sent via courier, didn't I?" and he replies "yes .... but you see it's...small enough to be sent by post...office". I argue my point that I wished to have the item by the end of the week and guaranteed as RM can be unreliable on small and easily stolen packages. He tells me the courier is shut and it won't be sent til Monday if I want it via courier.
Granted it's nearly 4pm, but there is well enough time to have the item packed and sent today by special delivery (at my expense) so I have it for the weekend. Post Office closes at 5:30.
I say "well can you please send it today by Special Delivery? I asked for the item to arrive by the end of the week, there's still time" and he told me "no". Straight off, NO. I asked why not and was told there were a couple more packages to be sent tomorrow and thus that will be when they are sent.
I tell them to forget it, to cancel the order and hang up.
The original guy I spoke to calls me back a few minutes later apologising and says little else, asks why I'm cancelling the order and he says "ah okay, well I can't remember the exact details of our -" and I explain all that he had previously said to me on the phone "oh okay then fair enough, well this was just to call and say sorry".
All credit to whoever the new guy is, he put the effort to call me back and at least apologise - I would have expected a bit of a harder fight not to lose the sale though. The other gent can bite me for all I care, he has the worst customer service I've experienced in a long time.
Don't buy from MW unless you can't get the item anywhere else, or you have the patience of a Saint/Buddha/Sensei/and-so-on... it's not worth the hassle.
I'd like to positively end my rant by saying that FFordes, Bob Rigby, Ace Cameras, Mr Cad, etc have all been excellent, have sent items immediately or else got back to me as soon as they could, and have never disappointed.
MW Classic in the UK should only ever be used as a last resort. I say this having attempted to purchase from them a number of times.
I had sent emails and received slow replies or not at all, and when phoning the English gent was fine and understandable but the gent with the accent found it difficult to understand anything I say - I don't talk with an accent, only the typical British sounding.
Battling past this I made a couple purchases (this order of events goes back over a year or two so I may be omitting some details).
First ever sale was absolutely fine. Can't complain, would recommend them even.
Second sale was alright, but shipping was slow as hell and one or two of the items weren't as good as described.
I called up to purchase something about Christmas time (one before last), specifically asked if it was still in stock and was told "yes great! We'll get that off to you today" only to receive a call a day or so later apologising it had already been sold, and all other items of the same type were more expensive and could not be sent before the new year.
Benefit of the doubt time
Third sale was okay but the item took a long time to arrive, even when I begged to pay the extra for faster courier shipping. The sales person seemed disinterested in answering basic questions, wasn't bothered about taking my money, and even less interested in being prompt with postage.
Fourth sale was for a small accessory. I received the wrong item even though there are images on their site of each exact piece with a reference number. I had to complain down the phone to eventually receive the correct piece, as he could not tell which should be which.
After this, and after calling up a number of times in between I decided it was worth taking money elsewhere even when the cost was a little higher. MW Classic have very competitive pricing, but sometimes paying an extra 10-20% is worth it when you know you'll receive the item when promised, and in the condition it should be.
So it's been over a year and I decide I'll try them again, they have a small accessory for the Calypso and Nikonos underwater cameras (land use X-sync adapters) so I call up 3:30-ish on a Tuesday and a very helpful new voice assures me and is friendly. I think "well they have a new site, and this guy sounds like he knows what he's doing, maybe it'll be alright". I give all my details to him, and we chat that if I had been 30 minutes earlier I could have had the item sent the same day.
Having bad luck with RM in the past, I ask to pay the extra for courier postage as the items are small and likely to be lost in the post, and if it was possible to have them definitely sent on the Wednesday to arrive by the end of the week "yea of course, I'll get that sorted for you now so you have it by then".
I sit at home and miss a lecture Thursday morning waiting for the post. Nothing. Call home to ask if anything has arrived today. Nope.
What left but to call up and ask for certain when the item will be arriving. The gent with the accent answers the phone and he - as last year or the year before - couldn't understand a single word I say. I had to shout and speak very slowly. He finally gets it, asks the person beside him and they say "uhhh what? Oh! Yes! It's right here ready for the invoice, I'll get that done for tomorrow". When you aren't put on hold, you hear all the bad stuff.
Nope!
When he comes back on the phone he tells me "okay.....yea... that...will be sent.....tomorrow..... I'll go to the post office.... tomorrow and send that...." and I ask "but I asked for it to be sent via courier, didn't I?" and he replies "yes .... but you see it's...small enough to be sent by post...office". I argue my point that I wished to have the item by the end of the week and guaranteed as RM can be unreliable on small and easily stolen packages. He tells me the courier is shut and it won't be sent til Monday if I want it via courier.
Granted it's nearly 4pm, but there is well enough time to have the item packed and sent today by special delivery (at my expense) so I have it for the weekend. Post Office closes at 5:30.
I say "well can you please send it today by Special Delivery? I asked for the item to arrive by the end of the week, there's still time" and he told me "no". Straight off, NO. I asked why not and was told there were a couple more packages to be sent tomorrow and thus that will be when they are sent.
I tell them to forget it, to cancel the order and hang up.
The original guy I spoke to calls me back a few minutes later apologising and says little else, asks why I'm cancelling the order and he says "ah okay, well I can't remember the exact details of our -" and I explain all that he had previously said to me on the phone "oh okay then fair enough, well this was just to call and say sorry".
All credit to whoever the new guy is, he put the effort to call me back and at least apologise - I would have expected a bit of a harder fight not to lose the sale though. The other gent can bite me for all I care, he has the worst customer service I've experienced in a long time.
Don't buy from MW unless you can't get the item anywhere else, or you have the patience of a Saint/Buddha/Sensei/and-so-on... it's not worth the hassle.
I'd like to positively end my rant by saying that FFordes, Bob Rigby, Ace Cameras, Mr Cad, etc have all been excellent, have sent items immediately or else got back to me as soon as they could, and have never disappointed.