Checkout is OK, delivery is not!
Why is it I keep going back to e-Buyer?
Well, OK this time it's because with the £10 Google Checkout discount my latest order was much cheaper.
But, what really gets under my skin so much that I am tempted to add e-Buyer to my router's black-list is what they do with delivery.
OK, so I live in Northern Scotland and that's "miles away" so is it my fault?
Well, whenever I try and order something from them I get really excited about all the options that are "in stock" and "available for Next Day delivery". Yay!!
I put them in my basket and select "Next Day" - everything is going well.
Then I press "Checkout" and... "Your chosen shipping method is not available for this address. We have selected a suitable alternative"
It seems that because I am so far away it will take a minimum of 3 working days to get to me rather than 1 to places a little further south. But I guess that's what I get for living up here...
Hang on though... e-Buyer are based in Howden in Yorkshire which is about the same distance from me as Dabs in Bolton, who don't have any problems getting stuff to me "Next Day". Even Screwfix never had problems when they were based in Yeovil (almost twice as far away).
But OK, maybe e-Buyer just don't have couriers that can manage the trip that fast. Sad and annoying, but I guess I have to live with it.
Um, no... hang on again. When I track my order on e-Buyer's website, and on the courier's site, it turns out that every time I am forced to use the "3 Working Day" delivery option the goods are not dispatched immediately to a snail-slow courier, they sit in the warehouse for 2 days, and are dispatched the afternoon before delivery!
So the courier is actually doing a next day delivery (and there is often a "Next Day" sticker on the package when it arrives!) but for some reason e-Buyer would rather the goods spend 2 days sitting on their shelves gathering dust.
Do they hate Scots or is there some marginally logical reason for this?