Sep 15 2004
Dabs.com Delivery Problems
I ordered my brand spanking new Canon Ixus 500 from Dabs.com on the 6th September. It was finally dispatched from their warehouse on the 9th September.
Everyday since then I have been rushing home after work to check to see if my lovely new camera has arrived yet. I’ve also been checking on the Parcel Force tracking website to see if I can find out where the shipment has got to.
Today I finally gave up and phoned Parcel Force to find out where it is. They informed me that they had no record of the shipping number that I was given by Dabs.com. I immediately sent a support request to Dabs.com to get them on the case. That was at 9:30am this morning and I haven’t heard back from them.
So what can I do? Hows about phoning them? Err… whats the phone number? Cos it sure as hell isn’t anywhere on their website!!!!
Thanks to the wonderful Askalix website, I was able to do a search for Dabs.com and it gave me their phone number… Great!!! Dabs.com has got until 1pm to get back to my support request otherwise I will be phoning them.
And for those unfortunate people that are having trouble getting hold of Dabs.com, their contact details are:
- Phone: 0870 4293000
- Fax: 0870 4297000
Ordered a Garmin Quest navigation system from DABS.COM 15/10/04. It arrived without the car power supply and suction mount.Needless to say it is unusable in this state. Today 11/11/04 still no delivery and impossible to contact Dabs of course. Thank you for the contact numbers
Guess what – they automated – it now gives the email address and disconnects
aaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Has anyone tried the fax number? I was never brave enough (or had an anonymous fax number) to send them one.
I’ve got another Dabs.com phone number:
0870 429 3010
Ahh, it’s been over a week since I ordered something from Dabs and my status still says “awaiting response from customer”. I’ve tried ringing both numbers but to no avail as it’s all automated now and refers you back to the website. Ahhhhhh!
Heres a good idea. Hows about some writes a screensaver that, whilst its running, sends an email every few minutes to dabs.com until they respond to your support requests.
That sort of thing can’t be illegal because I don’t see any of the Lycos Europe CEOs being hauled up in court
Yet more Dabs.com details
As I continue my war against dabs.com (they tried to screw me with a Canon Ixus 500… owww!) I have dug up yet more contact details for the “low price – low customer care” company.
These details were obtained from the Network Solutions whois sear…
I;ve just spoken to a very unhelpful lady on reception at Dabs.
The number is: 0870 429 3001
I think “Unhelpful” is the new corporate buzz word over at Dabs.
I’ve just spoken to the unhelpful lady at reception, and she advised me to email the CS supervisor, Stacey Boice, at sboice@dabs.com.
Just phone the 2nd number it works, and gave me an email.
Phone the third reception, seemed okay (be nice and polite, most receptionist get shit a lot of time), she gave me a email too.
sm@dabs.com
sforshaw@dabs.com
good lucks.
Do we have one for ebay? How can a company get away with not having a contact number? Or at least an email that works, rather that telling you off for duplicate emails? In the words of Peter Kay – Whats all that about?
Superb
eBay works a little different. I assume they out-source their support to a third party business. I have a friend in Canada who works for Sutherland, certainly for eBay.ca it is Sutherland that makes sure that all the auctions are bona-fide and I believe they also handle all the disputes. I assume the same goes for the UK(?)
As far as I’m aware Sutherland handle only the .com stuff. I would have thought that eBay.co.uk have their own support dept. and possibly an outsourced one. Contact numbers for eBay? The words Rocking Horse and Manure spring to mind.
ah right, my bad.
If I find out some I’ll let you know.
thanks a lot mate.Dabs is a bit suck isn’t it? i was trying to find a contact number on their website and i didn’t see anything there.anyway thanks for the number…..
I purchased an item from Dabs.Com, it arrived very quick but it wasn’t suited to the product we wanted it for. The RMA procedure was of no use, no matter how many times I tried, in the end I went to there premises in Bolton and the receptionist got things moving, I think they were suprised that a customer had turned up on there doorstep. I now have a full refund from them. but I will never use Dabs.Com again.
Had a little difficulty placing my order for a new laptop. Spoke to the receptionist – the first time she put through to a recorded message telling me to use email. I called her back and said i was just speaking to someone and got cut off – she put through me to a human being – i told him the same thing and he was really happy to help me out. His name is Steve Houston, 0870 429 3089 I think he is an account manager for their corporate buyers but seemed happy to help me.
Lets hope i dont ever have to make a return!!
Cheers
Mark
Dabs seems to be more than happy to take you money in the first place. Its handing back money / replacement goods that they seem to be having problems with. I hope it all goes alright for you.
Dabs.com vs The Matrix.
SPOON BOY:- Do not try and contact the customer service…that’s impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth…
NEO:- What truth?
SPOON BOY: There is no customer service.
That about sums up Dabs.com…I’ve been there.
Keep using the number for Steve above, whenver I try to get feedback on an ongoing 4month complain I phone and suddenly my emails get answered!!
Who does this number get answered by? I’ve never actually tried it myself.
I don’t know as he doesn’t identify himself!
But after I speak to him my issues get amazingly resolved (even if they do screw up after that).
Oh – and I am still trying to get a faulty product replaced & picked up (they keep failing to pick it up).
from order to today 4 months!!!
(I leave the country within a month so it makes things difficult!)
Just phoned Steve Houston and can be contacted on 0870 4293089 as mentioned by Mark Bannister, and he is very helpful, and very happy he appeared on here!!
Spoke to Steve Houston on 0870 4293089 and he was also happy to help me out and told me that if there were any other problems I could just give him a call. Finally a real person to speak to. This is the first time I had a problem with dabs. I ordered two macbook pros and for the past four days it was security checks and payment problems even though all data entered was correct and there is no problem with my bank account. I replied to there automated emails so many times now I was getting frustrated.
I think I may have to give this Steve Houston a ring and thank him for being a light at the end of the tunnel.
I’ve also noticed that someone from dabs has been visiting my site intermitently… I wonder if it’s Steve?
The mystery is solved….
It’s been me keeping an eye on here for you all, I’m happy to have helped, and wish there was more I could do to help. Obviously in my role I cannot help everyone, but I can advise. Thanks for the positive feedback on the site, I know how frustrating it can be…
Take care,
Steve
Odrered a Raptor hardrive on 7/5 . Card debited immediately. Numerous emails and no response to my enquiry asking about its location. They’ve taken my money and couldn’t give a damn about the order. Not a human in sight. All responses to me enquiries are automated. Even the purported replies. Never using them again.
Thanks for the email addresses and telephone numbers peoples. Very helpfulViva the internet, is what I say.
Hi Steve,
Thanks for the heads up. Its nice to know that someone within Dabs.com is looking out for the little guys.
Don’t suppose you care to let us know whats happening with the BT buy-out? (aidy [at] gringod [dot] com)
I now have a list of the following numbers for Dabs.
0870 429 3000
0870 429 3010
01942 8530000
AND.. 0800 558866!
I hope all work – they are bastards, talk about hiding your light under a bush, if they were more efficient then we would not have cause to phone or e-mail them (if you can find out how, expect an offensive answer.
To contact Dabs – click on wishlist on top RH corner of website, then click chat -worked ok for me – however, the staff at the other end are amongst the most stupid people I have ever encountered
Hey guys, sorry to be a bit of a doomsayer, but I’m leaving Dabs.com at the end of this month so my number will revert to someone else, possibly not as helpful as me. Decided I needed to work for a company who has a Customer Services department that actually works on the customers behalf. Maybe I should go into Customer Services? Now there’s an idea……… All the sales people here have been told to revert customers to the live chat function on the website so you’ll probably be directed there, but it does take time…… The BT takeover will be taking more of a consumer bias so we’ve been led to believe so things may get better soon. Take care and I hope the queries get sorted quicker.
Steve
Hi steve,
Thanks for the notice. I’m sure you’ll be sorely missed by both Dabs and the customers you’ve been able to help.
I had noticed the arrival of the Online Chat functionality and also the addition of the recent support repsonse times on the help pages, as far as I can tell this appears to be a move towards keeping customers informed rather than mis-informed.
One thing I would like to know is whether the online chat is with a real person at dabs or just another automated support bot of which I have heard many horror stories?
Hi Gringod,
The Live Chat functionality is with a real person, when it’s manned…. when it’s not, Dabs wheel out an archaic bot to give more generic answers.
It works well, about as well as the general CS system before, but I prefer the face to face contact. At least then I can help.
One comment I heard when I first started here was from an ex sales person that I just could not believe was,
‘ I’m going to customer Services so I don’t have to speak to customers’
Wish I had of listened to the alarm bells that comment started ringing!
Hope everything goes well for you and your fellow bloggers in the future, I’ll pop in from time to time and maybe share some wisdom with you all…….
Ive just phone the numbers the only one that answered asked me had I emailed…. my reply ‘yes 5 times with no response’…. had I used the live chat function…. my replay ‘Ive been clicking the thing for 30 minutes and it refers me to email which obviously dosnt work’
He then told me the number I had used was for BT bussiness customers seems customer service is getting better but ONLY FOR THEMSELVES!
Ive just e-mailed sm@dabs.com with the subject title ‘URGENT!’ and got a speedy reply.
I emailed…
I’ve sent 4 emails to your customer service department all of which
have not been answered.
I’ve phoned about 4 different phone numbers which I’ve found which
send me to live chat.
I’ve been clicking the live chat button for about 30 minutes and it
tells me to use email when its apparent that email dosnt work.
I placed an order xxxxxxx on the 18th of December with an estimated shipping date of around the 20th December its now 22nd of January and Im told its ‘due soon’ what is that supposed to tell me?
Can you please do one of 3 things
1. Remove that motherboard and just give me credit at Dabs or similar, and ship my order
2. Tell me when it will be in stock… at which point I will cancel my order it regardless
3. Cancel it for me.
… That got me the reply of ‘oh look ive just found one lying about, your order has been shipped’
Thats good news that you got you problem sorted out. It just such a shame that you had to do so much running around to get such a simple problem sorted out.
I guess that BT buying Dabs.com isn’t really going to make much difference to their customer service.
Shopping with dabs.com was never really a favorite for me, but because of their cheap prices I decided to give them a shot. 5 days after the order date I had my nice LCD tv in the passage way. Ripped open the packaging and a nice big fat dent on the top of the tv was waiting for me. As you can expect I was furious and immediately contacted them about it. 2 Weeks later and after over atleast 20 e-mails I have yet to get this sorted. Take my advice spend a bit more but shop with a company that actually has a customer service department.
fuk dabs up the ass, they are only interested in your money, if you have a problem then they will do anything to not speak to you. they are the most unhelpful company I have ever had the bad fortune to deal with, any company that doesnt have phone numbers as a contact then be very wary of doig business with them, as the hidden phone numbers mean only 1 thing, that they dont want to talk to you….
consumer be aware very aware
Ordered a keyboard and ink cartridges, agreed to pay extra charge for next evening delivery. It did not arrive next evening but the following day at 16:30
I guess next evening means: “next evening after we dispatch it – which may be today, tomorrow, or next week!”.
i am sunil and the problem i hav got is that i am registered to btinternet and i get £500 pounds worth of vouchers of my bt shareholder. and hav not yet recieved the vouchers we have recieved the notice from dabs.com today 16/6/07 saying that the vouchers have ended and we will not recieve the vouchers.and also we wrote back to them about the vouchers and they didn’t write back to us quickly and they just told us today when the vouchers have ended. and whenever we go onto the website of dabs.com register and we register ourselves the next time we go onto the same website we hav to keep on registering.
Hi Sunil. First up, that sounds really bad but something I wouldn’t put past Dabs.com.
Second, if I were you I’d contact my local trading standards office and seek their advice.
Thirdly, no matter how bad things seem, don’t loose your temper whilst talking to people at Dabs.com, if you do it’ll be harder for you to win what you’re due.
as an ex-employee and now internet shopper it doesn’t surprise me to see so much negative press about the company. I was there for 13 months and you are banging your heads off the wall! even when you try and do things internally you will get no where… customer service are non-existent if you spend £50 or £50k a year as the account managers have no authority. I went out of my way several times to help customers and even went as far as giving out my own mobile in case of problems, its not the staff its the management and procedures that stops the company from getting more business. if you do finally get through to someone just remember they are probably just as frustrated as you…
try emailing kshallicker@dabs.com (customer services) or jsiddall@dabs.com (corporate account team leader)
and as a p.s try any random ext number i.e. 0870 429 *3056 with *3056 being direct to an account manager.
Dabs were brilliant untill David Atherton handed over to some pleb.
Ever since then the service and prices have gone downhill, the reason they don’t have a phone number is that too much time was spent answering complaints. They used to give you a run down on the phone of the product, the last time I asked for some info I was told that “We do not offer this type of service” – Why not! they sell the stuff and that to me is an indication they think the goods are okay, if they are not – then they should not be selling them!
I don’t use Dabs now unless I can’t get what I want elsewhere, overclockers.co.uk are better pricing and delivery, although they are dodgy if stuff isn’t in stock, they will hold up a £700 order for a £3 item thats not in stock to save themselves the cost of the extra postage! But at least they offer a phone number now – which they didn’t.
The last time I used Dabs, my credit card had £30 stolen from it to top up an O2 card! It might be coincidence, but I hadn’t used the card for two days either side of the purchase – so tread carefully!!
I am so frustrated with this company. My order was confirmed for next day delivery on 6 Sept. and paid for.
The order has still not arrived (now 17th). My attempts at contact are as the rest of you. Amtrak are the couriers and have lied through their teeth to me about this delivery and now dabs are refusing a replacement or refund until the origninal parcel is located. I am now £400 down and no computer and they do not care a toss. I too will never have anything to do with them again. I have reported them to Trading Standards who are advising me. They must be so scared of their disgruntled customers that they hide from us behind emails and chat. Cowards and con artists.
One action that you could try taking is (assuming you purchased the item on credit card) is to contact your credit card issuer/bank.
The majority of credit cards have got purchase protection and, if Dabs.com is failing to fulfil an order, the credit card company may have the right to reclaim your money for you.
Also, the more people that complain to Trading Standards the more likely they are to be investigated. Remeber, it doesn’t cost you anything to make a complaint – but it could cost Dabs.com a lot!
I’ve also had some bad experiences with dabs.com, I’m actually in dispute with them on a refund as we speak.
My current dispute is regarding a refund for an RMA returned 20 days ago that was supposed to be refunded to my card or creditted to my account.
The original item, namely a hard drive, has been replaced 3 times within about 9 months and I’m in the position where the last replacement lasted less than 28 days and so can be refunded, or considering the number of times it has been replaced I can force them to refund it.
I originally got an email telling me that they would refund to my card directly, but a few days later I received a credit note letter in the post.
dabs.com support confirmed that I should use the credit.
I really didn’t think a great deal about it and ordered a replacement drive, but to my surprise they billed the full amount to my card and didn’t use the credit on my account.
I contacted support via their online chat and spoke to an advisor who told me to email webaccounts@dabs.com (I never got more than an automated reply).
I contacted support via their online chat again and spoke to another advisor who insisted that the accounts department had creditted the funds to my account.
I made another small purchase from dabs.com, but yet again the credit in my account was not used.
I contacted support again yesterday and sent more emails (that just got ignored).
Today I contacted support on their chat system and was told that they would refund to my card and even asked me to confirm the last digits of my card number.
My overall opinion of this latest problem is that human intervention in dabs.com’s system is next to impossible and that there is a huge gap between human support and the automated system.
I am a very regular buyer on dabs.com and while this problem has been ongoing dabs.com have lost around £1000 in business.
My experince over the past few years with dabs.com prior to this problem has been fairly good, with items dispatched quickly, always delivered and RMA’s dealt with in just a few days with no arguement.
My experience prior to the past few years has not been so good, I often found myself argueing with returns staff who seemed to be running a competition to see who could annoy customers the most.
On one occasion, I found myself in a 13 emails arguement, but the staff quickly accepted and dealt with the return when I threatened legal action.
I would advise anyone else having difficulties to insist that support staff do something immediately, instead of letting them pass the problem on and if you’re asked to email any address at dabs.com tell them you already have, but have been ignored (save yourself some typing because they will just ignore you anyway).
If you are thinking of using another retailer it’s worth considering that they are all pretty much the same.
Ebuyer.com are slow to do anything, but reasonably reliable, do not use Royal Mail as a delivery option for them though as they don’t insure delivery.
CCLOnline.com are fairly good, however beware that returned/used items sometimes find their way to customers as new items.
just want to say thank-you for posting dabs.com telephone number. i myself am having trouble with a delivery and the online chat service has been closed for the past two days, hope you got your new camera, and once again thank-you i will be ringing them first thing monday morning
Well, glad I researched Dabs.com before buying! I was after a Canon Pixma MX700 all in one printer. The website price is the best…….but wanted to see if they were contactable. Obviously not…….first sign of a dodgy company! I’m off to more reputable sites and won’t mind spending the little extra knowing that there is a helpful person who I can talk to in the event of difficulties and that they have an easy to understand returns policy minus the “small print”. Check out the dealer, before you buy from them, I guess is the way to go. Thanks very much to the comments of the previous customers and sorry you went through the mill, glad you shared the experience and saved me heartache!
[...] nonsense. Comment on Dabs.com Delivery Problems by john edwards just want to say thank-you for posting dabs.com telephone number. i myself am having trouble with [...]
I ordered a projector yesterday and paid £10.70 for the next day delivery. For some reason, they asked me to confirm the delivery address by email and I did so immediately… for them not to open the email I sent (yet)
when I looked on the internet for their number, I discovered that a lot of people were complaining about the same thing and I found this page with the number. I cried victory and I called… what a disapointment. It’s only a recorded message saying that all customer enquiries are done electronically!
DABS is BAD!
Thank goodness I found this blog! I did get though to a receptionist at Dabs on Steve Houghton’s old number, asked for him by name and was told he didn’t work there any more…however she put me through to someone else! Oh what joy to actually get through to a living being with a brain.
My problems initially started when I bought a brother all -in -one printer, which I found after installation, did not fax, copy or scan properly. So I organised a RMA via the site. The pick up day came and went and no one arrived, was very annoying as took a day of specially waiting for the bleeding courier! Anyways then came the trying to find a number on the site, yeah exactly, there isn’t one. How annoying is that! Ok, so went through to the online chat, took 45 minutes to get to my turn, only to be told that they had picked the item up. Would have laughed, but she was serious….
Then attempted to explain to the imbecile that they couldn’t have picked it up as it was still sitting next to me at home! It took another 15 mins to get it through her head that they hadn’t picked it up and that they hadn’t even tried to pick it up (was threatened with not getting a full refund due to missed pick up?!!)and that the missed pick-up was a cock up on the couriers part not mine. She then apparently checked with the couriers and then said sorry for the mix-up and has arranged another pick-up for tomorrow. Didn’t really fill me with confidence so have been looking for a number on the net, and luckily found this blog! Excellent work that man!
Having just spoken to a chap called Andy on the number above he assures me that they will pick-it tomorrow and I should get a refund within a few days after that…
So, will be waiting in for them again tomorrow, hope they bleeding well turn up this time, and hope DABS sort out my refund asap, could really do with the money this side of xmas!
Overall experience: Bah Humbug to Dabs!
(Which is a shame as used to use them alot a few years ago with no hassles…)
Record of conversation with DABS messaging service 19/12/07 ended 1004 hrs
Andrew (1348): Good morning, how may we help you?
Mark Whiteley: Hello, my order number was 96286XX and I’ve been trying to contact you about an item that arrived damaged.
Mark Whiteley: Please can you or someone call me on 012XX 7853XX
Mark Whiteley: hello?
Andrew (1348): Im sorry we do not have a telephone service
Mark Whiteley: well that’s what I understand, so can you help?
Mark Whiteley: Is this an automated service?
Andrew (1348): Did you sign for the goods as damaged?
Mark Whiteley: That was impossible since the signature machine only permitted a signature, I said I wanted to but it was not possible and since I had not unpacked the TV I was not sure if the TV would be damaged.
Mark Whiteley: Since then I see the TV has a scrape on the top edge and I want to discuss my options with a human being
Mark Whiteley: Are you a human being or an automated entity?
Mark Whiteley: hello?
Andrew (1348): I am human
Andrew (1348): But that is not the issue, please email couriers@dabs.com and inform them of this, the courier team will assist you with the matter
Mark Whiteley: So what can I do Andrew?
Mark Whiteley: How will they assist? Lets cut to the chase here. The TV seems to work ok and where it will be the scrape will not be noticable, and it’s christmas and I don’t want to return it. Can I get a discount because it’s damaged or do I have to return it.
Mark Whiteley: Do couriers@dabs.com have a telephone number?
Andrew (1348): Sorry no they done
Andrew (1348): don’t*
Mark Whiteley: ok discount or return then?
Mark Whiteley: I can email through photo’s if you like and I have several witnesses to the damaged arrival.
Mark Whiteley: Hello?
Mark Whiteley: Are you ignoring me now or doing something?
Mark Whiteley: Hello……
Andrew (1348): I was doing something, please just email the courier team and they will advise you accordingly and answer any and all questions
Mark Whiteley: That’s no good I have already emailed and sent messages and received no replies.
Andrew (1348): But you have not emailed couriers
Mark Whiteley: Sorry, I am not willing to wait for someone to email me back. My question is simple return or discount – this is not a courier issue.
Andrew (1348): Yes it is as it was damaged in transit by a courier
Mark Whiteley: The issue is return or discount.
Mark Whiteley: can you answer that question please – can you offer a discount or do I have to return it?
Andrew (1348): An the courier team can answer this not me
Mark Whiteley: But I can’t talk to the courer team, they will email me back. This isn’t fair. I have to wait for a reply which may not come.
Andrew (1348): They will reply to your email
Mark Whiteley: Do I have to drive to Bolton to get this sorted before Christmas
Mark Whiteley: When will they reply?
Mark Whiteley: If I bring the tv to bolton can I get a replacement there and then?
Andrew (1348): Sorry no you cannot, couriers usually take a couple of hours at most to reply
Mark Whiteley: Why not? You have a shop at Bolton, I’ve been there, why can’t I bring it back?
Andrew (1348): We do not have a shop at Bolton we have a warehouse
Mark Whiteley: I’ve been to the shop a few years ago. Why can’t I return the goods to the warehouse then?
Andrew (1348): The customer collection service has been discontinued for a while now, and you cannot return to the warehouse
Mark Whiteley: OK can I have a phone number for someone with the authority to give me an exchange please?
Andrew (1348): Sorry we do not operate a telephone service, please email couriers@dabs.com this is the only way to solve your query as we are only going around in circles
Mark Whiteley: This isn’t very helpful.
Mark Whiteley: The circle is your creation, not mine. I offer several ways to resolve it at considerable personal cost.
Andrew (1348): And I advise of the only solution to your queries
Mark Whiteley: How can a company owned by BT not have telephones?
Andrew (1348): We are owned by BT, we are not BT thought
Mark Whiteley: You do have telephones don’t you, you just wont give out the numbers.
Mark Whiteley: So just hold on there Andrew and I’ll email couriers at dabs, we can wait a couple of hours together and then talk again eh?
Andrew (1348): Im sorry but I cannot say on here talking to you going around in circles all day, when you have emailed couriers they will sort your problem out.
Andrew (1348): Thank you for using this service. Goodbye.
Thank you for using this service. You may now close this window.
Your session has ended. You may now close this window.
At 1347hrs on 19/12/07 despite me sending an email at 1016hrs as requested the couriers@dabs.com had not responded and the effect of 10minutes waiting time at the instant messaging window was:
Please wait while we find an agent to assist you…
If your query is relating to an Address Authorisation issue then please note we are unable to assist through this service.
You are currently at position number 55 in the queue.
Alternatively, you may email us with your enquiry to assistance@dabs.com
All agents are currently busy. Please stand by.
You are currently at position number 53 in the queue.
Alternatively, you may email us with your enquiry to assistance@dabs.com
An agent will be with you in a moment. Thank you for your patience.
You are currently at position number 52 in the queue.
Alternatively, you may email us with your enquiry to assistance@dabs.com
The next available Agent will be with you in a moment.
You are currently at position number 49 in the queue.
Alternatively, you may email us with your enquiry to assistance@dabs.com
All agents are currently busy. Please stand by.
You are currently at position number 47 in the queue.
Alternatively, you may email us with your enquiry to assistance@dabs.com
An agent will be with you in a moment. Thank you for your patience.
At 1430 hrs with still no response to my email to Dabs, waiting since 1347hrs at the instant messaging window, this was the instant messaging conversation that finally began:
The next available Agent will be with you in a moment.
You are currently at position number 4 in the queue.
Alternatively, you may email us with your enquiry to assistance@dabs.com
All agents are currently busy. Please stand by.
You have been connected to Susan (1108).
Susan (1108): Good afternoon, how may we help you?
Mark Whiteley: Hello, Please would you chase couriers@dabs.com and see when they will answer my email sent this morning after talking with Andrew(1348) and being advised that couriers would respond to an email within a couple of hours. The problem is that I need to resolve this quickly due to Christmas and have lost 2 days already because no-one responded to my messages. Please can someone help?
Susan (1108): Which order does this relate to?
Mark Whiteley: 96286XX
Mark Whiteley: Hello?
Susan (1108): Was there any damage on the packaging?
Mark Whiteley: Yes the packaging was damaged but not sufficient that I would refuse delivery. It could have been fine inside. As it happens it wasn’t.
Mark Whiteley: Are you talking to the couriers dept now?
Susan (1108): Just adding details to the order.
Susan (1108): Is the damage minor?
Mark Whiteley: Well, yes it is minor and that’s why I wanted to talk to someone but couldn’t. The TV seems to work ok but I can’t be sure and I am in two minds as to whether to return it or not you see.
Mark Whiteley: There is a scratch/scrape on top of the set and whilst it won’t be visible when I wall mount it, I shouldn’t have to accept damaged goods as new so I wanted a discount to keep it really.
Mark Whiteley: If I can’t get a discount then I can return it and buy from somewhere else, no problem.
Susan (1108): I have just checked and we would be able to offer a refund of £50.
Mark Whiteley: This TV cost £1600 and you wouldn’t be able to sell it again if I returned it. Is that really the best you can do?
Mark Whiteley: Come on, it is Christmas…..
Susan (1108): I can only advise that we are only able to offer this due to the cost price and to offer any further it would be more cost effective to bring the item back.
Mark Whiteley: Ok Susan, then I accept your offer. That is good and I am happy. Thank you. Now I would like the amount of £50 credited to my payment card please – you aren’t offering me a credit note for Dabs are you?
Susan (1108): I will arrange for this to now be refunded back to the card.
Mark Whiteley: You are helpful and have retained a Dabs customer. Thank you and have a happy Christmas. The only other thing to ask is whether this affects the as new, warrantied status of the set?
Susan (1108): No this would not affect the warranty in anyway as the this would cover any manufacturer faults rather than cosmetic issues.
Susan (1108): I can confirm the refund has been issued back.
Mark Whiteley: OK Thanks and I hope you enjoy your holiday – you are a credit to Dabs.
Mark Whiteley: bye
Susan (1108): Thank you for using this service. Goodbye.
Well, thanks to Susan, I got a reasonable agreement which satisfied my needs, proving that most people are reasonable if they are treated reasonably. Had I been repeatedly fobbed off and ignored I would have become annoyed, as would anyone. Was this outcome affected by posting on this blog? I can’t say for certain, but let’s just say maybe…
I ordered 2Gb of laptop memory on
Friday 18th at 15.40. Received an
email Monday 21st saying that the
order had been shipped and i would
recieve it in 1-3 working days.
Yesterday was 3 days and still no
sign of any goods. I tried to use
the chat but to no avail. Then I
left a message now today (DAY 4)
I still have no delivery and still
no response from Dabs.com. This
has to be the worst company i have
ever used. In comparision i made
an order with Warehouse Express
on Wednesday at 16.00 and received
next day at 14.30. I do not think
that the cheap prices from Dabs
are worth all the hassle and long
waiting times for deliveries.
Read all the reviews etc above after spending weeks getting annoyed with dabs customer service which included emailing csmanager@dabs.com
I opt’ed for Sean Mack’s advice with him being an ex employee he would be the best person to get advice from.
I emailed kshallicker@dabs.com and jsiddall@dabs.com and within 10 mins received a response from karen saying she would investigate. A couple of hours later karen emailed again with a resolution and an apology.
Being bought out by BT, yeah that’s gonna help those guys are the most blatant criminsls ever to get away with anything!
[Ha! Maybe DABS could teach them a thing or two]
I bought a sat nav around November this year, it became faulty, so returned it to Dabs, and as its discontinued they have said they will recredit my paypal with the £99, but this was over two weeks ago and despite contacting them via there chat service (I spoke to Katrina) there is no refund…….any advice on what I can do now? Would paypal be able to help?
Hi Carolyn, You have got several options now. The first is to take Jim’s approach (several comments above) and try emailing the addresses he gives. This will definately be the cheapest and the quickest if you get a positive response.
Another option is to take Dabs.com to the small claims court, as Michael said he won on one of my other posts (http://www.gringod.com/2006/05/02/a-brighter-future-for-dabscom/#comments). If you win in the small claims court you can claim both for the money they owe you and the costs of taking them to court, so you wont end up out of pocket.
I would also urge all customers of Dabs with complaints such as this to contact Trading Standards.
Hi. i just posted a comment about how the customer service is terrible and how i couldnt cancel my order but through searching for ages i have found a number which has alowed me to cancel my order by phone
0870 129 3100
hope this can help you if your having trouble
Hi similar gripe here, ordered a 32gb MP3 player, got a 16gb 3 days later, no response from dabs online.
Tried the “online returns tool”, tool is right!
Told me i am outside the 28 day window for a return/ refund.
I have emailed the directors, names on the bottom of the despatch note
dplatt@dabs.com
Scurry@dabs.com
Ncatto@dabs.com
Jwall@dabs.com
Psharrock@dabs.com
an auto reply from Daryl Platt so far with his mobile number too. If there is no reasonable response tomorrow I will update.
Good Luck
Mike
I have just spoken to some one at dabs the number is 08704293026 its works a humanodi.
Guys, I wish I had seen this forum before ordering from these clowns. Anyone who hides the way they do is doing so for a reason. I’ll get my money back eventually, but its a lesson learned. Use Ebuyer.com. They actually value their customers!
This may be of interest to DABS and then again perhaps not!
I was intending to make a purchase of around £500’s worth of computer equipment from either DABS or another company.
Found this site .
Will not now be making the purchase from DABS.
Good Customer service is essential.
My delivery was late which would have been fine if, as following the instructions of who to contact, the delivery company didn’t tell me that it had already been delivered. This was horrifying as they even told me I had signed for it. So naturally I told them it had not arrived at all and needed to be found, only to be told that Dabs.com had to tell them to do this and nothing would be looked into until then.
Well luckily the ordered did arrive, but around five o’clock, and not before 12 as I paid for but their response to this issue is what I found most shocking.
My message to them via the site on Wednesday afternoon (chat was not working):
Tell me about this problem:
I have had no confirmation that my previous message has been received so I am writing to make sure that you know that after waiting in all morning I rang DHS to find out where my order was only to be told it had been signed for. This is very alarming but furthermore they then said they would not look into it until you contacted them, even though I had to wait all morning for the delivery not to come and then call them myself to alert them of the situation.
This is an appalling situation to be in, after I have paid good money just to be completely let down and denied support.
I can assure you that this experience will be one that I will not risk again and I will most likely pay more for the same product elsewhere. This probably makes very little difference to you but even if the product were late I could understand but delivered to the wrong address and then I am unable to get any support is just unacceptable.
Please contact me as soon as possible to update me of this situation. I am very concerned that someone else has my order and that I will never see it.
You may email or ring me at any time.
Their supportive and friendly advice which only took two days to arrive:
Dear Alex,
Thank you for your email.
This order was delivered on the 11/02/09 at 11:59
This was delivered within the AM delivery slot selected.
Regards. (Name removed)
Was so pleased to find this blog… as hav9ng no published number is rubbish! But… Oh dear..
My faith is dying by the minute. I ordered a TV on Monday – paid for next day delivery – it arrived really quick – the next morning. However – in the box there was only the TV and half a lead! No packing list, instructions, power leads etc., remote control.
So I emailed “assistance@dabs.com” as on the “Box Note” and also via the online contact form via “dabs.com/help” as also advised on the “Box Note”.
This morning there was no response still so I called the number 0870 429 3010 and while I got through to a human he advised me to go through the chat help online – I said I couldnt as my firwall wont allow it.. he advised using the onlne form – I said I had and had no response. He told me I had got through to some corporate dept (? cant remember) and that he couldnt help. He sympathised and said all he could do was take my details and email someone asking them to call me. Ok its only 10:30 am Wed but thats not great… and I am totally down hearted after reading all these experiences.
I emailed kshallicker@dabs.com which bounced stating that the address was not valid at the organisation. Perhaps along with Steve Huston our Kate has left?!
Will try all other emails on here and let you know how I get on!
I emailed “IS5944_15478@is.instantservice.com” which was the email address used as a response to my previous order. AI only got the same standard automated reply telling me “Please help us reduce any delay in response by not re-sending your query.” Actually I dont care how many people get my query – at least it just might get sorted?!
The numbers at the foot of Nicolas email are:
I emailed dplatt@dabs.com, Scurry@dabs.com, Ncatto@dabs.com, Jwall@dabs.com & Psharrock@dabs.com as listed by Mike above.
Daryl sent out of office reply (on leave) with 2 contact numbers “Nic Colley on 0870 429 3456 or mobile number **” and this at the foot:
Tel: 0870 429 3451
Fax: 0870 429 7451
Mobile: **
Paul Sharrok (IT Director) had an out of office reply (on leave) with “contact Nicola Colley ncolley@dabs.com with any urgent requests”.
I’m happy to say Nicola Colley (Directors PA/Receptionist) cc’d me in to a reply email to all the email addresses above… asking Jon Sheriff to sort it out
Tel: 0870 429 3456
Fax: 0870 429 7456
Mobile: **
Progress I hope!
I removed the mobile numbers as I’m hoping this might be enough… if it is not resolved by Thursday I will publish the mobile numbers – they are after all work numbers…
Watch this space….
My God – just about to give up hope! Jon got back to me!!
It seems thay have now despatched the missing items for me…. it took some rattling of cages but we got there….
My advice? Either dont buy from DABs or if you do and have a problem try all emails and numbers in my above posts! Be polite but give deadlines…
Phew…
Hi Nikki,
You certainly have been busy! We’ll I’m glad it looks like you’ve got things sorted out with DABs.
I can’t agree with more about being polite! But that doesn’t mean you can’t be persistent and assertive, and it’s that sort of action that will get results in the end from the likes of DABs.
Kind regards,
Adrian
Hi Folks
I found the info that everyone has posted here to be very helpful so I though I would post my experience. (Both good and bad actually)
Got an email saying that there was an “Address Authorisation” problem. I proptly replied, but a couple of (working) days passed with no activity. Tried the ‘live chat’ facility a couple of times which was useless (I think once it was a real person and a bot another time). Then I went looking for phone numbers which brought me here.
I called 0870 4293700 as mentioned in another thread on here, which is the Sales number. They were helpful and put me through to a very helpful gent called Clive in Customer Services. I explained the problem and he authorised my payment address and said that my order was now completed and being picked for dispatch.
As other have mentioned as long as you’re polite they’re quite helpful.
Probably not worth over using that phone number though, else that will probably get switched over to the recorded message too!
Just to update… I recieved the missing items early the next morning (cant fault them for speed of delivery!)… however they were for the 22″ not the 19″ tv so the manual was useless to me.. nevertheless – all leads and remote work fine. I have my TV
Oh – and yesterday – a week after the event – I got an automated response to my initial email about the missing items, telling me that they had been despatched..
I ordered an AMD phenom Quad core pc package from Dabs on Easter Sunday. (Quick Link 5dkfws) it’s description boasted about all the power and capabilities of the pc and that it came with multimedia keyboard and optical mouse and there was a nice picture accompanying it. Waited patiently and wednesday the following week 1 box was delivered containing the AMD phenom pc a keyboard and a mouse. NO monitor or speakers. I checked the advert and it shows pc, monitor, speakers, mouse and keyboard and it states multimedia in description. 12 emails and 3 days have passed already without a human reply. I have filled in a returns form and it looks like my only option is to return it. Might try all the addresses and phone numbers above…..
Actually ordered a few times from these guys, and I’d recommend them. Fair enough one of my keyboards needed replaced but it was done so within a week so was happy enough. I’ve used others before and after 10 unanswered emails, I gave up!
John (17th April..) thats terrible! Has it all come yet? If not – call the numbers and emails as above!
Update on my AMD Pc problem. I emailed all of the above as suggested by Nikki and got 3 out of office replies which referred all enquires to NColley and gave her mobile and works number to call. So I called it on Saturday and got through, she was driving but was very polite and pleasant and she said she’d get someone to look at my problems first thing on Monday morning. Sure enough John Sherriff called my home on Monday morning and left a message. After a dozen or so attempts I finally got through to John Sherriff on Monday afternoon and after a little wrangling he agreed that the advertisement could have been misleading and offered to forward a monitor and some speakers as a good will gesture. Thursday they arrived and it all works fantastic. Great result. So after a little perseverence and the addresses forwarded by Nikki (big thanks for those) everythings fine. Would I use Dabs again……………………..probably.
Is anyone else having problems logging into the dabs.com website at the moment?
Yesterday I tried my usual login and password but they weren’t accepted, so instead i registered a new account and ordered the items I want to buy.
Today I wanted to logon to check the order status and…. guess what, it wont accept my newly registered email and password either!.
Tried their realtime chat. To be fair the person on other end seemed nice and not a total idiot, but was unable to help. I don’t think its a problem my end because I completely flushed firefox’s cache/cookies and even tried in both a different browser (IE) and on a completely different machine!.
here are a few numbers i have used:-
0870 429 3010 – sales
0870 429 3459 – Neil Catto – finance director
0870 429 3458 – karen – PA to directors
if you change the last number you will get through to most the directors, hope this helps.
Hi everyone,
I’m Jon and I’m the Customer Service Manager for Dabs.com.
Reading back through this thread is quite an education. I can see the definate changes in our service over the years. I believe that we’ve come a very long way but we can’t be complacent. One of the biggest changes is that there is a genuine desire to listen, change and improve in my department and the business as a whole.
Although I can understand the temptation to mail individuals in the organisation directly, can I ask you first to contact me and my management team on csmanager@dabs.com if assistance@dabs.com isn’t getting you a resolution. When individuals get mailed I lose sight of root causes, your mail may disappear and the team can end up duplicating work (which slows everyone’s solutions down). I promise you we are picking up those mails and they will be responded to.
The vast majority of our customers have a happy, drama free experience however for the few who don’t – rest assured I take each and every customer’s issue seriously and I make you my personal promise that where a resolution is in order it will happen. Customers are ultimately in charge of the business, and I know that without customers my colleagues and I will all be looking for a new role.
Jon
To Jon @ Dabs, thanks for sharing your email address on this blog, which your customers may (or may not) find while scouring the web looking for help.
May I suggest you could save your distraught customers a lot of stress by simply placing that information on the dabs website (for starters), and provide a proper customer service number on the website too.
I have placed an order for £500 worth of goods at dabs.com (not yet processed) and I’m seriously considering cancelling my order before the stress begins.
Email and chat systems are clearly woefully inadequate for customer service in a company like Dabs. By all means use them in conjunction with telephone support, but not instead of. Your competitors manage it, so why can’t you?
Just to update you, I got a bounceback from csmanager@dabs.com. I don’t think that Jon’s new era of customer service can be very successful! The most recent phone number in the list is to the former dabs@work which is now BT Business Equipment and they just give you the same old story, we can’t help you and Dabs don’t have a phone!
Hi Owen, Hi Catherine,
thanks for the comments.
Owen – I haven’t posted here in isolation, however I know some people do come by this way, and I wanted to offer the official route into the team. Of course the website has contact details, either a chat option, or an email option too.
Telephone support is a hotly debated subject within the business, currently it isn’t offered but there are business cases both for and against.
Catherine – if you received a reply it will either have been an automated acknowledgement, or you may have made a mistake in typing the address? We don’t have a mailbox as such, so they don’t get bounced like a full Outlook box would. If you are a consumer and you call the Business Sales team, I’m afraid they will not be positioned to help and it will just cause more frustration. Try the emails/chat first, please!
As ever, please get in touch with the team if you need help for all the reasons I gave above. Trying to make shortcuts just impacts on service for everyone while the wrong people forward your contact to the wrong team multiple times!
Cheers
Jon
I would reccomend anyone having problems contact the courier service first. For me this was HDNL. I placed an order on 11 January which showed as delivered 12 January. I haven’t bothered chasing until yesterday because I was in no particular hurry but was concerned when I tried and found the same as everyone else, Dabs have no phone number on their website.
Instead of bothering with their email system I called HDNL who advised me my item had been left with a neighbour all of this time… they had not thought to leave a note at my house or update the Dabs website with said information!
If your case is different and the courier service deny having received the product from Dabs at least you will know where the problem lies and Dabs cannot fob you off by blaming the courier.
Ditto ditto ditto ditto etc etc etc etc etc, add me to this ever increasing list of identical problems.
I have spoken briefly to Nic Colley and sent the e-mail she requested, if I do not receive a satisfactory response my next call will be to a friend who is in the employ of a National weekend newspaper who specialises in expose’s of large companies/corporations with such reprehensible practices, and we’ll see how good for business a media spotlight is.
Ordered £750.00 worth of PC components for a new system, paid £20.00 for Saturday delivery, only the case arrived, the rest of the components (£700.00 worth) has vanished into thin air. The courier (HDNL) says DABS have only given them the one box, can’t get hold of a human at DABS for love nor money.
I have been a DABS customer for more than ten years, I bought my first PC from them, and many other PC’s and bits and pieces over the years, as have alot of my family and friends due to my recomendation, well, you can guess what I’ll be telling them now !!
Avoid DABS like the plague.
Hi everyone,thank you,for all those reviews. I cant wait to contact,dabs with my complaint. I have just bought a LG TV which arrived on time,but wjen i went to put it up,it would not stand straight,it was bent forward. Has anyone else bought this tv 22″,with freeview. Good buy,im thinking not. Will be contacting most of the numbers,that you kind people,have left,for all us new customers..Good luck to you all.
Previous posting was interesting. I’ve just bought a little 19″ combined TV/monitor made by LG from DABS and it sags forward too. The flimsy plastic foot is just not rigid enough to hold it upright – it sags about 5 degrees forward and is so bad that it’s gone in may bedroom – if it were visible to visitors that would all ask if it was bust or whet! This has badly disappointed me and only the fact that I have been unwell has kept me back from contacting them about. Also compounded by the fact that in spite of all the chortling DABS does about service awards etc., I have had to realise that it’s inescapable that customer service with them is just continuous cr*p. The pity is that they have a lot of good elements but they do not hold together and function well enough as a whole. My experience: bad product description led me to buy a wireless router that turned out to be for cable, although the web info did not mention cable. I had to use the online chat and contradict what the Karen xxxx person was saying in order to get me postage refund. She asserted that I had bought multiope items in the purchase and thus postage would not be refunded. I had to tell her that that was not the case. Anyone with my order onscreen would have seen that. I object to having to chisel to get back what’s righfully mine. Today I tried to but another item and it would only offer me free but slow post delivery. It would not explain whay it was doing that and once again their chat people, Karen yyyy, was of no help. I bought the item elsewhere. I shall coninue to use them to read customers opinions (very very valuable), but I can’t see myself buying much from them anymore. I honstly belive that if their customer people actually SPOKE to us using their vocal chords they would be more productive and be more helpful. The view I have of their chat people is of a collection of indiviuals who can’t get back-up to sort out difficult questions so they either don’t complete dialogues or give formulaic advice from a poor knowledge base. Aargh, the Internet can deliver more than this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
PS I am not the same Jon as the one inside DABS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Many thanks for DABs tel nos. I spoke to a very nice young lady abd she gave me the tel no of their Customer service 08704293407. If is no answer, leave a message and try again later. I spoke to another nice lady (my lucky day!) and she gave me 2 tel nos for LG.
Good luck!