Internet purchases

[The Stranger:Me]

This is an old post I stumbled upon, however deserves clarification.

The poster orders a Speedo Healer off us (As the ANZ distributor, Colemans buy them off us also). Now it's been some time, but from our perspective it ran something like this.

We are back ordered and expecting a shipment in any day, hence the couple of days until we ship to him, (Not delivery to him). advice provided. As it turns out our shipment gets held in Customs for somewhat longer than anticipated, and when it arrives is short several items. We already have another shipment on the way from the factory, therefore don't anticipate more than another week or so delay. Now at this point one of our staff should have contacted him to advise the delay, so a slip up on our part there.

When he calls again he is told it has been despatched and based on previous experience should be there in a few days. (We can only go on previous experience, however we have no control over Australia Post, NZ Customs nor NZ Post) When it does not arrive 5-6 days later he calls and demands a cancellation and refund. Now tell me, what business is going cancel and refund an order already shipped, postage paid etc? My recollection is that he seemed to suggest we were lying about the item already being shipped, which was most definitely not the case.

When he said he was going get his card issuer to cancel the charge he was correctly advised that, as we had fully completed the contract by sending him his order, no card company would issue a refund. Further his card company would probably advise him that in the event of his claim being rejected he would be charged the fee he mentions.

Several of your posters had a go at banks/card companies etc, however the reality is, despite the delay, which was out of our control, his order was fulfilled and the charge on his card was therfore valid. When his bank contacts VISA claiming an non-supply refund, VISA contact our bank. When we provide evidence of shipment, our bank provide this to VISA who pass it on to his bank, along with a fee for an invalid claim, which his bank then passes on to him plus their little bit. Nothing nasty or underhand, just facts of international card commerce. I might point out that from memory when he said all this, there was no, "when it arrives I'll return it for a refund", just "cancel and give me a refund"

He says it was a cheap lesson. But let's remember, yes, our delivery was longer than usual - we normally have this product in stock at all times, and one of our staff slipped up on not making contact, but he was provided with exactly what he ordered at a price that is the same as anywhere else in the world - no bottom of the world premium as some suppliers seem to charge.

STRANGER - yes it is Australian MC... but run by Kiwi's as is our US branch. Also, the banks DO NOT side with the merchant - we have to provide DETAILED evidence in any dispute and they err in favour of the customer.

WASP - to cancel a fraudulent or non-supplied credit card charge should cost nothing - check with your bank.

MOTU - Sorry to hear of your experince, but I believe I am correct in saying this was DEFINITELY not our company you refer to. We don't use DHL, and we don't say that to our customers.

We ship to NZ weekly to both end customers and dealers and the vast majority are quick and painless. Sometimes we get caught with longer than anticipated deliveries.

There, about all I have to say.

Fark I am pleased that I left you with such a momorable experience that you recall it (well parts of it anyway) from 10 months ago.
May I suggest that whilst this is still fresh in your mind you use this incident for training your staff in customer satisfaction - as an example of how not to do it.

You may also care to consider what you offer as a point of difference to your customers.
It isn't cost.
It isn't convenience.
It isn't speed.
It isn't customer satisfaction.
It isn't security.

So remind me again, why would I buy from you over say Colemans?

[amcmo]

You may also care to consider what you offer as a point of difference to your customers.
It isn't cost. Our prices are generally as good as or better than elsewhere
It isn't convenience. Most orders for common products are shipped from Stock. We hold over $275,000 of stock at last count
It isn't speed. Most orders for Speedo Healers are shipped from Stock and take less than a week to NZ and if requested, overnight to all Australian main centres.Sorry, don't have an overnight to NZ service yet.
It isn't customer satisfaction. The vast majority or our customers are extrelmely satisfied, and a good percentage of our sales are from referrals.
It isn't security. Have no clue what you mean by this. We use 128bit SSL for our site, orders and card details are encrypted and once they enter our system, the most anyone can see is the first and last 4 digits of the card.

So remind me again, why would I buy from you over say Colemans? Happy for you to buy from Colemans who buy a good number of items from us, including crash protectors, Tails Tidy's, Speedo .
Healers etc. We do hold many items beyond those that Colemans stock, however if you ask them to get them I'm most certain they will.

At the end of the day, we provide an excellent product, on good leadtimes, provide excellent customer service. As with any company having shipped over 10,000 invoices, from time to time not everything goes exactly to plan. We endeavor to learn from these experiences and provide even better service.

In your particular case, from our perspective and correct me if I'm wrong, our staff should have provided you with an update on the delivery issue which we've already acknowledged. Other than that, You received exactly what was ordered, at the price that was quoted, you card wasn't charged until the day we shipped (many of our competitors charge the card the day you order).

We're sorry that you still seem to have an issue, however other than beating up the Aussie staff for slipping up on communication I don't see what else we could reasonably be expected to do. Not everything is from memory. When we have a customer complaint we make notes and attempt to understand where there may have been failings on our part or sometimes unreaslonable expectations on the customer's part (we have no control over government departments, air freight companies, Post, weather, factory production lines, however we do our best)

AND YES Anyone who orders from us, either over the phone or on our www.amcmotorcycles.com site and identifies themselves as a member of this forum will recive a 10% discount. We normally insist on a link to our site but will waive that.