Pixmania = Poxmania - the negative side of buying online...
 

Anyone else have problems like this?

Bought, well paid for anyway, a new camera from online supplier Pixmania - supposed to be the biggest in Europe so thought would be OK.

Big mistake!

They dispatched the item as two packages - the cheap bits one arrived fine, but, guess what the expensive one (with the camera) went missing.

That was two weeks ago. I've been in touch with the courier company (DHL)who say they have confirmed the item as lost back through the chain, but can Poxmania agree. Can they hell!

All I get from Poxmania is 'be patient' and 'we are doing everything possible - our customers are important to us.' Getting facts out of them and a commitment to either refund or replace is impossible. Empty words yet again.

So, I am stuck here, item paid for, but no clue of when it might be arrive or when Poxmania might otherwise give me my money back. Not allowed to talk to them, only communicate by email.

If you ever come across them then forget the fact that their prices look competitive. When it comes to performing they're something out of the Ark.

FPO (I'm sure you can work that one out!)

As a matter of fact, I'm in a similar situation with an eBay purchase. I bid in an auction in which two like items were being sold. Bidders were allowed to bid on one or both of the items. I only wanted one. I won it and paid the next day (after the auction was over because it ended in the middle of the night.) Two weeks went by and I had seen neither email indicating that the item had been sent nor the item itself. I emailed the seller. I tried to contact the seller via the (aptly named) "contact seller" link in eBay. Several days went by and still no response. I opened a complaint with eBay. One of their suggestions in response was to also file a complaint with Paypal. I did that. Within mere hours, I had revceived emails suggesting that the item had been sent. That was last night. We'll see how long it takes to show up. IF it does.

Paypal have a string of getouts, likethe number of transactions your seller has conducted must be over 100, that his rating must be over 95% (I think) and so on. They tried to duck out of refunding me money and I managed to get my credit card company to recover the debt from them.

Paypal didn't like this and tried to get me to sign up to some new terms that everyone was getting (so they said - but friends said not). In the end I finished the account as I wouldn't sign up to the new terms and they refused to have me a s a customer if I didn't. There's a few websites dedicated to Paypal miseries - worth reading....

Re Pixmania - I'm going down the same route with my credit card company now in order to get my money back - I reckon Pixmania are going to take weeks to sort this, and I want to get a camera not a load of hassle...

Yeah, I figure as a last resort I can get the credit card company directly involved, but we'll see if it gets to that.

I've had a few of ebay purchases go astray and have ALWAYS have no problems getting a refund from paypal.

Just filed the complaint, waited the specified time for the sellers response, then closed the case and gotten the refund.

No problem-o.

What kinda camera did ya get Cyclefrance???

I'm still learning my new slr, but loving it.

He must have bought, or tried to, a hassle-bad. :D

PayPal is using more insidious means of getting what they deem to be rightfully theirs. Now in order to recieve money paid via a credit card you have to upgrade your account, whereupon they help themselves to a healthy amount of what you've been paid.

Have had my fair share of eBay complaints - too many IMO fotr the number of transactions I do - but agree that most have been resolved, although not always without a struggle

Camera's just a snapper - was to be a Lumix LZ3 from Pixmania, but now buying a LZ5 which is much the same spec except 6 mega-p and 2.5" sceen - too many features for me to get round to using, but a photographer friend of my son's recommended the Panasonic range as being one of the best, so saved me the head-scratching of trying to make a decision myself.

Older son has bought an slr but don't know the model - will post if I get to find out...

I have been screwed by an ebay vendor exactly once (I try to limit purchases to identified powersellers with good feedback), but the situation was quickly resolved through paypal's complaint system ... 10 days after I entered the complaint, I had my money refunded by them.

Enter a complaint to your credit card company too, CF ...

Had one issue a while ago... won't buy now without insurance, but that issue was solved with the involvement of my credit card company.

Apparently you aren't alone, Cyclefrance. Also google "pixmania problems" for more.

Thanks Maggie - why do we always expect companies to act honourably. I must admit that the online buying experience is now becoming (for me at least) littered with too many problems to make it a worthwhile consideration in the future. I may post my fiasco on that site.

Update: Was sent an email on Friday morning to advise me that they had finally heard from DHL that the goods had been lost, and were arranging me a refund. I asked how much they were refunding. Answer 4 hours later: sorry we made a mistake and have sent you another camera (even though I had told them I wanteda refund - I bought another camera locally as I wanted one for this weekend) - so now they say they have to wait for that camera to get back to them in order to organise the refund. How convenient for them and inconvenient for me.

Have tried phoning them again, and now have my calls terminated.

What a shower - credit card refund looks to be the only solution.

The online digital camera business seems to be especially troublesome in this regard...probably because a lot of money is involved and a lot of the customers are relative noobs to doing business online.

This blog created quite a ruckus on the subject in the US a few months back.

Well, what do you know....

Not sure if the email to the CEO did anything but suddenly I have been credited with the full value I spent which means they have knowingly (i.e. they have written to me to confirm this) given me the charger and rechargeable batteries that were delivered for free, plus the offer of a discount should I ever contemplate buying anything from them again.

Maybe pointing out to them that I knew they were in the middle of an acquisition by DSG Group, plus that I reported them to Trading Standards, and to a TV consumer programme as well, made them raise a reluctant white flag. Who knows, who cares - I have my dosh, plus - and they now have to think about how much their current policy is costing them both financially and in terms of goodwill.