Telescope Planet - A cautionary tale.

[athlon]

So i was back home, at the very end of May, visiting family in Bristol, i called Telescope planet a week before i was due to depart, and ordered a simple 2" LPR filter, and camera adapter.

Simon "Yeah, thats fine we have them in stock"

Me "Thanks for that Simon, now i am travelling back to Australia in a week, it will be here in time for me leaving, wont it?"

Simon "Yeah, its quite literally only going a few miles up the road and over the bridge, it will be there in a day or two"

needless to say, in just over a week, and only havnig to travel 100 miles up the road, it didnt arrive, so i flew out to Australia, and got back home, waited a few days to get over the jet lag and then called back

Me "Hi Simon, its Duncan, the guy travelling back to Australia"

Simon "Who?"

Me "Remember i told you i was flying back to Oz within the week, and had some stuff sent to my brothers in Bristol? well it hasnt turned up yet"

Simon "What was it?"

Me "Dont you know what it was? is there an order number? or anything kept on your stock orders etc?"

Simon "no, nothing, tell you what, remind me of what it was again, and i will post it to you in Australia, at our cost, and if it arrives at your brothers, then send it back?

Me ">sigh< ok then"

So Simon arranged to post this out to me, i mean, its only a camera adapter, and a 2" filter, its not gonna cost any more than a fiver to post, even to Australia, so i waits two weeks, nothing arrives, i called again on Friday just gone

Me "He Simon, its Duncan from Australia, i ordered two small things from you over a month ago, and still havent had them, you said you posted them, but they havent arrived, and thats been two weeks, do you have a tracking number so i can trace them?"

Simon "Who? oh yeah, no we dont have a tracking number for it, we would just have posted it"

Me "Let me get this right, you posted something to the other side of the world, and you just stuck it in a jiffy bag? with no tracking number etc?"

Simon "err yeah thats right, whats you address again?"

Me "Dont you know? dont you have it recorded somewhere? you've had it from me enough times"

Simon "are you sure no-one has missed the post?"

Me "Positive. i work from home"

Simon "Oh well, what did you want again? i will post it out today"

Me "Dont you know? you dont have ANY record of what i ordered"

Simon "Er no sorry, and i dont have any record of it, but i assure you it was posted"

Me "You think? i can take it going missing once as unfortunate, but twice in quick succession?"

Simon "Tell me what it was, and i will post it again today, with a tracking number etc"

Me "Why would you post it again, if you have already sent it twice?"

Simon "Well, its not your fault and WE LIKE TO LOOK AFTER OUR CUSTOMERS"

Me "no thanks, can i just have a refund?"

Simon "I assure you, i will get the items sent today .. what where they again?"

Me "$^&*!@# :mad:"

Simon "Tell you what call me back on Monday, and i will have a tracking number for you"

Me "ok ok .... i will call monday"

Now why would any supplier be so keen to send the same order three times, unless it had never been sent at all? and i am out of line for thinking i might be right to ask for some sort of compensation, for ordering goods 5 weeks again, that i still havent recieved, and have been lied to about thier dispatch, twice?

is this the normal way for businesses to treat thier patrons?

needless to say, wether i am home in the UK, or down under, i would never ever use them again

[arad85]

That's just about word for word my experiences with them on stuff I'd ordered and not had delivered...

[jnp]

The dialogue bears an uncanny resemblance to my experience a few months ago when it took me countless calls and emails to eventually get a motor drive delivered. I think I felt sorry for Simon at the time and put it al down to temporary glitch as they were moving to new premises at the time. They offer free postage but send things by normal post so they get lost. I for a fact that my postman cant be bothered to fill in a card so leaves packages on the doorstep.

[astroscope]

Hi Guys,

Thank you for sharing this story. I will keep away from Telescope Planet. Even though I've never ordered from them, i will remove their bookmark i have on the PC.

I hope others will follow.

[pbyrne]

In these difficult financial times I would imagine that a company would bend over backwards with their customer care. There's nothing like word of mouth to make or break a company and I believe that there are many amateurs who will give this company a wide berth when it comes to equipment.

Paul

[Gavin]

I might be playing Devil's advocate here, but I feel I should report a positive experience with Telescope House. I recently ordered a dew shield from them and it arrived within a couple of days. No problems!

Not that it can excuse bad customer service when things go wrong, which is of course when it really mattters!

[Milamber]

Gavin, we are not talking about Telescope House here but Telescope *Planet*

Arthur

[Keithp]

I'll second that from Milamber, Telescope House are excellent, never had any problems with them.

[Gavin]

Whoops. I was actually referring to Telescope "Planet"! Very sorry about that. Never purchased from Telescope "House" but I'm sure they are excellent! Will now go and wipe egg from face.

[albedo0.39]

I think this sort of treatment is shocking and sadly, not atypical with some business' I deal with. It's as if they are doing you a favour by dealing with you. It's slap dash and sloppy. Good for you for exposing and also shame on TP for not even bothering to take it seriously.

I always like to treat small customers the same as if they are big and important customers in waiting - i.e ALL THE SAME. I think the problem was that such a small order was seen as "noise" to them

.

Golden Rule of customer service:- NEVER ask the same question to the same customer twice.

[Milamber]

There's a corollary to that which is to not let the customer have to ask the same question twice either. I like to think my customers leave with not just a purchase but also with a little bit more knowledge than before - mainly because I generally make sure the part someone wants is in fact the part they need. I am also not worried about pointing customers in the direction of other suppliers if that is in their best interests... if it *is*, then it's in mine as well.

Arthur

[Tim]

Are the goods paid for? If so, was it by credit card? I would claim it back on your card if so.

There's nothing worse in business than lying to customers. In effect it amounts to treating them as idiots.

Thanks for naming and shaming, if I were you I would email them with a link to your post as well, and point out that stargazerslounge is the most popular astro forum in the UK.

But then i'm spiteful

TJ

[astroscope]

I second that TJ,

Yes, Athlon, that's a good idea.

Send TP this link and show them how many people are reading this forum.

I was wondering if someone should start a thread for each bad experience they had with a particular company. That way, others will be cautious and the companies themselves will have to do better customer support when they realise that people are now recording their experiences.

Many thanks again Athlon for sharing your experience. I hope that one day your effort in exposing their bad customer service will hit them so hard they wish they never even started this business.

As you have exposed this, i wonder how many other people have had bad experiences?

[daz]

I think I will inject a cautionary note here......

SGL will not and does not condone "Vendor Bashing" purely for the sake of it. We do allow, however, members to discuss and air their experiences with vendors - good or bad.

SGL is subject to UK libel law and while we defend YOUR right to free speech, we MUST also consider the vendor's position so request you take care that your comments are fair, reasonable and accurate.

One of SGL's tenets is work WITH the retailer industry to make it better for all concerned, but that also includes exposing customers who aim is to "play" the system. I should point out that more than 1 person has been banned from SGL for just such behaviour!!

And all of the retailers are aware of SGL and although they may not post publicly, you can be sure they monitor threads of this nature.

[astroscope]

Sorry,

I didn't mean to incite "vendor bashing". But yes, i think your right. People should report their experiences with companies good or bad. And from this, people will get an idea about what type of customer service to expect.

After all, it's their hard earned money their putting in.

[afm038]

I think that honest comments on people's experience (both good and bad) with the various dealers is invaluable especially when you are shopping with someone for the first time. Having read through the comments and if I decide to use that dealer it gives me some confidence to know that I've minimised the risk somewhat to my hard earned cash (well mine is!) when I make a purchase.

Thanks, Andy

[Albireo380]

On a positive note, I have bought from FLO, Telescope House, Greenwitch, Ian King, Astronomiser & Moonfish. I would be happy to buy from any of them again. . Indeed, I will probably give you a wee call on Monday, Steve.

There are a couple (un named) that I wouldn't buy from

Tom

[DAVPPK]

Telescope planets' email contact service is s*** (excuse my french), I emailed 5 TIMES and still no reply...

[sxinias]

I recently purchased a SkyWatcher SynScan AZ GOTO mount. I had previuosly used Telescope Planet with good results and contacted them again to find out how much they would charge to shipp to Greece. The cost was 80 pounds which was the same price they charged me previuosly for a much bigger and heavier order. I also contacted Green Witch who I had no experience with. GreenWitch got the order. Why? 40 pounds shipping cost to Greece versus 80 pounds which is a sizable piece of change considering they both use the same shipper.

Joe

Sxinias Greece

[ZOG]

I find it amazing that they had no record of your order or your address. I'm sure other online retailers will back me up when I say that every order is recorded by your website, and your payment provider. It is a legal must to keep these records for the tax / VAT man.

I also agree that it is a very risky strategy to send goods to Australia by normal mail, in fact, Wildcard innovations insisted that I used a signed for and insured service when I had to return something to them for repair.

Something smells slightly off here.

[ollypenrice]

I thnk that anyone who found this setup via their magazine ads and is disatified should contact the magazne.

Olly

[Hicks]

On a positive note, I have bought from FLO, Telescope House, Greenwitch, Ian King, Astronomiser & Moonfish. I would be happy to buy from any of them again. . Indeed, I will probably give you a wee call on Monday, Steve.

There are a couple (un named) that I wouldn't buy from

Tom

I don't think I've ever bought anything from telescope planet, but I have bought form Telescope House several times without issue as well as Green-witch and a few other places who's names escape me. I'd certainly recommend checking out those two stores in the future.

It does sound strange that a company would ship without using recorded delivery or a tracking number. It usually doesn't cost that much more for tracking and gives customers piece of mind when they know the item is no longer at the sorting depot and is now on the delivery van ( or is it just me that does hourly page refreshes . If you've paid for the items, then I'd expect any company to have a record of at least the payment and what item you purchased. Not sure how they'd be able to file their vat and tax without?

That said, it's not unusual for items to go "missing" in the UK post. If it was just missing items, I'd be inclined to put it down to bad luck, but with the delivery and lack of records, it sounds a little odd to me.

[teztwister]

Sorry - editing this comment, as this constitutes vendor bashing, and does not serve to add information to the thread.

Please see my post above!

Daz

Admin

[athlon]

well, after all this time nothing has turned up.

Wether i am in Australia, or back home in the UK, they wont see any more of my business, there are plenty more suppliers who would do better i am sure.

onwards.

[arad85]

<sigh> that really is terrible service