Had my first real negative experience of online shopping this morning - something which would have been impossible in a store.
Ordered some new wheels last week, they were not shown as being out of stock, I'd assumed I had paid for them, but then yesterday I got an e-mail notification that they were out of stock and then this morning I got a call from their customer services to tell me that the manufacturer had dramatically increased the prices and therefore they had to charge me more money as at the price I was paying they would actually be making a loss.
Apparently since they haven't actually taken a credit card payment yet, they are perfectly within their rights to change the price. I very strongly but calmly made my point, namely the damage the experience has on my opinion of their service/company, and the likelihood of me ever using them again, and eventually they dropped the price ever so slightly and threw in some tyre sealant for free, but it still leaves a very bad taste in my mouth.
I'm not going to name the store, I've looked into it and what they are saying is indeed true, and the guy I dealt with did what he could to resolve a bad situation, just thought I would have a little whinge about it. However in the current financial climate companies need to understand how important customer service and retention is. If they were out of stock, it should have said so on the website.
Ultimately, it's not the actual price that bothers me so much as the manner in which it happened.
Anyway, whinge over, anyone else had this experience? Have I just been very lucky with my online shopping to date?
ed
