Play.com - What A Joke

First of all let me point out I have used Play.com for years and I have done so without issue, sure sometimes things have taken longer to turn up than I'd like, but they've always turned up. I've never had reason to take issue, but they do say one bad experience can create such bad feeling you'll turn away from a company, not sure I ever really believed it but boy do I now!

On the 30th of June I decided to treat myself to a series that I've wanted for quite some time, the last series of the Ghost Whisperer. It's my guilty pleasure and perfect for watching when my husband is elsewhere as he personally can't stand it.

I logged in a few days later to see it had been processed and posted on the 2nd of July. Cue me grinning like a six year old on Christmas Eve. Yes I was entirely that gleeful. And waited for it to turn up. And waited. And waited. And waited.

Two weeks had passed, they state three to five working days delivery, and yet I had seen nothing. I was, to put it mildly, gutted and logged onto their website to let them know and found out you have to wait three weeks before you can report it missing. Okay, no big deal, in fact I left it four weeks just to make sure it wasn't going to turn up.

Then I logged on to the website, it was the 29th of July to be precise, and listed it as unreceived. To which I received the email below. (calling me Mr instead of Mrs which as my first name is listed on my account is pretty poor going in my humble opinion).

Date: Fri, 29 Jul 2011 12:47:43 +0100
From: orderissues@play.com
To:
Subject: Re: Customer Support Issue 12:40:27

Dear Mr. P,

Thank you for your email.

We are sorry to hear that you did not receive your order for Ghost Whisperer. In order for us to process a replacement or refund for your missing order we have sent you a "Not Received Claim Form" which you will need to fill out and sign.

The form can be returned to us freepost, but in order to process your request more quickly please indicate clearly if you want us to refund or replace the item and send a scanned copy to cnrf@play.com.

Please accept our apologies for the inconvenience caused to you in this matter and thank you for your patience and valued custom.

Kind regards,

Customer Support Team
Play.com

And exactly one week later having received nothing via email or post I sent this response –

To orderissues@play.com, cnrf@play.com

Good Morning,

I still have received nothing in the post from you relating to this claim form mentioned below, is it possible to email it to me?

I have been waiting over a month for this item now, so I would appreciate you dealing with this as a matter of urgency.

Regards,

Mrs P

I again received exactly zero response to my email, and finally feeling rather frustrated I used the phone number on their website to call them on the 9th of August. I explained the situation and was told very sorry and the form would be emailed out to me straight away, it arrived the next day and I filled it out and emailed it back on the 11th of August. As below –

To orderissues@play.com, cnrf@play.com

Good Morning,

Please find attached the signed form requesting a replacement item for the one I have not received. Please could someone confirm receipt of this email and let me know when the replacement item will be sent?

Kind Regards,

Mrs P.

I emailed again on the 16th rather frustrated at the lack of answer of any kind, and again received no response at all, regardless of Play.com's promises to try and respond within three days. And so on the 24th of August I phoned them again. This time I was told that after leaving me on hold for around five or ten minutes the form had been received on the 16th of August and was being processed, however there was a delay because the department was so busy. Not exactly the answer I wanted but at least I knew the form was in the right place and being dealt with.

So I left it with them, and waited, and waited, and waited, and then waited some more.

And then the day before yesterday, 6th of September, I called them back. I spoke to a very nice guy called James, who proceeded to tell me that the form I had submitted was incomplete and therefore could not be processed. Now maybe I'm just being crazy here but I'm pretty sure that in the THREE WEEKS between receiving the form and me calling them AGAIN to chase it up someone could've probably just about managed an email at the least to say "This is wrong, we cannot process until it is properly completed" at which point I would've redone the form and resubmitted without having to waste three more weeks, a lot of disappointment and frustration and yet another phone call to them.

As I said the guy I spoke to was very friendly and helpful and genuinely apologetic, but informed me that I would need to redo the replacement forms and he would send them out to me straight away and could I please return them the same day, which I said I would do. And I did. The forms were received and sent as per my email below.

To orderissues@play.com, cnrf@play.com

Good Morning,

Please find attached the complete missing item confirmation form. As per my conversation with James this morning could this please be addressed today and could your action please be confirmed back to me on either this email address or by phone on xxxxx xxx xxx.

Regards,

Mrs. P.

As you can see I requested for them to confirm their action and (at this point not unexpectedly) I heard nothing from them for the rest of the day.

So yesterday morning, with massive frustration, phoned back and politely requested that they give me an update on the requested replacement. Back I go onto hold for ten minutes and then I get the response that has led to me posting about the ridiculous display of ineptitude, yes up to now I've been frustrated, but now I'm angry.

I get told "We no longer stock that item"...

Are you kidding me?! Nine weeks, NINE WEEKS of chasing this and this is where I finally end up?! But I'm told that they can give me a full refund as if they're doing me a favour. Too right I want a full refund seeing as I have never received the damn goods!!! I was expecting at this point some sort of apology, some sort of offer of compensation, something a little more than 'well it is what it is', but no once again they let me down as nothing is forthcoming...

At this point I just want to complain, and I know the person currently on the phone is not to blame for this, so I ask for their complaints department address. Oh they don't have one, I can only use the online customer services links, you know those ones I've been using and had precisely no answer through...! No, I want a physical address, but apparently they don't have one. These guys must sit at desks somewhere in the ether then! Every company must have a physical address but still I am just being told that nothing is available apart from the online service which I've already come to the conclusion DOES.NOT.WORK!

So here I am. Nine weeks down the line with nothing but a headache to show for it and having reached the conclusion that I will never use this company again. I would seriously dear reader that you do the same. They're kind of like fair weather friends, when it works everything is peachy but when something goes wrong they just don't want to know.

And it appears I’m not alone in my opinion...

http://www.complaintsboard.com/bycompany/playcom-a92291.html

Play.com you truly managed the perfect example of an epic fail, what a complete and utter joke.