Did I over-react?

[Lindley]

When I visited Dubai over New Years, I found that you could get delivery of pretty much anything. Burger King would do delivery!

The first day I stayed at the apartment of a friend of my girlfriend. I asked if she had cereal for breakfast. She said no, but then picked up the phone and asked the grocery store downstairs to send up some Raisin Bran and a small milk. They did.....for 4 Dirhams. That's about $1 US.

Why the heck can't we get that kind of service here?

 

[JiNX-01]

Yesterday I received the groceries that I ordered online. The total amount I paid for the groceries was $124.38 plus a $5 delivery fee.

When I checked off the groceries I found out that $19.01 worth of stuff was missing from my order. I phoned up the customer service number and was told that a bag must of been left out of my order and that he would credit the amount to my next order. I told him that I wasn't happy about this as I needed the stuff and I didn't have a spare $20 to go out and buy it. He then told me he would give me free delivery next time on top of crediting the $19.01 to my account. He said that this was all he could do.

I wasn't happy because after paying rent, buying groceries and paying bills I only had $75 left to buy bread throughout the fortnight, buy some fresh veggies next week and to go to the cinema today, so yesterday afternoon wrote a complaint on the store's Facebook page which said

I am quite annoyed at Coles online this week. $19.01 of groceries left out of my order. I have been given a credit for the items and also a credit for a free delivery. However because the items were needed (toilet paper (3 rolls), chicken breasts (2 lots) and coffee, I have to walk all the way to Woolies (my nearest store 2.5 km there and back) and as I am only a pensioner I will have to use the money I was going to use to go to the cinema to buy them. This has really ruined my day.

when I looked the morning Coles Online had answered people who wrote on the wall after me but ignored me. So I wrote another comment

Obviously Coles Online has decided to ignore what i have said in this post. As I result of this I want to ask - if, because of the mistakes Coles Online has made - not just this time but three other times though those times only one item a time was left out of my order - I decide I don't want to put in a $50 order to get the 19.01 I am owed back what can I do to get a refund? 6 items left out when I only ordered 44 items is really poor service. In my opinion it isn't good enough to just give a credit rather than a refund.

I didn't go to the cinema with my friends today because I couldn't afford to.

After this Coles Online has offered to find a way to refund the money to me.

My friend said I have over reacted because it wasn't even $20 of stuff but I believe that the store, from the beginning, should have offered me a refund or at least an chance to pick up the items from their store when the mistake was totally theirs.

Would you have insisted on a refund?

I take it you are a regular Coles Online customer.

I don't think you overreacted. I think the store under-reacted. They should have pulled the record of your purchase, confirmed that the items you said were missing were part of the order and deliver those missing items to you no later than the next day.

 

[Miss Chicken]

Well, apparently, the items she was missing were items she needed for one reason or another. (Honestly, if you wait until you are out of TP before you get more you're sort-of asking for trouble.) And, well, the store seemed more unmotivated to correct the problem.

I am not out of toilet paper. I have a third of a roll on the toilet holder and another roll on the shelf. However that is not enough to last the two weeks to my next pay. I will have to buy at least one more roll, two for absolute certainty.

I take it you are a regular Coles Online customer.

I have been getting my groceries via Coles Online since march 2010. I think this is about the 22nd order I have made and the total amount of purchases would be around the $3000 mark.

I think it is bad business practice to not go out of their way to get the missing purchases to me. For the sake of $20 of purchases it seem that they are willing to sacrifice thousands of dollars that they could have received off me over the next few years.

Compared that to the service I got from Oxfam. I bought a Mother Doll off Oxfam. The doll was meant to come with a small baby but the baby was missing. I emailed them about it on a Thursday. I received a email back the next day saying they would search the warehouse for the missing little doll. On the Monday I received a phonecall saying the missing doll had been found and it would be posted to me. I received the baby by express post on Wednesday. This was the very first time I had used the online Oxfam store but certainly not the last time I will use it.

 

[Aragorn]

You didn't overract. Obviously there are a few reasons you need to use their service.

Also, credit toward a future purchase? For something you already paid for but didn't get? That's just plain dickery. Especially since you'll have to spend more than the credited amount.

 

[Nowhere Man]

Perfectly legit IMO. Anytime a company screws up, you should always stand up for yourself or they will continue to screw you over.