Feb 14 2005
More Trouble with Dabs.com
Oh the pain, the pain! Its such a pain in the a*se trying to get Dabs to do anything.
My current problem with Dabs.com is that I have decided that I’m not going to be using their not quite so wonderful services any more. Therefore, I would like to delete my details from their system just incase the decide to violate the data protection act and perform unauthorised processing on my personal data.
Reading the help documents on the Dabs site it seems that they don’t like you deleting your details. They recommend that if you want to close your account that you should delete your address, your credit card details and reset your account password to a long random string.
But why can’t I just delete my account? No messing around… just delete it?!?! Well, it seems that some clever bod decided, when their system was being designed, that everything should be customer account centric. Therefore if you delete an account all of the transactions for that account will be lost, something which would break Dabs.coms legal obligations with regards their accounting, so you account has to exist on their system.
So I should be able to just delete my address and credit card details? Well lets give it a go…
Oh dear! There seems to be a slight problem. It would appear that my account needs to have a valid address and a valid credit card. But the help docs say I can delete my address and credit card?!?! This time it would appear that the clever bods that designed the Dabs.com system have said that every customer must have a valid address so they can receive their orders and they must have a credit card to be able to pay for their orders. But I don’t want to make any more orders!!! Are you sure? After all the bods at Dabs.com know whats best for your account!
Enter customer support. These are the guys that know all the answers, so lets just give them a quick phone call and get this whole thing sorted out. Doh! They’ve taken away the customer support phone lines. I’ll just have to email them instead.
The response I received was the same as the help docs – delete your address and credit cards and set a random password (I can’t include the original as it contained a non-disclosure disclaimer). To which I replied:
I have tried deleting my payment methods and addresses but the “system” said I had to have atleast one payment method and atleast one address. I tried entering rubbish data into the address but was met with a “not a valid postcode warning” and I could not create a blank credit card as I was told the card number was “not valid”.How, in this case, am I supposed to clear my data from the system?
at least
That was on Friday. This morning when I received the following email (non-disclosure disclaimer not included):
Hi
Thank you for your email to dabs.com’s customer service team.
Due to the nature of your enquiry, we need to liaise with either another dabs.com department, or another company (i.e. manufacturer or courier) before we’re able to reply.
This will help ensure we resolve your query first time.We’re getting on with this right now and will get back to you with an update as soon as possible.
As we’re depending on a reply from someone else, it can take up to 48 hours (excluding weekends) to obtain a response – so thank you in advance for your patience.
You may be interested to note that answers to most enquiries can be found on our website at http://www.dabs.com/uk/help/ where you’ll find a list of commonly asked questions with step-by-step resolutions.
With warmest regards
dabs.com customer services team
www.dabs.com
So what can information can we gain from this? Well, not only are the help documents on the website incorrect and misleading but Dabs.com also seems to have kept their support team misinformed as well. What a recipe for success!
I have also done a bit of snooping around on the WayBackWhen machine on archive.org. It appears that Dabs.com is reducing their stock base. In March 2003 they had 21,414 products but at the moment they’re down to 19,869. I’ve also noticed that they have taken down the notice about how many orders they’ve processed in the previous month… is this a sign of a down-turn in Dabs.coms luck? Have they become too profit centric for their own good? Only time will tell.
I sent an e-mail to jfletcher@dabs.com and sfletcher@dabs.com threatening trading standards and i got an e-mail back from this guy. A real person!!
Steve Minshull
Customer Services Manager
dabs.com plc
http://www.dabs.com
Email: sminshull@dabs.com
Don’t know if it will help but when i was having problems i found solice in your site. If it can help others then great
Wow! You actually got an email from Steve!!! I tried to get Customer Services to forward an email to him for me with one of my previous problems but had no joy.
I’m sure other people will find a use for his email. However, I would like to point out that I’m anti-unsolicited email so if his email address makes it onto spam listings it’s not my fault.
I am having major problems getting an rma number for a faulty product from dabs (no suprise there then)
I have come up with phone and fax for dabs
hit their fax number ( 0870 4297420) with 50 copies of your request gets a response or:
dial 0870 4293700 which is their product marketing deparment
Nice one
Did you get a good response from the fax requests or a “Stop bugging us!!!” response?
Heres another phone number:
0870 4293039
I’ve had the same problems with dabs, You may as well talk to a brick wall.
I found a new supplier and a real person answers my emails within an hour every time, you can even phone them, they are small but friendly, also will deliver next day to anywhere in UK, and even though dabs are supposed to be the cheapest for computers I didnt notice any difference in the prices.
I have given up on dabs to. We use Wizardprice.com | Cheap Plasma TV | HD LCD Televisions | Cheap Laptops | Bargain Digital Cameras now. We have ordered loads of stuff all of which has come next day, and cheaper than dabs!
Funnily enough, I stumbled on this post trying to find a telephone number for Dabs too. I use http://www.think4.com for my IT/electronics shopping. They have a phone number, friendly staff and deliver on time. Prices are reasonable too.
Hey thanks so much for this article GrinGod and specifically for your reply Nanoe. I too was having problems with Dabs – I’d sent a reply to their stupid security check email and was just getting no response, their live chat was always down and I just felt like my order was getting nowhere. A quick Google later and an email sent to all 3 of the addresses in your comment got me a response from a human IN 5 MINUTES FLAT – an apology and my order had been released. I’ve noticed that they consistently have the cheapest prices these days but that their customer services has gone to pot. I’d rather the old Dabs -competitive prices and top service. *sigh* that’s the way of the world I suppose – I guess they’ll be upgrading from sponsors of Fulham FC to Chelsea next year…
I had a problem with a return to dabs.com; they had returned some of the returned items back to me. I called 0870 429 3700, explained the situation, and was put through to a Customer Services Supervisor, who resolved the issue within about five minutes.
Ive had problems with products being delivered that are not as described, were supposed to be new but are blatantly second hand.
I emailed Steve Minshull and got an out of office reply saying to email: csmanager@dabs.com if that is any help to you guys.
I recently had a problem with them regarding non delivery of goods, customer services is a joke. 17 days after my order was “despatched” and after several contacts by live chat and email they decided to get up off their a***s and do something about it. They sure know how to lose customers.
Unbelievable, I’ve just bought through dabs some items and paid a hefty price for “next day delivery”. Next day delivery for them seems to be not the next day.
I unfortunatley had to enter the chat room for dabs as there is no number to dial. A blonde girl’s face appears however I am promptly connected to “Steve”. Steve I can only assume put me 7th in the queue because his internet porn was taking up more bandwidth and so couldn’t accommodate me until it had fully downloaded.
I compared dabs with a few other companies. But unfortunatley they were cheaper on price so I went with them.
FAILURE!
Thanks all for this message.
It comes up at the top of a Google search for “Dabs Phone Number”, and has helped me get in touch with Dabs.
I too paid for next day delivery and heard nothing for a week.
Email and chat seem to be useless for getting in touch with Dabs.
I dialled the phone number above, and the person I spoke to said, “This is marketing, would you like to put me through to customer service?”
I asked for a number for customer service, in case the system dropped me, and she said “We don’t have a number for customer service.”
you do now, I thought, and you are it.
Customer service apologised, promised to chase the order and offered to refund the premium delivery charge.
Let’s hope it works, but if not, at least I have a phone number.
Peter
I hate Dabs right now. In the 4 days I’ve been waiting for the security team to realise that the information they keep requesting from me has been sent to them three times now, so that they can finally authorise my card, I have been shopping around. I simply can’t find another supplier who comes close on total price for the five items I’ve ordered.
I would love dearly to cancel the order, and have almost done it out of spite, but these are non essential items so I can’t justify to myself paying more for a quicker service elsewhere. If there’s just one company out there who are a cheap on a wide range of products, please somebody point me to them, so I never have to deal with Dabs pointless security checks and useless customer service again.
I will certainly never make any single large purchase from them, as their return policy stinks, and definitely never order anything that I need in a hurry!
I could rant for pages about my experience e-mailing the web accounts department and the uselessness of the online chat representatives, but it’s all been said before.
If you can afford to wait an indeterminate period for your items, and it’s nothing too expensive, then by all means shop with Dabs if they’re the cheapest. Otherwise keep clear is my advice!
Whayhay! I had problems with cancelled orders ( no notification , just cancelled….WTF!!)
tried webaccounts@.. and assistance@… for DAYS!! no joy….
finally got through on 0870 4293700 (marketing dept) and they were actually helpful! i am told the problem has been rectified and will try again (they are the only people with the product in stock and everyone else will take ages)
NB for other people.. DONT change ANYTHING in your address because the account will get blocked! I tried to add Ltd to my address as i became a LTD company.. and it screwed everything up.
Nigel
I’m on the verge of legal action after finding out what I thought was a new LCDTV was used. They say it was clearly marked as such but after 3 requests cannot provide evidence.
Nice Stuffs. I will keep visiting this very often.I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading.Cud U Give Me Some Information On Camera Sale??
In fairness to the staff, it is the Directors who make all the decisions at dabs, they decided to stop phones and wanted to distill a ‘cant be bothered dealing with communication’ attitude. Yes it does stink but try the following numbers which I am sure you will enjoy.
So, they sold out to BT five years ago.(David Atherton did.) They’ve just sold me an obsolete Acer netbook (refurbed), but of course they didn’t tell me that, whose battery won’t hold any charge. Although I was answered immediately by an efficient and helpful lady, I have to contact ACER with my problem .
I didn’t get much sympathy, just a shrug of the metaphorical shoulders by phone, and a ‘very sorry, John, but not our problem anymore’ ! A bit annoying to say the least as my wife is sat in her hospital bed with a Laptop and a useless battery, and, she can’t talk, as she’s had a throat op. !!!!