2 reactions
Terrible experience with Zatu
I placed an order at 2pm on Wednesday 4th October for Splito (birthday present for my older brother) and a Lego set (birthday present for my nephew). I wasn't due to see them until the 14th so I stuck with 48h delivery, though I paid the extra £1 (£3.49 shipping in total) to go with Royal Mail rather than Hermes. The shipping estimate was between Friday 6th October and Monday 9th October.
On Wenesday 11th I realised nothing had been delivered so checked my email to see if there was a tracking number - all I had was an email from Zatu saying "oops, you left items in your basket, did you forget to check out?" Shit. But no, I can see in my online banking that payment has been taken, and the order is showing in my Zatu account except... the estimated delivery date was now 18-21st October?!
I called Zatu on the 11th and their rep explained that some stock, like the Lego in this case, is held in an "external warehouse" and can take "a few days" to be transferred from the warehouse to the store for dispatch. I explained that I'm sympathetic of this, but what I'm *not* sympathetic of is that the website gave zero indication of the extended lead time before delivery, and instead gave a completely misleading delivery estimate of 6-9th October so I didn't know to order the items from somewhere else so that I could have a present for my nephew's birthday party.
I suggested that at a minimum they might refund me the £3.49 I'd paid for delivery, and also arrange for next-day delivery at their own cost once the Lego reached their store for dispatch. The rep gave me a straight "no, that's not possible" on the phone and told me that the delivery window is an estimate. I left it there on the phone because I don't do "shouting at customer services reps".
I then emailed (also on 11th October) explaining the above and noted re. the shipping dates being estimates - this was correct insofar as the estimate shown at checkout **was for delivery between 6th October and 7th/9th October** - not between 6th October and 21st October or some other unspecified later date cause by poor stock control practices. I asked for:
1. Indication of when they expected to receive the item from their external warehouse and so when I could expect to receive the order.
2. A refund of the £3.49 I paid for shipping
3. Confirmation that they would dispatch the order to me by next-day delivery as a goodwill gesture
I got no response from Zatu.
The birthday party came and went and I forgot about it all because life. Then on Sunday **22nd** I got a short email from Zatu apologising for the delay in responding/dispatching the item and that despite their delivery times being estimates they would refund the postage this one time. On Tuesday 24th I got the tracking email from Royal Mail, and on the 26th - two and a half weeks after the last day of their estimated delivery window - the order arrived.
Sorry for the rant but, ignoring completely the present not being there for the birthday party, I'm pissed off that Zatu had a completely predictable delay (item is held in an external warehouse) yet didn't account for this at all when producing their estimated delivery window.
Also, am I crazy in thinking it's fair to assume that when a website says "Estimated delivery 6th - 9th" the 'estimate' part of that is not being able to say precisely which of the 6th, 7th, 8th or 9th it will arrive on - not that the entire four-day window could be completely wrong? And even that if the order DOES arrive after the 9th, it should be because of the courier, not because Zatu couldn't dispatch the order in time?
Imagine I'd paid £10 for next-day delivery, heard nothing, and then the day after they said "Oh yeah that item's held externally so we won't receive it to dispatch for a few more days... sorry, can't refund you the next day delivery because 'next day' is actually only an estimate."
#games
source
I placed an order at 2pm on Wednesday 4th October for Splito (birthday present for my older brother) and a Lego set (birthday present for my nephew). I wasn't due to see them until the 14th so I stuck with 48h delivery, though I paid the extra £1 (£3.49 shipping in total) to go with Royal Mail rather than Hermes. The shipping estimate was between Friday 6th October and Monday 9th October.
On Wenesday 11th I realised nothing had been delivered so checked my email to see if there was a tracking number - all I had was an email from Zatu saying "oops, you left items in your basket, did you forget to check out?" Shit. But no, I can see in my online banking that payment has been taken, and the order is showing in my Zatu account except... the estimated delivery date was now 18-21st October?!
I called Zatu on the 11th and their rep explained that some stock, like the Lego in this case, is held in an "external warehouse" and can take "a few days" to be transferred from the warehouse to the store for dispatch. I explained that I'm sympathetic of this, but what I'm *not* sympathetic of is that the website gave zero indication of the extended lead time before delivery, and instead gave a completely misleading delivery estimate of 6-9th October so I didn't know to order the items from somewhere else so that I could have a present for my nephew's birthday party.
I suggested that at a minimum they might refund me the £3.49 I'd paid for delivery, and also arrange for next-day delivery at their own cost once the Lego reached their store for dispatch. The rep gave me a straight "no, that's not possible" on the phone and told me that the delivery window is an estimate. I left it there on the phone because I don't do "shouting at customer services reps".
I then emailed (also on 11th October) explaining the above and noted re. the shipping dates being estimates - this was correct insofar as the estimate shown at checkout **was for delivery between 6th October and 7th/9th October** - not between 6th October and 21st October or some other unspecified later date cause by poor stock control practices. I asked for:
1. Indication of when they expected to receive the item from their external warehouse and so when I could expect to receive the order.
2. A refund of the £3.49 I paid for shipping
3. Confirmation that they would dispatch the order to me by next-day delivery as a goodwill gesture
I got no response from Zatu.
The birthday party came and went and I forgot about it all because life. Then on Sunday **22nd** I got a short email from Zatu apologising for the delay in responding/dispatching the item and that despite their delivery times being estimates they would refund the postage this one time. On Tuesday 24th I got the tracking email from Royal Mail, and on the 26th - two and a half weeks after the last day of their estimated delivery window - the order arrived.
Sorry for the rant but, ignoring completely the present not being there for the birthday party, I'm pissed off that Zatu had a completely predictable delay (item is held in an external warehouse) yet didn't account for this at all when producing their estimated delivery window.
Also, am I crazy in thinking it's fair to assume that when a website says "Estimated delivery 6th - 9th" the 'estimate' part of that is not being able to say precisely which of the 6th, 7th, 8th or 9th it will arrive on - not that the entire four-day window could be completely wrong? And even that if the order DOES arrive after the 9th, it should be because of the courier, not because Zatu couldn't dispatch the order in time?
Imagine I'd paid £10 for next-day delivery, heard nothing, and then the day after they said "Oh yeah that item's held externally so we won't receive it to dispatch for a few more days... sorry, can't refund you the next day delivery because 'next day' is actually only an estimate."
#games
source
| 45,000 mlx | |
| 34 | |
| 2 |