What's happened to European delivery? (European Delivery is now back)

[tim.b]

Apparently Novatech have just stopped delivering outside the UK. I moved to France last year and having used Novatech for several purchases in the past I was happy to continue to be a customer. The European Union is after all supposed to be a common market. I must have been lucky enough to get one of the last deliveries to France, having ordered a new motherboard and bits about three weeks ago. I have no complaints with that order, it was submitted on a Thursday and delivered first thing the following Monday. However I then recommended Novatech to a fellow expat a week later and their online order was cancelled without explanation. It was only when they contacted customer services that they were told that Novatech no longer deliver to Europe. They were told they should have received an email explaining this but nothing had arrived.

I am obviously very embarrassed by this, personally I am very happy with the service I have received from Novatech, and it was on this basis that I made the recommendation. I can accept (although am disappointed by) a commercial decision to stop deliveries to Europe, although an explanation would be nice. However what I find unacceptable is to take an order and then cancel it. It should have been the procedure to process all outstanding European orders and then stop accepting any more.

[Pog]

Really???!!! I hope not... I just placed a large order yesterday to be sent to Ireland (south).

Can someone from Novatech clarify the situation please?

[codemonkey]

Apparently Novatech have just stopped delivering outside the UK. I moved to France last year and having used Novatech for several purchases in the past I was happy to continue to be a customer. The European Union is after all supposed to be a common market. I must have been lucky enough to get one of the last deliveries to France, having ordered a new motherboard and bits about three weeks ago. I have no complaints with that order, it was submitted on a Thursday and delivered first thing the following Monday. However I then recommended Novatech to a fellow expat a week later and their online order was cancelled without explanation. It was only when they contacted customer services that they were told that Novatech no longer deliver to Europe. They were told they should have received an email explaining this but nothing had arrived.

I am obviously very embarrassed by this, personally I am very happy with the service I have received from Novatech, and it was on this basis that I made the recommendation. I can accept (although am disappointed by) a commercial decision to stop deliveries to Europe, although an explanation would be nice. However what I find unacceptable is to take an order and then cancel it. It should have been the procedure to process all outstanding European orders and then stop accepting any more.


Really???!!! I hope not... I just placed a large order yesterday to be sent to Ireland (south).

Can someone from Novatech clarify the situation please?

Hi there,

Firstly let me offer our apologies for any confusion there is regarding european deliveries. I will try my best to clarify the situation.

However the situation is a little more complicated than us merely deciding not to ship there any more. And believe me we do still want to ship to Europe.
The trouble isn't with Europe being a common market but lies with the revised Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive that came into force in January 2008. As we are compliant with this directive in the UK we believed we were covered for all of Europe. However, it has come to our attention that the WEEE directives differ on a country by country basis. And as we are legally (and ethically) obliged to follow these directives wherever we sell goods, we have to ensure we are compliant in every country we ship to.

As such we are currently having to investigate what each countries WEEE directives are and whether we are compliant, and this is taking some time, which is delaying orders. At the moment we are attempting to ship every order that we can, but in some cases we are unable to do so.

From the OP's post there does seem to be some confusion internally as well as regards to us shipping abroad. Again I offer our sincerest apologies and believe me when I say I will get this situation rectified as soon as possible and be able to give you a definitive answer.

[PMM]

Sounds like the nightmare I used to have with packaging waste regulations.

For Joe Consumer this is a good read ... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_east/6229377.stm

[Pog]

Codemonkey, thanks for that.

This WEEE business does indeed sound a bit messy given the variations local to countries within the ECC. Ireland requires producers/sellers to register with the WEEE society and provide a monthly update of the weight of electronic goods sold, place WEEE disposal stickers on goods and except old items for disposal in a like for like manner. There is also an extra small charge per type of electronic item sold and this is paid into a recycling fund.

I'm still confused about my order send on Tuesday, I see that it's not left the warehouse and I'm wondering if it ever will given the situation... Should I just talk to sales and cancel?

Thanks.

[codemonkey]

I'm still confused about my order send on Tuesday, I see that it's not left the warehouse and I'm wondering if it ever will given the situation... Should I just talk to sales and cancel?

Thanks.

Hi Pog,

If you want to PM me your order number I will endeavour to find out what's going on for you.

[tim.b]

Thanks for the clarity of your reply Codemonkey, it does help a lot when situations like this are properly explained. I sympathise with Novatech over what sounds like a horrible tangle of red tape. It might be worth changing the rather stark message on this page

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/hddeliverychargeseu.html

especially if you anticipate being able to resume something like a normal service at some point in the future.

[Jambelle]

Hi Codemonkey. I am the person mentioned in the first post on this thread whose order was cancelled without any information or explanation. I never did receive an email, nor did I receive a reply to an email I sent to David Furby on 10th February, although I did have confirmation that it had been read. I wonder if you could clarify why my order was accepted and then cancelled without explanation. I was really disappointed as I had wanted this order for a birthday present (to myself) and I am still unable to find a solution to the problem. Thanks in anticipation.

[codemonkey]

Hi Codemonkey. I am the person mentioned in the first post on this thread whose order was cancelled without any information or explanation. I never did receive an email, nor did I receive a reply to an email I sent to David Furby on 10th February, although I did have confirmation that it had been read. I wonder if you could clarify why my order was accepted and then cancelled without explanation. I was really disappointed as I had wanted this order for a birthday present (to myself) and I am still unable to find a solution to the problem. Thanks in anticipation.

Hi Jambelle,

Can you please PM me back with your order number and I will speak with the Aftersales Director to find out what happened so we can prevent it from happening in the future and hopefully provide you with an explanation.