qxl - theft and arrogance to fore (qxl.co.uk)

Member Name: Stuartli

Product:	qxl.co.uk
Date:	04/01/01 (300 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Can get bargains, but takes a lot of time online..

Disadvantages: Some very, very dubious "traders"

Use qxl.com? Then keep an eagle eye on your bank and credit card statements!

I’ve had just two dealings with qxl. The first in the middle of last year was the auction acquisition of an Ondigital prepaid box at £16, plus £3.95 carriage. Paid by credit card with no problems.

On July 5th qxl e-mailed with the offer of a free valuation from the new Hugh Scully website. I took up the offer and the same day was given a valuation for the object I described via an e-mail link which also stated my account had been credited for this service.

I immediately e-mailed qxl The following day qxl responded to say the e-mail had been received; shortly afterwards a Charlotte Christofferson sent a message assuring me that I had not been charged. This, in turn, was substantiated by a Sarah Williams, again by e-mail.

Nothing further was heard and I never visited the site for months as neither my old or new password worked. Then, to my surprise, on December 22nd, I received an “Success Fee” invoice from billman@qxl.com stating that £12 as a valuation fee had been taken from my credit card account.

Again an e-mail was sent pronto to both the sender and the qxl customer services department, demanding to know why money had been taken out of my account without any authority or reason? Two replies said the matter was being attended to and that service was a key part of qxl’s policy.

Eventually, on December 28th, I received two further replies, both from a J Mareemootoo, stating the matter was being investigated “as a matter of urgency” and that the amount would be refunded. I e-mailed again registering a serious complaint over the unwarranted charge, pointing out that I had spent considerable time and trouble and some worry about money being taken out of my credit card account. I also insisted that some form of financial compensation be made.

All I got back was a note from Siobhan Mulvany, a se
nior billing associate, apologising for the incident and that qxl was working to rectify the matter as quickly as possible. After receiving my credit card statement on February 2nd I again contacted qxl.

A Clarissa Gaggiotti wrote to apologise for my inconvenience and that if I had suffered any bank charges to fax a copy of my bank statement. I replied to the effect that qxl had been completely out of order and that my bank statements were my concern and my concern only.

I’ve still had no confirmation that qxl has deleted my details from its database or that it even appreciates that what it has done amounts to theft. Many people could well have not noticed such a mistake and paid up. Something is seriously wrong with qxl’s accounting system and/or its security arrangements.

Most worrying is that it seems to think that merely by carefully avoiding any awkward questions and failing to provide a response to them that they will quietly go away.

An instance is that in its last reply, from “billman”, the e-mail states: “Please do not contact us regarding this unless you have not received your credit by the end of the second week of January”.

This is breathtaking arrogance on qxl’s part and should be a warning to anyone who deals with the website.

PS. At one time I had several e-mail communications with qxl regarding some of its "traders", who were clearly of a very dubious nature. Make sure you read the buyers and sellers' assessments before parting with your hard earned cash.

PPS. Further to the above I have sent the following e-mail to qxl's billing department:

I find the arrogance of the sentence in your latest e-mail: "Please do not contact us regarding this unless you have not received your credit by the end of the second week of January" quite, quite breathtaking.

I suggest that you should change it to a more frien
dly, less aggressive "Please contact us if you have not received a credit refund by the end of the second week of January."

In the meantime perhaps one of your amusingly titled "billing associates" could do a little cooing and explain to me just how I am supposed to know if your promised refund of the money stolen from my account has been repaid?

It seems to have completely escaped your attention that credit card companies only send statements out once a month.

In view of this it might be worthwhile you further amending the earlier suggested sentence to: "Please contact us if your credit refund is not included in your next credit card or bank statement."

Summary: