Lawsons-His credit card policy - YOU NEED TO KNOW

[CYC]

Hi All,

I recently have purchased a Metabo powermaxx from Lawsons-His. The price was good and the delivery charge to the republic of ireland acceptable.
All went well and I got the delivery of the tool. However on opening the package I found a powermaxx without all the accessories; the powermaxx can be purchased in 3 variants and I expected the full package.

So I rang them immediately and they told me that Metabo had sent them the wrong items and several customers had received the wrong package.
At this point I am thinking: "Don't you check what you send?". Anyway they assure me they are sending a replacement and will get the wrong one collected.
I was delighted to receive the correct powermaxx only 2 days later.

So what was wrong with this you'll ask?

They charged my credit card a second time without my authorization for sending the second (and correct) powermaxx !!! They say they will refund after I send them back the first powermaxx.
I was outraged when I realised this. I contacted them and asked why. The sales representative told me he asked for the finance department not to charge me but apparently they went ahead anyway because it's their policy!
Even the sales rep. didn't feel it was the right thing to do.
Damn right it isn't, it's just plain illegal :evil:

I asked them to compensate me and they just have not replied on this point. So I have decided to let you all, potential buyers, know what policy they use.

Knowledge is all this forum is about, now you know so be prepared if buying from Lawsosn-His

I sure won't deal with them again.

 

[Philly]

Ouch! :shock:
Thanks for the heads-up,
Philly

 

[LeeElms]

Have you told your credit card company about this? I would hope that they would be interested ...

 

[CYC]

Good point, I will.

 

[Barry Burgess]

In the computer supply industry this happens all the time. It usually takes about 5 days and the credit is passed to your credit card.

 

[wizer]

Strangely this happened to me when buying some lights recently. They sent the completely wrong lights and refused to send out the correct ones without either recieving the incorrect ones back or charging me again. in the end because I was under preasure to get the lounge finished I had to pay again.

I'll never use that company again either.

 

[RogerS]

Screwfix have the same policy.

 

[LeeElms]

Re: screwfix ... is this a recent change ?

I guess I haven't had to exchange very high value items, but my experience with them in the last year or so is that they send the new item immediately, and they collect the old item. (If it's under £10, they don't bother to collect the old item at all)

 

[Alf]

A lot of companies have a policy of not sending out the correct goods until you've either paid again or returned the wrong ones. Axminster, f'rinstance.

However I believe the issue here is the fact Lawsons-His charged the credit card to cover sending the correct goods without clearing it with the card holder first.

Cheers, Alf

 

[CYC]

Indeed that is the point Alf.

I am getting the impression a lot of you find this normal! It's ILLEGAL.

 

[StevieB]

Hmm, personally I gave up using screwfix because of their apalling customer service. I had an order of electrical stuff sent to me - mostly plastic items such as surface boxes and plug fronts, together with a roll of cable. All dumped in a box far too large for the order with no protective packaging. Needless to say the plastic items were smashed to pieces, not just cracked but smashed. After phoning to complain I was told I would only get a refund if I returned the smashed items at my expense. Being fairly annnoyed by that I managed to get a refund without posting hundreds of plastic shards back to them, but the attitude of the customer service person was that I was deliberately pulling a fast one in order to get free stuff. For a £30 order it wouldnt have been worth it! Havent used them since and now go to a local supplier.

Steve.

 

[wizer]

I order a fair bit of screwfix and have had mixed success. One thing that annoys me with them is that if you order on the web at 6:01pm you can;t cancel or alter the order at 6:02pm. They tell you to refuse the order, rather than stop it at their end. How bizarre is that?

 

[LeeElms]

I had a similar experience with Screwfix in terms of electrical fittings which were poorly packed; I discovered them successively as I came to use them, and each time I called and a replacement item arrived next day.

Sometimes it's the inconsistency (or 'opaqueness') of the procedure that is most annoying ... you don't know exactly how the problem will be handled.

 

[Argus]

A lot of companies have a policy of not sending out the correct goods until you've either paid again or returned the wrong ones. Axminster, f'rinstance.

However I believe the issue here is the fact Lawsons-His charged the credit card to cover sending the correct goods without clearing it with the card holder first.

Cheers, Alf

On the second point, Alf, you're dead right. It's considered credit-card fraud!

On the first point, I beg to differ. I had an order from Axminster last week that went completely astray and nobody's seen it since.
ANC said it was delivered, (not to me it wasn't) though they don't have a signature, then the driver said he 'left it outside' - (allegedly).
Boloney!

A phone call to Aximinster's customer care not only got a reply call in ten minutes, exactly when they said they would, but a replacement of the whole lot, next day delivery, at no extra charge.

Nobody raided my credit card

Credit where it's due, I've always found Axminster to be exceptionally helpful when you talk to them.

Can't fault that.

Argus

 

[cambournepete]

Hmm, personally I gave up using screwfix because of their apalling customer service.

Friend of mine just bought a generator from Screwfix. It stopped (generating). He called them and they sent him a new one and picked up the old one at the same time, no problem. Sounds fair to me.

 

[Alf]

Argus,

Axminster's policy does seem to be, well, fluid. All I can say is we placed an order for a couple of their "new style" aprons and got the heavy duty ones delivered instead. Their fault (very similar stock codes and the person taking the order mis-heard). We rang 'em up, waited for the returns label. We returned the incorrect aprons. The correct aprons didn't come. We rang up. Apparently they'd only send out the correct when they had the incorrect back, and they'd got lost. It was Christmas, the aprons were needed as presents, but no, they wouldn't send out the correct ones unless we paid extra for them which would be refunded when they received the returned ones. I think it was too late by the time we found that out, so we didn't bother. We're talking, what, under £30 worth of goods? Eventually they found the returned parcel in their own mail room some time in January, but only after we'd pestered them about it. I have to say I was extremely angry at the time, given similar stories to yours that I'd heard, and I emailed them about it and was told it was "policy".

Nobody raided my credit card

I'd like to make it crystal clear I never suggested Axminster had done that, and to my knowledge they never have.

Cheers, Alf

 

[andymac]

I bought some letter and number templates from Rutlands but they sent two sets of numbers. I let them know and they paid the postage for the return of the excess numbers and they sent me the letters straight away.

They debited my card for the difference in price but that's fair enough

 

[Argus]

I think it’s evident that there are many, many more successful transactions in all companies and satisfied customers than the reverse.

As far as Axminster PTC is concerned, I have bought tools, machinery and equipment from them since the mid 80’s and last week’s episode is the FIRST complaint I have had.
They dealt with it straight away without any run-around or quibbles. Not a bad record in almost 20 years.
But to broaden the discussion, I expect that there are countless other suppliers with an equally fine record, and just a few failures now and then.

Sorry about your aprons, Alf, but we only ever remember the let-downs, don’t we? They always say that the cock-ups increase exponentially with the growth of the company.

In my experience after running a technical department for over 13 years, dealing with all sorts of enquiries (short deliveries, bits that don’t fit, people that don’t read diagrams and instructions etc. etc.), I can count the number of people that wrote to us and said what a good service we gave on one hand – and that’s because we stuck them on the wall - and it was a small wall, I can tell you. People don't do it. We expect (and usually get) good service so often that it goes unoticed.

Our policy was always to accept people’s fallibility (ours) and honesty (the customers). Sometimes people took advantage, but not often – and we remembered them, so it only happened once. We always replaced without question because a one-time customer is no use to any business - unless you are an undertaker.

Let's stand up and applaud all the companies that get it right most times and give you value for money.

 

[Alf]

Sorry about your aprons, Alf, but we only ever remember the let-downs, don’t we?

Actually I'd forgotten about it until I had to provide evidence that I wasn't talking rot about Axminster's policy... :roll:

Of course there is one company that consistantly receives plaudits, unasked for, and who's testimonials in favour must outweigh those against by a staggering amount I should think. So it's not just down to customers only remembering the bad things.

Cheers, Alf

 

[mr]

I recently bought some chisels and a japanese saw from Classic Hand Tools, when they arrived the saw blade and spine had been bent in transit. I rang Mike Hancock who sent out another saw same day which arrived today. He didn't want me to send the first one back and the whole experience was hassle free after the initial disapointment. Full marks from me to Mr Hancock on the customer service front, Ill be buying from him again when pocket money allows.