Beware Pixmania!

joc5

I ordered the Pioneer 530 DVD recorder from this lot on 31/10/2005 - one week later it is still in pending (but also in stock).I tried to contact them by phone 5 times but was left holding for a total of 47 mins over a period of 3 days.I cancelled the order twice but did not receive any confirmation from them and my order is still showing as pending.They took my money today -this is the worst experience I have had buying goods on the internet.So be warned!

Endurance Man

Had stuff from them twice now and its always gone smoothly.

mad m

Get in contact with CC company and tell them to take money back....

ShaneOC

I ordered a camera from them last Tuesday and it arrived on Thursday. Very fast reliable experience for me.

Just one thing to note, I did have to send some form of ID (in my case a pdf copy of my phone bill) in order to prevent internet fraud so they said. I sent it off to them as soon as I got the email requesting it. They replied saying that the ID was fine and the camera arrived promptly.

Check that you did not get a similar request that got overlooked.

el Bastardo

I've ordered a good bit of stuff from these fellas, much against other peoples advice. The first order was in stock and pending... except that it wasn't in stock at all and they took their merry time to issue a full refund! Anyway, I tried again and this time ended up with damaged goods (the item in question was heavy and the damage cosmetic, so it wasn't worthwhile to return it).

However, the third time I ordered, I was sent the wrong item. I returned it, via a most extortionate An Post. After bombarding Pixmania with emails over the course of the last month or so, I've found out that they've sent the product for repair, when all I wanted was replacement or full refund.

So, all in all, I won't be a repeat customer. It's too much trouble

joc5

Have checked my e mails - definitely did not get a request of this nature.

el Bastardo

You have to hassle them. You have to ask these guys for everything and you have to insist. I sent my complaints to their customerservice_ie'at'pixm***a.com address and to that fella who sends requests for the household bills etc., E.Graff'at'pixm***a.com. I told them to hop to it, either send my order or cancel it if it's not in stock (the misled me my telling it was in stock!).

Zascar

I ordered something a few weeks ago. Paid €15 for quicker delivery. It stayed in pending for a week. I emailed them saying I wanted it shipped immediatly or I would purcase elsewhere, and I want my fast delivery charge back. The unit shipped from Paris that day and was delivered within 24 hours, and I got my delivery refunded. I was annoyed with the wait but pretty impressed at how quick they sorted it out. I would probably buy from them again. Better than Dabs anyway.

_Kaiser_

I ordered a car stereo about a week and a half ago with them with an estimated shipping date of 2 days later. "Fair enough" I thinks... "no real rush" and I go ahead and order.

THEN I see theres a 5 day delay due to some issue with their stock system. "OK..well so it'll be 3 days late"...BUT.. for the past 7/8 days the estimated stock date keeps slipping to tomorrow.

Mailed them Thursday asking to cancel as you can't do so on the site itself (and as it happens I found the same stereo for €25 cheaper on the incarexpress site anyway). Despite the automated response assuring me my request will be dealt with in 24 hours, nothing back until this morning when they tell me basically that they'll consider it and let me know by the end of today.

5pm arrrives and still no mail but the order now seems to be gone from the order tracking page so I assume it's cancelled. Can't say I'm very impressed with their customer service though... plus someone (here I think?) recently suggested googling them for problems and there's a LOT of negative feedback to cause concern on its own.

bounty

pixmania are rubbish in everyway possible, avoid them like a traveller used car sales man

Tusky

They have been some of the best people to deal with for me. My order arrived about 2 days after I ordered it!

OfflerCrocGod

When they work they are brilliant, when they don't they suck!

bounty

yea, buts its hit and miss tusky, you see Kaiser2000's story, wait till that happens to you .... a few times.... and add "and eventually i got an order from some guy in holland" to the end

SteM

OfflerCrocGod wrote:

When they work they are brilliant, when they don't they suck!

Spot on. I've had 2 good experiences with them but one awful one. It always makes me think twice about ordering from them.

BNC

I ordered a DVD recorder off them on the 21st Oct including some DVDRW's. I too got to the end of the ordering process to find the notice that they have had a problem with their shipping process. (They charged the order before showing the warning).

I recieved the DVDRW after about a week but no sign of the Recorder. I sent them an email that day as all the items were in stock when I ordered. Got no reply to the email, even though they state that they will reply in 24 hours.
Rang them then on the 3rd Nov to find out what the story was. They said they had moved warehouse and were having delay but that my order had benn pushed to the top of the queue and would go out that day.

No sign of it moving so rang again on the 7th, was told the same story and that it had been upgraded to express shipping and I wouldn't be charged extra. It would definitely ship that day and expect an email.

Rang again today and just cancelled the order as nothing had happened.

First and last time to use these cowboys. Absoloutley rubbish.

Sponge Bob

Any etailer can have a nightmare witha new warehouse and shipping/database system, Komplett ( a few years back) anyone ??

LizardKing

I ordered 2 items (on 2005-10-26) off them that were listed as "In Stock" ... I went through the process until the end and then noticed the red warning when checking the order status "As part of our efforts to maintain clear communication, we regret to inform you that, following computer related problems regarding our stock inventory, we experiencing some delay in preparing orders. The delay for your order should not exceed 5 days. "

I could live with this so checked again in 5 days , the order was in an APPRO state (which means at least 1 item is not in stock) ... I checked the order and it says the item will be available on 31/11/2005 ...

I can wait for it but I think its very bad and very frustrating ... I had a good opinion of Pixmania from previous orders but now I think I'll buy elsewhere ...

Dimitri

ShaneOC wrote:

I ordered a camera from them last Tuesday and it arrived on Thursday. Very fast reliable experience for me.

Just one thing to note, I did have to send some form of ID (in my case a pdf copy of my phone bill) in order to prevent internet fraud so they said. I sent it off to them as soon as I got the email requesting it. They replied saying that the ID was fine and the camera arrived promptly.

Check that you did not get a similar request that got overlooked.

Yes i had to do that the first time i orderd off them too but it went into my bulk folder and it was only by chance looking for a different email that i spotted it so maybe check there.
Edit* ive had nothing but good experiences since.

lazygit

OfflerCrocGod wrote:

When they work they are brilliant, when they don't they suck!

ahh kinda like IBB then

ken90

Cant get a delayed orfer cancelled???????????

Contact your credit card company.

As somebody has already told you.

MisterAnarchy

Ordered some PC stuff off them lately.
Never saw such a mess.
I ordered a Hard Drive,DVD burner,Printer,Keyboard ,2 mice,a router ,2 network cards and 2 sets of 2.1 speakers.
All items were supposedly in stock when I ordered them.
Nothing moved for a week.
Then the Printer,Hard drive,DVD burner and keyboard arrived about 2 weeks later.
No Uk/Ireland plug adaptor included for the printer,which they promised.
I received 1 set of speakers the following week via DHl.
I received the router 2 days later and another set of speakers a few more days later.
The network cards had gone out of stock and wouldnt be in until Oct 21st.
Near the endo of Oct I received 1 network cark and I received the other one 2 days later.
I finally received my 2 mice today.
So in all it took 6 weeks and 7 deliveries to get one medium order.
Must have cost them alot in DHL charges.
I gave up holding on their telephone number after 15 mins on 2 occassions.
No plug adaptors were included on any item so I had to but these and they cost me nearly 4 euro for each one.

ShaneOC

MisterAnarchy wrote:

Ordered some PC stuff off them lately.
No plug adaptors were included on any item so I had to but these and they cost me nearly 4 euro for each one.

My camera came with a UK/Irish plug adapter but it was not needed as there was a UK/Irish lead included with the power supply anyway as well as a standard european one.

Wizard

same problems here guys,
ordered 3 items,car bluetooth kit,jvc car stereo and a sony car charger,
when i ordered everything was in stock but then suddenly they went out of stock !
got the bluetooth kit a week later,
got the car charger today plus a plug adaptor for household items !
still waiting on my car stereo,
its been almost 4 weeks now and its driving me nuts !
i keep telling myself they are so much cheaper than everywhere else but it had better come soon,
i was hoping to order a new samsung dvd surround system with hdmi but my hopes are fading fast !
if they can't be trusted its just not worth it,
hopefully its a genuine warehouse problem but we will see

Gibs

Utterly disastrous after sales service. I sent back a malfunctioning camcorder to them about 5 or 6 months ago and they have not yet returned it to me. Despite at least 30 emails, I have had nothing except some inane "thankyou for your email" responses. I have tried phoning and have not managed to get through. Has anyone any advice about how I can get my camcorder back? Anyone had similar experiences and managed to get some action out of them? All help gladly received. At this stage I am so pi**ed off that I feel like giving up....:mad: :mad:

monkeyfudge

A few months ago I ordered a camera off them and it arrived the next day. I didn't get any requests for proof of address or anything like that.

And I saved about €150 off the high street price. So possibly the best and smoothest online transaction I've ever had.

But reading this thread they are clearly hit and miss

Seapoint

I've got a Printer, cartridges, a Camera, memory card etc etc from them

Excellent prices, poor service

I'll stick with them though

LizardKing

I sent an email complaining , got a standard auto response saying you will receive an answer within 24 hours ... 3 days later , still waiting ... looks like i won't receive the items i ordered for another month or so .. yet they had no problem taking the money for the items straight off my card.. grrrrrr

jlynch

I ordered a canon Ixus 50 and when I go to track orders it says the order is pending. The following is displayed "As part of our efforts to maintain clear communication, we regret to inform you that, following computer related problems regarding our stock inventory, we experiencing some delay in preparing orders. The delay for your order should not exceed 5 days."

I tried the two email addresses mentioned by el Bastardo in

You have to hassle them. You have to ask these guys for everything and you have to insist. I sent my complaints to their customerservice_ie'at'pixm***a.com address and to that fella who sends requests for the household bills etc., E.Graff'at'pixm***a.com. I told them to hop to it, either send my order or cancel it if it's not in stock (the misled me my telling it was in stock!).

But both of them came back with the error " The e-mail system was unable to deliver the message" and even the email customercare@pixmania.com mail address returned an autoresponse

"This is an automatic answer to inform you that unfortunately your email could not be processed.

In order to contact us, please send your request directly through our site "

Does anyone know any direct address of some person to contact within the company ?

machalla

A very similar thread over on askaboutmoney.com

http://www.askaboutmoney.com/showthread.php?t=16618

I have had similar problems with Pixmania. Rarely has an order with them gone smoothly.

wheres me jumpa

i was actually gona start a thread about pixmania prasing them!

i have had two orders with them both of which were excellently priced and delivered uber fast. im glad i didnt have the trouble some have had as i really needed this order.

good the other side of the story too.

100gSoma

Someone sent me the link to this thread knowing I was having trouble the last month. I sent Pixmania a total of 7 emails so far about this. Their response has been less than acceptble. It seems that the item is listed as IN STOCK since I ordered it. Even when I emailed and was told (3.5 weeks ago) that it was out of stock, they did not update the item and it remains as IN STOCK. you wil notice that their signature moto is "Europes number one, always in stock". I think they basically mean, we do not tell you when things are out of stock!!! I ordered on the pretense that both items were in stock and would be dispatched immeidately. That was 1 month ago. Surely if you are 'always in stock' even when you are out of stock, there is no point i neven saying "always in stock"?
here is an email I sent them only this morning... Just beware of this crowd. If its in stock (as 100% of their stuff is) it might not be in, and they will string you along instead of telling you out straight the issue. I will never use them again. ever.


Dear Sir/Madam,

I have been chasing you for 1 month about my order and by now I am seriously agitated and angry and certainly won't use pixmania again. Not because my item is late, but because of the dire communication and inreliable information from yourselves. I have been told twice now that the product is "due in TODAY". you used capital letter like that to emphasis the TODAY part. I got that mail last friday the 4th Novemeber. I also got the same mail after another query saying the product was "due in TODAY 7/11/05". I then received another mail on wednesady which said "this product is due in 09/11/05". Please just go to the stock manager and find out for me DEFINITIVELY whether you can et this product in stock. Please do NOT reply to me with a circular stating "this product is due in today 10/11/05". If you cannot get this product anytime soon, just tell me straight out and I will cancel or change my order. Simple. I think perhaps you are afraid to admit you are NOT "always in stock" and would rather string along a "valued customer" instead of levelling with them. Just tell me if you cannot get this product and I will change my order. I mean the item will be technologically obselete by the time you get it for me. Its been 1 month already. Please don't respond with a circular, please ask some questions and get some real Intel on this. I really appreciate your time and dedication to the cause of good customer relations/care.

Kind regards

LizardKing

Finally got a reply

Team Pixmania wrote:

Dear XXXXXXX



Thank you for e-mail



Unfortunately your product is not in stock at the moment, The expected delivery date in the warehouse is: 30/11/2005.



Assoonas we receive a the products in the warehouse, we will send it outforyou. If the wait is too long, then we can cancel the order andrefundyour credit card. We would of course be happy to keep yourorder.



We apologise for the inconvenience!



Best regards,


Team Pixmania

My gripe with them is the product WAS listed in stock which they do not refer to ... I'm gonna wait on order but will go elsewhere in future ...

bounty

there should be a european consumer complaints authority to fine bullshjt companies like poxmania

sirpsycho

The only way to go is to cancel the order. If everyone did that they might adjust their system and cop on. It's defo no way to do business and if everyone canceled it would send them a pretty stern message instead of this cr*p where people just wait out the order and complain to boards.ie in the meantime. makes no sense?

scribs

I have ordered camera and exterak hard drive from Pixmania
service was very good - i prsoally have nothing but praise for them. Although I do know om people who had sloe deliveries.
Untill that happens to me I am a happy customer

thesteve

I have to admit I had a good experience with this crowd. I bought a Sony DSC-T7 from their German site (living in Germany) and was only waiting 2 days for it. It was faulty but in a strange way. When the battery would drain a bit, and you left the camera off for about an hour, the camera would not turn back on. You'd put the battery in the charger for 2 seconds, back in the camera and it would turn on fine.

As I was going on holiday in a week and wanted the camera asap, I rang their UK helpline number (my german ain't too good), told them th story and asked if I could have a replacement within the week. The guy on the phone told me that they wouldn't have one back to me that fast, so all had to do was print and fill out a specific form on their site and send it back to their warehouse.

Sent it back not in the same state I got it in (had only pulled off the stickers, etc) and got a refund on my credit card within a few weeks. Because of the strange fault it was I was expecting hassle but got none.....

All in all I was happy even though it was faulty out of box, when I bought it the second time I went with another german site as it was cheaper, but if it was still the same price with Pixmania I would've went back to them...

MM3

Does anyone have an email address for these jokers? I just received a digital camera that was supposed to come with a memory card - but no sign of the card in the package.

I tried emailing customer care but got the unable to process your email reply. I then tried following the contact us link which eventually results in an SQL error!!!! :mad:

M

Oral Slang

I've only ever had good experiences thus far. I bought a camera & a printer and my boyfriend bought a camera & a car stereo.

However, about a week ago, someone asked me to recommend a camera for a Christmas present. I found one that seemed suitable but when I read the customer reviews I was doubtful about the content - Zoe from France & Majid from Slovenia wrote the exact same review and some of the slovenians don't have very Slovenian names: Derek Duff, Kerry Dalton. Their english is perfect too, although maybe it would be (don't know any Slovenians).
I emailed Pixmania to ask about the reviews about 2 weeks ago, but got no response!

Reviews taken from site:


written by Mike G. on 05/11/2005 on the FinePix A345
Perfect10
out of 10
United Kingdom - Saxmundham
This camera is the BIZ 100%
None

This is probably the best deal on the market. You could spend a whole day on the internet looking for the best 4.1 Mb camera and you will always come back to this one.
Amazing value - all you need from a camera and more.
You can expand the memory for more storage.
Don't be put off by the name - FUJI is a quality Japanese company that make great cameras. I have never been so impressed with a camera - I think I'll buy another one !!!!!
________________________________________________________________
written by Zoë on 01/08/2005 on the FinePix A345
Perfect10
out of 10
France -

A friend of mine bought this camera which I borrowed - I'm so impressd with it that I'm now going to buy my own - It looks good, feels good and takes superb pictures - The quality of pictures that this thing takes is really good - The pictures on the web don't do justice to this beauty - you actiually got to buy one to see how cool it is.
________________________________________________________________
written by Abhi. on 18/07/2005 on the FinePix A345
Perfect10
out of 10
Slovenia -

The A345 was very easy to use and was packed with soo much stuff that it was real value for money. It was my 1st digital camera and it has not let me down ever since!!
________________________________________________________________
written by derek duff on 07/07/2005 on the FinePix A345
Perfect10
out of 10
Slovenia -

i just bought the juji finepix a345 camera if ur after an easy to use camera this is for you my old camera was a 6.6 mp but the object had to be still or it went out ov focus but the new fuji has not taken a bad picture yet i have waved the camera round and took pictures had the kids jumping all over to test it not one ov the pictures came out blured think i will keep this camera for years to come .
________________________________________________________________
written by kerry dalton on 06/06/2005 on the FinePix A345
Perfect10
out of 10
Slovenia -

excellent camera, really easy to use and lovely pictures and cheaper than everywhere else!!
________________________________________________________________
written by Majid on 26/05/2005 on the FinePix A345
Perfect10
out of 10
Slovenia -

A friend of mine bought this camera which I borrowed - I'm so impressd with it that I'm now going to buy my own - It looks good, feels good and takes superb pictures - The quality of pictures that this thing takes is really good - The pictures on the web don't do justice to this beauty - you actiually got to buy one to see how cool it is.

magpie

I've only used them once, to buy a 35mm SLR camera which arrived next day by DHL. Their price €189, rip-off Irish Camera Shops price €329-€389 depending on the shop. Go France!

tywy

Sponge Bob wrote:

Any etailer can have a nightmare witha new warehouse and shipping/database system, Komplett ( a few years back) anyone ??

difference between pixmania and komplett is that komplett reply to your emails promptly pixmania don't!

Im in the process of trying to get my money back. I ordered 3 things. One of which arrived. I phoned them, held for 40 mins, and the guy on the other line said he would have me reimbursed for both items and the delivery charge. I only got reimbursed for one item and the delivery. Now I know I'm gonna have to go through a huge rigmarole to try and get money off them again.

I'm not pissed off at the fact that stuff fecked because **** happens. It's just the way they deal with it. They send vague non commital generic emails and they leave you holding of the phone for like 40 mins. They say they will respond to your emails in 24 hours - FAT CHANCE!

I have to say I used pixmania to buy a camera and everything ran smoothly but I think I'll be using komplett from now on!

Sponge Bob

tywy wrote:

I'm not pissed off at the fact that stuff fecked because **** happens. It's just the way they deal with it. They send vague non commital generic emails and they leave you holding of the phone for like 40 mins. They say they will respond to your emails in 24 hours - FAT CHANCE!

Well when **** happens (as it does when complex system upgrades go wrong) the real test of a company is whether they deal with it or try to hide. Hiding works for 1 month max and then you gotta face up to your own weaknesses or take the hit to your standing and goodwill .
When Komplett had their nightmare upgrade about 18 months back (delivery addresses minged on the database and stuff going all over the shop) they were kinda made face up to it, not least on Boards, and did face up to it ....I found one important bug for them at the time.

Pixmania are seemingly not facing up to it and are running out of time

I have to say I used pixmania to buy a camera and everything ran smoothly but I think I'll be using komplett from now on!

Komplett are a textbook example of how to do the simple things right , I have the utmost faith in Komplett and have no hesitation in saying so .

Mind you I never had a problem with Pixmania but I am glad I did not given the comments above.

Let them sort themselves out pronto, if this crap CS and inability to deliver goods or credit notes or chargebacks or showing wrong inventory levels is still going on early in the new year they will be slaughtered out there . I will not go near them till next year anyway and will warn others who may consider them .

Shame but thats ecommerce for ya .

el Bastardo

I saw the following on the website: seems to be new.

"Pixmania has just moved the shipping platform to give us the most sophisticated platform in Europe with all the latest technology to allow us to offer you a better service. We regret that the changes imposed by this move may lead to a delay with certain orders."

I wonder does that really mean that they've actually sorted it? (probably not )

tywy

definitely not!

JOSSYJACOB

i had done some research where to buy a Panasonic Lumix DMC FZ5 from an online shop as the stuff was not available with any of the retailers in ireland at a reasonable price. Just before i was about to order i did a search "pixmania review" on google. one of the link was the following :

http://www.epinions.com/msg/show_~threads/cat_id_~22/id_~2568/forum_id_~145

So i avoided them seeing the loads of complaints about their service and bought the stuff from cam-ireland.com. I got replies for all my emails. delivery took a week. packaging was good.

The price was a bit higher than pixmania. So if you are thinking of Digital Camera cam-ireland one of the good choices, eventhough they have few models with them and also the bad "Search" interface.

Just curious. Is there any online store that deals with 50"+ large screen TV's and home theatre systems at a good price? Info on Companies from Uk who will deliver to dublin also welcome.

Thanks

bounty

Just curious. Is there any online store that deals with 50"+ large screen TV's and home theatre systems at a good price? Info on Companies from Uk who will deliver to dublin also welcome.

i recommend powercity for such a purchase JOSSYJACOB

but if you want to try www.dabs.com

As well as the Distance Selling Regulations 2000, you are also covered by an EU directive, which allows enforcing organisations e.g. OFT and Trading Standards to take action against companies operating in other EU countries. The OFT and Trading Standards have powers under part 8 of the Enterprise Act to require a company which is constantly breaching UK consumer law to make an undertaking that they stop doing so. If the company then continues to breach consumer law then that becomes a criminal offence.

http://www.dti.gov.uk/ccp/topics1/enforcement.htm#enforcementorders

The one drawback is that the DTI and Trading Standards may tell you they've not received enough complaints and that they can't tell you if they'll investigate your case as it may prejudice an ongoing case, and this is forbidden under the same Enterprise Act. If this happens, then you are entitled under the Freedom of Information Act to request how many complaints they have actually received.

The email addresses of the ministers responsible for the DTI and consumer protection are:-
johnsona@parliament.uk, swalesm@parliament.uk

this is interesting, do we have an irish equivalent?

Sponge Bob

Interesting things about Pixmania

1. Lots of products have 1 review , its a 10 out of 10 review , it always seems to come from Slovenia, the name of the person who reviewed the product is always a non Slovenian sounding name. How inutterably odd.

2. Pixmania have had all comments about them (many negative) removed from leading UK shopping price comparison site Kelkoo (www.kelkoo.co.uk) , part of Yahoo .

3. Pixmania have had all comments about them (many negative) removed from leading French shopping price comparison site Ciao (www.ciao.fr ) and www.Ciao.co.uk its UK equivalent.

None of the above is a pattern in case some paranoid froggy lawyer is reading this

el Bastardo

For the Irish equivalents of UK consumer protection boards, offices etc., try here

MisterAnarchy

Had to buy a new printer and I found Pixmania was the cheapest by a good bit for the particular model.
Ordered it this morning and it has already been dispatched.
They may have redeemed themselves.

rocky

any news on this, have they fixed the site/delivery?

Wizard

they have not fixed anything yet,
i am still waiting on my jvc dvd car stereo ,
ordered 6 weeks ago !
mailing them every day but keep getting the same automated response !
doing my head in !
will let you guys know whenever i get it ( if i get it ) !!

rocky

That's a shame, was going to get an mp3 player (256/512 MB, FM, voice recorder) -> they seem to have a large selection, and a harddrive (they have those too).

Any suggestions for alternative sites, even if separate for mp3 player/hard drive? (if delivery is quick and free ).

Already have a hdd thread in computers, some nice recommendations, may start a thread on gadgets too about the mp3 player.