For the first time ever, I ordered something from very.co.uk yesterday. I got two dresses with sleeves, to inject something new into last years A/W wardrobe: they're both from the Fearne Cotton collection, and I got excited, waiting for them to arrive this morning. But arrive they did not!
Buy before 6pm for next day delivery it said all over the site. So I duly bought before 6pm and then logged into my account the next morning to see what my estimated delivery time would be (you can track your order online) Well one of my dresses was due to arrive the following day (making it 48 hours for delivery, not the 24 hours I was promised) and God only knows when I could expect the other dress as they were "waiting for restock". This is my absolute pet hate! If I click to buy something and expect it to arrive the next day, i'd like to be told that what i'm buying is out of stock before you've taken my cash! That way I can decide if i'm prepared to sit around and wait a couple of weeks for it: in this instance I wanted the dress for a party on Friday night, and wouldn't have paid for it if i'd known. But they didn't actually tell me until the next morning, via text message, with no details of when it would come or offer to refund my amount if I didn't want to wait. Very frustrating, and absolutely terrible customer relations! (If you're ever building a ecommerce site, please have the functionality to let people know how many of each item are still in stock: i'd love you forever!)
However the other dress, the "instock" dress also hadn't arrived, and now had a note next to it in my account telling me to call customer services. So I called customer services to see if they could shed some light on the situation. "The driver didn't recognise your address", she said, "there aren't enough letters in your postcode." I explained that W1 was a real postcode: she told me I was wrong and there should be two letter (such as NW1) We wrangled until she accepted that I probably did know the postcode of my office, and that W1 (like E1 and N2 etc) definitely is a real postcode. Call centre girl learnt something new, but I still don't have my dresses. She "estimated" they would arrive by Friday: no guarentee, no apology. This does not help me at all.
Buy before 6pm for next day delivery it said all over the site. So I duly bought before 6pm and then logged into my account the next morning to see what my estimated delivery time would be (you can track your order online) Well one of my dresses was due to arrive the following day (making it 48 hours for delivery, not the 24 hours I was promised) and God only knows when I could expect the other dress as they were "waiting for restock". This is my absolute pet hate! If I click to buy something and expect it to arrive the next day, i'd like to be told that what i'm buying is out of stock before you've taken my cash! That way I can decide if i'm prepared to sit around and wait a couple of weeks for it: in this instance I wanted the dress for a party on Friday night, and wouldn't have paid for it if i'd known. But they didn't actually tell me until the next morning, via text message, with no details of when it would come or offer to refund my amount if I didn't want to wait. Very frustrating, and absolutely terrible customer relations! (If you're ever building a ecommerce site, please have the functionality to let people know how many of each item are still in stock: i'd love you forever!)
However the other dress, the "instock" dress also hadn't arrived, and now had a note next to it in my account telling me to call customer services. So I called customer services to see if they could shed some light on the situation. "The driver didn't recognise your address", she said, "there aren't enough letters in your postcode." I explained that W1 was a real postcode: she told me I was wrong and there should be two letter (such as NW1) We wrangled until she accepted that I probably did know the postcode of my office, and that W1 (like E1 and N2 etc) definitely is a real postcode. Call centre girl learnt something new, but I still don't have my dresses. She "estimated" they would arrive by Friday: no guarentee, no apology. This does not help me at all.
I shop online alot; I know that it can and does work better than this (i'm thinking asos, who's guarenteed delivery has never let me down) But I know no matter how lovely these dresses are (and I hope they are lovely) or how well they fit, this whole experience will be marred by the stressful nightmarish hour i've just spent trying to work out where the hell they are!
UPDATE: Their order-tracker system shifted my estimated delivery date forward yet again, so I called customer services to cancel the order and get by money back. Sounds simple, right? Wrong! According to the first woman I spoke to, this process could take up to 2 weeks. Frustrating, but I could cope with that. Two hours later, I looked at my order status, which hadn't changed to show the order had been cancelled. I call again and am told there is no record on my account of my order being cancelled. I cancelled it again, but i'm not holding my breath about ever seeing the dresses or my £120.
How much more do I have to take before i'm allowed to get really really angry!?
Love, Tor xxx
PS - If this hasn't completely put you off ever buying from very, then you may find this info useful! Checking out on the very website is a lengthy process; allow at least 20 minutes. Because it is a "pay as you go" catalogue it isn't immediately clear how you can pay with your debit card without setting up one of their credit accounts; I got half way through signing up for one (which I did not want!) before I realised that's what I was doing, when all I wanted was to pay for the dresses!
UPDATE: Their order-tracker system shifted my estimated delivery date forward yet again, so I called customer services to cancel the order and get by money back. Sounds simple, right? Wrong! According to the first woman I spoke to, this process could take up to 2 weeks. Frustrating, but I could cope with that. Two hours later, I looked at my order status, which hadn't changed to show the order had been cancelled. I call again and am told there is no record on my account of my order being cancelled. I cancelled it again, but i'm not holding my breath about ever seeing the dresses or my £120.
How much more do I have to take before i'm allowed to get really really angry!?
Love, Tor xxx
PS - If this hasn't completely put you off ever buying from very, then you may find this info useful! Checking out on the very website is a lengthy process; allow at least 20 minutes. Because it is a "pay as you go" catalogue it isn't immediately clear how you can pay with your debit card without setting up one of their credit accounts; I got half way through signing up for one (which I did not want!) before I realised that's what I was doing, when all I wanted was to pay for the dresses!
Silky embellished vest. Was £34.99, sale price £10. Today price: £5
Snake print boyfriend blazer. Was £54.99, sale price £10. Today price: £5
Frilly cut out Dress. Was £44.99, sale price £20, today price: £10
Butterfly pattern ankle socks. (They made me think of Alice in Wonderland!)Was £3.99, sale price £1.50. Today price: 75p
And this is my favourite piece of all, and the biggest bargain too. Buttery soft stud detail leather jacket. Was £160, sale price £75. Today price: £37.50.