Good afternoon
I am posting to the community as nothing else has worked. This has been singularly the worst ever consumer experience I have ever had. My order number is is 1504698172 for anyone at Dyson reading this.
4 months after Dyson failed to deliver the order, after promising a refund, and after multiple exchanges with customer service, here I am. Still waiting for the refund after a series of broken promises by Dyson. The story is set out below. I now see that I am not alone in receiving this kind of experience. I reside in France, making this situation even more difficult. However, it seems that I will need to engage court action in France to get redress. Awful awful service.
INTRODUCTION
This is a last desperate attempt to allow Dyson UK to remedy an awful and inexcusable experience with what is supposed to be a leading UK company. I am seeking refund of £379.99 for a never delivered vacuum cleaner and something to compensate for the awful amount of wasted time and expense in this matter.
I have never seen anything quite like it.
BACKGROUND
Some four months after promising to deliver a vacuum cleaner within 24 hours, I am still without any vacuum cleaner from Dyson UK, nor any refund. On the other hand, I do have an awful lot of words and broken promises from Dyson UK, through their service chatline and WhatsApp exchanges (Dyson used WhatsApp until recently for its service line).
Both I and family members have wasted hours on this matter, corresponding in relation to it, waiting in for delivery and generally tearing our hair out.
The chronology is as follows:
9 September 2023 - I ordered a vacuum cleaner for 24 hour delivery on Sunday, The confirmation of the order stated clearly and expressly "Delivery details Sunday 10th September 08:00 - 18:00"
10 September 2023 - I (or family) waited in all day Sunday for delivery.
10 September 2023 AM - Whatsapp exchanges with Dyson. Dyson state at 09h07 "The courier will contact you with a delivery time slot and if they do not reach you, they will return the item."
11 September 2023 AM - WhatsApp exchanges with Dyson who state:
"Good day Andrew, I am sorry to learn that you have not received your order yet. However, we only deliver on working days, not on weekends. Also, we can't cancel the order for you. If you wish to cancel the order you can refuse delivery when it is attempted, and the order will be returned back to us. On receipt at Dyson we'll process a refund for your order, this will take up to 5-7 working days to appear back to your original method of payment."
11 September 2023 - Family members waited in all morning for delivery. Delivery never happened.
11 September 2023 PM - Parcelforce sent an email at 14h05 saying shipment was being sent from Dyson and due to be despatched on 11/09/2023 using Express 24 service
12 September 2023 PM - In Whatsapp, Dyson state:
"Hi Mr XXX, I am sad to hear that you have not received your item as of yet. We are sorry to hear that you will be refusing delivery. A full refund will be initiated once the item is back in the warehouse after refusal of delivery and this can take 5-7 working days for it to reflect in the account you used when making the purchase. We do hope that you accept the machine upon delivery but we understand and empathize with your frustration. This is not a true reflection of our service."
18 September 2023 PM - A week later, still no delivery, with no-one in my family having been contacted by Dyson or Parcelforce. I record the sorry sequence of events in WhatsApp with Dyson:
"I am having to pick this up again. Apparently, ParcelForce only tried to deliver last Wednesday. Without trying to make contact at all (eg by ringing the given U.K. mobile number), their system reports that they could not find the delivery address. However, they managed to deliver a card to the delivery address end of last week saying they could not deliver!!! We have tried to ring Parceforce to decline the delivery. They will not answer their phones. I am therefore, in desperation, resorting back to this WhatsApp exchange. Please now reimburse and close this matter. We have collectively in the family spent hours on this wild goose chase be that created by Dyson or its chosen carrier. It must now stop! Thank you"
28 September 2023 - Dyson sent an email acknowledging return of the vacuum cleaner and promising a refund in the following terms:
"Thank you for returning your order. We're now preparing your refund. Please note, this can take up to 14 days….Once we've prepared your refund, it will be paid into the same account as the one used for payment. This can take up to 14 days."
19 October 2023 - Dyson has still not refunded as promised. I wrote to Dyson in the WhatsApp exchanges in the following terms:
"I am reverting on this very sorry saga. It has been well over a month since I ordered your product for a promised 24 hour delivery. Not only was the product never delivered, but I am still waiting on a refund from you. The last broken promise was a « do not reply » email on 28 September saying that a refund was being processed but could take up to 14 days. We are now 21 days beyond that. I am afraid that you have completely lost me as a customer as basic promises are being repeatedly broken. And really you should be compensating for the not inconsiderable wasted time I have spent on this, not to mention others who waited in for your non-existent delivery. The lates failure to refund is just the icing on the cake and there can be no excuses for that. Please organise the refund without any further delay. Thank you"
The response from Dyson was simply "Thank you for your patience, we've been experiencing high contact volumes today - I am sorry for the delay, we are looking into this for you now"
25 October 2023 - Dyson has still not refunded as promised. I wrote to Dyson in the WhatsApp exchanges in the following terms:
"Good morning, the saga continues. I have had no response from you. And still no sign of the promised refund. Another week goes by. Should I now consider that Dyson is insolvent and take steps accordingly?"
Dyson's response was simply "I'm sorry to hear about your discontent. Of course we aim to satisfy, but I fully understand your frustrations with the situation at hand. I hope we can solve this and change your mind."
5 November 2023 - Dyson has still not refunded as promised. Dyson shut down WhatsApp requiring me to use their new chatline. After multiple exchanges, I finally got a concrete reaction and new commitment from Dyson, who stated:
"I just had a word with my team and they are also feeling sorry for the situation. The suggested me to create an escalation case for you so that the escalation team gets it released as soon as possible. Because we at Dyson do not want more delays in this order. We respect your time and we are here for you….It will be refunded to you very soon and you will hear from them within 72 hours. However, I am creating a note for you here so that it gets resolved on priority basis and to treat this issue on top of the list:)"
11 November 2023 - No-one from Dyson had contacted me within 72 hours as promised. Dyson has still not refunded as promised. I insisted on chatting with a supervisor. I got the following responses:
"Andrew this case is very rare in Dyson so do not worry please bear with me I will surely help to sort it out for you and also I am taking to my senior management for a quick resolution. Please stay connected!"
The matter was then escalated to a supervisor called Kumar Ashutosh.
On the refund, the supervisor assured me that "You will receive it with in 3-5 days"
On compensating me and my family for the horror story that Dyson has been responsible for, the supervisor promised a 25% discount on the next Dyson purchase and that "you will receive email regarding the same."
7 January 2023 - It is now almost two months since my last communications with Dyson. There has been no refund from Dyson and no email from Dyson regarding the promised 25% reduction.
SUMMARY
As the above chronology of events evidences, this sorry saga has been an unending series of broken promises by Dyson. It is a quite extraordinary saga when one considers that all would have been well if Dyson had delivered when promised or soon after. Matters would have been relatively OK if Dyson had promptly processed a refund. But because of the above saga, I have no trust left with customer service at Dyson UK.
If anyone from Dyson reads these posts, please refund the £379.99 that Dyson has now had for 4 months and compensate me for the awful treatment I have been subjected to.
Thank you