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I will tell a tale of misinformation and poor customer service.

My wife, bought a 70-200 VR for my birthday as a suprise birthday gift! The order was placed in store on the 8th Dec 2005 and deposit paid.

During the order, the sales person assured her that the lens will be delivered within 1 week since maxwell has the lens in stock.

Ted's did not place the order until the 12th Dec, after which my wife got a phone call informing the lens wont be delivered until the 30th Dec. Hence wrecking the suprise birthday present which was scheduled for the 27th Dec. Needless to say the lens wasnt delivered on the 30th Dec. My poor wife is quite angry about the whole affair.

Yesterday I was on the phone to ted's to enquire about the lens. They blamed maxwell for being closed. The lens will not be delivered until early Jan but they are still unsure. It could take another few weeks from early Jan depending on maxwell stock.

The moral of the story for ted's is:-

A. Dont promise a delivery time if its is impossible.
B. Know when your distrbutor's holiday period is and again dont promise a delivery time if its impossible.
C. Don't bullshit that a lens is in stock when it isn't.

I want to cancel the order, but since its a special order I can't without loosing the deposit.

I would think that you could cancel the order if you wanted to, given Ted's failure to deliver as promised. The question is whether you would want to.

I would be writing to the manager expressing my dissatisfaction, and asking what they propose to do about it. And also to request a firm delivery date, pointing out the information given to date has been deceptive and misleading.

nito wrote:The moral of the story for ted's is:-

A. Dont promise a delivery time if its is impossible.
B. Know when your distrbutor's holiday period is and again dont promise a delivery time if its impossible.
C. Don't bullshit that a lens is in stock when it isn't.

Considering how much they've screwed you around I would demand a return of the deposit considering they weren't able to meet their side of the deal.

Thanks to similar experiences I'd say another "moral of the story" for the customer is to never trust salespeople, ever.

Good luck resolving it anyway, I'm sure you'll enjoy the lens when you do get it.

Hi nito, I agree with Oli here. As a matter of principle I would ask for deposit back since they breached the verbal agreement. Not only did they breach it, but I would stress that time line was CRUCIAL because it was a birthday present. They are liable to be sued, in this particular case.

Alex

Just a thought nito, since they stuffed this up so badly, and provided you still want the lens from them, I would press them for a discount/ or something extra due to the stuff up on the behalf.

Alex

They should be able to cancel the order with Maxwell and thereby allowing for the return of the deposit

...........and then get it from birdy for less money!!
Steve

Considering such agreements are almost always verbal, I wonder what the response would be towards a potential customer if the customer asked for a document or receipt of some form on paper stating when a lens would arrive?

If you are interested...

From the website of the Office of Fair Trading, I found this under "Refunds and Repairs"

"Consumers and traders may negotiate other solutions such as a repair or replacement but under these circumstances a consumer has a legal right to cancel a contract (rescind) and receive a refund if there is a breach of that contract."

In your case, there is a breach of a verbal agreement, if you wife knew exactly who she spoke with on what date, you have a very good case. You should put this in writing to the store manager.

Good luck, and when you get your refund you can purchase from Birddog.

Is a verbal agreement considered a contract though?

Verbal agreements are in this case because time line was a critical issue, being a surprise gift. The whole essence of the surprise is now ruined

I do believe the customer alwways has the upper hand I agree with Greg B write the letter and stick to your guns! Get your refund and order with birddog.
cheers and good luck
marco

Verbal agreements are contacts... (at least there is good precedence...)

I concur with what have been said, I would cancel even if to teach them a bloody lesson and put your name down with Birddog. You will have to wait a while but you will be rewarding good service and punishing bad....

Thanks for the reply guys. I am not impressed with Ted's at the moment. Basically will never walk into their stores again!

I am going to push a discount over the situation. My wife sale price for the lens is 2800. How low do you think they will go?

She only went with Ted's because, a friend of her scared her off the importers price. She was worried about the warranty issues. btw its Ted's Chadswood store in sydney.

my experience with teds is that it depends on who you get at the time...

You should ask to speak to the manager.

My experience with teds is that they are normally very very good. Explain the situation to the manager and he will hopefully make amends.

I'll be heading to Chatwood tomorrow. Do you want me to spraypaint anything on the windows of the Teds store?!

Onyx wrote:I'll be heading to Chatwood tomorrow. Do you want me to spraypaint anything on the windows of the Teds store?!

Onyx, you have been watching those grapphitti videos agin?

oli wrote:Is a verbal agreement considered a contract though?

Always, yes, provided the other elements of a contract have been met.

In this case, Ted's have clearly breached, and the refund of the deposit should be forthcoming.

That they have placed an order with Maxwell's is their problem, not your's.

Well I got a refund on the deposit.

The new date of delivery is the 15th of Jan. That is way pass the date promised.

The sales guys checked with the manager and they said that it can only be done by cheque and not electronically. They will phone later over the cheque.

I've since sourced the lens through ECS which gives much better service.