back to article Ebuyer MD Carlisle exits following board level bust up

Online tech bazaar Ebuyer has waved goodbye to UK MD Stuart Carlisle following a disagreement over strategic direction – he wanted to open bricks and mortar retail stores, and the powers that be, well, didn’t. In the interim, the business will be run by FD Mark Pullen and board director Armando Sanchez, the company confirmed …

  1. AMBxx Silver badge
    Thumb Down

    I'll stick with Scan & Quiet PC

    I used to buy a lot from Ebuyer. Next day delivery was good, only failures were on specific dates.

    Then a laptop went astray. They knew it had been delivered to the wrong address, but still wouldn't refund until it had been returned.

    Customer service?

    1. tmTM

      Re: I'll stick with Scan & Quiet PC

      eBuyer returns are notoriously difficult, but if you stick to your guns you'll get what you want.

      Distance selling regs and credit card protection seem to get the job done if you're in a bind.

      1. Lamont Cranston

        Re: I'll stick with Scan & Quiet PC

        I've bought all sort of bits from ebuyer, over the years, to the point where they're always the first place I check for anything tech related. Their couriers are a bit ropey, but the one return I had to make went off smoothly.

        Still, it always pays to shop around. Can't see why they'd want a high street presence, although I'm sure it would draw me in from time to time (probably just for a browse!).

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Does anyone actually still use Ebuyer after the very public revelation about their 'returns' policy??

    1. Vince

      They are crap at returns yes are good old ebuyer - always say you have to send stuff to the manufacturer, despite the law being clear otherwise. Many an argument I had with them in the past about this, every time they eventually backed down.

      Mind you, so are Amazon. At least initially - they make it pretty difficult after the first 30 days to get to the point where you can raise a return - it always just says it is too late and you have to find a contact/web chat link to get it done. Once you do that, it's efficient. it just irritates me that they create artificial barriers.

      Still, at least ebuyer deliver goods in the first place... Dabs (or BT Direct as they seem to be now) go with a different strategy - they tell you they have whatever it is in stock, but after a week then decide they don't, and eventually refund you. If it happened once or even twice I'd put it down to bad luck, but I had this issue a lot - so gave up even trying with them.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    never use eBuyer again

    I ordered a disk, next day delivery on a Tuesday. When it hadn't appeared Wednesday evening, a call to the courier revealed that eBuyer hadn't used the "next day" code, so the package was fucknowswhere.

    This was over Easter, so I actually got the disk Tuesday after Bank Holiday Monday - when it was of no use to me in my planned visit to the parents.

    eBuyer lied about messing up the delivery, until ParcelForce got upset at being called liars, and produced the delivery note - clearly showing "standard" postage.

    Compare and contrast with (for example) Amazon, who have also messed up. However, they have been (in my experience) incredibly good at fixing things. And not by lying.

    1. David Austin

      Re: never use eBuyer again

      To be fair, most other companies customer service policies pale in comparison to Amazon. Yes, I know all the unscrupulous ways they treat suppliers and employees, but with their "Customer is King" Mentality, and keen pricing double punch it's sometimes very hard not to ignore it - call it convenient evil, I guess....

      As for eBuyer: Apart from possibly one flagship "store" winch is more showroom/demo/customer smoozing, why on earth would they want to step into the still warm shoes of Comet on the high street? eBuyer, Scan, and Amazon are a big reason why physical electrical good stores are having such a tough time...

  4. Gordon 10
    FAIL

    The man was a loon

    in this day and age what kind of loon would open a retail store selling stuff like PC's when everyone else who has tried it has failed, including people with far more electronics/computing retail experience than him.

    Dixon's has the box shifting market sewn up. The smaller players like Novatech have the market for people who know what they want, or who want a sensible conversation with someone who knows what they are talking about, and that market is very geographically limited, and the staff are in very short supply.

    Still - an easy way to trigger your golden parachute without having to negotiate much.

    1. graeme leggett Silver badge

      Re: The man was a loon

      Agree with you. Why start a business to compete with conventional shops and then having seen how well they (aren't) doing try the same.

      The point of a shop is to see something you want, buy it there and then and take it home. Need network cable in a hurry? go to maplins or a big supermarket or what have you, swallow your pride and pay what they ask. Got time on your side? Buy online.

      With a shop comes needing to hold stock there which isn't available to your warehouse operation unless you want to courier from there to the buyer otherwise of country. Shops have leases, rates, insurance, utilities bills, staff. All short to mid term commitments with extensive setup costs. Why bother with all that if its not your natural area. Want to make your presence known? Advertise more. Shift more stock? Have a sale. Probably be cheaper in long run.

  5. This post has been deleted by its author

    1. Synonymous Howard

      Could not agree less

      Been an eBuyer customer since at least 2002 and my 118th personal order turned up a few minutes ago (I always use free delivery) after being ordered late Monday evening.

      Maybe I'm luckier than most (I also have very few problems sourcing kit from eBay or even AliExpress.com) or maybe I'm more forgiving than some.

      I had an issue with a delivery from Apple last year .. it took a WEEK for a laptop to arrive with me AFTER it had LEFT the local delivery office .. turned out that the courier was probably 'mistaken' about why it was 'unable to deliver' as I waited in all day on each of the so-called 'delivery attempts'. In the end, Apple customer service got involved and kicked the courier and got it delivered and gave me a £70 refund for the 'trouble' the courier had caused me.

    2. graeme leggett Silver badge

      "because it was more than six months old - even though I could demonstrate that the fault was present since new."

      I'm guessing there attitude was that you'd had plenty of time to discover fault, and had therefore "accepted" in a legal frame "the goods"

      Bit of a bugger that. Hypothetical case - I was to buy a gizmo (reduced because new model out) that promised it could interface with an iphone. I'm planning on getting an iphone when phone contract renews in 7 months. Use gizmo for 7 months, get iPhone, plug it in and find connector is broken. Ok , you've gotten half a years use in that case but what if you'd stashed it away as someone's birthday present...

  6. TCook1943

    E for Excreta

    I used to regularly purchase from these sharks until they refused to accept the return carriage charge of a misdelivered item within 24 hours, yes thats HOURS, of delivery.

    I'd purchased through Paypal who forced Excreta to cough up, problem solved, not on your life as Excreta's next step was to use the provided bank details I'd given them way back when for an earlier supply to create a charge directly on my bank account without either my knowledge or authorisation.

    It took ages to eventually get my bank to defray the costs of this fraudulent action.

    BTW Excreta the facts are still on file so if you'd like to sue - go right ahead, pretty please!

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