Lets just hope the admistrators can find the funds to return everyones money.
***UPDATE**11/12/08
As advised by our solicitor the matter has been reported to the HMCS Money Claim online website which will try to get a legal ruling demanding a full refund + expenses + interest. JKUK have 14 days to acknowledge the action.
***UPDATE** 25/11/08 1. Trading Standards have been unable to secure a refund for us 2. The case is now with a solicitor who is instigating legal proceedings.
**Original Review**
I am writing this as a warning to any prospective buyer of baby products to stay well clear of the web site www.babies247.com.
In summary, my wife and I ordered a nursery furniture set for £449 in 30th August 2008 from a professional looking web site. Payment was taken immediately and we were promised delivery within 7-14 days.
By the 6th October and after many e-mail's and phone calls concerning the whereabouts of our goods they finally admitted the delivery would never happen and we cancelled the order.
A full refund was promised within 30 days. On the 30th day we received this e-mail:
Babies247 has been trading online since 2005. Over the past months the site has experienced a significant increase in business which was not forecast. As a result we have had neither enough stock to satisfy all orders or enough staff to provide an adequate level of service to our customers. As a result of this Babies 247 is in the process of suspending its operations until such time that the resources are in place to properly service an online offer in a professional way. It is not possible at this time to provide a direct refund to you. Please contact your card issuer and ask for a "chargeback" to be raised against us for the non delivery of goods. This will ensure that your monies are credited back to you without further delay. Refunds for purchases made by debit card (chargeback's are not possible with these cards) will still be made directly from Babies247. We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused by this.
So why are they still taking orders on the web site, stealing peoples money. A simple search on the Internet for "babies247 reviews" brings up hundreds of other similar stories to ours dating up to a year ago.
As we paid by debit card we have had to chase the company directly and to date have not received back a penny of our money. The matter has now been reported to Trading Standards who have advised us to write one final letter quoting Distance Selling Regulations before we take further legal action.
Contacting Babies247:
One major problem trying to rectify this is the customer service phone number given on the web site 02380 901743 is never answered and goes straight to a fax machine.
Babies247 is actually the online shop for Southampton Based JKUK (Just Kidding UK) which can be reached on 02380 434544 but there is never anyone available to speak to from the Internet sales department or the phones happen to be conveniently down. You are able to speak to a polite sales assistant who apologies for your situation and promises to pass on your grievance to Cheryl.
We received e-mail's from Graham Short from address graham@babies247.com and the owner is Dave Truscott who I am informed can be contacted at dave@babies247.com
Surely they must be shut down. Shoppers in the local area must boycott the parent company JKUK.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE pass on this warning to other parents who may be considering using this shop. I shall be sending this information to BBC Watchdog and as many review and parenting web sites as possible.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
......continued
6. You seem to have a big problem with the "worst experience ever" phrase as first quoted on Ciao by PedroLA. Although I agree it is sensationalist (it's definitely had the desired impact though because we're still talking about it!) but
I think you are taking it too literally. I believe that phrase refers to the worst SHOPPING experience ever. This I can agree with as I've never been conned like this by any other company or service and we undertake most of our shopping online. Their behaviour gives a bad image to the internet shopping in general.
7. I've saved the best for last with your comment "you might want to consider getting some perspective on life". It just makes your argument (whatever that is) petty and condescending. You neither have the authority nor information to make a judgment on the ethos of my existence. Remember, you know very little about me, my education, my experience, and my own business dealings. The one and only thing you know is that I am very p1ssed off at getting ripped off.
This is the last I shall be writing as this matter has already taken up far too much precious time than it deserves. Thank you for singling out my review out of the 73 against Babies247 on Ciao for your criticisms. It's an honour but I'm sure the other reviewers would also love to hear your opinions on their stories.
lukesidell 19.12.2008 16:10
....continued
4. One of my favourite lines from your comments was "A little bit more understanding of the processes involved might lead to a more balanced review". Apart from the obvious patronising aspect of the statement I would like to draw your attention to the 1986 Insolvency Act, particularly the principle of wrongful trading where it is illegal to continue to trade if a company "knew, or ought to have concluded that there was no reasonable prospect of avoiding insolvent liquidation" resulting in the Directors being liable. Believe me, I am well read in this subject matter and my solicitor has keep me informed at every stage of the legal procedure.
5. Now on to the part regarding buying online "you have to take some responsibility when buying anything online i.e. do your research and pay buy credit card". Thanks for the useful hindsight but there were some positive reviews of Babies247 at the time of ordering and with the price of the item we wanted being £200 cheaper than anywhere else it seemed a viable choice, especially with the back-up of three bricks and mortar stores. If we avoid every single company with a bad review we'd never purchase anything.
Not everyone has the option of owning a credit card and some, like ourselves prefer to pay as we go. Unfortunately debit cards vary greatly in the level of protection they offer (i.e. VISA offer a full refund whilst with Switch you won't get a bean) although I am hopeful for consumers this will be aligned soon.
From your own review I can see that you are a previously satisfied customer of JKUK so it's reassuring to know our own decision to put trust with this company is one you have already made before us. It was just luck you have not ended up in the same position as us.
lukesidell 19.12.2008 16:10
I was debating whether or not to respond to your latest critique but the more I reflected on it the more retorts came to mind in reply to you and it's only fair to reciprocate the great effort you have applied. I'm sure you'll empathize that this is a very emotive subject area for me currently with the outcome still hanging in the balance but I'll try my best to keep the expected lambasting to a minimum and do agree you are entitled to your own opinions of my writings, whatever they may be.
1. Firstly, what your motives for your first review confuse me. I see that despite "reading lots of reviews" that this is your one and only assessment on Ciao. Why now? Why this subject? The thought had crossed my mind that maybe you must either be an associate of Mr. Truscott or maybe even a member of his family. It has obviously touched a nerve somewhere.
2. You criticized me for being too subjective. Remember, my article was intended as a warning to other potential victims to stay well clear of this enterprise so they would not have to be subjected to losing their money too. It was not meant as impartial evaluation of the services on offer but a damning indictment
3. You complained I gave the website layout a low score after writing "we ordered from a professional looking website". In all honesty they were lucky to score a zero. I wanted the overall score to be as low as possible as it didn't deliver what was promised. If you take the time to visit the website now I think you'll agree the "website under routine maintenance" holding page merits a score of zero.
Continued......
Advantages: Helpful customer service person, respond to email, refunded canceled order Disadvantages: Didn't have stock of items, seem inept at doing business
Ginge68 18.07.2008 (18.07.2008)
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