Thought I'd add the letter I was asked by MacWarehouse to fax to the Complaints Department - to be told 2 days later, that they didnt have one...

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing to you in the hopes that I might just be able to get this matter sorted out once and for all.

On the 5th July 2006, I ordered on-line, the following item:

1 x ALTSP009 @ £7.15 each = £7.15
Altec Lansing XA3021 Audio Speaker System

I duly then received an e-mail on the 6th to confirm my order, and that it would be dispatched as soon as possible.

A week later I called your customer service team, to find out when it might possibly arrive, as it was a gift. I was told that it wouldn’t be in until the end of July, as it was on back order, but was promised it was coming in.

On the 21st July my parcel arrived, but on looking at the invoice attached to the box, it advised that I had been sent an XA2021 NOT the XA3021. I then inspected the contents to be greeted by neither of the aforementioned, but the VS2220. After looking them up on the internet, I found that people were selling these for next to nothing. They clearly weren’t anywhere near the quality of the item I had ordered.

I then e-mailed customer services the same day, but after not receiving a reply back I decided to call. On Wednesday 26th July I spoke to a Michael Roberts, in your customer service department, who advised me that this was a problem he had experienced, and that you were sending these out as a replacement for everyone who had ordered an XA3021. This I could not understand at all, as it’s like someone ordering a Land Rover and receiving a Smartcar!

He went on to explain that there wasn’t anything more that could be done, except to get a refund. I advised that this was what I wanted to do and he said he would get the ball rolling and call me back. Nothing. I called again on the 28th July and asked to speak to Mr Roberts, but was told he was unavailable but that he would call me back. No call back… Called again on the 31st July and was told that I would get a call by the afternoon at the latest… No call back.. At 16:31 on the same day I called again, and asked to speak to a manager. At this point I was put through to the manager of customer services, and listened to my story. He then advised that as a gesture of goodwill, I would be credited back the money for the speakers, but that he would have to do this the next day because there was a problem at the time with the system. He took my number (as did all your operatives), in case there was a problem.

On the 11th of August as I had not heard a thing, I called again. This time I spoke to a young girl who brought up my record and said she could see that I was due a refund but that it hadn’t been done. She said and I quote “leave it with me and I will get someone to authorise this”.

It is now 22nd August and I have not received or heard anything. I am getting very tired of this now, and to make matters worse I have had to keep the bank account I used to pay for this item open, which has cost me £10. I bank with Barclays and get charged £10 a month for an additions account. I have now moved over to First Direct, and want to close my Barclays account down – something I can’t do until i know what is going on!

I do understand that mix ups happen, and sometimes people forget to do things, but this has just been an awful experience, which has cost me money and time.

I would ask that someone please sort this out asap and call me on the number below to advise that it has been done.



To date I have had no response...