21st of April 2004
That's bloody it
I'm not buying online anymore. It's such a fucking hassle. It's much easier to just go to the shops and buy the product by picking it up off the shelf, handing over my card, and walking away happy. If something goes wrong I can take it back, they can be apologetic, and I walk away happy with a replacement. Of course this isn't the case online. I tried to buy the Donnie Darko soundtrack from Play yesterday (I won't link to them - they don't deserve the increased link popularity) and they replied by email to tell me my address was wrong.
When I logged into Play it informed me my account had been declined because my address was wrong. I checked the details - no problems there. I rang the bank. They confirmed my address, as I knew they would. They send my god damned statements there so they HAD to have the address on record. So the problem was not with my bank as the email suggested. I've now emailed them back with an extremely angry email because I'm plain sick of all these stupid bastard online companies who are incapable of such complicated tasks as billing a debit card.
To whom it may concern. Not that I know who that is, because you hide these facts away.
This is my second email to you now. To be quite frank I am very angry that you have clearly done nothing about this problem which is nothing to do with me, but to do with the fact that you and my bank are unable to discuss whether one line of an address matches another line of an address. And who suffers? I do. This is not my idea of a good service. I am sick of buying products online. Once upon a time it was the quicker easier option. Now it is a waste of my time, money and effort. Not only am I sitting around unable to do anything about the fact that you have screwed up my order, but more importantly I don't even know if you are ever going to take the bloody payment from my account. So I can't even go to the shops and buy this CD. I am stuck in the loop waiting for you people to pull your fingers out of your back-sides and push a button to take payment.
For your records, here is my address as it appears on my Internet Banking:
Flat 1
27 [street deleted for security]
Aberystwyth
Ceredigion
[postcode deleted for security]
And here is how it appears on your records:
Flat 1, 27 [street deleted for security]
Aberystwyth
Ceredigion
United Kingdom
[postcode deleted for security]
I concede that they do not match exactly. But let's review why this is. When I opened the account there was not space to format the address the same way it appears on my statements, hence the addition of the comma to separate Flat 1 and 27 [street deleted for security]. THIS IS YOUR MISTAKE NOT MINE. There was no other way I could enter the full address. So because your site is poorly constructed I am now suffering.
This service you are offering is an absolute shambles and I do not plan on purchasing anything from you again in the future. While it would have been a minor inconvenience to take time out during my weekend to go to a shop and buy this CD from there, at least I would have my hands on the product THAT DAY with none of this ridiculous hassle regarding my address. Then if something was wrong with the product I could simply return it and get my hands on a replacement THAT DAY. None of this messing with couriers, paying through the nose to return items, jumping through hoops just to get things delivered, none of the vast delays... The service you are offering is nothing compared to a physical shop and so from now on I will take my custom where it is valued.
Matthew Lowe.
I think that succinctly sums up the way I feel about shopping online now. It's always fraught with problems. It's never as easy as "I want that, here is my card" which is how it is in a physical shop.
I am particularly proud of "I am stuck in the loop waiting for you people to pull your fingers out of your back-sides and push a button to take payment." ;)