Empire Direct experiences ?

[smallangryboy]

I'm close to buying an LCD TV and have seen a very good deal on Empire Direct for the model I'm after with a 3 year warranty to boot.

However I'm sceptical of online retailers, the hollow promises, and dodgy warranties, especially with electrical goods that seem to have built in obsolescence these days. However I do like a bargain, and with that in mind I wondered what peoples experiences were with Empire Direct, delivery and specifically after sales customer care, and how they deal with problems and treat the consumer if things go wrong.

Appreciate the input.

 

[ash]

They do have several stores aorund the country, so buy from there if it makes you fell better

 

[waxxy]

theyve got lots of stores in the north west and have been trading for years and years so i dont think youll have a problem.

its not like some intrnet companys ive seen which dont even have a customer service phone number lol

hope this helps

 

[J80FAB]

I'm close to buying an LCD TV and have seen a very good deal on Empire Direct for the model I'm after with a 3 year warranty to boot.

However I'm sceptical of online retailers, the hollow promises, and dodgy warranties, especially with electrical goods that seem to have built in obsolescence these days. However I do like a bargain, and with that in mind I wondered what peoples experiences were with Empire Direct, delivery and specifically after sales customer care, and how they deal with problems and treat the consumer if things go wrong.

Appreciate the input.

In general ED have been ok when I have bought from them. The most recent purchase (just over a week ago) was a home cinema system.

As they are only down the road from me, I went to pick it up so there was no delivery involved. A good thing because at least I was able to select the boxed product which was standing in the showroom.

About 5 years ago I bought a 14 inch CRT which had bad geometry, took it back & they changed it.

However, about 7 years ago I bought a Loewe VCR from them which suffered from some sort of bad RF interference - continuous banding on the screen. When I reported this they sent out an engineer (beginning to sound like my Currys experience again ) who said I should buy some double-shielded RF cables !

I didn't find this acceptable as all my previous VCRs had worked fine without interference with the same cabling whilst the Loewe did not.

I took it back to the store & was given a bit of a hard time by the manager from what I can remember. I remember him saying something like 'well what am I supposed to do with this now ? I can't sell it as new'. Eh, not my problem.

Anyway hopefully things have changed a bit since then, especially as their on-line setup has grown.

Read some comments from others here in the forum & a range of positive experiences with ED.

One more thing. Neighbours bought a plasma TV over a year ago. One dead pixel on the screen & they didn't change it. They used to have a dead-pixel policy outlined on their website but not sure if it's still there. It might be worth looking to see if it's still there.

 

[badbob]

My first purchase from them (going way back) was Kef Coda 9's and helpful after they stopped working. A while after that quite a few annoyed people dealing with them after sales on the newgroups, but apparently they've got better.

Best to go into the store itself.

 

[clual]

I got my LCD from there a few weeks back - I live close to them so picked it up from the Bradford warehouse with out any issues, and got an Internet price match. This was my first purchase from them and it was easy.

 

[shoemaker666]

had an insurance claim ages ago and my insurance company used them to supply my replacement electrical goods. brilliant 7 boxes turned up a week llater. will buy from them in future

 

[smallangryboy]

Thanks all for the replies, it certainly is "Caveat emptor" when buying goods, but from the replies, on the whole they seem to be OK.

 

[philipdayton1]

If you're at all concerned about buying from Empire Direct, I got a Panasonic TX32LXD60 from Comet at the weekend.
Should of been £899 in store (749 online) for £697.99, they price matched Empire direct plus i got 10% of the difference of too (about another £20) so £677 ish.
They also offer stands half price at the mo if you buy a TV!

 

[Ascari]

Customer reviews

http://www.pricerunner.co.uk/retailer/118/reviews

 

[Nomino]

Wouldn't touch them with a barge pole. I bought a DVD player from them ages ago which needed to be replaced (tray wouldn't open fully). Now, when I send things back to be replaced, I always mark the box and item with UV marker, and photograph it under UV light with date-time stamp for proof.

Sure enough, they came to pick it up, and a few days later they dropped off the new one...or at least the old one... It was the same one I'd send back, and had exactly the same problem. At first they tried telling me that they had replaced it, but when I explained about the UV marker, they changed their tune and claimed to have fixed it. "Apart from it still not working despite your fix, I asked for a replacement", I said, and so the conversation continued.

They picked it up again, and sure enough, they did send a new one...which had a huge scratch on the case. They tried claiming that the scratch was not there when they shipped it, and were not prepared to exchange it. In the end, I had to threaten legal action, and after a few weeks of letters backwards and forwards, I ended up with a replacement...and a refund by accident. Stuff em', they deserve it.

I know it's not fully representative of them, because others have had good experience with them, just like I've had good experience with other "clicks and mortar" companies. However, I wouldn't go near them.

 

[smallangryboy]

Yes it's difficult to get a difinitive view of any one retailer as they will always have good and bad points, and good and bad customer experiences.

I must admit, being able to drop your faulty item on the desk of someone and have a face to face discussion is invaluable these days, especially as, even with distance selling, it's dificult to stress your point if ultimately they just put the phone down.

 

[woody57]

There as good as any one else,but there extended warranties are an arm and a leg.jim