Dick Smith - service levels from online store

We all know Dick Smith has been having a massive rolling clearance sale since the new private equity owners bought the business from Woolworths.

It appears the clearance items are coming to an end, and it is notable that the "Clearance" heading/section has recently been removed from the web site.

They are still doing some good deals, most notably recently the cheap powerboards.

I have also been lucky enough to get a few of the good clearance deals they've run, including the only <$400 64gb IPAD 3G/Wifi from Carlingford, NSW.

Their much maligned stock system was completely replaced a few weeks ago. The old system was blamed for mix-ups like the $11.95 Panasonic Phone triple packs - but I'm not sure the actual system was the problem - the best system is useless if data entry is crap.

ANyway they've also shut their state-based warehouses and centralised everything into one massive warehouse.
And they've moved their call centre (from Sydney to Melbourne?).

The average wait on the online sales call centre appears to be about 30 mins now - I've had reason to call about 6 times in the last 3 weeks, and each time I've waited at least 25 mins to speak to someone…

I've also noticed that all my old orders that were placed before the new stock system was implemented have disappeared from the web site. This is an issue because not all the old orders had been fulfilled, and I did want the old orders to remain online so I could easily check the warranty status of my purchases….

I wonder how much of the call answering delays are due to call volumes about the loss of old order details, and how much is due to cost cutting??

I've also emailed [email protected] three times since 17 May 2013 without a single response.

I'd have to say I preferred their service when they were owned by Woolies….

Related Stores

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Dick Smith / Kogan
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Comments

  • it appears the clearance items are coming to an end, and it is notable that the "Clearance" heading/section has recently been removed from the web site.

    there is still a reduced to clear section

    • Yeah but it is a sub-heading under "Promotions" - it used to be a primary tab "Clearance"

      Also its less than 120 items now - used to be about 500…

  • Service levels, for me, have definitely dropped. I have 2 basic orders in their system and it's taking them nearly a week to process - if I was wanting them urgently, I'd be furious by now (ordered on 4th & 5th last week). I paid for shipping on at least one of the orders too.

    Are they short-staffed, or are they inundated with orders from all the sales / clearances?

    Not to mention their website is much slower than it used to be (any time of day/night).

    Not impressed that PayPal is still unavailable..

    Their Search Engine isn't very good, if I search "Nexus" or "Nexus 7" all I get is accessories! None of the devices show up (which they are currently still selling & have stock of).

    Having said all that, I still like Dick Smith and have been a customer for many, many years - back when Dick himself used to run them… Let's hope things don't get worse!

  • I had issues with getting a refund.
    They said an item I ordered was not available
    But instead of giving a refund, I would have to request a refund and I had to call to arrange it
    I tried but gave up after 25 minutes
    I sent them a short email detailing the issue and complained that no one answered the phone
    I got a refund but no one bother to follow up my complaint

    Why would they not just AUTO refund my money ? jerks

    • +2

      That's stupid! They should just revert the funds back to you and send you email advice regarding it.

  • I called them again today about my 2 outstanding orders that are approaching 2 months old.

    After just over 30 minutes in queue I spoke to a nice girl who said she was sorry to hear about my issues, but couldn't help me other than sending a note to the escalation team…

    I hope the escalation team deals with my outstanding issues before the weekend. I'm a patient man, but 2 months is getting ridiculous…

    I don't think the sales team is bombarded with huge volumes of sales related calls, I suspect they are short-staffed and are dealing with enquiries about orders that haven't been fulfilled and why all the old orders have disappeared from the my account section of the web site…

    I actually think DSE should have emailed its clients and told us the orders were going off the website, and then perhaps re-assured us that DSE still had records of the orders… No communication probably has caused more enquiries…

    • I'm a patient man

      Mind blown. I thought you were a chick lol

      • My missus and I share this account, but I post most of the time.

        She is a Filipina and looks a little like Alexis Love who is pictured next to my name….

        • That explains it :) So who is the Great White Hunter?

          I actually had a good result from Dick Smith today. Received an SMS this morning advising of a delivery (from Star Track) of my order and then an hour or so later another SMS to tell me it had been delivered. Now just one more order to go!

          Mind you, in my DS online account the delivered one still says 'processing' go figure!

    • Yeah, I'm not too happy about losing my old Order History either! Very ordinary, though I'm pretty sure I have all the email receipts / invoices.

      My first order in the new system got shipped to: "firstname lastname" before I realised they lost all my account info. I could go on…

      2 months? Gee, I don't think I could contain my anger for that long! You're more patient than I :)

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