Is Expansys.ie legit?

Mo_Nica

I recently ordered a phone off expansys and have had nothing but trouble. I thought they were a legitimate company, but I'm actually slightly worried now about credit card fraud and identity theft.

Here's what happened:
22/07/12 - Find phone, website says it's in stock with €8 charge for 2day delivery in Ireland, Ordered phone to be paid through Paypal, Received order acknowledgement.
23/07/12 - Email from Expansys looking for 'proof of address - Copy of a utility bill less than 3 months old'. I thought this was weird. Luckily I had it already scanned in, so emailed it.
Then I received another email saying the details were unclear and asking to send 'a copy of both sides of your credit card and some form of ID'. I thought this was extremely strange, seeing as I was using Paypal so it should have been pretty safe for them. So I emailed them and they said it was to protect from creditcard fraud. I gave in and sent them the info that day.
24/07/12 - Checked order status it said 8 day delivery time and that they were still awaiting information, so I called them and they said the couldn't open the files I sent them. I sent them a .tif file. It's not rocket science to change the file type. It took me 2 seconds, but I could have saved a day if they had emailed me to tell me there was a problem. I sent it to them again.
25/07/12 - Checked order status again. It said order was being processed, but delivery time said 12 days. Emailed them. No Reply. Called them at 5.15 answering machine says the office is closed, please call between 8am and 6pm??? Sent another email.
26/07/12 - Email from expansys saying they are having delays from the supplier (I thought the item was in stock??) Asked them or refund on my 2-day delivery charge). Item due for delivery on 03/08/12
02/08/12 - Checked order status it had jumped to 8 day delivery time again. Emailed again. Was told they would have the item is 6 days
09/08/12 - Checked order status it had jumped to 4 days. Called and asked to speak to manager. None available. Sales rep on phone said there were delays with the supplier so they couldn't say when it would be. I stayed on the phone until I got the sales rep to contact the purchasing manager. My point was that if it was coming from Hong Kong for example, it should be shipped already for me to receive it in 4 days so they should know that. Eventually, she came back to the phone as said that the suppliers didn't have the phone at all. Basically, they listed an item in stock in Ireland, that wasn't even in stock in Hong Kong, or wherever their suppliers are.

Needless to say after them screwing with me for neary a month, I cancelled the order.

So I'm wondering, if they never even had the phone, was the whole thing a scam to get my credit card info or id?

Or are they the most incompentent online shopping company that has ever existing?

Sorry for the essay, but has Anyone else had trouble with them?

sandin

They are a legit company and many companies that sell electronic goods will ask for extra ID especially if you have not signed up to Master Card secure code or Visa Verified.

Due to the thouands of products these guys have and the same stock holding is for all markets, an item can become out of stock quite quickly and normally be restocked quickly, but if there are delays from supplier it gets a knock on delay in their system.

Stock is not reserved for you until payment is confirmed, so in their language, your order only completed after you sent in the id stuff and at that stage the stock level may have changed.


Its just one of the crap things you ahve to pt up with to save a few euro - they have stripped out many of the costs that a normal retailer has such as holding decent quantty of stock and it means problems with some deliveries.