My laptop’s hard drive recently died after only 3 years (note to self – next time, don’t buy a Toshiba) and made the mistake of ordering a new one from Dabs. Apparently their courier, Home Delivery Network, tried to deliver it twice unsuccessfully, though they never left a card or any other evidence of having done so. On your first 3 purchases, Dabs do not allow you to use a different delivery address from your billing address for ‘security reasons’ so unless you plan to be home on a week day, all day between 7am and 6pm, expect a week or so of bureaucratic nonsense before you hold your purchase in your sweaty little hands.
After tracking the failed delivery attempts on the Home Delivery Network’s website, I decided to call them. There is no phone number listed on the site. It directs customers to go back to the original supplier of the item in question. So, I wrote to Dabs to reschedule, and arranged to work from home the day of delivery. Unfortunately, Dabs, who also discourage customers from actually phoning, have a rather leisurely approach to answering emails, and no one got back to me until the day after the package was meant to be delivered.
I searched online for the telephone number for Home Delivery Network, which I found on a thread called Hard to Find Telephone Numbers. Several bits of information were imparted to me during the ensuing telephone conversation:
- My postcode doesn’t exist in their system
- Despite there being no telephone number anywhere on their website, they do not wish to discourage customers from phoning them
- They do not deliver to Universities (I work at a university, so they could not deliver to my work
- They will only deliver to homes or organisations that have no yellow lines in front and have plenty of parking spaces (how does that become my problem?)
- Once drivers leave the depot, they are completely unreachable (apparently mobile technology has not yet reached the logistics industry)
And, to cap it all off, Dabs finally got in touch with me this afternoon, replying to the email I sent them 2 days ago. Well done!
I'm SO sorry you don't like Toshiba - however, you've only had one and we've had like 5 and they all had to be buried alive! :)
ReplyDeleteThis has happened to everyone once...at least once...It is the Kafkaesqueness of life (like that?).
ReplyDeleteYes, very Kafkaesque. That's what the experience reminded me of.
ReplyDeleteI'm not saying I'd NEVER buy a Toshiba again. And I have had many good times with my current one. I think I was just caught in the bad customer service red mist when I wrote this. Actually, I think next time, I may go over to the dark side and buy a Mac.
Great post..thanks for this post...
ReplyDeleteTrak