Complaint Review: Clove Technology

We operate in a very specialist industry.  Our whole business is about providing the very latest products in the smartphone industry and part of this is allowing individuals to order in advance products that we know are being produced by the manufacturer but have not yet been released.

The majority of our customer base want the product the moment it is released, especially when an accessory is released after the device is launched. Thus we list the product and allow customers to buy it so that they know if the product arrives it will be sent to them.

Our website stated that the product was not available and we charge as standard when a product price has been confirmed.  Had the price not been confirmed then we would not charge.

It would be right that we held funds, but we can not send something that is not physically available.

At all times, from the time of purchase the customer could have cancelled the order if they were not satisfied. At no point did we not offer this.  At no point did the customer raise concerns about the delay until we emailed about an incorrect product image.
  
@Myz King - If you read our previous statement and see the attached images you will see that it was quite evident that the product was not in stock and that we made customers aware of this.  Not to mention the emails that followed.

Also we do offer the notification option on the product page should a customer choose to be notified rather than actually purchasing the goods.

And what about holding his money for a month and half without sending hime any of the accessories? How do we know that you didnt use the money somewhere else? This is not ethical from a proffessional company.

Why offer a product (and allow purchase) if it's not available? I'm not accusing or trying to be rude. Just a simple question/comment.

I can understand how a customer could be upset if he/she ordered something (hit buy button and put in CC info) and never received the product. Then was told it was not released by the manufacturer yet. I would be upset too. 

Maybe you could take away the buy button, so customers aren't confused, then angry. Maybe replace it with a 'notify me' button or something like that.

In response to the case we would like to comment to explain that the case ordered by the customer had at the time of ordering not been released by the manufacturer and that the price had been confirmed but not the availability.

The product page from which the customer ordered the case stated that the availability was to be confirmed.  HTC, the manufacturer had not shipped any to its resellers.

We did on this product charge the customer upon the order being placed.

We Informed the customer after placing the order as a matter of course that it was out of stock and that we would ship when it came into stock, providing an expected time frame.

In between times the case was delayed further and we realised that the image on our website was incorrect (there was a revised design) and made the change to the product page.

We contacted all customers to give them the opportunity to continue with the order based on the new design or for us to cancel the order with no penalty.

Upon request of cancellation of the order by the customer, we cancelled this immediately and processed the refund.  Any delays in the refund are through inter bank communication where it takes often a few days for the transaction to appear on the customers statement.

We trust this explanation details the issue in more detail.  At all times we attempt to operate with the customer interests first and to provide a high level of service.