Wilgje.net

Issues with navishop.nl

Well over a month ago I ordered a Bluetooth GPS-receiver from the website navishop.nl, because I’ve got a PDA with TomTom navigation software and I want it to work properly. I decided to buy this offer for a Globalsat BT308 receiver, and it arrived within a week. It came with a car charger only, which was fine by me because I will probably only use it when driving my (future) car. However, the problem was: the second I tried charging it, the receiver wouldn’t work without the charger anymore. Technically I shouldn’t really care about that either, but it’s a malfunction in the device and I do want to be able to use the receiver without the wire. Therefore I mailed navishop.nl about returning the receiver and getting a new one.

Someone from navishop.nl, let’s call him Joe for the sake of anonymity, mailed me back saying that it was fine, and I should send the device back to them ‘bare’. Well, that’s great and everything, but I argued, what if the malfunction is in the cable? We agreed that I was going to send the device plus cable back. That cost me a fair dime by the way, I don’t suppose I should have paid for that.

After about 10 days I wondered where my item was, so I mailed Joe again. Nothing. A few days later I mailed again, and he mailed me back saying that “the previous mail must have been lost in the filter”. Uh-huh. He convinced me that they were going to send one back. In the email he said he had sent a ‘bare BT308′, which gave me worries the second I read it. And indeed, no cable was supplied with the device. I emailed Joe once again, this time with the question “where is the cable?”. The answer he gave me roughly translates to:

We have different people here who handle these issues, which is why I gave the clear instructions to send the device bare, as you could have read in your mail. I don’t give that advice for nothing, I’ll see what I can do.

First of all, he agreed when I said I’d send the cable along as well, so what does he mean by this at all… and moreover, I’ll see what I can do?! Just send me the cable goddamnit! Anyway, that was my exclamation when I saw that mail. I kindly explained to him how he had agreed and I was only following that agreement, I even threw in an apology. Because that’s me, if I can possibly think of how something is my fault, I apologise. He emailed me back with the short but powerful sentence:

No problem, will send one, have a nice weekend.

But now, 10 days later, I still haven’t seen a cable arrive. I have mailed him again, and I hate mailing because a) I’m pissed off and b) way too polite to let Joe know. I’m waiting for his reply, I wonder what it could be. One thing is for sure, I am never ordering there again.