Meteor Online Store Problem

Sapele

Just looking for a bit of advice if I could

Last Saturday I ordered a bill pay phone off meteor.ie, gave my details and they charged my credit card and said in the confirmation email that it would be 2 working days and then I will receive a contract, sign it and send it back with ID photocopies. Thursday came and no contract so I rang them and they told me that they had sent the email but would resend straight away. No email Friday so rang and gave them alternative email and they said they would send again. Now, there is no problem with either email account, I receive and send from them every day and I received meteors confirmation email fine. Saturday now and they are closed for the weekend but no contact in email.

I was looking at their conditions and there is a 14 day cooling off period but at this stage by the time I receive the phone the period will be long expired. I also noticed this bit of information on their site, it says

"Once you place your order online, we’re unable to cancel it as it has already been processed at the point of purchase. However, you can return the order once received by completing the Meteor online returns form . You will be credited with a full refund when we receive the returned unused item if the phone and all parts are returned in proper condition and have not been used in any way"

I haven’t signed or even received a contract from Meteor and I'm struggling to even get an email reply from their online shop (which is separate from the stores) and with the cooling off period slipping away I'm thinking that I don’t actually want to sign a contract with these guys and if such a simple thing is causing problems what would happen if there were more issues along the line. I presume that I'm within my rights to ring up monday morning and say I'm not happy with the delays or the explanations of what is going on and want to cancel the order and get a refund on what I paid for the phone since I haven’t signed any contract. Is the whole point of a 14 day cooling off period that you dont have to give a reason for changing your mind, even if you havent seen the item? I wont receive the phone with the 14 days anyway.

Has anyone heard of any problems like this or others with meteors online shop? On their site it says the cooling off period starts from the confirmation email, which I got when I first ordered but not even seeing the phone during this period defeats its purpose a bit imo

Would you guys stick it out and hope for the best, as the deal on offer is pretty decent for the galaxy s? or run a mile thinking that these problems will only get worse dealing with meteor online sales?

Cheers

foggy_lad

The delays could be due to stock issues? Also you can cancel at any time up to 7 days after you order under distance selling regulations but they do not have to send you the phone until after that period is up.

wmpdd3

the 14 day cooling off starts from the day they recieve the contract, thats when you will be billed from. The 7 days is the distance selling rule for the phone and the14 days is for the credit agreement

Sapele

Thanks guys

I will give them a call monday morning. It will be 9 days since i ordered online then so under the distance selling regulations i presume then i cant just cancel the order. But if for example i dont want to go further with the order then there would be no point in signing the contract with them so is the only way out if it to sign the contract and then cancel it under the cooling off period? This seems like a bit of a waste of time to me, having to sign a contract in order to cancel a transaction because more than 7 days has passed. Surely it would be better to just cancel the customer without sending out the contracts or phone in the first place.

On top of that, meteor online have not done what they say they would do in the confirmation email. They say you will have contracts within 2 working days and it will take 3 working days to process it once the contract is signed. It will be nine days since I ordered and im the one chasing them, no information from them whatsoever, thats what is putting me off, I dont think I want to sign a contract with a crowd like this.

I rang their customer support and one of the guys told me that my cooling off period started from the time I ordered online but he said it was a bit of a gray area, whatever that means. But it makes more sense to have it start when they receive my signed contact but under what the customer support guy said then I'm well within my rights to cancel at 9 days on monday. We shall see what they say and if they can convince me that I will have the phone in hand for a reasonable time during a cool down peroid to see if everything is OK then I have no problems going ahead with the order. It will be interesting to see what they say, I'm not getting a great customer orientied vibe from them tbh at the moment.

Sapele

Got through to the online store directly, they asked me did I not receive the emailing that they required a 300 euro security deposite from me, I said no emails received from meteor, declined to pay the deposit, asked for an email confirmation of cancellation, actually received that email proving the meteor can email you if they want to, would have got the phone in the end im sure but not an easy shower to deal with, basically lie on the phone to you and give you the runaround, pooly organised setup maybe? Dont care now, glad to be rid of em