Out Of Stock

Posted: Tue 24 October, 2006 | Author: | Filed under: Customer Services, Letters | Leave a comment »

Over the weekend I got an email from Marks and Spencer advertising their new range for big wide bastards (not quite the way they phrased it, but that’s what they meant) that was currently only available on-line. It’s a range that interests me – hey, I definitely qualify as a big wide bastard – so I had a look.

Surprisingly, there were a couple of things I liked the look of, so I ordered them through the site. All well and good.

Last night I got an email…

Dear Lyle,
Thanks for your recent online order.
  I am sorry to tell you that we have had to cancel [one of the items] from your order as they are currently out of stock. You have not been charged for these items and your new order total is £xx.xx. I understand that this information will bedisappointing and I’m sorry for any inconvenience that it will cause you.
  The remaining items on your order will be delivered within the next 4-7 working days.
  We update availability regularly, so you may wish to check the website again in the next 2-3 weeks however, if these items were part of a sale we will not receive any more stock. If you would like to order an alternative product please call us on [I can’t be arsed to give the number]
  Thanks for shopping with Marks & Spencer Online.
  Kind Regards,
Customer Services, Marks & Spencer, www.marksandspencer.com

My response wasn’t quite so polite…

Dear Customer Services,
  Thank you for your email.
  Personally, I would rather have been given the choice of whether I wanted the items removed from the order, or held for when the items came into stock. So many thanks for giving me that option.
  Actually, I’d *far* rather have had the website not even show the items that were out of stock – or even at least to *say* the items were out of stock, and would be delayed. I find it hard to believe that a company like M&S can’t organise that kind of integration between warehouse and website. However, it’s obvious that they can’t.
  I think it’s even worse for the company to hold the attitude of “you ordered it, wecan’t provide it, so hey, why don’t you come back in a month or so and see if we’ve managed to get our fingers out or not“. Surely if you have this order listed as “out-of-stock” in the system, it’s not *that* much of a leap to then mail customers when the stock becomes available again, so they can order/re-order.
  As it is though, congratulations, you’ve lost a customer for M&S online. I’ll go back to using Cotton Traders, who at least have the competence/systems to say “that’s out of stock, you can’t order it” on their website.
  Sincerely
  Lyle

Fiscally Responsible?

Posted: Sun 15 October, 2006 | Author: | Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, Health, Letters, Work-related | Leave a comment »

OK, I wouldn’t go so far as to imply that I’m actually getting better with money – I suppose I’m heading in the correct general direction to be getting better with money, but all the same, I’m nowhere even vaguely close to good, let alone fiscally responsible.

I should explain that a bit – I know how much I’ve got, I know what’s going out when, I know how much I owe (remarkably little, thankfully) and I know where the next lot’s coming from, and when. So on that score I’m fairly well organised. It’s just that I’m utterly bollocks when it comes to things like saving, or planning for the future. I can’t deny it, I’m shit. I’ve got money at the end of the month, I can always figure out what to spend it on. Save? Maybe next year.

So it’s been a bit of a shock to the system that this weekend I’ve

  • Completed all the paperwork for a savings account, including the little bit that says “Direct Debit for £xxx per month to go in to the savings account“
  • Also completed all the paperwork to sort out starting up a pension plan. Nothing earth-shattering or special, just a simple stakeholder pension that I can take with me from job to job without paying the earth to transfer it.But it also means that I’ve
    1. filled in another “take £xxx from my salary and shove it straight into the pension” form
      and
    2. filled in some extra crap for the new pension company to find out what the fuck happened to the one I started when I opted out of SERPS when I was 16, on some very dodgy advice
  • Bought a book about financial management and fiscal ‘personality’ (Alvin Hall’s “You and Your Money“, which looks like it’ll be an interesting read)
  • And finally, sent a cheque to the thieving cunts at Holmes Place who won’t let me cancel the membership, despite being sixty-fucking-five miles from their nearest premises, but insist that I have to pay off the year’s contract. £260, the tossers. But there was a vaguely civil letter that also got sent with the cheque to the arse-wipe tollsters, and then there’s going to be an utterly impolite one that goes off to their customer services director, when I can find the name of the elusive little fucker

So I’ve been pretty organised, and there’s been a bundle of other stuff that’s been completed this weekend too, which makes it into a worthwhile weekend.

Although it’s still bloody scary, getting this organised – particularly when it comes to money and savings etc. Now I just need to actually do the paying-in bit…

B&Q – Again!

Posted: Wed 26 January, 2005 | Author: | Filed under: B&Q, Customer Services, Letters | Leave a comment »

The delivery from B&Q yesterday, as it turned out, wasn’t OK. In the least.

Three items delivered – two 3m length worktops, and a metal storage rack of some sort. Only the worktops were some kind of reddy “marble” finish that’s fucking vile, and is nowhere near the black ones we ordered. And the storage rack is something we hadn’t ordered at all.

They did manage to take away the stuff they’d delivered wrong last time though. Well, they took away three of the four bits. Maybe next time they’ll get it right. But currently I’m not overly optimistic that they could find their arses with both hands and a flashlight, let alone manage to deliver an order correctly.

Response

Posted: Tue 14 December, 2004 | Author: | Filed under: Letters | Leave a comment »

Someone at Thorntons has a sense of humour, God love ’em. In response to yesterday’s email, I got this…

Dear Lyle,

Thank you for your e-mail.

We always appreciate feedback from our customers and I have passed your comments on to our Marketing Department.

Kind regards,

[name supplied]
Customer Services
Thorntons Direct

(In)Competence

Posted: Mon 13 December, 2004 | Author: | Filed under: Letters | Leave a comment »

As the run-up to the Festering Season continues,back on Thursday I’d decided to buy a couple of “wine and chocolate” box sets from Thorntons to be delivered. Hardly rocket science, you’d have thought. But no, all the wine box items (only available through on-line or telephone purchasing ) were out of stock, and no information was given on when/whether they’d be back.

Oooh, look, there’s an email address for customer services, regarding stock items and out-of-stocks etc. I think I’ll mail them…

To whom it may concern,

I have tried today to order some of your “wine and chocolate” hampers, primarily product codes 51116 and 50565, in time for Christmas.

Unfortunately, both these items are listed as out of stock. I find it incredible that a company such as Thorntons would make such a monumental cock-up when it comes to the Festive season and gifts that have been heavily promoted in your catalogue etc.

Will these items be back in stock before Christmas? Or is Thorntons determined to lose as much business as possible to companies such as Hotel Chocolat?

Sincerely

Lyle.
Ex-Thorntons customer.

On Friday came the response from Thorntons (Although I only read it on Saturday, due to a certain level of manic behaviour around interviews on Friday)

Dear Lyle

Thank you for your e-mail.

50565 the Classic Combinations wine hamper should be back in stock at the beginning of next week, week commencing December 13th.

Unfortunately 51116 the Twin Red Wine hamper is now sold out and we will not be receiving further stock of this item. 51117 the Twin White Wine Hamper is still available to order as an alternative.

Please accept my sincere apologies, on behalf of Thorntons Direct, for any inconvenience caused by these items being out of stock.

Kind regards,

[name included], Customer Services, Thorntons Direct

OK, now I’m sorry, but that deserves a response. So here we go!

Many thanks for the response.

As a general pointer regarding usability on the website (as only website and phone ordering were available for the wine hampers) would it not be an idea to perhaps mention when an item is due back in stock?

As it is, Thorntons has lost the sale of at least three of these hampers by myself – and I can’t begin to imagine I’m the only person who was planning on buying one of these items!

Having advertised the hampers in your catalogue, I simply can’t believe that you’ve managed to sell out of the Twin red hamper completely – did your ordering department underestimate demand?

I’ve now completed my Christmas shopping with one of your competitors ( Hotel Chocolat, if it’s of any use to know) whose ordering system has been superb, and with no stock problems at all that I have found.

Congratulations on losing customers in this way.

Sincerely

Lyle

I haven’t yet had a response – that’ll probably be some subject matter for Tuesday’s posts!