IQ (Apple dealer) on Guernsey are behaving like bad traders

I've bought quite a bit of Apple stuff from IQ in Guernsey before without having a problem, including the apple 6k display, a macbook air, a mac mini, and the other display.

When you order a custom laptop, in my case it has to have ANSI (or English (EU)) keyboard layout, they make you put 10% down.  In this case, it was 174 GBP.  Having requested and received the prepayment, they are now obliged to follow thru.  They can't just keep the money.

I a Macbook pro with them in December.  I think I wanted something with the M3 pro chips to be able to drive an 8k TV over hdmi.

I did create a record in Trello, as I tend to do for such things.

Last month, I was on the high street, and had a feeling I had a pending order with IQ, but couldn't remember what.  I walked in and asked.  They looked me up, and said no, there is no pending order.

Last Friday, April 19, I came across the Trello record, and thought yes, there was an order pending.  Looking thru the Trello card, I did add captures of the order doc and receipt for prepayment from the day I ordered it.  I called IQ and when I said about the order, the person immediately said yes, it's in hand, we're on it, you'll get it next week or something.  I was surprised they knew who it was, because I'd only just started speaking.  I asked if it was from caller id?  They said no, you're Henry Kissinger right (it was someone else's name, I can't remember the exact one).  I said no, and gave my name, and some order details, and they said yes, we're on it, it's being raised with head office, don't you worry, they'll contact you (no timeframe given). 

They were obviously just trying to fob me off.

If a business has taken a prepayment for an order, and lost track of it, and kept the money, then it has made a mistake.  We all make mistakes.  If the customer contacts the business about this, and the business fixes it, then okay.  If all the customer gets is a fobbing-off, then at this point the business is a bad trader.  It is trying to keep the money it has taken, without fulfilling its side.  In other words, IQ the Apple dealer on Guernsey is a bad trader.

I reported this to Guernsey Trading Standards Apr 19 using their web form:

IQ the Apple dealer are taking deposits on orders and not fulfilling the orders.

When I ordered a macbook pro in December, they took 173 GBP from me as a roughly 10% deposit.  This places an obligation on them to fulfill the order, which they did not do, they just kept my money.

When I called in to the shop with a feeling that there was a pending order, I asked them, and they said no, there is no pending order for me.

Later, today, I found my documentation of the order, and the receipt for the 174 GBP.  I called them, and they initially tried to fob me off.  The person said it was all in hand, before asking who I was.  I asked how he knew who I was, was it caller id or something?  He said you're Mr X, right?  I said no, that's not me.  He said you called earlier, right?  I said no, it's the first time I called.

I then gave him some details about the order.  He said it's being queried with head office and they will contact me.  However, it was impossible to tell whether he was still just fobbing me off.

Since this appears to be a pattern, is it possible to require IQ to disclose how many pending orders they have effectively kept the deposit on, which are older than say 3 months, by failiing to fulfill the order or contact the customer?

  kind regards, Tom Jones.

 

and they got back to me on April 23:

Good afternoon Tom,

Could you confirm if they have been able to confirm your pre-order and whether you have received items?

Could you also provide me with a copy of any receipts or emails/paperwork provided to you at the time as well as the date of the transaction.

Regarding the second part of your query, the trading standards service can investigate further if a breach is suspected but we are unable to share information of this nature with consumers.

Kind regards

REMOVED

 My reply of Apr 23rd is self-explanatory:

Dear REMOVED and Trading Standards,

In answer to your question about whether they were able to confirm it, it is difficult to say.  The person on the phone was simply interested in fobbing me off.  It is impossible for me to tell whether they actually looked up the order.

Regarding receipts, yes, please find attached the file "Macbook pro m3 pro on htj Trello.pdf", in which the whole timeline from December is documented, including with copies of receipts from then.  It is in reverse chronological order, meaning that the newest update is at the top.  It is a print-to-pdf of the whole trello record, trello being the system I use to track this kind of thing.

I have heard nothing from the retailer since raising it with them, now over a week ago.  Given the seriousness of the error on their part, I would not expect a week between communications at this stage -- they need to fix the situation.

Regarding being "unable to share information of this nature with consumers", this seems strange. 

For comparison: In Guernsey, in any criminal process, the full name *and address* of individuals is published *at every stage* of proceedings.  Not just when someone is convicted, but also when charged or even just arrested! 

Given this, it would be total madness for there to be a restriction on sharing factual information about a bad trader who is committing civil wrongs by taking prepayments and not following through (in other words, stealing money).

Is your comment a statement of Trading Standards policy?  If a retailer is scamming systematically, then why not compel them to disclose all similar cases, and report publicly the summary information?

  kind regards, Tom Jones.

 

I'd like to emphasise that Guernsey Trading Standards claims it is "unable to share information of 
this nature with consumers", where the "of this nature" is "there is a 
business incorrectly taking and keeping customers' money, losing track 
of orders, and then fobbing them off when they contact them".  Trading 
Standards should be actively sharing information with the public about 
bad traders, not hiding behind "unable to blah blah this nature" 
bullshit verbiage.

For completeness, and in case I use this page as the evidence trail instead of having to write it

up again, here is a picture of the receipt: 

Apologies for the strange text formatting.  The blogger editor is bad.