microland technology - rubbish

[wertert]

Anyone dealt with these jokers ? I've been dealing with IT suppliers for 6 years and these people are the worst I have ever come across. Ordered a PC for my Father 5 weeks ago ( delivery was 4 weeks ) and not a peep out of them. 40mins wait minimum to get someone on the phone. They never reply to emails. They took my £800.00 within days of the order being placed.

When I did finally did get through yesterday the rather bored sounding sales chap told me they were waiting for the cdrw to arrive - last time I checked suppliers shouldn't debit cards without the goods in stock.

I written a complaint letter etc. Anyone got any ideas how I can get some response from this company ? Ie Trading Standards etc

All in all I wish I had never dealt with these people and I would recommend going elsewhere.

...end of rant ...

 

[Matt Jason H]

Tell them you've publicly submitted your complaints to several large web-sites and would have trouble with-drawing them if a resolution is not found soon.

If that fails...
http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk

Good Luck.

 

[wertert]

Thanks for the advice. It's difficult to talk to them directly due to the 40min wait on the phone. I've sent a recorded letter with my complaint and mentioned about posting with the major hardware and magazine forums. Have you got any recommendation which internet hardware forums I should go for ?

 

[Techy]

Wertert,

if they've exceed the specified delivery time, then you are entitled to a refund, why not get your money back and be gone!!!

J

 

[muckshifter]

Go to Citizens Advice and ask them to help you with "Small Claims Form" ... watch the buggers jump when they get that in the post.

The small claims court is intended to be a cheap and simple way to take a company that owes you money to court, without involving a lawyer. It can be highly effective, and often just threatening to start a complaint will get your opponent to take you more seriously.

More info here

It really does work.

 

[wertert]

after they received my recorded delivery letter of complaint last week we got a call saying it would be delivered on Tues afternoon ( yesterday ). Tuesday afternoon came and went.......

Tuesday evening we has a call from some bloke saying he had a computer sitting in his living room. It wasn't his, he had not ordered a computer. It was, however, addressed to me - did I want to come and get it.

So now the machine is v late and delivered to a completely random address in Wiltshire.

I cannot see how microland could have c*cked this up any more than they have done. The question is will the machine even switch on when it finally arrives ?

 

[stu888]

Ordered a PC from Microland about 6 weeks ago, delivery time was "about three weeks" so arranged to have it delivered when I knew I would be at home for a few days to get it up and running delivery was on day promised - but here the good news ends


Unable to get screen working, 25 mins on helpline at posn one before I got to speak to someone. "Must be a faulty graphics card, we can send you a new graphics card to fit or you can return the whole machine and we will repair it"

"I am not fishing about inside a brand new PC, what about my on site warranty?"

"Onsite warranty does not operate within 28 days of purchase"

"But you took the money out of my credit card account over a month ago"

"I will get the manager to call you back after 1400"

No Call

Further calls to Microland saw me at positions 5, 6 & 8 in the queue, so these were abandoned. No reply to emails, no reply to letter sent by recorded delivery - then bingo an email telling me exactly the same thing that I had been told before.

I have now decided that due to the fact that I was sold a faulty machine and their poor after sales service that I just want to return the machine and get a refund.

Further letter has been sent to Microland informing them that I intend to take legal action, but in the meantime my local Trading Standards have been helping me and say they will speak to Microland if I don't get any reply from my latest missive.

Failing this I will go down the small claims route, I have done this twice before (Not connected with PCs) First case went to judgement and was settled in my favour, second was setteled out of court as soon as defendant received summons. In both cases I got all my costs back.

If you have a genuine grievance then this is the route to go down, the only drawback ifs the time taken if the case has to go to judgement

Stu

 

[Octimon]

AVOID AVOID AVOID DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY AVOID AVOID AVOID

They take your money immediately on ordering and after that they just don't care about you.

I ordered a PC 5 weeks ago when they PROMISED 21 day delivery

The phone queue is so long that I have waited my whole lunch hour on one occasion and it still wasn't answered. E-mails are unanswered and regular mail is unanswered. In short there is NO customer service and NO easy way to contact them after they have got your money

They do not deserve to be in business

Yesterday and Today their website is down and I am now seriously concerned about my money.

 

[natalie]

Oh dear, I was getting v worried yesterday - 4 weeks since order and money taken from visa. Same stories as people above. What I have found out is that if u pay on visa or similar and the goods don't arrive, ring your card provider after 30 days (this time limit is important) and they will reclaim the money and sort the problem out. What you can't do is cancel the order b4 30 days. My 30 days are up 2morro and I will be doing just that.

 

[Octimon]

Now 6 weeks since order and no sign of machine. Several phone calls to them this week.

Tuesday - waited a whole lunch hour and had to give up at No 2 in the queue

Weds - 28 minute wait - still waiting on parts and wanted to replace with (what I consider) lower quality at same price - said no way, get down to PC World or wherever for the parts I want

Friday - 23 minute wait - Parts due in any day (today or tomorrow) machine will be with you next week

Today - 24 minute wait - Did the parts come in yesterday? Think so but system not updated. So they didn't then? Dunno, but your machine is marked for release any day.

They are a bunch of muppets and I repeat AVOID AVOID AVOID

 

[natalie]

Some developments:

Contacted Visa last week after 30 days - no probelms and they refunded my money.

Sunday (09 May) went to PC World and bought a computer - thought it was a lot less hassle all round.

Today (10 May) ...... the **** thing appeared at my old man's work - no word from Microland to say that's what they were doing. It's now in the front room at home unopened and will stay that way till they send someone to get it. I have send a pretty strong email to them.

Any suggestions about what I can do to get it back to them? They use Buiness Post - anyone heard of them or know where to get hold of them.

I feel the same AVOID these people at all costs.

Keep you posted!

 

[Hadleyuk]

I ordered a new pc from Microland on the back of a favourable magazine review at the end of March. Took a little longer than 28 days for it to arrive and gave me grief when it did. Had to disable VPU and fast writes to get it to work for more than a few seconds without crashing and I actually had a couple of days of happy gaming (Far Cry looks superb) but yesterday, the PC died. No beeps, no signal to monitor, bit of fan whirring but that's it.

Tried phoning the support line at 11 this morning, waiting in the queue until 12, and was then cut off having reached number 1. Have now sent a firm but polite email and expect to be old and grey before I receive a response.

I'll let you know if they manage to defy expectations though. Shame this post didn't start until my order had been taken and £941 paid.

 

[Octimon]

Order now cancelled - Small Claims Court here we come!

Under the Sale of Goods Act, if the company fails to deliver you have a claim against it for damages as well as a refund i.e. if they quoted £1,000 and it costs you £1,100 to get it elsewhere then Microland have to stump up. Also you can claim for all the 40 minute phone calls etc

I have reported them to Stockport Trading Standards Office. The more people that do this the more likelihood there is that they will act.

I have also written to various PC magazines as I feel they have a duty when promoting products from companies such as this to ensure the companies can deliver to those of us that rely on their recommendations. Again the more that write to them the more chance there is that they will look into it.

 

[floppybootstomp]

Some developments:

Contacted Visa last week after 30 days - no probelms and they refunded my money.

Sunday (09 May) went to PC World and bought a computer - thought it was a lot less hassle all round.

Today (10 May) ...... the **** thing appeared at my old man's work - no word from Microland to say that's what they were doing. It's now in the front room at home unopened and will stay that way till they send someone to get it. I have send a pretty strong email to them.

Any suggestions about what I can do to get it back to them? They use Buiness Post - anyone heard of them or know where to get hold of them.

I feel the same AVOID these people at all costs.

Keep you posted!

If they don't have your money, you have their goods and you've contacted them, then just forget about it. The onus is now on them to collect their goods they delivered by mistake.

One thing though - don't open it, apparently that counts against you in some way if the goods have been opened and/or used.

I believe once a certain amount of time has passed and the goods aren't collected, you can keep them, but I'm no legal expert so don't quote me on that

What a nightmare of a company! I've a feeling they won't be in business for much longer.

 

[Octimon]

What a nightmare of a company! I've a feeling they won't be in business for much longer.

I second that - did a credit search on them today. Most interesting

Bit peed of with my c/card co as they weren't too willing to help out. Told me to come back to them next week

 

[Hadleyuk]

It would appear there is an explanation for all the recent troubles we've experienced with Microland. I've spoken to them (they phoned me!), and been told that a batch of Gigabyte mobo's are the cause of our woe. Apparently, they work when they're tested at the factory, and still work when Microland test them, only to die after around a weeks use.

My tower has now been picked up by Business-post and I should, should, get a working replacement in around 7 days. A different mobo - same spec - will be installed.

This, if it's all true, would explain the delays in Microland sending new pcs, and the grief for us when trying to contact them. Fingers crossed you get your shiny new PCs without further delay.

 

[natalie]

Most interesting news..... Hope the mobo works OK. I think that there are a few of us (myself included) who just want our dosh back...pronto!!

I have found this thread quite helpful as without it, I would have thought that I was the only one with problems. Thanks to all who have contributed and let's keep it going for a while to see how our various stories develop and hopefully end!

xx

 

[Octimon]

Hadley, no disrespect but what a load of old tosh! Yeah, dodgy mobos may explain a few of their troubles but it doesn't explain

1 taking at least 20 mins (usually more) to answer the phone

2 failing to answer queries by mail or e-mail

3 taking up to three weeks to refund customers' monies

4 a poor (suspended) credit rating as of a week ago

5 failing to get hold of parts widely available from other suppliers (though 4 probably had a part to play in that)

6 poor (in fact insulting) customer service - apparently the reason it took so long for them to refund me is because I bothered to order from them in the first place. As customers we should not buy from them using our credit cards and we should not phone them to find out what is happening with our orders!!!

If a dodgy batch of Gigabyte Mobos is genuine then why could they not contact their customers and say "Sorry guys we've received a dodgy batch of Mobos so what do want to do - wait for a new batch to come in in x days time or accept a similar board from Asus/Abit/MSI etc" Its not difficult.

PC Advisor magazine took interest in my letter to them and have helped me obtain a refund for the cost of the PC which I have now ordered from a small local supplier with fantastic customer service so far. In fact, thay can't do enough to help. The PC is £200 more but I have confidence that it will be ready on time and will work. AND they have agreed to only take 50% now and 50% on collection. They have already advised on order that they may have difficulty getting hold of a graphics card (i've ordered one of the new radeon x800s) but said they will build and test the machine with a cheapo card and contact me if the x800s don't come in when expected and give me the choice of an alternative or waiting for the x800s to come in (blimey, isn't that what I just suggested Microland should have done - wow, look how easy that was!!!)

Under the Sale of Goods Act , Microland are liable for the increased cost of the PC as they failed to deliver. So far they have ignored letters from me and my debt recovery agents (no surprise there) so I will be issuing a Court claim next week for damages.

I wish I had never heard of Microland and they will NEVER get any business from me, my family, my friends or my work colleagues. I hope all you guys get sorted out.

 

[Rilly1031]

How I wish I had come across this site before I bought my computer from this shower! I waited an extra two weeks and when it did arrive there was no adaptor to connect the monitor and half the bundled software was missing! There were no instructions on how to make the various connections, and the connection of the sound system was a complete lottery. One forty minute phone call, involving about 10 seconds of conversation and the miserable bstard at the other end lowered himself to send me what was missing. No apology, no nothing.

It gets worse, this is a long and sorry tale, but I need to offload it!

About a month after I first got it, the graphics card started playing up. I work 8 - 6 so contact was a nightmare. I tried several times, having taken time off work, but failed to get through. On one occasion, I was on the phone for 45 minutes, got to number one in the queue and got cut off at 5.30pm (must have been time to go home). I sent a snotty e mail immediately, but have still had no reply, 5 weeks later.

Eventually, last thursday, I got through. Another Mr Happy told me I had a faulty graphics card, and said he would send a replacement, but on the condition that the faulty one was swopped with the new one at the time of delivery. I explained that I use my computer for my business and could do without down time. Mr Happy said he the new card would definately be delivered on Tuesday of this week. Guess what. It's now Thursday and I have seen nothing. I have my old graphics card back in and I am writing this through a haze of blue lines and other garbage.

I sent them another e mail last night, to which I received no reply, so I chanced another 40 minutes on the phone this evening. Spoke to a chap who was very sorry to hear I had had all this trouble, and would investigate and phone me back. I expect you are ahead of me here... no phone call.

What the hell is up with this company? and where do I go from here? Any help or advice would be appreciated. I'm considering small claims court, unmerchantable quality I think it's called. I don't suppose there are any legal experts reading this!

Sorry to waffle on, but I feel much better knowing that I'm not the only one to suffer at the hands of this shower of shte.

John

 

[Octimon]

All I can suggest is that you contact PC Advisor magazine who took up the case for me and Stockport Trading Standards. The more people that contact them the more likelihood there is of something being done.