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Astronomia Warranty Repairs


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Yesterday Astronomia ceased trading.

Neil and Adele (Astronomia) were more ambitious, capable and trustworthy than most of their competitors so it genuinely saddens me they have gone whilst box-shifters trading from a bedroom, basement or auction-site and photo-stores who don't know one end of a telescope from another continue unabated. Manufacturers and distributers (who appoint retailers here in the UK) should consider this sorry situation and give serious thought to which kind of astro retailer best serve their brands and UK customers. 

We are receiving requests from Astronomia customers asking us to handle warranty repairs on products purchased at Astronomia. If the product is one available at our website (Celestron, Skywatcher, Vixen, Opticron, Baader, etc) we are happy to help :smile:

Please feel free to contact us with your warranty repairs but please understand our customers have priority so the process might take a little longer than usual. 

Unfortunately we cannot fulfil Astronomia's buy-back promise, that was something unique to Astronomia so is not supported by any other retailer. 

If you were in dispute with Astronomia please contact the manufacturer or the manufacturer's UK distributer. 

HTH, 

Steve 

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Nice one FLO.  Shame to see them go as they were just down the road from me and used to host "try before you buy" evenings from a (relatively speaking in the south east) dark-ish site.

They always had a LOT of stock on display.  Wonder if they'll pop up in another guise?

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I agree - very sad when a genuine business goes under as that's people's lives and dreams affected. 

Would be interested to know who are considered the box shifters and who are considered the good ones! 

The worst culprits for me are the ebay traders - buy cheap bargains from astro buy and sell and then sell on for profit on their site. I can't help feeling we are partly to blame for always wanting to buy as cheap as possible and not consider the wider service provided in the community.

Well done FLO for helping generously again to help out in difficult circumstances.

andrew

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Whilst I agree its sad that Astronomia have gone out of business as they were normally very good to deal with, I  feel rather aggrieved that they still managed to take over £600 out of my wallet the day before they stopped trading, not very impressed with that at all.

I am now having to wait probably weeks to try and get my money back.

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Whilst I agree its sad that Astronomia have gone out of business as they were normally very good to deal with, I  feel rather aggrieved that they still managed to take over £600 out of my wallet the day before they stopped trading, not very impressed with that at all.

I am now having to wait probably weeks to try and get my money back.

I hope that you've paid by credit card? If so, contact the card issuer as they will be jointly liable under Section 75 and should issue a full refund. if on a debit card then the options are much more limited.

http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/section-75-of-the-consumer-credit-act

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Would be interested to know who are considered the box shifters and who are considered the good ones! 

It would be wrong for me to list 'good' or 'bad' astro retailers but I think a good one will at least understand the products they sell, have dedicated premises, carry stock, employ staff, own their own website and contribute something to the community they serve. As far as I know Astronomia ticked all those boxes. As do we :smile:

You can easily enter a supplier's address into Google maps then use street-view to assess their premises. And if their website doesn't show the address... 

Steve

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Zakalwe, yes I did use my credit card and I have already started due process, its just the fact that they must have known they were about to stop trading and therefore had no need to take my money that has annoyed me.

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Indeed sad news. I used to walk by their Dorking shop and pop in to look at their stock. Also went along to one of their newbie evenings. I believe that they recently moved to bigger premises which were further south. Maybe they lost the local walk in trade...

Their buy-back and second hand sales were both value-add things that they did.

Thanks FLO for flagging this and offering your support.

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. And if their website doesn't show the address... 

Steve

They should be reported for breach of Distance Selling Regulations and in all honesty its probably the tip of the iceberg if they cant be bothered to get that very simple one right................

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sad to here this, I was also planning to upgrade by a trade in at a later date this year. :sad:  :sad: .

                                                                                                                                                 Robert.

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. And if their website doesn't show the address... 

Steve

They should be reported for breach of Distance Selling Regulations and in all honesty its probably the tip of the iceberg if they cant be bothered to get that very simple one right................

Last time I looked the stub page *did* show the address, but also said they weren't there anymore. I can only guess that something catastrophic must have happened.

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Last time I looked the stub page *did* show the address, but also said they weren't there anymore. I can only guess that something catastrophic must have happened.

That was not the poitn of my post, There are many retailers out there astro related and other things who do not conform to the DSR's and having a gegraphical address on their website.

Retailers like FLO and myself work hard to dot these i's and cross the T's and when you see buisness out there ignoring these very basic things it is annoying and makes a mockery of the hard work you put in yourself.

Although I strongly disagree with his opinion on Auction Sites, as these are very valid and have extremely tight controls on sellers, they are just as a valid channel to sell on as your own website.

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.... I strongly disagree with his opinion on Auction Sites, as these are very valid and have extremely tight controls on sellers, they are just as a valid channel to sell on as your own website.

I can see how it can work for someone selling the items you sell but FLO couldn't operate properly from an auction site.

No offence intended :smile: 

Steve

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None taken Steve differnet horses for different courses etc....

Now if I could find a channel manager that really understood what real time accurate stock managment was id be very happy, but API's just dont cut the mustard with my stuff, certain things can sell within moments of them been made available on a regular, and it will just cause a knightmare for stock management if its not controlled everywhere instantly. (within in seconds not sometime in the next half hour maybe if things happen to work right today......)

Even the big boys in channel managment cant do it, I have worked with them and there are no way near close to realtime multi channel stock managment.

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To get back on topic... sorry,

Repect for been willing to take on their warranty repairs.

I did not use Atonomia direct but did use Telescope Outlets a few times over the last few years and they were always good to deal with.

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Would be great if FLO went another step further and started to do Part exchanges as Astronomia did. I'm sure that a lot of people would love to have a way to part of their second hand kit easily and without fuss.

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