Tchibo has a quite unblemished and very successful 60-year history in Germany, originally selling coffee and related products and later adding so-called non-food items. At first a strictly shop-based retail business, they eventually expanded into catalogue home shopping, then online shopping ... Read review
Advantages: A good range of great quality products for the home as well as clothes and sports equipment. Disadvantages: Atrocious customer service. Frequent order delays. Slow delivery and problematic returns.
Tchibo has a quite unblemished and very successful 60-year history in Germany, originally selling coffee and related products and later adding so-called non-food items. At first a strictly shop-based retail business, they eventually expanded into catalogue home shopping, then online shopping and most recently they have branched out into other European countries. So far so good. When they came to the UK, there were some teething problems - most notably ... .../> Still, the Tchibo products (generally a limited selection of the same products on offer in Germany and despatched from Germany) were as good as ever. Great quality, especially when it came to kitchen appliances and clothes. The coffee they sold was slightly less impressive and not as good as the blends offered in Germany (still have those send over by friends directly from Germany), which was a shame. Recently I found they have stopped ... more
Tchibo has a quite unblemished and very successful 60-year history in Germany, originally selling coffee and related products and later adding so-called non-food items. At first a strictly shop-based retail business, they eventually expanded into catalogue home shopping, then online shopping and most recently they have branched out into other European countries. So far so good. When they came to the UK, there were some teething problems - most notably their cheaply bought postcode data base which did not even remotely cover all UK addresses, excluding some customers from online shopping. But at least you could still order by phone. Annoying even back then, though, was their second-tier customer service. Staff on the ordering lines was okay, but they couldn't answer any questions and if you wanted answers you had to get in touch with either the customer service or the IT departments. Both were notoriously unwilling to help and their answers were usually wrong. The online postcode/address data problem, for example, took 3 years to clear up, despite all promises of immediate action and, equally, despite all assurances that there was no problem. On the other hand, they have never changed their useless bonus system, which gives you 3% to 6 % off if you have accumulated orders above a certain amount ...as long as you ordered within the current half year, i.e. orders placed in December will not count any more once January arrives, nor orders up to June in July. Not much of an incentive, I find.
Still, the Tchibo products (generally a limited selection of the same products on offer in Germany and despatched from Germany) were as good as ever. Great quality, especially when it came to kitchen appliances and clothes. The coffee they sold was slightly less impressive and not as good as the blends offered in Germany (still have those send over by friends directly from Germany), which was a shame. Recently I found they have stopped selling coffee online altogether. Interestingly, when I enquired about it, the customer service tried to make it appear as if Tchibo did not actually sell coffee at all ...
Nonetheless, the quality of the products was such that I continued to order from Tchibo. Even when they moved their customer service to some Indian call centre and you could never get any answers about your outstanding orders. Even when they started having all their emails answered by some Indian email centre which meant computer-generated automated replies based on keywords in your message and definitely not based on the content of your message. Even when it took longer and longer for orders to arrive. Yes, I still stuck with them. Even when they switched their delivery service to UPS and it meant giving up a day off every time I wanted to return something as UPS will not pick up "unattended" packages and will not give you even an ETA for their delivery men.
Then came the February of 2009 and Tchibo offered lovely kitchen accessories, curtains, cutlery - and oversized mugs. I ordered. They confirmed my order. Weeks later I was informed that my order was delayed. Eventually they did despatch, though minus the mugs. Mugs were despatch later. And arrived completely broken: You could hear the shards rattle as soon as you picked up the parcel, though the UPS delivery man had still left it at my house (they do not pick up unattended packages, but if they can leave a broken one with you, hey, no prob!). I informed Tchibo of this. They eventually sort of apologized - an automated answer again, so the apology means less than nothing, really - and promised immediate replacement as well as an immediate refund. The replacement mugs eventually arrived, broken yet again, so I refused to even accept the package. And informed Tchibo. They eventually anwered with another automated reply, telling me that the mugs were by now sold out but that they had many more nice things on offer every week so I should just have a look and buy something else. I was also promised an immediate refund. I emailed back but did not receive any answer.
I also did not receive any refund. 3 weeks later I was still waiting for it and, given my email experiences with Tchibo, I decided to call them. Try finding their number! They have by now effectively removed it from their website; I finally found a 0800 number on their German company website. And called. And spoke to their customer service assistant, a young, possibly Polish woman - no problem with that, though I have by now reason to believe that she is actually IN Poland or wherever and works from her own home; more about that later). She told me that there had been some major problem with the packaging of the mugs and breakage was widespread. As far as my refund was concerned, though, she could not tell me anything apart from the fact that for some reason it had not been issued. But she would do that straight away and by the middle of the following week, at the latest!, the money should be on my account. It wasn't. Another call to our friendly customer service assistant. It took her a while to realize I had called her on the Tchibo number and not on any of the others ...hmm. I had quite obviously interrupted some private call ...hmm. She checked on her computer and, yes, for some reason that she could not explain the refund had not been issued to my bank account; it had been issued to my Tchibo customer account (an account that does not have a credit modus). But she could send me a cheque for the outstanding amount if I wanted. A cheque???? No, I told her, I would prefer the money refunded to my account. Yes, she said, she could do that but I would have to give her my account details - hmm - so that she could give them to the "finance department" ...HMM????? No, in that case I would call the finance department myself. Sadly, the young lady replied, she did not have a phone number for the finance department ...HMM???? I declined the offer to hand my account details to someone somewhere in Europe (possibly) whose only qualification seems to be owning a phone and a computer and who is not even trusted with a company directory by Tchibo. So I agreed to a cheque. It hasn't arrived yet...
Neither have I received an answer to the email I sent Tchibo, complaining about the whole mess.
My advice: Find someone in Germany and have them send over any Tchibo product you like. Much safer. Much faster.
Advantages: Clear design of catalogue Disadvantages: Horrific customer service
Consumer Opinion on Tchibo Home Shopping
I hadn’t heard about Tchibo until I found a catalogue tucked inside the supplements of my Sunday newspaper. Usually I just throw the things that aren’t of interest to me into the bucket, but for some reason, I found myself compelled to leaf through this fairly thick catalogue to see what kind of merchandise they were selling.
The layout of my opinion contains the following categories:
1). Catalogue ... ...Returns Collection
7). Other Tchibo Services
8). Conclusion
1). Catalogue Layout
I was impressed by the layout of the catalogue and realised that most of its contents were unusual and things that you’d have to trawl for hours through your local High Street to find. Products were clearly displayed with accurate descriptions and easily identifiable prices.
2). Products
Unlike other catalogues whose clothes collection takes up more pages ...
GavMan 30.11.2003 (14.12.2003)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Tchibo Home Shopping
Advantages: Its cheap as chips but good quality Disadvantages: got to be quick
...hubby reads this). Tchibo came to London in 1991, a relatively new concept idea. Its pioneer is Marc Hertz and he started it all in 1951. It originally was just a coffee shop but has since introduced coffee, cake and shopping. It made its mark in Europe big time before heading here and its origins ( whoops I nearly typed oranges then) came from Switzerland.
To describe its way of shop in a few words is basically a smaller version and speedier version ... ...catalogue is available in any Tchibo coffee shop (by the front door) and is free to take.
They change their goods for sale each week and every month produces a new book. Basically if there is something you like the week you see that magazine, get it. By week 2 I doubt if its there. I made that mistake by buying one fleece blanket in my Uxbridge store, I couldn’t struggle with two blankets. When I get it home I loved it, it was huge and squidgy, ...
debbie_marway 24.08.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Tchibo Home Shopping
Advantages: Good value for money, New products all the time. Disadvantages: Stock runs out quickly.
...far.
Who are they?
Tchibo are a German company who origionally entered the UK market in 1991 just supplying coffee to hotel chains, restaurants, offices etc. They then opened coffee shop, initially in London, selling fresh coffee.
They have expanded into non food items since then and now have over 40 shops selling low cost, high quality clothes, homeware etc. The mail order service started in 2002.
What do they sell?
Coffee - you can choose ... ...Clothes/Shoes, especially good for outdoor and sports wear.
Sports equipment ie. golf clubs, keep fit products.
Homewear - a varied range for kitchen, garden bedding etc.
Misc. All sorts of gadgets and odd bits and pieces.
How do you buy?
There are a full list of shops on their website. This is the ideal way to buy as you can see what you are getting in bright ,unfussy surroundings. You also get to have a cup of the wonderful coffee. When I ...
fluffy20 08.05.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Tchibo Home Shopping
Advantages: mostly good value Disadvantages: home shopping
I know tchibo from Germany - where I am originally from. I never had a problem buying there nor with the home shopping service in Germany. So when I discovered tchibo in the Uk I thought "Yeah! A shop I can trust to order!" But boy, was I proofed to be wrong!
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First a bit of history:
tchibo was founded by Max Herz and Carl Tchilling-Hiryan ... ...The idea for the name tchibo was simply taken from the name Tchi(lling) and the word "Bohne" which is German for bean. Tchibo was born!
Carl Tchilling-Hiryan quit after a few years and after the death of Max Herz in 1965 his son Günter Herz took over. After a few changes it is now owned by three of his brothers and their mother. It all started with one little shop in 1955 and by now they have expanded to over 850 shops in Germany alone. They started ...
missmarplejunior 02.02.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Tchibo Home Shopping
Advantages: Seem reasonably priced items Disadvantages: Poor customer service, do not uplift returns when arranged
I placed an order at Tchibo Home Shopping Service, on their web site, I then received by email their news letter which stated that as a new customer, I could receive free packaging and postage if I entered this number when I placed my order
. As I had already placed my order I could not enter the number to obtain the free P&P. So I emailed Tchibo twice to try and get this issue resolved, but did not receive any replies to my emails
.
I then sent ... ...of the order on the Tchibo web site, and received a confirmation email that the parcel would be collected on Friday 30 December 2005 between 8 am and 8 pm. I waited in all day for the courier to collect the parcel, but no courier turned up to collect the parcel.
I then phoned Tchibo's premium rate phone number on 31 December 2005 and spoke to a customer services representative, he was not very helpful telling me that I would have to redial again ...
billyandbenny 06.01.2006 (17.03.2006)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Tchibo Home Shopping
Range of products
Speed of delivery
Value for Money
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A week ago a Tchibo brochure came through the door with my boyfriend?s newspaper. I?m a sucker for any brochures or catalogues so of course I took a look. It?s not a large brochure ? nor is their website ? but it contains some cosy clothing and home accessories so it captured my attention.
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Tchibo Coffee Shop
