Warehouse Express - do they care?

[markta]

On Monday I sent an email expressing my disappointment having spent thousands with them in the past.

Basically I pre-ordered a Big Stopper filter a week after they were announced, so given the order that came in there last week, I should have had mine by now. I rang them last week as I hadn't heard anything only to be told that the pre-order wasn't taken.

So I have effectively got to go to the bottom of someone's pre-order list thanks to WEX.

I emailed WEX on Monday (they say they will try and reply to messages within 1 working day), asking them to restore my faith in them and I've heard ****** all. This is how much they appreciated my previous business and how much they want me as a customer in future...

Just about sums up recent experiences from people.

They can obviously afford to lose customers then, so I wonder who I'll not consider when ordering next lot of equipment

 

[Dave Pickett]

The sad thing about modern business is that you are no longer a customer, you are merely a source of income. Past history means nothing - do banks take into accounts 30 years of good payments? Nope not all. The only thing that matters is current and future profit that they can see they might make from you.

Insurance companies will give all sorts of incentives to new customers then put the prices up to existing customers, there is no loyalty.......

(Not aimed at WEX, I havnt had a problem with them, more a comment about business in general)

 

[IanC_UK]

i had a similar issue with WEX recently, i ordered some stuff from them, over the phone to make sure it was ordered, for my recent trip to Scotland, heard nothing, no delivery, and i had asked for next day. Waited until 5pm, and phoned to be told, really sorry but we dont have your order on the system. So they are obviously employing some majorly incompetent people in their telephone call centre, who dont know how to place an order.

I think unless i cant get something anywhere else, i wont be using them again. They arent even competitive in the pricing anymore either.

 

[Crazyhorse]

Sorry to hear about your experience of WE. I've only bought a few items from them and everything was ok.

Re the ten stop. I phoned WE earlier on this week and they said they were expecting a delivery for the ten stopper but they had a big waiting list of people who had pre-ordered that item. The person I spoke to on the phone said, if I put my name on the wating list, it could take up to a year to get the item as the manufacturers simply wern't able to meet demand.

Funny that, as following a tip off from a very nice member on here, she told me Fotosense had the ten stop in stock (yesterday morning). So I ordered one from them and it arrived this morning. (77 mm).

Has WE taken the funds out of your account? If not, try Fotosense.

Lisa

 

[Martin England]

Should I say something about WEX? No I better not, as some of you know I have had my own wee issues with them.
Link http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=231800
Bless them :shake:

Kay

 

[TG.]

Insurance companies will give all sorts of incentives to new customers then put the prices up to existing customers, there is no loyalty

Mobile phone companies are notorious for this practice as well, as are Sky tv, i hate bad service with a vengeance it really winds me up unfortunately it's the way of this couldn't care a toss society we live in.

 

[Impspeed]

I'm going to get splinters sat on the fence here and play a little devils advocate...

The 'Big Stopper' is very well publicised as a very much in demand filter. Many retailers have been experiencing long waiting lists with the filter and Lee have been honest in admitting they cannot manufacture them quick enough.

You say you pre-ordered the filter from WEX shortly after release - whilst I have no reason to doubt this could it have been merely an expression of interest (I'm not sure what the WEX pre-order process is)? Did you receive a confirmation of the pre-order?

I feel it unfair that just because you've spent money with WEX in the past you should effectively jump the queue - I'm sure there are a lot of people in the waiting list who have spent the same, if not more - photography is a very expensive hobby (addiction).

The reaction does remind me of the reaction of an O2 customer on this website - http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/06/24/iphone4_retail/

I'd say chill out, not necessarily WEX's fault and lots of people are waiting too.

I'm certainly not a personal fan of WEX after they refused to replace a monitor calibrator 2 days after the 12month warranty finished!

 

[markta]

I'm going to get splinters sat on the fence here and play a little devils advocate...

The 'Big Stopper' is very well publicised as a very much in demand filter. Many retailers have been experiencing long waiting lists with the filter and Lee have been honest in admitting they cannot manufacture them quick enough.

You say you pre-ordered the filter from WEX shortly after release - whilst I have no reason to doubt this could it have been merely an expression of interest (I'm not sure what the WEX pre-order process is)? Did you receive a confirmation of the pre-order?

I feel it unfair that just because you've spent money with WEX in the past you should effectively jump the queue - I'm sure there are a lot of people in the waiting list who have spent the same, if not more - photography is a very expensive hobby (addiction).

The reaction does remind me of the reaction of an O2 customer on this website - http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/06/24/iphone4_retail/

I'd say chill out, not necessarily WEX's fault and lots of people are waiting too.

I'm certainly not a personal fan of WEX after they refused to replace a monitor calibrator 2 days after the 12month warranty finished!

I was actually one of the people who tried to push Lee into doing a 10 stopper, so naturally was one of the first to pre-order when they came out. With WEX being my local camera shop, it seemed natural to order via them.

I'm not asking for much as a customer, just some competency; it doesn't take much to list my name down as someone who will purchase one as soon as they come in; the know my name and address through previous orders I have placed.

My gripe is that I now have to go somewhere else and start again as if I haven't placed an order in the first place, this is what ****es me off. Someone should have enter me on the waiting list (I would have been pretty near the top) and if someone had done their job, I would have had a Big Stopper by now.

Silly me for trusting them to do their jobs :nuts:

I do appreciate what you are saying Impspeed but I can assure you I was one of the first to pre-order, just like I am with Lightroom 3 and Scott Kelby's LR3 book.

I haven't even had so much as an acknowledgment :shake:

 

[Impspeed]

I haven't even had so much as an acknowledgment :shake:

I would've chased for an acknowledgement of pre-order. There could be a very simple explanation and more of a technological mishap on yours or their part - simple as not clicking submit when you thought you had.

Just playing devils advocate - WEX have got some bad rep recently and even though I think their customer service is worse than most I don't think it's fair we all play judge, jury and executioner.

 

[markta]

Firstly, about the spending thousands....it wasn't a comment referring to the fact that I should get preferential treatment, the fact is that if I pre-ordered and joined a queue in date order, I should stay at that point in the queue regardless of how much I spend and expect to be treated the same.

However, I am disappointed (quite rightly in my opinion) that I have spent my hard earned cash (like many others, working my nads off) in a Company I trusted, boosting their profits, to be rewarded with very shoddy customer service.

I am one to give credit where credit is due, but I can't hide my disappointment that I did the right thing in ordering it early and have been let down badly by a company that I have spent my hard earned money. Thanks to them, I have probably got a 6 month to a year wait for one, when I should have had one two weeks ago.

David, can I ask...do you shop at WEX and if so, do you pre-order anything? If so, do you get pre-order confirmation?