Crooked Imaging Review - Poor service

cymruchris

cymruchris

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Here's a review of my poor experience with Crooked Imaging.

On the 13th of May, I ordered a number of items from Crooked Imaging. I've used them before, and have never had any issues. I paid a premium price for next day delivery, and indeed a parcel was delivered by RMSD the next working day.

On opening, I found it to be missing a Hitech 72mm Adapter ring, with a retail price of around £18.

I immediately emailed Crooked imaging to inform them of the problem, literally within minutes of signing for the parcel.

I didn't get any response that day, and was busy shooting. The next day, I still hadn't heard anything, so called to find out what was happening.

I spoke to Simon, who initially was very sceptical that the item was missing, however after a lengthy conversation, he promised to call Formatt, as he had no further stocks, and get one sent asap. The conversation parted on friendly terms. I awaited my missing part.

My original email hadn't been received as they were swapping over their mail servers, however I forwarded the original whilst Simon was on the telephone, and he confirmed receipt, and apologised for missing it.

Fast forward to yesterday, still no replacement ring in the post, no emails and no phone calls.

I emailed again yesterday morning for an update, and as of now, no written response.

I called this morning, however they were only on answerphone, and have left a message, which as yet has not been returned.

I'm not an unreasonable person, but when you pay for a next day delivery, and somethings gone wrong, the supplier should move heaven and earth (within reason) to try and resolve the issue and put matters right.

I've now been waiting since the 14th of May, having paid for next day delivery, to get a 72mm filter ring.

I've tried email, and I've tried the telephone route, and neither seems to be getting me my missing part.

In the past I'd have recommended Crooked imaging for their service levels, but with the current experience, my confidence in ever using them again is diminished, whilst also wondering how I can actually get the part I've paid for delivered sometime soon.

It's only an £18 part - but if I've paid for it - I expect it to be delivered.

Has anyone else had issues with Crooked Imaging? And if so - how did you resolve them?
 
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I'm sorry to hear what has happened.

How did you pay for the items in the first place? Assuming you pay by cc, you should ring the bank to get them involve.
 
Have been to Crooked Imaging a couple of times in person and have to say I've always had good experiences, Simon's a good guy, I can't see this mix up being a deliberate thing.

Have struggled to contact them via phone before, but they do have a pretty high workload.

Try contacting them via eBay, as I'm pretty sure this is where the majority of their trading happens. If it is an oversight they are far more likely to see your communication there. I've contacted them via eBay before.

Will be interested to see how this plays out.
 
Used them in the past and had good service, but never had an issue to be resolved. Hope you get it resolved quickly.
 
Following on from the answerphone message I left - I received an email the following day saying that although they'd asked their supplier to send me one directly, the supplier had not done so. They stated that both they and the supplier were out of stock, and suggested that they refund me the cost of the missing item, so that I could buy one elsewhere.

I wrote back saying that was the best solution, although as I'd paid for next day delivery, I thought that a refund of postage costs would be appropriate, as I'd have to order one from another company, and pay postage over again. (Which I now have done, as I couldn't wait any longer)

I've not heard anything back since writing that email. which was sent on Thursday night. I'll wait until Tuesday to give them a fair time to resolve the issue, and will update accordingly.

When things go wrong, most companies are very good at putting things right. At the moment Crooked Imaging don't fall into that category. Let's see whether I get the resolution I'm looking for.
 
It's now the end of Tuesday - and still haven't heard anything back following my email last Thursday. Not very impressed by the handling of this complaint. In amongst the hundreds of orders coming in daily, I would have thought any business owner would be actively ensuring any complaints were swiftly and efficiently dealt with. Looks like it'll be another phone call tomorrow. Extrememly inconvenient and disheartening. I think I've given more than sufficient time for a response.
 
Still no response - and have now written threatening to take them to the small claims court if I don't hear anything in the next 48 hours.
 
The last contact was an email sent last Thursday night. That has given them 6 days to respond. What if the email has been spammed ? I would still try to give them a phone call to make sure they had received it.
 
Hodders said:
The last contact was an email sent last Thursday night. That has given them 6 days to respond. What if the email has been spammed ? I would still try to give them a phone call to make sure they had received it.
Click to expand...

I did that last time - as in phoned - to which they blamed a swapover of web host for my very first email disappearing, but confirmed the second one as being received.

They also confirmed they'd received the third after I left a voicemail, so I don't think that getting the emails was the problem, more the replying to emails.

Following my communication today I've just received a reply saying that they'd tried to refund me last week, but on checking, it was rejected, and they hadn't realised.

They hadn't written to me to tell me this of course.

They've promised that the refund will be actioned again today.

So in summary:

  • My initial order was missing something
  • My first email of complaint 'went missing'
  • My phone call resulted in the promise of the supply of the missing part asap
  • During that phone call a 'forwarded' email was confirmed as received
  • Nothing received in way of comms or replacement parts for the next week
  • New email sent asking for an update - no reply
  • Voicemail left asking for an update - reply by email received saying that the supplier should have sent it - but hasn't
  • Now offered a refund in writing - I reply to accept asking that the refund also includes the premium delivery fee I paid
  • No further response by email or telephone received
  • 6 days later (4 working days) I email again stating that I'll proceed with court action
  • Response received within 2 hours apologising saying that the refund had been processed but failed.

Now I'm either very unlucky - or there's a lot of excuses in there.

Could I be so unlucky that my original part gets lost, the supplier that's supposed to be sending one doesn't, and the refund fails to process? Must be a pretty unfortunate series of events for all three to go wrong don't you think?

A bit of communication would have been appreciated - like an email stating that the supplier was sending one, here's the contact name if you don't receive it. Or, we have processed your refund, and it'll show shortly, any problems, please contact us.

Neither of that kind of email was sent.

So I now await to see if the refund actually credits in my account as promised today.

I'll advise when it has, however my experience with Crooked Imaging is that they don't respond to customer concerns in a timely manner, they don't keep the customer updated as to progress, and as a customer I have to constantly chase to gain a satisfactory outcome. Very much a negative experience.
 
Have finally received my refund today for just under £25 - the cost of the missing ring, and the express delivery charge. It's been a frustrating fight to get it, considering Crooked Imaging probably sell £1000's of pounds worth of gear every week. This is just a drop in the ocean, yet it took weeks to resolve, and constant chasing by me, and not enough comms by them. If you see my post about Calumet - that's what I do call great customer service. Crooked Imaging could learn a thing or two from them.

That leaves my experience on show for all to see. Finally resolved satisfactorily, but a long fight to get it, over such a small amount.

If I have a choice of supplier in future, I know which I'll be choosing.
 
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