for Peats sake

dam0cles

Has anyone had problems similar to those below when ordering items from peats' site? When you call into the shop the service is pretty good, the guys know what they are talking about and either get what you want quickly, or tell you that they don't have it. As seems customary for an irish (read 'amateurish') web-based sales outlet, ordering from the site can be a whole different experience, as I've found out.

I ordered some long VGA cables and a lightwave 4 way SVGA/XGA splitter/booster on the 4th of this month, and to date all i've received from them, of their own volition, has been an order confirmation e-mail. The site stated the shipping time for the splitter as 1 week, so I didn't expect immediate dispatch and left it for a week. Then, just to make sure it was being processed, I rang on the 11th, and waded through their very poorly set up telephone menu, finally getting some girl in accounts who told me she wasn't the one to talk to and 'don't mind all that stuff, just override it'. I eventually got some guy on a random extension who checked the order for me and said: 'They all come from the same supplier and are being delivered this evening, so they'll ship tomorrow.' Great.

I waited another week and called them again on the 18th, but couldn't get through to anyone this time, the phone menu having eaten itself and the stern voiced female automatron was answering the main number with 'this mailbox is full, please try an extension number.' I e-mailed their 'orders' and 'shop' mail addresses, but they have yet to reply to either of those e-mails either. Of course, because it's an irish e-commerce website, there is no facility to track your order, or get any feedback on what's happening with it. I tried ringing again later, mercifully the mailbox thing had been fixed and I got hold of someone who took my number and I, like a fool, gave it to him and believed him when he said he'd ring me back with the status of the order, but no, no word.

I rang again today, and once again, fought through the stupidly frustrating phone menu, which puts you on hold and then loops you back to the top level main menu at random intervals. usually there is no message even telling you that you are on hold, it just dumps you in a musak filled purgatory straight from the touch tone menu. Some guy eventually answered and took the order number, put me on hold, and then said

'we're waiting on the stock, it will be sent when we receive it'.
'any estimate as to when that may be?'
'no'
'you've had the order since the start of the month'
'i'm just relaying a message'
'so there's nothing more you can tell me?'
.....[silence]....
'bye'

Which is extremely helpful, as you can imagine.

Unfortunately for me, they seem to be the only suppliers of the particular piece of kit I'm after, and I have told a client I will have this equipment for the 30th of this month, which looks increasingly unlikely. Otherwise I'd have cancelled the order last week at some stage.

I'm aware this isn't a complaints board for Peats, but I'm posting the above in the hope that one or two of you might avoid the hassle I've had to go through to get items that are advertised as available within a week. Perhaps they are good at delivering more usual items, but I certainly won't be finding out whether they are or not. I'd rather make my next order with ACME components in Kuala Lumpur as chances are the turnaround time will be quicker and the customer service better.

dam0cles

Just as a follow-on from the above, this is the splitter I ordered from them, does anyone know where else I'd get one?

ask to speak to rob noonan. he is in charge of that department and should be able to sort it out for you.

dam0cles

Thanks, but I cancelled the order. I found a place in Clare who turned the order around in 24 hours and are shipping it overnight. www.daxten.ie

I'm pretty confident that the Peats Order will still get charged to my cc and appear on my doorstep, some time in '05.