Monday, October 24, 2005

Pixmania - Steer well clear

This company - Pixmania, is not one you want to have any dealings with, if you want your sanity, and if you don't want your pocket to be a little lighter. My own experiences and many many others are showing this French company have no idea of customer service, they also seem to be a little unaware of an act called the Sales Goods Act we have here in this country, as they repeatedly flout it.

In my case, Z, took a digital camera she had brought in to be fixed as it was within the time allowed, they told her to wait up to 4 weeks for it to come back and it would be sent to her. Well we are in week 6, still nothing. The list of screw ups, gets larger and larger. They took our address down incorrectly, so instead of the house number being written down as 30, which it is, they wrote 20, should have seen this as the first of many many problems.

Repeated phone calls to their customer service line which is a national rate number, has given us no more information than we had 6 weeks ago. They leave you hanging on the phone when you call them, and with a national rate number, that means a £1 for about 10 minutes, not cheap, especially when you are chasing their mistakes, and their total lack of communication. We have asked repeatedly for updates and all they can do is say, well we will send an email to them in France, well that ain't enough, do more. How about you give me the name of the idiot in France so I can rip them for a complete lack of customer service and for the fact, that withholding a good that is mine, is actually not acceptable.

For anyone else who has had to suffer Pixmania and would like to find a way to complain, I have some ideas, though, not sure how effective, but if all do it then maybe something will happen, like them losing license in this country. I have the email address for the trading standards in Fulham and Hammersmith, and if you wish it, leave a message as a comment, with the email address and I am more than happy to post it to you with the persons name, so that the more people complain the better. It is also known on many other websites how poor Pixmania are.

They have managed to successfully have negative comments about them removed from some sites, by threatening them, well, surely the best thing would be to actually fix the problem, rather than deny a problem exists. It is only a problem to Pixmania if it weren't true, but the hundreds of negative comments I have seen and which I add my name to the list of, shows how pathetic this company is. If anyone knows the name of the customer service manager, I would appreciate it, I have tried through all various search engines to find it, no joy. I got one name whom I am intending to write one hell of a nasty letter to - Ulrich Jerome, Managing Director (France and N.Europe), to actually kick this person up the backside in the hope that they actually might bother to do something, though I am guessing not. And if anyone from Pixmania reads this, they should also read some of the following to realise it isn't just one person, it is multiples, like

Pixmania - Buyer BEWARE

Pixmania - More Problems

Pixmania - Even more problems

How they are rated by so many consumers

Pixmania have made it clear by my experience and many many others they don't care about customers. Well I think it is about time, they realised they should do, because sites like this one, and many many others, don't say something is wrong, unless they are hard done by, and Pixmania don't know the meaning of customer service.

If anyone has any names of the MD, CEO, customer service manager of this pathetic company that I can write a letter of complaint to, so that I can try and get the camera back, hopefully actually bloody repaired which is why it went in, in the first place, I would so much appreciate it, cause that is over £200 of my money they have which I can't seem to get back because they are refusing to say what is happening to the camera, and even where it is.

So again incase it wasn't clear through reading this, buyer BEWARE of this company whom are all around Europe, they aren't worth the time, effort and money, find someone who will actually do what they say, and for example deliver in 24 hours like they say they would, unlike this lot, 2 weeks later.

Nothing they say seems to be a truth and so again BEWARE of them

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

I totally agree with everything I have read on this site with pixmania. I am a student and bought a printer from pixmania with my student loan.
I received a delivery two weeks later of a hard disk drive rather than what I had ordered. After having tried to contact them several times I was unable to get through, I've sent continuous emails...nothing. So now I'm left with a hard disk drive which is of no use to me and have lost £80 in total, so I would definately apprecite the address for the trading standards officer, are you able to put it on the site? I feel powerless as to what to do next.

Speakers Corner said...

Hi there,

I am so so sorry to hear that you have suffered this company.

I will be adding more blog entries in the near future as I have a lot more to say particularly as they managed to be even worse which I can explain later.

For the email address of the Hammersmith and Fulham trading standards. I can't put it as an email address, but as seperate lines to avoid them being spammed by bots on the internet. So put it together line by line and that hopefully will be okay.

Valerie
.Ellison
@
lbhf
.gov
.uk

Just cut it straight in, and then mail from there, telling them all, and they will reply, I have had a reply and in the process of telling them the whole sorry story.
I do hope you get something sorted, as more advice, if you ordered by credit card, tell your credit card company, they are also liable, so most certainly tell them as well. The more involved others are, the sooner we can hopefully run this sorry outfit out of the uk.

Anonymous said...

a.walker@pixmania.com is Pixmania's customer services manager.

Hammersmith & Fulham Trading Standards are currently under investigation by the Local Government Ombudsman for failing to investigate Pixmania and not escalating the complaint to the OFT as they are required to under the law

http://www.oft.gov.uk/Business/Legal/DSR/distance+selling+regs+enforcement.htm

Speakers Corner said...

thanks anonymous

really appreciate another name, hopefully they will be more use than this idiot below

Mr Yann STEVENS
After Sales & Returns - UK & Scandinavia

who after IMRG contacted them, turned around and tried to blame us and anyone else but themselves for their mistakes, still haven't had a response back from trading standards, and now I know why.

thanks again.

Anonymous said...

PIXMANIA is the type of company that gives all online retailers a bad name. The concept of customer service is completely alient to them. I made the mistake of ordering my camera from them to save a few quid bit the hassle I had to go through (and am still going through as I write this - I am currently on hold with their customer service department - it has been 45 minutes now!) is unbelievable. NEVER AGAIN!

Anonymous said...

When you phone them up and press the button to indicate that you've already purchased you are sent on a merry-go-round automated system where it's impossible to get speaking to a real person.

INSTEAD, if you press 1 for "sales" you are immediately connected to a sales person.

My wife used to work for an internet service provider who operated like this and had to quit her job. It's a terrible place to work as you know you're mistreating good customers every day.

Anonymous said...

When you phone them up and press the button to indicate that you've already purchased you are sent on a merry-go-round automated system where it's impossible to get speaking to a real person.

INSTEAD, if you press 1 for "sales" you are immediately connected to a sales person. It's impossible to get customer service after you've purchased.

JUST GOOGLE "PIXMANIA PROBLEMS" OR "PIXMANIA COMPLAINTS"!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

My comments on this company:

Ought to be shut down immidiately. Our damaged product did not even have a serial number. Did it fall off the back of a lorry?

Rotten.

Freelance said...

I asked for a sort of articles in pixmania-pro and received all except an item valued in 250 euros. After 2 weeks I am still waiting for it and nobody gives me an explanation or solution.

Speakers Corner said...

For jardinero

I am sorry to hear you are suffering the horror of Pixmania.

All I can suggest is to keep trying and keep pushing them.

Whichever country you got your item from, go to your local trading standards, and push them about Pixmania. Online traders still have to conform to local standards, regardless of what they might claim.

Complain to whoever you can locally and just get them to push Pixmania, find someone locally who succeeded and ask them for help.

The more you complain against this company, the more it hurts them in the pocket, so keep going at it.

Hope you get success

Anonymous said...

Oh shoot , i just ordered from pixmania , and they have taken the money out of my account, but 10 days later thier tracking page says to be paid and not sent.
so i rang the national rate number and the guy said "It should have been sent out when the payment was taken" , he than said customers services would ring me.
I normally check for problem's/complaints on the net before I order , Wish i had done this time.
won't shop there again
:-(

Anonymous said...

I have had similar problems with Pixmania. It has taken over 18 months to resolve a problem with a Camera that has not worked from day one.

Fortunately, I came accross the following website:

http://www.thewwwsite.com/pixmania.htm

There, I found the contact details for the CEO of Fotovista (Pixmania's parent) Having emailed M. Rosenblum, he passed my complaint over to his head of Customer Service - who immediately phoned me, and has guaranteed a full credit-card refund within 4 days. Lets see !

Anonymous said...

I have had the same email phone calling merry go round as you.I got a £50 gift voucher sent to me in an email for christmas that I am unable to use as it has an invalid code when I try to redeem it.When I first tried it out on the website it worked ok, then strangely it suddenly became invalid even though there is still a year left till expiry.The person who sent me the voucher has had the money deducted from their bank account but I am having no joy getting a proper level of customer service or anyone willing to own the problem and see it through to a satisfactory conclusion. I keep getting told that my concerns will be forwarded to the French head office and that is the last I ever hear from them until I have to call again.I am fed up hearing that word...HEAD OFFICE!I demanded to speak to a manager or supervisor and was told my call would be transferred to them but was put on hold for 10 minutes listening to "lift music" then suddenly inexplicably the line went dead and I was cut off.I have contacted the parent company's customer services at DSG plc who used to be Dixons and the Chairman Sir john Collins to voice my frustration and anger at this shoddy second rate bunch of thieves who are treating us with such arrogance and contempt.Don't ever be tempted to buy from these people because their prices look competitive, they are cheap for a reason..think about it! If it's any help the emails I have used are listed below, you might also try contacting the president of DSG Lord Kalms of Edgeware:
customer.services@dsgiplc.com and john.collins@dsgiplc.com

Speakers Corner said...

Hi there,

That is bad news for you to be suffering that Pixmania. If you see this, I would recommend the person who gave you the voucher to contact their credit card company to say that Pixmania took the money and then invalidated the voucher code. Make them involved and if possible contact trading standards as well, this company are well known to them.

The sooner they remove their license to operate in this country the better

Anonymous said...

PIXMANIA is rubbish!
I spent £299.95 on a fridge freezer but had to return it for a smaller one which cost £180.05. They said the amount of refund I will get back is £58. Where the heck did they learn simple maths??? How did they get to that amount? After 10 days of calling Sh*tmania, spending a fortune on the phone, threatening them to go to the media, demanding to speak to the manager (which was impossible as they always came up with excuses such as: "She's in a meeting right now" or "She's not available at this moment, ma'am."), they finally confirmed that I will get £100 back which is what I was after. I shall see, as it takes 4 business days to get to my bank. I must have spent about £40 on the phone to them and who the hell pays me for that?

I will never order from PIXMANIA ever again!

I never log in to complain but i am so angry with them, that I am spending the time and effort to warn others.

DON'T ORDER FROM PIXMANIA. IT'S NOT WORTH THE HASSLE.TRUST ME.

Anonymous said...

Wish i had read this lot b4 buying a printer from Pixmania! I have not received my printer almost 2 months later, it was lost by Parcelforce who have openly acknowledged this but Pixmania have not bothered to claim for it and have not replaced it or refunded me. I get the same old run around from their useless customer lack of services each time i call. They are an inbound call centre and have no capacity to resolve any issues. I am so sorry i wasted my money on this company. Never again. Anyone who has managed to get a resolution from this rotten company, how did you do it??

Anonymous said...

Hi
Also, thanks for the email for trading standards. I've got a dispute with pixmania where the item was not in the sealed box! Had all the packaging, instructions, strap, just not the main item, in this case being a camera! Unbelievable, this has been going on now since 14/11/08. Parcel was sent back, so curently out of pocket for a non existent item!

Anonymous said...

jayyyyysus. these guys have gotten me so mad!! I just knew I'd find a blog like this. 2 months ago. I bought a printer. it arrived and it did not work out of the box. Followed the instructions on the site to send to paris along with the receipt for the shipping and everything would be a ok. nothing. wrote to them and they said printer is out of stock. I said, no it aint..its in stock - says so on your site..now wheres my money for the shipping. oh yeah, well we can only give you have that as for heavy items you have to contact us...no i don't, where do you say that on your site. you sent me the return slip and i followed the instructions, now where is my money - silence....still writing to them. If they don't respond within a day and tell me everything is peaches, I need to do everything in my power to **** these guys hard in the *** with an unvarnished 2x4. I'm going to read the rest of this blog now..thanks for giving me somewhere to vent.

Anonymous said...

i am about to take a trip to france and kick some ass! i have never had such applaing service, leaving you with no idea what is going on and a refund that thus far is a week over due. please do give me email address for trading standards. how can they get away with this?!?!?!?!?

Anonymous said...

From a Mike 2009
After considerable hassle trying to get my Samsung blue ray cinema to play a blue ray tape we discovered it was just the HDMI lead that was faulty. Reading previouse comments thank God that was all it was having spent some
£2k with Pixmania I spoke to some French tart and ask about a replacement lead to be told the lead could only be repaired and as it was out of garantee can any one advice me how you can repair a HDMI lead, perhaps i will be able to melt the gold down

Unknown said...

I want to buy a house in Costa Rica, because I like the climate there. For me costa rica investment opportunities is the best option for me. I just imagine a tropical day where I can make a lot of parties all the time. I am interested to buy a big speakers and to put loud music.

Anonymous said...

Beleive me these guys are idiots this says it all :

Read : Litterlout’s four letter fury

http://www.lbhf.gov.uk/images/p18-19_tcm21-66881.pdf

Unknown said...

Pixmania erroneously reported to me that payment had been taken online. I believed it, especially when the goods arrived. Then I got a letter from a French debt collecting agency asking for damages and interest on an unpaid delivery. My bank account confirmed that no money left my account, so I do owe. Seems my mistake was trusting their deeply flawed checkout system which lied to me and to their own dispatch department. I left the site feeling that an honest transaction had been completed and now feel like a harrassed dishonest fraud. I have told them that I will pay the sum (I am an honest man and I have the goods) but not the other charges which are down to their faulty checkout system. Beware buying from Pixmania. What they tell you online about having paid might not be true, and you won't know until they send you a communication from their snotty letter department.