How hard can it be to buy a treadmill online? Part 1

Yes, how hard can it be??
Apparently extremely hard!
My first attempt started on the 29th of August this year, with me ordering a treadmill from http://www.fitnesstimes.co.uk
I ordered a Reebok Edge Treadmill - Model REE-11301 or REV-11301 for £299.99
As per usual for online shopping, I paid with my credit card at the time of placing the order online. And of course my card was immediately debited with that amount and £29.99 "delivery".
The first warning sign should have been that I received no order confirmation at all, only an email from the payment company stating they had debited my card with £329.98.
OK, I waited a bit, as the gullible person I am... No: "as the gullible person that I would like to be" is more appropriate. ;-)
But after over two weeks of complete silence I sent them this email:

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To: sales@fitnesstimes.co.uk
Subject: RE: Your Order at Euro Broker
Date: Thu, 16 Sep 2010 15:29:11 +0100

Dear Sir / Madam,

Placed this order below on the 29th August with yourselves and have heard nothing since.
Could you please give me an update: What is happening with the order? Is there anything on my side I can do to help to expedite the delivery? It is after all almost three weeks since I placed the order and I have had no communications from yourselves, except for the first automated order response below. So I thought I'd ask.

Kind regards,

Tony Andersson

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I then heard nothing at all for another two weeks, not a single reply to my email. Which then lead me to send this email to them. The second address is to Warren Hatton to whom the payment went to, according to the automated email I got from www.Moneybookers.com after the initial order.

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To: sales@fitnesstimes.co.uk, wwhatton@yahoo.co.uk
Date: 09/29/10 13:47
Subject: Please refund my order!


It is now a month since I ordered and paid for this item. I have still yet not heard anything from you, despite emailing you asking for an update. When phoning you on the 17th of this month you vaguely claimed the item was out of stock but would be in stock again within a week. That was almost two weeks ago, and no communication has been received from yourselves, ever actually. Not even an order confirmation or a delivery estimate. Let alone have I seen any treadmill.

I'll put this in simple words:
PLEASE REFUND MY ORDER IMMEDIATELY, or I have no other choice than to contact the credit card company and the police and file a claim against you for fraud. You cannot just take my money and then disappear. It's as simple as that.

Regards,

Tony Andersson

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Apparently that's what I had to do. Threat with legal action. Because this time I got an answer:

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Date: Wed, 29 Sep 2010 14:56:07 +0100
From: sales@fitnesstimes.co.uk
Subject: Re: Please refund my order!

Good Afternoon Mr Andersson

Thank you for your email

I am sorry for the delay. Our last load came in on Thurs of last week and any outstanding orders are being checked prior to despatch

I am not sure the police would entertain such a civil matter, therefore I would advise not wasting their time

Upon receipt of cancellation, we have 30 days to issue a refund, however, I will cancel your order now for you, and send your refund for processing very shortly

We are sorry to hear of your disappointment

Kind Regards

Eurobroker

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And here's the following correspondence, I don't think I have to comment very much... (Their email client is apparently set up for US date format, so don't be confused!)

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To: sales@fitnesstimes.co.uk
Date: 10/13/10 13:01
Subject: RE: Please refund my order!


I still have not received this refund! Please do this immediately or reply with a post address where I can send a registered letter to yourselves.

Regards,

Tony

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Date: Wed, 13 Oct 2010 13:15:37 +0100
From: sales@fitnesstimes.co.uk
Subject: Re[2]: Please refund my order!

Good Afternoon Tony

Thank you for your email

Cancellation of your order was received on 02/10/10, and will therefore be with you by 01/11/10, this complies with Trading Standard Regulations. We do however try to prcess these as early as possible

Contact details are available on our website www.fitnesstimes.co.uk

Kind Regards

Euro Broker

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To: sales@fitnesstimes.co.uk
Date: 10/13/10 13:29
Subject: RE: Re[2]: Please refund my order!

This is complete nonsense. I have tried to help you understand the Distance Selling Regulations before, but apparently completely failed. You have not fulfilled your part of the agreement and should therefore refund me IMMEDIATELY. Any 30 day excuse is only valid in case of a customer returns the purchased item, to give the merchant sufficient time to examine the returned item. This is not the case here so you can hold on to money you never should have had in the first place, since you could not deliver what was in your fulfilment. That is simply fraud and will be quoted so in my review of your "services" on Internet.

/ Tony

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Date: Wed, 13 Oct 2010 13:40:45 +0100

To: silly_registrations@hotmail.com
From: sales@fitnesstimes.co.uk

Subject: Re[4]: Please refund my order!

We are fully aware of the regulations, it is just unfortunate for yourself that we are only human and can't keep everyone happy all of the time, I do not know of a company that can!!!

As I stated in my last email, we have 30 days to issue a refund, we work closely with Trading Standards, but again, we do try to process these within this time frame. You are not our only customer, we do have hundreds and hundreds of other customers of whom are very happy with their purchases, and the service they receive from us. Like I said we are only human, and work very very hard to avoid such conversations

For this I can only apologise and process your refund as quickly as I possibly can

I will try to organise this by the close of business today, that's all I can do

If this is not sufficient, I am more than happy for you to speak with my Managing Director who may be able to help further

Regards

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Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2010 12:38:36 +0100
To: silly_registrations@hotmail.com
From: sales@fitnesstimes.co.uk
Subject: Refund Processed

Good Afternoon Mr Andersson

Just to let you know I have received an urgent refund request, and I can confirm this will show in your account within 3 Working Days

This has been done via your original method of payment

Kindest Regards

Euro Broker

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The refund then showed up the 22nd, six banking days after they claim they had refunded me. (It would not take more than two or three days for a refund to show up on my account, worst case scenario.)
If you wonder if I have left any names out, I haven't! Not a single email from Fitnesstimes / Euro broker was signed with a name. And also if you wonder about how "their hundreds and hundreds of happy customers" are creating so much work for their "returns department" I can't help you there. :-) Neither do I know how company that is registered as a sole trader can have a Managing Director, let alone a Managing Director for a specific department (which is what is implied in" to speak with my managing director"). But if that is what Mr Warren Hatton would like to be addressed when the lady (Possibly? Have no clue since no correspondence have been signed with a name or a reference) who can write emails is talking to him, that's between them...
And why or how they can "work close with Tradng Standards" I can only theorise about. The "Distance selling regulations" is a collection of regulations, published by the Office of fair trading. If they have to work closely with some governmental body to fulfil their obligations, something is very wrong. The alternative is that Fitnesstimes / Euro broker or the sole trader Warren Hatton is lying to me. And that wouldn't be a nice thing for me to assume, would it?
But as I said before, to take my money and then not respond to any communication until threatened with legal action and then further try to blatantly delay refunding my money is nothing short of a scam, if you ask me.

So, no, I would not do business with Fitnesstimes / Euro broker or the sole trader Warren Hatton again. In fact, I would recommend anyone who asks me, to steer clear of any fitness "supplier" in the vicinity of Doncaster...
Why that last brave statement about Doncaster? That you'll have to read about in the next instalment of this saga a bit later. I think this is enough aggravation for one day now.