Well it seems that the most popular post on my blog is this one so I thought it deserved a bit of a follow up post.
I’ve just spent part of this evening re-organising my domain name and one of my old blogs to import all of the old posts into the current blog incarnation. Whilst doing that I noticed the original post about thedigitalcamerashop.co.uk and how many comments it has received so far. It made me start thinking about what DCS say about their own customer service procedures, well according to the FAQs on the website, they should be quite a good company to deal with:
Q. When can I expect my delivery?
A. You can track the progress of your order using our on line tracking facility.
The so called tracking system is the basic of the basic, no based on my story which you can read about here, this is my tracking status to this day:
25/02/08: Received @ 16:01
26/02/08: Status = Part Dispatched
22/07/08: Status = Dispatched
Yeah – great!
We aim to deliver all orders as soon as possible. Orders received before 13.00 Monday to Friday for items that we hold in stock will generally be dispatched from our premises the same day. Orders received after 13.00 for items that we hold in stock will generally be dispatched the next working day (excluding weekends).
‘Generally’, what that seem to mean is, if we have it in stock (unlikely?) then they will ship it out asap, or if the supplier has it in then again, it will be shipped pretty damn quick, however, god forbid you order something from the website which they don’t stock and neither does the supplier – you either won’t see it, or it will take a looooong time. They don’t run a live stock system which makes me think that they don’t actually stock items themselves otherwise, how hard could a stock system be from them?
Should an item be out of stock or a special order we will obtain it as soon as possible. We will inform you via e mail if an item is out of stock and give you the opportunity to cancel your order.
No they won’t, I received nothing more than a small note on the bottom of the delivery item for the part delivery I received. Easily missed but I definitely didn’t receive an email. If my order hadn’t been part shipped and both items were out of stock then I wouldn’t have received any correspondence by the looks of things.
We normally dispatch items using a 48 hour parcel delivery service.
See above.
Despite our best efforts to deliver as soon as possible, unforseen circumstances could lead to a delay in delivery of goods. Any dates / times specified are approximate and should not be taken as guaranteed.
So, basically they don’t really have an idea of when you might get your items, they also won’t keep you upto date, leaving you the ‘customer’ to chase them.
One of the other things that is annoying with the way DCS does business, they take your money immediately whether they will be delivering your goods the next day or the next month – not a bad way to earn a little interest, no matter how small that might be.
One of the directors has recently setup another business which seems to as of yet, be currently in testing and not live however based on the past performance I would be wary about doing business with http://www.camera-box.com/.
Obviously all of this information is my opinion and is based on either my experience of DCS or from information obtained through a credit check.
Enjoy.
As a retail business we are committed to providing the best possible customer experience. We value all of our customers and genuinely appreciate their feedback as this allows us to constantly evaluate the levels of service that we provide.
We have carefully considered the feedback provided on this blog. Whilst posts on such forums do not always represent the complete story we believe it is important to share with our existing and potential customers the steps we have taken over the past few months in order to improve our service:
Communication: our customer order system now provides auto order updates and courier tracking numbers upon dispatch.
Telephone Response Times: we have taken on extra staff to ensure that the phone gets answered and that any messages left are responded to promtly.
Customer Credits: we have implemented a new system to ensure that in the event a refund or credit is required that this is actioned straight away.
| August 6, 2009 @ 15:45
Thank you for stopping by Adrian, I am sure your feedback will go in some way to alleviate people’s minds about your company.
For me, it would be good if people using thedigitalcamerashop.co.uk could still stop by and provide feedback on what it’s like to deal with them now. I know we’ve had a few comments from people who have used dcs recently which don’t back up the statements above so it would be good for those people who have recently shopped with them to let us know.
If your comment above is in fact a true reflection of what you are doing to turn things around then I applaud you. It’s been 12 months since my issues in dealing with your company and it seems to have taken a lot of voices for you to come out of the wood work and let people know how you are trying to improve.
Only today was a colleague inquiring about a new lense for his Canon DSLR, I still won’t recommend you at the minute, not until I’ve heard some good feedback but that is my choice as a consumer.
| August 6, 2009 @ 18:47
they made a mistake with your order and havent delt with it right and i can understand your not happy, however ive used dcs and not had a problem and many others it seems as well, i would put it down to experiance and move on with my life, to pursue this course will only lead to trouble, legal or other wise, my advice to you would be to think about your actions in this and realize that you have made your point and time to quite.
| August 13, 2009 @ 10:49
And many others have also had issues with them….
I have put it down to experience, I have chosen not to use them but also to let people know my feelings on the matter. I don’t see how this can lead to trouble or legal issues, non of what I have put is false information and as such I think any action will fall flat on it’s face – I’d certainly be willing to take any such action on though!
| August 14, 2009 @ 20:30
Hi Neil,
really surprised to hear this of DCS, I have been a customer for over 3 years and have found them to be really helpful and follow up on any enquiry. Can support the phone problem but I guess if you are serving a customer and the phone goes who is the most important ? While I was looking for a Ricoh camera which had just come out in Japan and had GPS feature none of the other shops I contacted could find out or even showed any interest, I was not willing to but from abroad and after two weeks and two phone calls they managed to source the camera and also the GPS unit which even Jessops told me was only available in Japan.
You have had a bad experience but I just feel the need after all they did for me to point out they are very helpful and do follow up on what they say, not the case for you but as I am also in a small business of my own and know how stressful times can be and would not like the wrong image to be given when times are hard.
Anyhow I have said my bit and while I cannot change your thoughts perhaps others can see my experiences and not feel this is a company where the customer is unhappy.
Hope you managed to find a local shop to fulfill your needs, just wish I had a good one near to me !!!!!
All the best
Frazer
| August 24, 2009 @ 21:11
Thanks for stopping by Frazer, as people can see this is not just about anything negative in regards to DCS. I want people to also state the better side of the business as I’m sure it’s not all bad otherwise they wouldn’t be here today.
Just so people know, I’ve slightly edited my part two post to remove the section on companies house at the request of DCS who have contacted me personally.
| August 26, 2009 @ 20:37
My opinion from Italy??? DCS is the worst experience I’ve ever had with online shopping….I’ve ordered graduated filters 2 month ago, and till now I didn’t see the filters and after 7 mails no one answerd….finally they’ve stolen my money??? I don’t know whatever I can do…It’s also difficoult and expensive to call them from here….
Terrible
Ciao
Maurizio
| September 23, 2009 @ 21:51
All you can do is report upon your own experiences.
Well done on an informative blog – here is my experience (still pending)
11 days and still no delivery
11 days ago I paid for 2 items (a lens and an adapter) and was not informed of the fact that the ’shop’ had no stock. I did receive an email stating that estimated delivery would be 6 days, which with the postal strike I felt was erring on the side of caution (turns out however they use Citylink and Parcelforce, so this was irrelevant) Last Weds I was told that that they were receiving stock the following day (I had to call them) and would send Thursday for Friday. Waited in all day Friday and nothing. Left for trip on the Sunday without the items I had purchased some 9 days previous. Complained on the Monday and was told items would arrive Tuesday. Its now Tuesday at 17:52 and my son says the adapter has arrived but no lens. No cards have been left to suggest that delivery was attempted.
How can these guys sell items that they do not have in stock?
So the items I bought to help photograph my once in a lifetime bike ride from John O’Groats to Lands End will not be available to me until after the trip has ended.
Thanks DCS
| October 27, 2009 @ 18:10
Thanks for Andrew, sorry it took so long to accept your comment – damn spam getting in the way
| October 31, 2009 @ 22:31