Awful customer service from TheMarket.com (The Warehouse Group)

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deadlyllama

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#293514 27-Jan-2022 13:46

I'm trying to get an e-bike I bought from TheMarket.com fixed. The gear lever broke in the first two hours of use.

Their email support keep going back to their supplier and it becomes a massive run-around.

The supplier clearly doesn't know much about their products, they've sent me a video on bike assembly. But the bike I bought was partially assembled already, all I had to do was put the front wheel and the seat (and the pedals?) on. The gear lever was fine when the bike arrived, it's just failed after minimal use.

Now I find - they have no phone number to call. Companies office gives their address as BDO Spicers (i.e. their accountant). Domain name details "redacted for privacy."

Any suggestions? Do I need to create a Twitter account to contact their CEO?

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BDFL - Memuneh
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#2857161 27-Jan-2022 14:07

I assume you followed the process here (even though there's no link to any official page or form on this page)?

Also How do I return an item/order? – TheMarket

Handsomedan

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#2857162 27-Jan-2022 14:08

Contact Warehouse Group directly. Customer service: 0800 422 274

Handsome Dan Has Spoken.
Handsome Dan needs to stop adding three dots to every sentence...

Handsome Dan does not currently have a side hustle as the mascot for Yale

*Gladly accepting donations...

sxz

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#2857205 27-Jan-2022 15:46

I've just started the same process - will be interested in seeing how yours goes.

Was it an ET Cycle?

TheMarket

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#2857215 27-Jan-2022 16:04

Hey there, your emails to our customer service team have been escalated with our management team and you will be contacted shortly with further information and assistance.

- TheMarket Team

antonknee

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#2857225 27-Jan-2022 16:29

This is a problem with the entire model of TheMarket (disclosure I worked at TWG in the early days of getting this off the ground and am loosely involved in a similar project/proposition with another company I work for right now).

The problem is that you have three parties involved - the retailer who actually sold you the stuff, TheMarket who clipped the ticket, and yourself (and sometimes even the retailer's supplier/importer/distributor/manufacturer). The other problem is that the customer support team are not very well... supportive. They rely pretty heavily on scripts, the half-baked support pages on their website, totally opaque internal policies, and pointing the finger at the different parties involved.

Did you know that if you purchase something from The Warehouse via TheMarket, which in this case arrived faulty out of the box after a lengthy delay, they can't repair or replace the item? Instead they pay to have it freighted to a warehouse somewhere, you (maybe) get a refund, and then you have to buy the thing again (and if it was on special when you bought it originally, well that's just tough).

While it's great they've commented this has been escalated internally, my experience with two previous issues that got escalated to management is nothing happened. I had to nicely ask a friend of mine who still works at TWG to get some backchannel action on it for me.

deadlyllama

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#2857244 27-Jan-2022 16:57

There are FOUR parties! Me, TheMarket, the Merchant, their Supplier!

I see it has been escalated but ... this "gripe in a public forum to get decent customer support" thing is not good enough. I've had to do it with other businesses too, but what about the people who don't think to do it or don't have an appropriate forum?

They're lucky I don't live in Auckland or Warkworth or I'd have been knocking on a CEO/GM door, as their addresses are THE ONLY non-email contact details for the business that I could track down.

Lias

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#2857258 27-Jan-2022 17:20

It would be interesting to see where the CGA liability lands legally. As they are effectively acting as an agent for the supplier, I'd have thought it was with themarket.com myself.

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Lias

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#2857260 27-Jan-2022 17:21

deadlyllama:

Now I find - they have no phone number to call. Companies office gives their address as BDO Spicers (i.e. their accountant). Domain name details "redacted for privacy."

Isn't that illegal? I thought all company directors were required by law to list their personal, residential addresses.

antonknee

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#2857283 27-Jan-2022 18:38

Lias:

Isn't that illegal? I thought all company directors were required by law to list their personal, residential addresses.

The directors must (and in this case apparently do based on Companies Office records). But the company itself can have an address that isn't necessarily its physical address ie a head office or what have you.

deadlyllama:

There are FOUR parties! Me, TheMarket, the Merchant, their Supplier!

I see it has been escalated but ... this "gripe in a public forum to get decent customer support" thing is not good enough. I've had to do it with other businesses too, but what about the people who don't think to do it or don't have an appropriate forum?

Yes of course it's really four. It doesn't help that many of the retailers/merchants on TheMarket.com are what you might call fairly low quality ie dropshippers or otherwise not really customer focussed; and who knows what their suppliers are like.

Agree it's not acceptable someone should need to raise their issue in a public forum/on social media etc just to get a resolution.

floydbloke

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#2857460 28-Jan-2022 07:14

antonknee:

This is a problem with the entire model of TheMarket (disclosure I worked at TWG in the early days of getting this off the ground and am loosely involved in a similar project/proposition with another company I work for right now).

The problem is that you have three parties involved - the retailer who actually sold you the stuff, TheMarket who clipped the ticket, and yourself (and sometimes even the retailer's supplier/importer/distributor/manufacturer). The other problem is that the customer support team are not very well... supportive. They rely pretty heavily on scripts, the half-baked support pages on their website, totally opaque internal policies, and pointing the finger at the different parties involved.

Did you know that if you purchase something from The Warehouse via TheMarket, which in this case arrived faulty out of the box after a lengthy delay, they can't repair or replace the item? Instead they pay to have it freighted to a warehouse somewhere, you (maybe) get a refund, and then you have to buy the thing again (and if it was on special when you bought it originally, well that's just tough).

While it's great they've commented this has been escalated internally, my experience with two previous issues that got escalated to management is nothing happened. I had to nicely ask a friend of mine who still works at TWG to get some backchannel action on it for me.

Thank you. I will never buy anything from there again.

@TheMarket feel free to let your bosses know that I feel this is a p*sspoor approach to dealing with warranty claims, and although I wasn't a regular, you've lost a customer.

Thanks for explaining "plethora".

It means a lot.

xcon

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#2857474 28-Jan-2022 08:02

floydbloke:

Thank you. I will never buy anything from there again.

+1 , bad experience with TheMarket.com when returning an item, too much hassle ,not worth it

1101

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#2857506 28-Jan-2022 09:02

the Market is liable under the CGA , it seems .
Go back to them & demand a refund .

"includes"
"a person (other than an auctioneer) who, in trade, is acting as an agent for another, whether or not that other is supplying in trade"
https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1993/0091/latest/whole.html

Anyway
"TheMarket will accept returns for faulty or defective items in line with the consumer guarantees act as long as the fault or defect is reported as soon as it occurs. You cannot claim if:"
https://help.themarket.com/hc/en-us/articles/360023456034-Returns-Policy

Just demand a refund & be done with it.
What happens if something else breaks 6months from now, a year from now.

deadlyllama

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#2886381 15-Mar-2022 10:36

So got a cash payout to go down to the bike shop and replace the gear lever, which they did, thanks Mud Cycles!

Now the brake sensors have gone silly which means the bike thinks the brakes are always on and therefore won't turn on the motor.

Due to the bike getting so little use this is at the 2 hour run-time mark (the little screen tells you how much you've used the bike). Just as I was getting into the "hey my wife has an ebike she's not using, I could cycle to work on it!" I managed to make it in once and on the last hill to home this issue happened.

I'll let you know how I get on with their support.

Linux

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#2886385 15-Mar-2022 10:45

Sounds like a drama will remember to avoid " The Market "

This is why I would buy from a local retailer I can walk into a shop and speak to them directly

antonknee

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#2887583 17-Mar-2022 14:03

Still waiting for a resolution from The Market on my DOA television.

They told me they don't do repairs, only refunds and it would need to be picked up and freighted to them (they would arrange this).

They then told me that collections are not available during the red traffic light, so I would need to hold on to the faulty product for an indefinite period of time.

They then told me that actually I can call a service agent to get a repair done sooner and asked why I didn't just do that in the first place.

I told them that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard, that's the exact outcome I wanted and suggested originally and you told me there's no way it was going to happen, but I'm no longer interested in it.

I still have a faulty TV sitting in its box, and a promise that maybe one day they'll pick it up to assess if it can be refunded.

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