Another Internet tech retailer bites the dust.

I never shopped at Komplett but know lots of people did.

So if you are looking for a new online tech supplier try:-

Dabs:

Bolton based company backed by BT.

Link: www.dabs.com

Dabs sometimes have a liberal  interpretation of “next day delivery” but other than that are ok.

Or

Ebuyer:

I use Ebuyer and have never experienced any problem worth complaining about.

Link: www.ebuyer.com 

Tip: I check the prices at both these sites for I.T. consumables. It only takes a few seconds.

Dabs.com are a internet based retailer for technology goods. The prices are usually pretty good.

I placed an order on Wednesday evening at 17:20 for 5 in stock items, the goods arrived 21 hours later on a standard delivery.

So the supply chain management seems to working just fine.

So that’s the good news, one of the items was a Bgrade iPod, its was a good price (read cheap) and described as “scratched”.

A better description would be “not working at all”, but its Bgrade you takes your chances.

I tried to use the online returns on my account to start the returns procedure, but I always end up on a Dabs.com error page.

I have e-mailed them using their web form, so lets see what happens. I really hope the returns process goes as smooth as the ordering process.

Dabs.com the online retailer launches Dabs.tv

Dabs.tv shows you a video preview of the gadgets and gizmo’s that dabs.com offer.

Sadly someone seems to have forgotten to link back to the products in the dabs.com store.

So you watch a cool video preview, then you have to browse to another website and do a search for the product.

So 10 out 10 for effort 7 out of 10 for execution.

Having a link to the product in your own store would have been a much better way to do it.

Link: http://www.dabs.tv

I suppose now we get to see how quickly a multi million pound business (owned by BT) can sort it.

Update: About an hour, not bad.

Link: http://www.dabs.com

After my rant at a late delivery from Dabs.com it appears they had other things going on that day.

They have just been sold to BT.

Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4956100.stm

BT Link: http://www.btplc.com/

Dabs.com are one of the Internet Retailers I use most (now I am wondering why?).

I ordered a Large Panel Monitor with Next Business Day Delivery.

Now my understanding of “Next Business Day Delivery” is the Next Business Day.

Dabs.com did not manage to deliver Next Business Day.

I think Next Business Day Delivery should be renamed to, We will Deliver…Eventually.

The cost of the Next Business Day Delivery was £16.

___________

Yes I can Complain (I’m British)

Yes I can Get them to Refund the delivery costs.

Instead I weild my ever so tiny bit of consumer power to highlight readers of my blog to Ebuyer.

Link: http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/home/

Dabs.com: Nil
Ebuyer: One

They have recently been through a big website upgrade and spent reportedly £500,000 on a makeover.

I was fascinated by how they described their products as “Cheap”

I am sure David Atherton, Managing Director of Dabs.com, never set out with the grand plan to sell products “Cheap”.

Now you can blame this little marvel on Internet Search Engines.

The fact is people search for “Cheap things”

If you fast forward a few years does this mean traditional business services, like training, consultancy, construction, market research, manufacturing, are all going to have to be “Cheap” to ranked well in the likes of Google?

Well thats just what might be on the cards. Be careful what you search for…you just might get it.

So what’s the rumpus…..

Well looking on the dabs.com site the other day I saw this.

If you look closely on the right (choosing a reseller)

You can see in a customer Poll of 312 Customers only 7 of them rated site usability as being as an important factor in choosing a reseller. Thats 2.2%

Dare I suggest dabs.com you read your own polls.

If you wanted to spend the £500,000 more wisely, could I suggest:-

Offering free delivery or offer lower prices.

Either of those would help with customer retention or more actual customers (shock horror).

PS: I am available for Consultancy by the way (although in this case it was far from rocket science).

Link: http://www.dabs.com/uk/vote/pollresults.aspx