May 02 2006
A brighter future for Dabs.com
I’m not sure what effect this is going to have on customer service, but it seems that Dabs.com has been bought by BT. The move has been anounced by BT as an attempt to advance their position in the retail sector.
One of the problems that customers currently face with Dabs.com, when they have support issues, is find a eral person to talk to. Several years ago Dabs.com announced they were to drop telephone customer support in favour of email support. This has lead for many customers to days, weeks even months of delays in try to get a refund or a replacement for a defective product.
The Dabs.com website has recently had a face lift which saw the addition of several useful tools for finding the product you require. Dabs.com also seems to consitently offer the best prices and, when they get their act together, delivery is generally quite quick.
If, under BTs management, the customer support can be vastly improved I may even be tempted to shop at Dabs.com again.
No, unfortunately they are still shit. I didn’t realise I had just been indirectly ripped off and fucked about by BT, but now I do I’m off to cancel my BT account as well.
Bought a faulty video card from dabs.
Fried my motherboard and 2 powersupplies.
Will wait to see if I get a refund or return!
E-mail which i sent to the muppets:
Hi Dabs,
Please dispatch a brand new unit at the new unit price & next day delivery. Please note i should not be charged for delivery and i suggest you refund any amount you have taken for delivery thus far.
I no longer want the package which has been all around the UK and lost several times.
My service from you has been absolutely appalling i can understand that it is was initially not your fault but from what i can see you have done nothing and your customer service is terrible!!
You have given me ZERO information on my package and its whereabouts, considering HDNL found the package 8 days ago it has still not arrived?! do they own a map?
From the offset i thought you were dealing with the issue effectively and quickly but from what i can see, it now looks like you were fobbing me off in order to get more time.
i have noticed that when i have e-mailed you with requests you have ignored them. This is not on. I ask a question, I deserve an answer.
If you are not capable of dealing with this request effectively i suggest you forward this e-mail to your senior, if they are not capable then the MD. Then get them to contact me regarding this matter.
I will no longer accept the package which has been previously dispatched as i now assume it could potentially be damaged as it is well travelled.
I suggest you dispatch another one immediately (As i see they are in stock) for the new unit price of £214.59
I would also like the credit card to be refunded by a minimum of £16.91 (This is the difference in price of the unit since purchase and your charge for delivery) any extra on top of this would be seen as a good will gesture for your mistakes and bad service. i then suggest you Chase HDNL for compensation.
I am in a contract with you directly, not HDNL them loosing my package is not my problem, it is yours, now please dispatch the unit today and refund the said amount.
i have paid you for a service, now please give me a satisfactory result.
Please also give me responses on all of my requests rather than ignoring them.
I look forward to you response.
thank you
James Walton
I totally agree with you. Dabs are the most useless company I have ever dealt with. I am in the process of taking them to the small claims court. I also intend to try to track down the chief at BT since they own the company. The fact that BT owns thems makes the lack of phone support even more stupid.
What an absolute shambles this mob really are!! The stinking armpits of e-commerce!!
Art.
Dabs used to be really good several years ago, but my recent experience has completely changed my mind – if this lot don’t go bust very soon there is no justice! Vote with your mouse, there are far better e-commerce operations out there.
Fortunately, this time I was only trying to BUY something, so when I couldn’t contact them by any means to resolve a completely unnecessary address verification issue that they had created, I simply cancelled my order and went elsewhere.
In future I will be very wary of “no telephone” sites. Worryingly, these seem to be on the increase. These operations seem to be run by managements that believe they can hold their customers in complete contempt and still make a profit – it is up to us to prove them wrong.
Well sorry to burst your bubble folks but I
have ordered several items from DABS over a
period of around 4 yrs, And have received
nothing but TOP CLASS service!
Good easy to order web-site, speedy delivery
and good communication via emails. I must admit
as of yet i have not had any reason to return
any of the goods i ordered, but they have a
returns link and until i have to use this as
said i cannot comment.
All products I have ordered have been of high
quality as described and their prices compared
to high street stores are very reasonable, so
perhaps with a telephone service this would
probably add to low prices they can offer.
Good on ya DABS.
Why do you think you are bursting anyones bubble? Everyone else has commented because they have had problems with Dabs.com. That’s not to say that everyone that has dealt with Dabs.com has had problems and it appears that you’ve been lucky so far.
The point of this post and others on my blog are to provide contact information to Dabs.com customers when the other more official channels aren’t working.
And the point I am trying to make and my comment is despite all of their problems Dabs.com are not SHIT as Ciaran put it.
Any one reading those sort of comments on this blog would be put off from maybe even visiting Dabs site, If they had problems unlike myself (and LUCK did not come into it) I am sure had they gone through the RETURNS procedure this is probably as well organised as the ordering procedure.
Also if BT are now running the show things have not changed! I ordered a laptop Saturday early am and it arrived this morning Tues am.
This is why i felt i should make my comments, and yes I am quite aware what this BLOG is all about and have replied to those who have gone off track a little with
those negative statements about Dabs.com
Dabs are a nightmare to deal with when something goes wrong and there seems to be about two people dealing with a million orders on a given day. They’re right up their with my list of horrible customer service companies (which also includes Orange, Quinn Direct, Western Digital).
It’s definitely worth paying a little extra for better service. I’ve made roughly 100 purchases from Amazon and not one has gone wrong, so large ecommerce companies can get it right if they choose to.
I’ve had very bad experiences of Dabs as well. They refused to replace a broken laptop and I had to take them to the small claims court – where I won.
I agree with Terry, never had any problem with dabs. I’ve bought numerous things from their website, both for home use and from their business site for work, and only once have I had to return something. This wasn’t their fault, it was a faulty product. It was collected by the courier when they said it would be and a replacement was sent out swiftly.
Imagine how many thousands of people/businesses order things from dabs every day, compare that with the handful of comments on here spread over, literally, years and you seem to shouting about something that’s not really a problem.
Bit sad really.
@Devil’s Advocate: The point is not so much how frequently or how many customers have a bad service experience but more how bad the customers experience is when things do go wrong.
Should it really be necessary to so far as to threaten legal action just because a product is faulty, or the wrong item is sent?
Dabs is the second most effin inefficient company I have ever used (it247 being the first one). Bought two or three times from Dabs over a period of 3 years. Got only one order delivered after 3 weeks. Wanna know which one? Bloody effin contract on Cisco router which is normally EMAILED as it is paperless. Effin dumbfux couldn’t figure that out and were chasing order all over their system. I am not so pissed off with cust service people as they are 9-5 nobodys but am more pissed off with the entire irresponsibilty. Anyway, placed my last order with them 4 days back hoping to get it processed on Monday and delivered today so that I could still claim additional 2 years mfg warranty (promotion from printer mfg). Now as usual they completely fcuked up the order and it became ’suspended’. Reason? Bloody useless senior smartypants decided that putting ‘Now accepting paypal’ banner would bring more business. Well I paypaled but the payment was not confirmed on their end for no effin reason. Cancelled the order. Missed extended warranty. Will shop elsewhere from now on. ebuyer anyone?
Not even going to poke at the Dabs worshipper in the comments… Just ain’t worth the time. The fact people have had problems with them just goes to show they aren’t that great and just because they got it right with two people who commented doesn’t mean they got it right with anyone else…. Especially not me. 12 emails (one reply – automated) and 3 weeks later, I’ve given up dealing with them and gone to Trading Standards. I bought a “new” case and ended up with a buckled panel, a psu with a rattling fan and scratches within the case (along with missing screws) – yep, you got it! They sold me a returned or second hand case! Customer service – NON EXISTENT.
To anyone passing this page who is contemplating using them, THINK TWICE. I’ve used Novatech and Overclock, they’ve been pretty good so far and I’m waiting on another order from Overclock this week…
0870 4293120
The above is a well hidden phone number for the new BT/DABS customer service team if you can call them that.
I receiving appalling service with goods not arriving.
Just a heads up if you’re looking for a person to speak to.
I bought a Tv from dabs on 19/12/09. The website says delivery bewteen 1-3 days, not realising that I had to keep someone indoors for 3 days as UPS does not bother to tell you which day. Ok item received on 24/12/09 but on very careful opening and taking it out there was a large crack though the base. Since the 24/12/09 I have emailed, chat with their rep and finally used the 0870 number and then today it was to be picked up UPS guy called and says there is no record of a request for pickup can I rebook a pickup. I have used dabs over the years and this let down means I will never trust them any longer.