It’s about time I posted this as it’s been over a month since I had any dealings with 7dayshop. Since then I’ve dealt with several other online retailers without a hitch.
When I shop, online or otherwise, I expect a reasonable level of service and care. When I shop online I expect prompt delivery of my order or notification if the delivery will take longer or products are missing. I also expect to be able to pick up the phone and ask someone where my purchased goods are.
A few weeks ago I was still looking forward to my holiday in Chicago. I wanted to buy a new camera to replace my broken Sony F717. The Canon 20D was the one I had my eye on!
My friend John ordered the camera from 7dayshop for me. I made out a list of products I wanted; camera bag, filters, batteries, and more. About a week later, on a Monday, several of the items were delivered but no camera. We thought there must have been a delay so we let it go for a few days. Here’s what happened:
Monday
Most of the goods from 7dayshop delivered. Camera must be delayed somewhere. Let’s wait a few days.
Friday
Getting worried now. This morning John left a message on their support page asking about the missing camera. He was given a Royal Mail tracking number to check the status of the package. I rang the Irish Post Office but they couldn’t help me. I went online again and entered the tracking number into the Royal Mail Track and Trace page. Unfortunately Royal Mail didn’t have that tracking number on their system! I rang them after that but again they couldn’t find any trace of the package in their system.
In the afternoon I left a message on the 7dayshop support page asking for an update on the missing camera. Thinking that it would be taken care of, I ordered memory cards, a camera case and a battery case from them. Immediately after placing the order I realised I had made an error in the address of that order so I sent them another support query with the correct company name. No reply all weekend.
Monday
It was with some frustration on Monday morning that I kept checking my email waiting for a reply. Finally a reply to my address issue. It couldn’t be changed as the order had been dispatched. My query about the camera was ignored. Several other queries were ignored too. I decided to cancel my Friday order in protest at their shoddy customer care. The camera case was on back order and that was canceled but I was told that the other items were in transit and couldn’t be canceled.
Tuesday
I called the European Consumer Centre in Dublin and was advised that because the Canon 20D camera had not yet arrived it is 7dayshop’s responsibility to see that it is delivered. I sent 7dayshop a letter in the post stating that if I didn’t get delivery of the camera within 14 days I would be looking for a full refund to which I am entitled to under EU Directive 99/44/EC. I left another note with that information on 7dayshop’s support page.
I rang Royal Mail again to check the tracking number. The operator couldn’t believe it had disappeared so completely from their system!
2 hours later John was sent an email saying he must get a refund from Visa. He has to wait 30 days from the time of the order to make the claim, and it will take Visa a further 30 days to refund him.
Later
Having been burned by 7dayshop, I ordered the Canon 20D from Technikdirekt. It arrived within a week.
I ordered a Canon 70-300mm zoom lens from AC-foto. They accept COD and that arrived within a few days.
I ordered a Panasonic Lumix FZ5 from Pixmania and that was delivered within a few days.
My memory cards did appear eventually, but the battery case (value £1.99) failed to show up. On closer inspection of the goods that were delivered by 7dayshop, the camera case and ND filters were missing too. I’m going to call it a day on my dealings with 7dayshop. I recommended them to others in the past but never again.
Here’s some reviews of 7dayshop. The positive ones usually are those that go without a hitch, otherwise it’s a tale of trouble and woe. Leave your story as a comment here. Maybe, just maybe, 7dayshop will take note of them.
- 21 reviews at ciao.co.uk
- 59 reviews at reviewcentre.com
- Never Order From 7dayshop.com
- Lots of reviews at pricerunner.co.uk
In conclusion
When something goes wrong, it’s reassuring to be able to ring up someone and find out what’s happened to goods you’ve spent your hard earned money on. 7dayshop don’t have a customer support phone line. Sure, there’s a phone number on their whois record (01481 257336) but it’s answered by a machine telling you to fill in the support form!
Who do I recommend you buy your camera or electronic gear from? Anyone but 7dayshop.com!
Apart from the awful customer service, it appears that 7dayshop.com source their goods the USA. If you don’t live in the USA that means your goods will be without warranty as electronic goods rarely have global warranties. They must also be making a killing on price. They charge in Sterling, their prices aren’t that cheap, and the US Dollar is weak! Surely some of that profit should be ploughed back into the company?
Try these guys instead. They may ship you a non-English manual, but you get a European warranty, and English manuals can usually be downloaded and printed out.
- Technikdirekt – very reasonable prices, slow delivery by Deutch Post.
- AC-foto – no secure server, doesn’t accept credit cards online, but COD is ok, if a little expensive. Very reasonable prices too.
- Pixmania – a bit more expensive, had some trouble with them during the summer but they’re only a phone call away and were helpful. Fast delivery
I can tell you that it’s still true that unfavourable reviews submitted for 7dayshop products to their website don’t make it through. Two positive reviews of mine made it, but several attempt to highlight very poor performance of batteries being sold as “high quality replacements” for Canon cameras have not appeared, despite several submissions over several weeks. 7dayshop customer reviews are therefore highly unreliable and misleading. Take them with a sack of salt.
Even in 2011 not a lot has changed, I have been very happy with their service/delivery until I wrongly ordered a wrong battery, which in all fairness I was quite happy to actually pay for, but tried to contact them, found no contact tel.no so used their “exceptionally good” (their words not mine) email ticket system, this was done on the 2nd of this month and they have still not had the courtesy to deem it fit to reply and they have had another from me and still no reply, the fact that they have a problem with contacting their customer service and no replies I will be going elswhere from now, and will also not be giving good feedback regarding this to any one else, wake up 7dayshop you are shooting yourselves in the foot.
what a firm they dont want you to contact them and they dont seem to read the e mail web forms .Its no use shopping where you cant get in touch with a firm to sort out a problem. You used to be able to ring them once but no more . 7 Thumbs down shop com
It took no time at all to find this website, I just wish I’d done it before I placed my order with 7dayshop.com.
Whatever it is these people are doing it is wrong. There are so many disappointed customers on this site with the same issues of poor customer service, poor delivery lack of communication, broken promises.
My advice, just avoid them. If you think you’re getting a bargain by dealing with them then weigh in the cost and hassle of sorting things out when they go wrong, as they so often seem to with thi sorry bunch…
Russell
I’m not sure what is going on with this company. I have used them for years for ink cartridges and have been happy with their service.
Unfortunately, things were not so good this time. I ordered some cartridges on 18 August. Three were in stock and one out of stock, so I expected to have to wait for one of them (they usually mail them individually anyway).
By 29 August I had received nothing, so e-mailed them. I received a reply the next day saying that the order had been split and that the available ones would be sent to me. Still nothing.
I was hoping to have the cartridges within a week; three weeks is too long, so I may look elsewhere in future.
The lack of a telephone number is also not very helpful.
I still haven’t received any cartridges. Beware!
I recently bought an IR trigger for my Pentax SLR it did not work . Fair enough after contacting 7 days they sent me a replacement but alas that does not work either so i gave up and have given up on 7 days !
Copy of e-mail sent to 7DayShop:
Dear Sir/Madam
I have just received two small batteries along with a cover note for this order which, incidentally, I placed almost a month ago on 18th August. I should have received, if you will trouble to examine my order, two Epson colour inkjet cartridges – T0530/S020110/S020193.
Having waited this long for something I need (I realise that one cartridge was not in stock), I find that you have obviously mixed up the orders. What is happening to this company which I have used for years? What makes things worse is that it is now impossible to contact you by telephone. Needless to say, I shall not be using your services any more, and shall advise as many people as possible not to do so either.
I demand that you either forward the ink cartridges immediately, or make a full refund to my credit card. I am quite willing to take this matter to the Small Claims Court, if necessary, and shall do so if I have not received either the ink cartridges or a full refund within one week.
The batteries are available for your collection. Do not expect me to post them to you.
J. B. Robinson
Good to see this old news hasn’t got any ‘new’ news… I’ve been a customer of 7dayshop and they have had there bad moments.. How ever they seem to be very consistent since their new website some 2 years ago now.
7dayshop refused a return on my SD card, waste of space company
I will never be using 7dayshop again and I only wish that I had seen all the bad reviews before purchasing from them. I bought 3 products: all turned out to be poor quality. I contacted the company to return the first item that arrived, but they did everything they could to make it difficult for me to return it. Even saying that I couldn’t return it if the packaging had been opened. As they sent an unpackaged product that had been crammed into a cheap grey plastic bag that had torn in transit, how could I even look at the product if I hadn’t opened the packaging! The product has been returned and if I don’t get a refund I will be taking the issue further.
One bag that I ordered must have been modeled by a child as it looked large, but was only tiny when it arrived and it was poor quality: I could have bought the same product for half the price at a market stall. I do wonder if all the reviews on their website are genuine as there doesn’t seem to be anyway to place a review of a product.
This is one company to steer well clear of.