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How not to make a first impression

As I mentioned yesterday, my main PC spat the dummy and, when I went to turn it on after my weekend away, it would not go.

It turns out that the power-supply had gone belly-up so I had to rush off and steal the unit I'd converted into a general-purpose 12V switch-mode power supply for the workshop.

Clearly, that left me a power-supply short so I figured I'd jump online and buy another.

A quick hunt through PriceSpy led me to this product on the Elive website.

Woohoo... problem solved!

Or so I thought.

The PSU was a reasonable price (quite good in fact) and I was further heartened to see a little graphic near the top-left of the screen that said "Free Shipping on ALL standard sized items" (emphasis is mine).

"Gosh, that's great" I thought to myself, what a wonderful place to buy stuff!

I was even happier when I saw the yellow graphic just below that "Free Shipping" one that claimed "Same day dispatch" via CourierPost.

That's another bonus because it's a pain having to coordinate times with courier drivers and they won't deliver to the airfield. Inevitably, I end up having to go to the depot and pick up any package that's been sent by courier -- except that Courier Post will deliver to my PO Box, the clearance of which is part of my regular routine anyway.

So, I go through the process of creating an account with elive and get to the bit where the total owed appears and I find that there's an $8 courier charge -- where'd the "free shipping" go?

I also found, when entering the shipping address, there was a big bold notice that they would not ship to PO Boxes.

I rang them and they told me "oh, *some* standard sized items do have a shipping charge".

"But hang on, your website says *ALL* standard sized items have free shipping" I responded.

"Oh yeah, it does say that" they admitted -- but too bad, you'll have to pay $8 anyway.

So I queried them about the PO Box thing -- what's the guts? Courier Post *DO* deliver to PO Boxes so why can't they this time?

Well I was told that in this case, NZ Couriers would be handing the delivery, hence the lack of free shipping and the inability to deliver to a PO Box.

Well I'm sorry but that was a deal-breaker for me.

I've had so much trouble in the past with NZ Couriers here in Tokoroa that there's no way I'm going to pay $8 so that they can lose the package then not even try to deliver it and instead make me travel to their depot to pick it up (as is so often the case). Just recently I had a package travel from China to NZ in 3 days then take 2 weeks to get from AK to Tokoroa via NZ Couriers -- with no attempt to deliver it either.

So, what have I learned from this experience?

Elive may have lots of good products and good prices but their website misleads you in respect to shipping. Of course I'm sure there are plenty of people who have had great service and ended up with good deals and maybe I'm nit-picking but as they say, you only get one chance to make a first-impression and the taste in my mouth right now is a little sour -- based on the promises made on their website but not kept once the "buy item" has been pressed and the sign-up process completed.

Perhaps, in hindsight, I understand why they don't tell you the "free" shipping cost until *after* you've been through the sign-up process -- is it just a ploy to get you registered and added to that impressive "Over 50,000 customers" banner I wonder?

What a shame, if they'd simply honoured the promises made on their website, I'd be writing a glowing review of the company but instead, they won't be getting one red cent from me and I guess I'll have to buy my ATX power supply from someone who's a little more honest when it comes to the claims they plaster on their website.

They appear to offer quality products at realistic prices so why all the unnecessary BS claims on their website? What is that golden rule for creating customer satisfaction... Only promise what you can deliver and always deliver more than you promise

ELive -- epic fail this time I'm afraid.

In the end, I bought a 500W ATX power supply off TradeMe, from a seller that would deliver to my PO Box and at a lower price than elive was selling them for.

Remember the word "aardvarkrox" when you go to sign up for the new forums (yeah, I know I haven't customised it yet but bear with me ;-)

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