Customers cry foul after waiting months for items from Dick Smith
Wednesday, 30 December 2020
Customers who bought items from Dick Smith say they have been misled and mistreated by the online retailer.
A number of customers have contacted Stuff to express frustration over delivery delays, miscommunication and a lack of refunds.
The comments match dozens left about the electronics website on review websites and on social media.
Rakshana Chandrasiri spent $2000 on Dick Smith’s New Zealand website in November, believing the company was still based in New Zealand.
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He was shocked to learn after his order went through that he would need to wait for his items to come from Dick Smith’s Australian warehouse.
“If they had disclosed that they were shipping from Australia, I wouldn’t have actually purchased the item,” he said.
Once the item was shipped, Chandrasiri was able to track his parcel as it was sent around Australia but never into New Zealand.
He said he contacted Dick Smith and received a “hopeless” reply.
“I couldn’t get in touch with anyone to discuss my order,” he said.
After exchanging dozens of emails with a customer representative in Australia, Chandrasiri was offered a refund on December 10, which never happened.
He said he was offered a refund two more times, which also never eventuated, before he was called on Tuesday and told that he wouldn’t receive any money until Australia Post had redirected the item back to the Dick Smith warehouse.
Chandrasiri said his item was still sitting somewhere in Australia, and he was still $2000 out of pocket.
He warned others against shopping on the website.
“They don’t have a call centre, you can’t contact them, everything has to be done by email. So you can’t speak to a person if something goes wrong,” he said.
Dick Smith was bought by Australian-based Kogan in 2016 after the electronics retailer went into receivership in 2016.
The brand was relaunched as an online-only retailer in mid-2016.
Dick Smith has been approached for comment.
On review website Trustpilot, the retailer has a rating of just 1.6 out of 5.
One reviewer said they experienced “rubbish service bordering on false advertising”.
Another said they were left without a gift for their daughter after ordering an item that said it would ship in early December, only to discover it would not be shipped until after Christmas.
Customers have also taken to social media to express frustration about orders from Dick Smith that have failed to arrive and the difficulty to get hold of a customer service representative.
Consumer NZ chief executive Jon Duffy said Dick Smith was best placed to understand the details of its supply chain and should be taking responsibility for communicating with consumers.
“If Dick Smith can’t supply goods from overseas in a reasonable period of time, or Dick Smith are aware of likely delays, then consumers should be informed before they make the decision to purchase that the goods will take longer than usual to arrive,” Duffy said.
“Dick Smith could be misleading consumers by not providing them information that could influence their decision to purchase.”
Duffy said failing to inform customers could be a breach of the Fair Trading Act, which prohibited misleading representations about goods, including not offering information people should know before deciding to purchase.
“Consumers should complain to the Commerce Commission if they feel they have been misled.”
It could also be a breach of the Consumer Guarantees Act, which required retailers to ensure goods were delivered within the time agreed or within a reasonable time if no time was stated, he said.
Duffy said customers had the right to cancel their order and get a refund if the purchase didn’t arrive when promised or was taking longer than expected.