Tezzachs Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 Hi, could I speak to the Maplin manager please? No you can't.Umm, I got an electric shock off this light. No you didn't.Could I return it for a refund please? No.I have rights as a consumer. Do you have the receipt?Yes. Well no you still can't have a refund.Why not? Did the light work? Yes, but it gave me a shock.Well if it worked then it's fine. No refund for you. Goodbye. Ah but then you quote the Sales of Goods act at them and threaten them with WatchDog and you soon get results :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigclive Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 Maplin seem to play the fob-off card to see if they can deter people from getting exchanges and refunds. Shame. In the distant past they were one of the best electronics suppliers in the UK. Now they sell the same sort of stuff you can get on Chinese gadget sites, but at a significantly multiplied price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musht Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 Maplin seem to play the fob-off card to see if they can deter people from getting exchanges and refunds. Share that unpleasant trait with Machine Mart, worth being aware for the OP.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
top-cat Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 I hate Maplin. They have resorted to selling utter crap now and it's all well above the price you pay on Amazon. The customer service is appalling, they pounce on you the second you walk through the door with a "can I help" only to (A) admit they have no idea what you want/need/are talking about; or (B) recommend a completely unsuited and incorrect product to you. Anyone capable of reading the box on a product is better qualified to give sales advice than the Maplin staff. Not to mention the one that went 'in store detective' on me and decided I was nicking stuff. They didn't have what I wanted so as I was walking out he demanded to look inside my bag. Of course I refused and said if they thought I was stealing they could call the police and the police would be welcome to search my bag, but he was not. So he blocked the door whilst he got his colleague to call them! Prat. Your failing customer base is not going to get any bigger if that's how you treat them. I hope they join Woolworths and Blockbuster in the scrapheap of once decent British retailers. With next day delivery from Amazon there really is no need to Maplin, which is now mainly a radio controlled helicopter shop anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themadhippy Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 im going to stand up for maplins customer service,bought a memory card from them,didnt work,took it back and changed it,still no luck,rang there customer services line explained the problem.got given a free post address to send it back and they sent back a more expensive card without any extra cost or 101 excusess.As an aside who'd have thought a well known electronics manufactures phones were incomparable with the same company's range of memory cards designed specially for er phones Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seano Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 Share that unpleasant trait with Machine Mart, worth being aware for the OP.... Can't really comment on Maplin, but I have absolutely no complaints about my local Machine Mart. Maybe I'm just blessed with an unusually good branch manager. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 Maplin are also probably the only store left in major towns and cities you can walk into and buy something useful in the PC/electronics field. PCWorld seem to have given up selling those 'odd' but vital adaptor cables you suddenly find you need at midday on a Saturday. And when you need ten 47ohm resistors who in their right mind would buy them online with £20 minimum order values? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew C Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 And when you need ten 47ohm resistors Craplin would only have seven in stock, with a three month lead time for the other three. I've given up on them too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alistermorton Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 Last time I needed half a dozen 120 ohm resisters and some eight screened way cable they sorted me. They do have their uses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ynot Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 I hate Maplin. They have resorted to selling utter crap now and it's all well above the price you pay on Amazon.Hmmm... I can only make the observation that they have 'resorted' to selling what their customer base appears to want to buy. And if that's a limited stock on what they used to sell, that's likely to be the result of online competition beating them at the game they used to be a massive leader in. When I used to use Maplin a LOT in the late 70s, early 80s, they were great. Massive catalogue with a huge range of products. In those pre-interweb days I could still get an order written (in real INK) out and posted on a Monday and get a delivery by the Friday so in terms of those timescales excellent service. The customer service is appalling, they pounce on you the second you walk through the door with a "can I help" only to (A) admit they have no idea what you want/need/are talking about; or (B) recommend a completely unsuited and incorrect product to you. Well, that's not unique to Maplin in any way. I find that in Currys, PC World, and quite a few other large chain stores. I'd say they probably hit the mark though on 70% or so of their customers, because from what I've experienced, that many people don't really have a clue what they want when they go in other than a generic idea of a product. If anyone with any ounce of sense and knowledge goes in they either have to refer them to a senior staff member or step away and let us do the math ourselves. Which to me isn't a problem. if I get asked the question, I pretty much alweays respond with 'No - I'm browsing myself, thanks'. Not to mention the one that went 'in store detective' on me and decided I was nicking stuff. They didn't have what I wanted so as I was walking out he demanded to look inside my bag. Of course I refused and said if they thought I was stealing they could call the police and the police would be welcome to search my bag, but he was not. So he blocked the door whilst he got his colleague to call them! Hmmm... (again) I'd have to say that here you probably didn't do yourself any favours. Shop lifting is of course a serious problem, especially in an electronics based store, so if an employee has suspicions they've every right to stop you and ask the question. Because once anyone who HAS nicked something is out of the door, most stores advise their employees NOT to give chase at all. ** In that situation maybe you should have calmly and politely asked why the employee suspected you of the offence, and then calmly and politely allowed him/her to just look in the bag. Because if you ARE innocent, then what is the issue...? Really....??? And what do you lose by doing it their way? ** Only this week one of my friends was at Asda and witnessed a ne'er-do-well simply pick up a large flat screen boxed TV and calmly walk off with it. Past a security guard on the door who reacted too slowly when the door alarms sounded as it was obviously still tagged... He asked why the security man didn't follow and apprehend, and he said that Asda do not want their employees to do that as it can lead to all sorts of unwanted issues so they just rely on the CCTV and pass details on to the police. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seano Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 browsing http://youtu.be/JiHjzGKc8tA?t=59s ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
top-cat Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 Hmmm... (again) I'd have to say that here you probably didn't do yourself any favours. Shop lifting is of course a serious problem, especially in an electronics based store, so if an employee has suspicions they've every right to stop you and ask the question. Because once anyone who HAS nicked something is out of the door, most stores advise their employees NOT to give chase at all. ** In that situation maybe you should have calmly and politely asked why the employee suspected you of the offence, and then calmly and politely allowed him/her to just look in the bag. Because if you ARE innocent, then what is the issue...? Really....??? And what do you lose by doing it their way? ** Only this week one of my friends was at Asda and witnessed a ne'er-do-well simply pick up a large flat screen boxed TV and calmly walk off with it. Past a security guard on the door who reacted too slowly when the door alarms sounded as it was obviously still tagged... He asked why the security man didn't follow and apprehend, and he said that Asda do not want their employees to do that as it can lead to all sorts of unwanted issues so they just rely on the CCTV and pass details on to the police. This comes down to how you say it doesn't it. "Excuse me sir would you mind if I just check your bag, we have suffered thefts here, sorry to inconvenience you" is different to blocking the door with your arms crossed and saying "open your bag". Sorry you might not have any principles, but I do, and I don't do the whole... being intimidated into opening my bag by a high street electronics store hard man thing. Got the pink slip off the policeman which said they searched me and found nothing. Sent a scan of it to Maplin customer service along with a rant. Got £50 of vouchers. Bought my little brother a remote control helicopter. So it all turned out OK in the end. But I still think they suck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 they pounce on you the second you walk through the door with a "can I help" ... to which my usual response is "great, thanks, you have a look round the shop and I'll wait here. Come back and tell me if you find anything that interests me". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigclive Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 As an aside who'd have thought a well known electronics manufactures phones were incomparable with the same company's range of memory cards designed specially for er phones Well that sounds like Samsung to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
top-cat Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 As an aside who'd have thought a well known electronics manufactures phones were incomparable with the same company's range of memory cards designed specially for er phones Well that sounds like Samsung to me. The trouble with companies like Samsung, Sony, Philips etc is that often their various different fingers in different pies are the result of acquisitions, mergers, licensing deals, and all sorts. As a result you cannot assume that any one item will be compatible with another because they probably largely run as separate entities and like Sony mobile phones are probably no more in touch with Sony digital cameras, than they are with Nikon digital cameras. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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