Back on November 26th my partner ordered a new laptop from Microsoft as part of their black-friday sales special. The laptop in question is a Surface Laptop Go i5 256gb. She ordered this due to the size being perfect for her needs and due to the fact the nearest JB and HN were both out of stock of the colour configuration she wanted.
The laptop was shipped out on November 27 and was expected to be delivered by December 3rd. The shipping company that Microsoft chose to use to fulfill this order was DHL. DHL further contracted out the delivery of the package to a 3rd party courier called SE National. On Dec 3rd the SE National delivery driver texted my partner asking where he can drop off the package, She replied with the address of the farm where we are living and working (2 backpackers). The farm is located 30 mins outside of Deniliquin (roads are all paved on a major highway). Anyways the driver kept demanding an address in Deni, which we do not have. He replied "sorry not today" and that was that for delivery attempt 1.
After not hearing a word on the delivery of the laptop, my partner contacted Microsoft on December 9th via the online support. A MS representative assured her that as per DHL, SE National should deliver the item. On December 13th the same SE national driver texted my partner asking where in Deniliquin he could drop off the package, She replied to his text with our address here, to which he replied asking again in Deniliquin. My partner straight out asked him directly why is it not being delivered to our residence when DHL confirmed with Microsoft that it would be. He never responded. That's it for delivery attempt #2.
On December 15th, my partner once again contacted the Microsoft representative that looked into her issue originally. Once again she reassured us that as per DHL, SE National will deliver the package to our house and not to worry.
On the December 16th she contacted DHL directly asking what is going on with the delivery status of her laptop. DHL responded that they will contact SE National and that they will not communicate with her any details as the item was shipped by Microsoft, and they require her to contact them directly for any enquiries into her order.
From then on till today we have been watching the tracking from DHL and the item keeps going from the DHL warehouse back and forth to the SE National Warehouse.
Today; December 20th, my partner decided to call SE National directly as to why her laptop keeps not getting delivered. The SE National rep responded that they do not deliver to our area and that they are sending the order back to DHL. The rep also advised her to contact DHL.
After this she called Microsoft Customer support and was rudely told by the rep that if the courier cannot deliver that the item will be sent back to Microsoft and a refund will be issued and to reorder it with a different address. This rep didn't even allow her to explain the situation behind the issue, instead just bluntly said to provide a different address next time. We do not have a different address.
I decided to call Microsoft directly and got told by another rep that he has never heard of this happening and that he will escalate the case again to a high level of support, for which we should hear back from in 24-48hrs.
We did check the tracking again right now and DHL is showing the item has been forwarded to SE national awaiting delivery.
So currently the facts are:
- she is out close to $1200 on a laptop and accessories she ordered almost a month ago.
- no one at DHL, Microsoft or SE National knows what's going on with the order or how to go about getting it delivered.
- We keep going around in a circle between the 3 companies and nothing being achieved.
Back in Canada I ordered thousands of dollars worth of computers, xbox consoles, games, accessories from the Microsoft store and never had an issue ever. It was those experiences which led me to suggest she order it directly from them instead trying to drive 3+hrs round trip to get one in person. Instead now we are both left frustrated with the whole experience and now almost a month later are left without her money nor the laptop she ordered.
What are our options OzBargain family in finding a solution to this circus of customer service, delivery and communication failures?
Should also add we have no issue getting daily mail/deliveries from Auspost out here.
When it comes to resolving things that take more than one interaction or multiple parties, you need to start getting things in writing via emails or tickets.
You don't have an agreement in place with the courier so no point in you doing all the stressing and whatnot.