dabs.com - don't deal with them!

[Paul_s]

I sent back two RMA items and had no refunds for more than two weeks on one of them

Phone calls to their 'customer support' go unanswered and emails get lost in a blackhole... however, I did have some replies and promises of refunds but diddly squat now!

Apart from threatening them with legal action I'm just glad the amounts are small (£50). (I have evidence to back up they received the items as they were sent recorded)

I'm not finished with them yet , their office are only down the road so I will have to pay them a visit

Dabs.com - great service when you order something, crap when it comes to sending stuff back that's faulty...

 

[smilertoo]

Thats generally how all online retailers work, great until something goes wrong then they do their best to ignore consumer laws.

 

[StrontiumDog]

Dabs.com? Don't you mean BT.com (brought them for an estimated 30 million back in 2006)

Now you see why such shoddy service ...

 

[Alcatan]

If you paid using a credit card, simply contact your card issuer and they will recredit you and then they will chase dabs.

My Mum had a problem 2 years ago, with an expensive order, luckily she used her barclaycard and after dabs basically bouncing her round for almost 2 weeks we went to the card issuer and they said "not a problem we'll refund you and chase dabs", same day we had a phone call from dabs.

 

[BrooksterMax]

Don't give up, keep fighting - it is hard work but you will get there.

I stopped ordering from dabs.com as they switched over to BT in anticipation things started going wrong!

 

[Harrison]

I hadn't realised they were purchased by BT. I've not ordered from them in a very long time due to their prices hardly ever being the best.

Years ago (8+ years) I ordered a flatbed scanner from them and got a confirmation email that it would be delivered on a specific day. But strangely the evening I got a phone call from someone living about 15 miles from me, saying they had delivered by scanner to his address and would I like to go to his house to collect it. All very strange, especially how he got my phone number as it wasn't on the parcel, but I drove there and picked it up anyway and all was OK. But still, very odd.

Out of the online retailers, the one I would recommended the most is Novatech. One of their main warehouse branches is located in Portsmouth, so I don't have to travel very far to get anything I need, or they offer free 3-5 day delivery and pretty much everything, and it always arrives the next morning, which is brilliant. Their RMA department is also brilliant and nothing like the experience here from Dabs. I took a PSU back to them that was 1.5 years old (with a 3 year warranty). They gave me an RMA red sticker with a reference bar code on it, and said they needed to check the PSU to confirm the fault and would contact me. A couple of days later I got a phone call from them saying they had confirmed it, the same PSU was no longer available, so instead they offered me credit to a value higher than the original and I selected a new PSU from their current range. It arrived free of charge the next morning. Brilliant.

Other online retailers I use a lot without any problems include Ebuyer, Overclockers and Amazon. No problems at all with any of those.

I would however warn anyone against using Saverstore. This company is run by an Indian family that have ripped a lot of people off in the past. Years ago the company was called Savastore, and had been running for years. I had purchased quite a bit from them in that time. They then went into administration and were closed down, with all customers with outstanding orders losing their money. The company then suddenly reopened a couple of weeks later, slightly renamed to Saverstore but looking very similar. They didn't honour any of the outstanding orders from Savastore because it was stated as being a different new company. This new store was setup by someone else in the same family as the original Savastore. I therefore won't trust them since this. I didn't personally lose any money with this, but I know a couple of people who did. One had just paid a lot of money for a new PC and got something like 10% back in the end.

 

[TheCorfiot]

And sadly Savastore were previously Watford Electronics, huge in the days of Acorn Beeb's.... they had a good reputation back then.

TC

 

[AndyLandy]

And sadly Savastore were previously Watford Electronics, huge in the days of Acorn Beeb's.... they had a good reputation back then.

TC

There's too much of that these days. I live five minutes from Lodge Road in Southampton. Fifteen years ago, that would've meant a branch of Diamond Computers within spitting distance of my home... Not any more.

 

[morcar]

for online pc parts you cant beat ebuyer and eclipse computers.

I remember when i was going to buy an OCZ 500watt PSU from eclipse and they didnt have one so the person phoned me and said he was sell me the 60 watt version for the same price i said ok but get this... he also paid for sunday delivery as well on top.

Both i have had no problems with both and have bought loads of stuff off them.

give them a try.

 

[grahamit]

Funny you mention Watford Electronics. That is where I bought my first A1200 from. It was about a year after Commodore went bust, and they claimed to have stocks available. Then they did the delaying tactics for months and months. Weirdly though, did finally get an A1200 from them. Guess I was lucky they didn't choose to go bust.

I do remember though someone on TV complaining about them too, and it was a kid show version of watchdog. They dispatched their roaming reporter, I think may have been zoe ball, out to the premisis. At the time though, locked up tight s a drum. Funny how your memory gets jogged occasionally eh?

 

[Paul_s]

Thanks guys... well, I've had an email today saying it will be refunded asap. One return down, another to go!

I'm doing all my PC buying with Scan now, they seem far more competant and I can pop in to pick my goods up

 

[Lloyd]

Arghh, I feel for you this is the only problem with online shopping. I have been using dabs for years the only thing i've had to send back was a monitor a few years ago. ( might switch now ).

Novatech seem ok i've used them but can't speek for customer services (don't think I have had any thing to return to them) hope it all gets sorted for you.

 

[Kin Hell]

Just caught up with this thread.....

B.T. bought Dabs for 30 million? veractor:

That's 30 Million quid of Customers money into another venture and they still can't wire a f'kin Lan Party up correctly!

Excuse me a moment......
:explode

......it didn't work.....

I need to go & lie down in a dark room somewhere.....

 

[yorkie4]

ive had a returns problem with scan sent them a board back and they said there was nothing wrong with it and it was very clearly knackered
even Zetr0 couldn't beleive they said it was fine
i tend to use tekheads these days excellent prices and very reliable
bigpockets are good also

 

[Harrison]

And sadly Savastore were previously Watford Electronics, huge in the days of Acorn Beeb's.... they had a good reputation back then.

TC

I had forgotten they were originally Watford Electronics. I also used to use them a lot and ordered loads of stuff from them. Such a shame they went out of business.

Another of my favourites that closed was Special Reserve. I was a member of that store for a very long time, getting their catalogues in the post each month and looking through the games lists, marking all the ones I wanted. I ordered most of my Amiga's through them, all the way up to my A1200 and CD32. Such a shame as they had some good stores around the country too.

Special Reserve do live on in spirit though as the ISP Freeola, which I still get my broadband through as they have no FUP and unlimited off peak bandwidth.

 

[AndyLandy]

Thanks guys... well, I've had an email today saying it will be refunded asap. One return down, another to go!

I'm doing all my PC buying with Scan now, they seem far more competant and I can pop in to pick my goods up

Wow! Last time anyone mentioned scan.com, they referred to them as scam.con!

I guess it really is the same with all these online retailers. They're all good until something goes wrong. I've used ebuyer, dabs, stak and aria and never had a problem with any of them. (Although never buy ebuyer 'value RAM', it's utter rubbish)

 

[Harrison]

I think that applies to anything "own brand" when it comes to computing. Avoid own brand PSUs, ram, motherboards... etc.

However, you can get some bargains for other own brand things that are not as specific. I've picked up some nice own brand cases in the past that have been just as good as brand ones costing 4 times more. Equally Novatech sell their own branded versions of graphics cards, and they are all reference specification versions of each model, and identical to any you would buy from the well known makers like XFX, Asus or Sapphire. So for some things you can grab a bargain.

 

[hektic]

Ahhh Watford Electronics I used to work for them many years ago at the head office in Luton! To be honest it was a nightmare working in their support department!

I like ebuyer, I've never had problems from them and their prices are usually good - I've used scan a lot as you get free delivery if you sign up with avforums

One problem I had with scan is used parts - I bought a blueray reader off them and it was all scuffed - sent it back and they sent me another scuffed one

Aria.co.uk is worth a look and for memory cards & stuff mymemory.co.uk has good deals sometimes.

 

[Powerpie5000]

Dabs.com - great service when you order something, crap when it comes to sending stuff back that's faulty...

This is unfortunately true with many online retailers... I use Ebuyer, Scan and Novatech (and a couple of others) which have always been quick at delivering but slow at sorting RMA's and refunds. I recently returned a faulty/damaged case to Scan (i went to the actual store) and instead of swapping it for another, they said they needed to refund my card first which takes around 5 working days and wanted me to pay again for the replacement case there and then before my refund had been cleared!!

 

[StrontiumDog]

I recently returned a faulty/damaged case to Scan (i went to the actual store) and instead of swapping it for another, they said they needed to refund my card first which takes around 5 working days and wanted me to pay again for the replacement case there and then before my refund had been cleared!!

That's when you vote with your wallet and go elsewhere