Why Should I Pay For Dabs's Incompetence, Over £25 Spent Listening To Hold Message

[ChrisChaos]

Well my last post here only lasted a few hours before being deleted in its entirety so I'll try and keep my feelings under control.
I ordered a Mobo.Cpu/Ram kit back in early January and instead of the High performance 'Black Edition' Gaming Ram from Patriot that was supposed to be part of the kit I was supplied with Patriot's 'Value Ram'.
Looking later on the Forum I found out this had happened to a number of others, (nice way to increase the profit on each sale I suppose).
I contacted Dabs ever so amusing named Customer Service department and struck a deal whereby I would pay in full, in advance , the cost of the correct Ram with delivery that I should have been supplied with in the first place and as soon as that had arrived I would send back the incorrect value stuff at which point they would refund me the payment for the correct Ram order.
I agreed to do it this way as it was pointed out that this would be the fastest way for me to get my hands on the correct stuff for the build, quicker I was told than sending the other back in and having the right stuff sent out by 'Return of post'.
I placed the order, and after waiting for some time (item out of stock) it finally arrived.
So I arranged for the Value Ram to be collected by CollectPlus from a local shop on the
22nd Feb, it was confirmed by them as being delivered back to Dabs on the 1st of March. So far so good, apart from the cheepo stuff being sent to me in the first place of course.
But this is where it all really went Pete Tong as they lost the package after it was delivered to them or so they told me, claiming that it had never been 'booked in'
They asked me for confirmation that I had sent it and proof it had been delivered to them which I supplied, they even asked me to prove that it had been 'booked in' and was being processed.
I sent repeated emails requesting updates on the status of my refund and despite the website proudly proclaiming that they were up to date with Returns and were answering emails in less than two days only some of me emails were replied to, others were completely ignored. I started to phone them in my lunch hour not realising that calling from my mobile phone was costing 24.2p per minute (£14.52 per hour that is), not to actually speak to a member of staff, oh no I was paying that to listen to a message telling me how important my call was to them, I know know exactly how important my call was to them, it's £14.52 per hour important to them.
Each time I called I spent between 22 and 34 minutes on hold listening to this message, in total spending over £25.00 just to hear that tape.
I was promised that my calls would be returned, they were not. I was promised that my emails would be answered by end of day, they were not, I was promised trhat the refund would be issued on the 18th of March, it was not, it wasn't done in March at all in fact.
I was asked again for the proof that I had returned the goods again as they had apparently gone and lost that as well.
After no less than 11 broken promises from this bunch of cowboys, hours spent writing emails, hours spent waiting on the phone for someone to answer it and over £25 spent just on hold, not including time spent actually speaking to a member of staff, I finally get told that the refund is being issued at last in early April, three months after they sent the incorrect stuff out and that "as a gesture of goodwill' they are crediting me with a further £10.00.
So, because of their incompetence, delays and repeated lies I've had to spend over £25 in call charges and they credit me with a tenner,
Nice way for them to make another £15 out of me though.
Even if I ignore the call charges fiasco it still took them a full three months to correctly supply the items I'd ordered at the price shown on the original order.
What a useless bunch of,
No, I'll think I'll leave it there for the present, see if they come back with a better offer regarding call charges. Personally I want all the call charges refunded and a 'gesture of goodwill' on top for all the time, hassle and stress I've been put through for no fault of my own, they supplied the wrong stuff, I should not have to pay extra for that.

[JarJar]

Chris Chaos.... is that your real name?

I hope it is

[chegz]

"bunch of cowboys" seems to be a regular theme on here!

[johnsoni]

I feel your pain - going through similar misery myself. I'm currently paying for gear that I've not seen, am not ever going to see and don't want to see. But technically and financially, I still own it. Apparently.

[brucet000]

All I can suggest is some Positive action, post to other forums. here is my post on MSE.com feel tree to add to this. http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....php?t=3160544

[brucet000]

Oh I hope I get banned, at least I'll know they have read my messages. of course it won't stop me telling people.

[cbram7147]

Dabs are in breach of the telecommunications act. They are making money from each phone call and to place people on hold breaches this act well done dabs expect to hear from OFCOM. I received an order and the invoice was £31 more than it should be, they robbing gits at dabs calculated the VAT twice! you e-mail them and get no answer. I will no longer use this company as their customer service is NIL

[DMS]

Dabs are in breach of the telecommunications act. They are making money from each phone call and to place people on hold breaches this act well done dabs expect to hear from OFCOM. I received an order and the invoice was £31 more than it should be, they robbing gits at dabs calculated the VAT twice! you e-mail them and get no answer. I will no longer use this company as their customer service is NIL

Err If I recall correctly, Dabs will not be making money from the call (unless you lump them together with their parent, BT). Effective 1st August, 2009, OFCOM changed the regulation of 0870 numbers such that companies do not receive any call payment. In fact, companies operating 0870 numbers have to pay a charge for incoming calls. In any case, rules regarding placing callers on hold do not apply to 0870 numbers and, even if they did, the rules relate to customers being placed on hold unnecessarily for the purposes of making more money from the call.

[ChrisChaos]

Err If I recall correctly, Dabs will not be making money from the call (unless you lump them together with their parent, BT). Effective 1st August, 2009, OFCOM changed the regulation of 0870 numbers such that companies do not receive any call payment. In fact, companies operating 0870 numbers have to pay a charge for incoming calls. In any case, rules regarding placing callers on hold do not apply to 0870 numbers and, even if they did, the rules relate to customers being placed on hold unnecessarily for the purposes of making more money from the call.

Well, it took me less than 3 minutes to find digitechsolutions.com a tele-communications company who clearly state on their website that;
"0870 or 0871 are national rate numbers that enable you to give a national and professional Image. They ensure your business has that edge over your competitors at a minimum cost and with minimum effort.
They allow you to build up and receive an income from your inbound calls. We give your company a monthly rebate, so your business makes money whilst receiving calls."

Took less than another minute more to find numericfutures.co.uk who happily advertise that;
"0870 Special Rate Service Numbers are Non-Geographical Numbers that can be diverted to fixed lines, faxes, mobiles, LAN's (Local Area Networks) and other secure systems but are charged at national rates. They allow you to build up and receive an income from your inbound calls. Numeric Futures Ltd will give your company a monthly rebate, so in other words your business makes money whilst receiving calls!"

To be honest I fail to see why they don't use a 0800 Freephone number, or employ enough staff to ensure that you don't have a clear half hour listening to the 'your call is important to us' message whilst being charged a fortune for it.

By the way, does DMS stand for "Dabs Member of Staff" by any chance?

[johnsoni]

This is all horse sh*t.
Dabs should have put in place a freephone number until such time that all this nonsense is sorted out.
We shouldn't even be discussing "being kept on hold." Dabs know the current call volume, they should have brought in agency staff and additional call capacity. Even if, perish the thought, it has to be based in India. And even if, all these guys are doing is to log our calls to allow the contracted staff to concentrate on clearing backlog.