I wish to complain about the unexpected removal of money from my account this weekend, 5 1/2 months after you should have done. I understand your bank caused you difficulties and you had to process these very late and I also do understand that problems like this can occur.
What I do not understand, given that as an online retailer for 13 years I have a pretty good grip of how an ecommerce retailer system works, is why you didn’t make a decision to collate the email addresses of people who had purchased during the affected time and email out a warning that some of us might be affected by an up and coming debit. This would have given people such as myself, who had not realised the money had not been debited, a chance to ensure the money was safely in the account and that it wouldn’t cause issues with other payments. I understand that the bank couldn’t release individual data, but you would have been able to do that. If a small business like my own, run by 3 people and processing £?00,000 of sales a year can manage it, I’m sure you would have had the manpower and technical competence to do so.
The debit of £46 has caused me considerable inconvenience. I appreciate it was money I had authorised you to take but I don’t keep a close watch on my account, particularly at that time of year when I buy gifts for 3 birthdays and I hadn’t been aware of your error. Since I know perfectly well you can take the money for up to 6 years, I would have called you to let you know of the issue if I had spotted it, since I am scrupulously honest.
Far greater than the inconvenience caused – which means that a child has not been able to go on a trip this week as that £50 has long since been inadvertently spent again – has been the behaviour of your staff.
Twitter told me the sales staff had tried to email me but my account was bouncing which was a) entirely at odds with all the mail perfectly happily arriving through the day and b) did not correspond with the fact that when I went to your site and asked for a password reset, your site was able to immediately send a mail through to me.
I called your sales staff to express the difficulties this unexpected debit had caused me and explained that I had been genuinely unaware that your system failure had not debited my account at the time. She told me I should have had the “common decency” to check my purchase had completed and let you know I hadn’t been charged.
I think you should have had the common decency to more proactively warn customers. You could have caused my mortgage to bounce or a number of other significant issues.
Your sales staff lady was unspeakably rude, including laughing at me when I was outraged by her words and I’ve since been ignored on Twitter. I have therefore lodged this experience with Trading Standards. You may not have broken any laws, but you’ve fallen well and truly short of good service.
I hope to hear from you with an apology, not least because my 3 gymnasts will be very sorry never to receive another Milano leotard as a birthday gift as it stands
.
Best wishes,
Merry Raymond
Well said Merry.
I think service is getting worse and worse and retailers seem to think that they have an absolute right to treat customers however they wish. I am currently having a ‘debate’ with a major retailer. Like you, I am now being ignored. I think a solicitor is about to be brought in because, like you, this ‘debate’ is now costing me money! 🙁