The Littlewoods Direct website has relaunched this week with a new name in an effort to appeal to younger customers, and billing itself an an 'online, social department store'.
The site has been rebranded as Very, and contains a social network element with contributions from celebrities such as Fearne Cotton, as well as as the usual e-commerce stuff. I've been trying it out...
Homepage
The homepage is pretty simple, with the majority of the page being used to promote the various sections of the site; celebrity designers, the Very Network, special offers etc, as well as offering an explanation of the site to visitors who may be unfamiliar with the name.
All this means that there is less space devoted to navigation. For users that arrive at the site and just want to get on with searching for a product or browsing by product category, the links on the top navigation bar and the search box could stand out better.
Also, the page is narrow, and seems to have been optimised for lower screen resolutions, which isn't strictly necessary when most internet users now have 1024 x 768 or larger.
Further down the page, there is an email sign up option, which seems a good idea to get more subscribers, but this takes you to another where users are asked for more details.
This would be fine if this was used to get more relevant information on things like preferred product areas, how often they want to receive emails etc, but what is actually does is get you to confirm your email address and full name, which is asking for extra effort from potential subscribers without getting any useful information to target emails.
Navigation / site search
The top navigation bar allows you to either click on the product categories or hover the mouse over until a drop-down menu appears with sub-categories.
I think this one falls into the category of 'huge drop-down menus' which, according to Jakob Nielsen, are good for usability since they avoid the need for tiresome scrolling by allowing users to see all the options at once.
This is certainly better than small drop downs that you have to scroll down, but the ease with which you can lose the menu through careless cursor control can also make a difference, and this one disappears the instant the cursor leaves the menu.
One you click on an option or product category, there are some decent filtered navigation options so shoppers can narrow down their product search by product type, brand etc, with more filtering options, including price range, as you narrow the search further:
The site search seems pretty good too; if you search for a 'black camera', then only black cameras are shown (on some sites I find that adding a colour to the search term doesn't always work.
You can also confine your product search to a specific section of the site, while the same filtering options you see when browsing are there to help you narrow down your search results.
Product pages
The product pages on the site are decent, though varied in quality. Some pages, such as this one for a cot, provide a good range of images, showing products from a range of angles, while others are less impressive.
The pages tick most boxes in terms of providing information, though the product descriptions are not especially inspring. Elsewhere, delivery information is vague in many cases, with some pages showing delivery charges, others not.
Information on expected delivery times was poor too. The page above promises delivery within seven days, though this was as much as 14 for other items. This can be vital for the purchase decision, as some shoppers will want items as fast as possible.
A next day delivery option, or at least the promise to deliver within a couple of days, should be provided where possible to lure such customers in, while a vague 14 day estimate is just no good at all.
The pages also include the option to 'Twitter this product', as well as adding it to Facebook and MySpace profiles, but the Twitter link just places a bit.ly URL which leads back to the product page with no accompanying text to explain it, which defeats the object.
Product reviews are provided where available, and these are done well, thanks to Power Reviews. The key here is to organise the reviews so that, even if there are a large number, they are easy to make sense of.
So, as well as an overall user rating, keywords are picked out from reviews and listed as pros and cons, and other shoppers have the option of rating the reviews as useful or not, while reviewers are also verified, so you know that this person has actually bought the product.
Social features
The Very Network looks to have some decent features, including a TV section which contains various fashion related videos, ans something called the VIP Lounge which promises live chat with Holly Willoughby, Caprice, and other celebrities:
The network also includes product reviews, grouped into various categories and ranked by ratings score. This is reasonably useful, but better use could be made by incorporating the review scores into the search and filtering options on the main shopping section of the site.
The Very Network appears to want to be an exclusive club, or at least give that impression, since logging in to the network is reserved for 'buyers' and 'insiders':
If the aim is to build up a decent amount of users to provide enough content, placing barriers in front of people (they have to fill in a form giving details of interests etc) wanting to sign up for the networks is a strange not the way to go about it, though perhaps the aim is to prevent people leaving unreliable reviews and spamming the site.
Basket / Checkout
The shopping basket page is fine, though it could provide more information on things like the available payment options, as well as giving some reassurance about security issues.
At this point, it is necessary to register to enter the checkout process, and some customers may wonder why a date of birth is needed to buy from the site:
This information is really not necessary, and if sites insist on asking for dates of birth and other such details, then it should at least be made optional to avoid the risk of deterring potential customers.
This is only the first page of registration as well. After this, customers need to enter email addresses, phone numbers and set a password before they can get on with the job of entering their address and payment details:
There are a few potential sources of irritation in the process, such as the error messages, which can be unclear. In the screenshot below, an error message appears above the LCD TV I am on the point of paying for, meaning that it has not been included in the total price:
The error stems from the fact that I have apparently not entered a property type and phone number for the delivery address, but I have already provided a phone number earlier in the process, while the need to enter a property type was not made clear.
On closer inspection, this information should have been entered in the box above, but I skipped past it because there was nothing to indicate that it was obligatory to enter anything here, while previously, required information was indicated with an asterisk.
Also, the small box turns put to be there to enter my dialling code, though this is not immediately obvious, especially as only one box was needed when I entered a phone number earlier in the process.
Not realising this means another error message appears, which is one more source of frustration for shoppers, and something that could easily have been avoided with some consistency.
Conclusion
The Very.co.uk site is a mixed bag, containing some good examples of e-commerce best practice, such as well sorted product reviews, decent navigation and filtering options and site search that works well.
The network features look interesting too, though whether restricting membership to buyers and insiders is a good strategy is debatable. ASOS, which has some excellent community features on its site, doesn't make it this hard to join.
There are drawbacks though, such as vague delivery information on product pages, while the checkout process could certainly be improved. Far too much data entry is required to complete purchases, especially for first time shoppers, which makes the process longer than it needs to be and makes it more time consuming for customers.
So, a few tweaks here and there are needed to make it a more usable e-commerce site. That said, it's much better than the recently relaunched Woolworths site, the last release from Shop Direct Group.
Graham Charlton is Editor at Econsultancy. Follow him on Twitter or connect via Linkedin or Google+.
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10:25AM on 14th July 2009
Good review Graham, you picked up on some areas that didn't even occur to me.
From the viral/social marketing aspect, I was expecting so much more and I thought from what I had seen in press releases, the site was going to be better integrated from this point of view.
They also have some small(?) technical flaws such as www. vs non-www. which doesn't work right now. Not exactly good if they have inbound links who use the http://very.co.uk method over http://www.very.co.uk.
I look forward to seeing how this brand evolves. The only way is up.
9:26PM on 14th July 2009
Having worked on this project, and knowing a lot about the aspirations of Shop Direct Group (70% of customers online by 2010) I can't believe how dissapointing this new site is.
If anything in your review you've been far too kind.
This business has the infrastructure to be the biggest online retailer in the UK but is still being run by people who understand catalogues - not the online world.
Why do they collect your date of birth? - So they can credit check you for an account.
Technically the site is 5 years or more behind (tables on the main site, the network section displays horridly in most browsers are just two examples). There is no appreciation for SEO or Social Media - even though the brand is supposed to be at the forefront of internet shopping.
Extremely disapointing.
Founder at The Ecommerce Network
9:27AM on 15th July 2009
I had a play this morning - some seriously buggy code in places. It's subjective, but i think it looks awful too - dull, drab and boring.
Some of the modus operandi isn't too bad; good search, nav okay, but poor filtering - you can't search for a brand, colour or size within a category.
Overall I'd agree with Mr Not Disclosing.
I can't say I'm entirely surprised because i don't think there's a real understanding of how people will use the site at Shop Direct. E-commerce is indeed different to catalogues.
Founder at The Ecommerce Network
9:29AM on 15th July 2009
Ooh, i take it back - filtering by brand is possible!
11:49PM on 16th July 2009
I think they have lost the plot. What does Very stand for "Very Awful" "Very Anything" awful awful name. Littlewoods was already a well know brand name so why change it ? I can't see the difference between the new site and the old site infact the old site and shopping experiance was much more slick.
When I shop for a product I want to buy off littlewoods extra as that is who I have my credit with I usually search the net for a independent product review as do 98% of people I know. I am not going to trust anything posted by stars or posted on very itself as you just know they are not going to print the truth about a line they can't move. Another disappointing aspect of Very is the number of brand item goods seems to have gone down and my first time today since the change could not get the item I wanted unless I went to the littlewoods other site that hasn't had a brand name and pay an £20 more the same item from the same company. I think the public have been telling the retail survey lies or what they want to hear because as a long time bread and butter customer I think it now utterly crap and it won't be my first port of call from now. I don't know who got paid for this idea but if I was the shareholders I'd want the money back.
Things where going down hill lately they never seem to have any stock either sold out or two to three week delays.
8:40PM on 19th November 2009
I wonder if anybody could help me out. I'd looked at an item on very.co.uk but had decided not to buy so closed my web browser. I hadn't provided any bank details or even made it to a checkout screen but I received an email from very.co.uk confirming my order!? I immediately logged in and told them there had been a mistake and that I hadn't left any bank details to pay or have a credit check and that I hadn't even been to a checkout screen.
Long story short they got back to me and told me they had sent the item out and confirmed they did not have my bank details. I've emailed them repeatedly offering to send the item back as clearly they have made a mistake but they won't reply.
I can't be charged for an item I didn't order or pay for surely? Is it possible they can just use my address as a credit check.
Thankyou for anybody that can help, who knows very.co.uk might even contact me
9:09AM on 20th November 2009
Why can't all e-commerce companies be like this!
Give it to somebody for Christmas Colin.
12:52PM on 30th November 2009
I had the same experience as another customer where I went on the website to price a set of scales and went to find out the price for postage and packaging as they stated delivery may not be available in some part of Northern Ireland. I had not paid for the scales but just wanted to see if delivery was possible and if it was free. The next thing I noticed a confirmation e-mail to say my item would be dispatched and the date. I wrote an e-mail and sent it back immediately and the answer could take up to 48 hours. Today I got an e-mail back, looks like an automated one with none of the questions answered re postage and packaging cost. The e-mail informed me that the item would be dispatched as soon as possible even though I had written a cancellation e-mail 2 times. This has caused me some degree of stress.
4:16PM on 9th December 2009
dont waste ur time using this site they just mess u about, i ordered a dress on the 28/11/09 and paid £6.95 for it to be delivered on the 1st and it didnt turn up no 1 rang to inform me of this, i had to ring them, i then rang a 2nd time to change the delivery address and was told it would be with me by the 6th at the latest yet again it didnt come so i rang for a third time this time i was told that they would ring me the next day to let me know what was going on and got no phone call so have now rang a 4th time to find out that the person who changed my address never acctualy changed it and it wont be with me for afew more days which by that time will be too late, so all in all there customer service was useless the dress still isnt here and i ordered it 11 days ago oh and to end the phone call she tried to sell me more stuff uhmm I DONT THINK SO!!!!!!!!
3:20PM on 14th January 2010
Never in my life have i had the misfortune of having to deal with such a useless company. Having wasted the best part of 3hours trying unsucessfully to order via their crap website, (and having TWO credits checks against my permission done) i instead had to place my order via phone. Only to then be told i HAD to take out an account with them first or else i couldnt order.
Whats wrong with cash??? I do NOT want credit, i have cash in my bank account, WHY CANT I PAY WITHOUT BORROWING?!?! If I wanted something 'on tick' I'd be shopping at Cash Converters thanks all the same!
Eventually, some time later I FINALLY managed to place my order for 4 items of furniture, and dispite the website saying the delivery would be in 3 days time (which was perfect as i was off work all that week) the representative on the phone said delivery would not now be until next week (when i was back at work).
I always refuse to give these people a contact phone number as they usually sell it off to marketing scum, so it was after quite some lengthy discussion before i eventually agreed to let them have my mobile number since Very insisted the delivery driver would not attempt the delivery without first calling me. Im not paying you to ring me, im PAYING you to just deliver the god damn goods on the day you claim you will.. i do not wish to speak to you beforehand!
But anyway, there we go, against my better judgement i gave them my number. They were to ring this coming saturday prior to delivering it the following week. Having already been told the delivery day when i ordered, i of course booked the day off work.
Did they ring? did they.........
Did anyone ring at any time? Did they ........
Did my furnture turn up? Did it ...........
Did ANY of the four items id paid for turn up? Did it ..........
Did anyone, at ANY time, even bother to ring or let me know ANYTHING? Did they ..........
It is now over 2 weeks since i ordered and paid for my furniture, and ive heard absolutely NOTHING from VERY.
I have just rung them and apparently ONE of the items is out of stock (even though they said it wasnt when i ordered and paid for it). This is the best bit though:
Because the 2 bedside tables are out of stock they have already refunded me for the two chest of drawers that ARE IN STOCK!!!!! and if i still want them ill have to reorder via their website. WTF! OF COURSE I STILL WANT THEM!! I WOULDNT HAVE BLOODY ORDERED THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE IF I HADNT WOULD I!!!!?!?!?! do you think i go shopping online just for a laugh of something?!?!?! IT TOOK ME HALF A DAY IN THE FIRST PLACE TO ORDER THE F'ING THINGS,!!!!!! Theres no way in on Gods Earth im going through all that crap again to reorder them.
VERY Fcuking Useless!
12:01PM on 25th January 2010
Can anyone give me the CEO or directors name and email address for very.co.uk? I have huge issues with them and want to make a complaint, I have spoken to so called managers at thier call centres but they won't give me thier surnames so when I call back people just say they don't know that person. All very frustrating.
I will NEVER be ordering from this site again!!!!!!! if I actually ever get my delivery that I have paid for.
5:57PM on 2nd February 2010
Beware of very!! As Ms S Stanton have got massive problems with very. Can only advise not to buy from them. False advertisment, tricking customers with intent and no goodwill gestures. Will never shop with them again, even if this dispute can be resolved.
1:41PM on 4th February 2010
Extremely VERY useless on all counts!! Terrible customer service, rude, obnoxious and unhelpful staff, everytime you phone they spin another line and blatently lie! They took my £400 quick enough and 4 weeks later I am still chasing delivery of my bunkbeds. Meanwhile my children are camping out on their bedroom floor as we were told delivery would be the 29th January so we made room for their arrival but they never arrived!!! I have tracked them down to a depot in Worcester which has had them in their store since Monday 1st February but "planning" haven't managed to plan a route yet! I live close to Gatwick Airport not the Outer Hebredes...... I decide then to cancel the order and go locally and buy some and guess what.... they can't refund my money until the "planning" people dispatch the goods back to them which could take between 14 and 21 days (if you are lucky)!!
Meanwhile the Director's name and address is:
Mr Anthony Baldwin, Very.co.uk (Littlewoods Group), Sandringham House, Sandringham Avenue, Chelmsford, CM92 1LJ
Please feel free to write and complain to him, I certainly will be, it's almost criminal what they are doing!
9:11AM on 11th February 2010
hi i have to say i have always had my goods delivered very fast infact strangly fast, for example i ordered one night and half my order was there the next day at 4pm, so have been very pleased with them, till today. my payment date is the middle of the month so as i dont get paid till end off month made a payment on 27th jan of £75, but then recieved an alert from my credit expert saying missed payment, so called this morning and asked if i could change my payment date to the end of the month or the 1st of the month was told this was impossible as it would cost them a fortune if they changed everyones payment date. I have changed payment dates with loads of things i as like to pay everything when i get paid, but there is no way they will do it, so was a bit unhappy at this, only thing i can do is next month try and pay a month in advance, to make my account in credit then just pay on the 1st of the month. bloody nuisence.
buster
11:21AM on 11th February 2010
Got a letter in this morning's post from a Claire Sullivan who wished me to ring an 0844 number to discuss my account. Except I'd never heard of very until this morning, discovered it was formerly Littlewoods Direct when trying to find a landline number - and I didn't have an account with them either - but I do apparently have an account number, judging by the letter.
I have failed to find an email address to contact them to find out what's going on and am not sure whether the letter is a cynical, intrusive and aggressive marketing strategy or if, despite my best efforts, my identity has been compromised. Not impressed: I've no desire to deal with them already ... not that I ever had an intention to do so in the first place. I have managed to elicit a response from an automated system, but don't hold out much hope for that being followed up judging by what's written above.
I wish them the best of luck in trying to run a credit check on the information given: I always use a false DOB on unsolicited information requests, and have a database of which dates were used on which correspondences so that I can trace where further breaches of etiquette occur. in the absence of a legal framework to protect the consumer - or failure of people to comply with it if it does exist - I recommend everyone takes extreme care with personal details.
6:28PM on 16th February 2010
I received the similar letter also, can someone tell me what they will talk about when I call them?
6:14PM on 20th February 2010
Can not complain about the goods i bought, however whilst i was doing a tour of afghan, barclays stopped most of my direct debits due to fraudulent activity and had no way of contacting me, when i got back i rang round to sort all the problems out and every company that i rang and explained the situation to was very helpful and removed all charges from my accounts, well until i phoned very that is, were i was met by some council estate wanker who could do nothing to get rid of the charges, which had escalated to £350, he was very very rude to the point i put the phone down after informing him i was not paying and seeking legal advice, they have now started to take out massive lump sums from account each month the last amounted to £280 so shop with very but beware the customer service it might as well not exist.
11:31AM on 24th February 2010
Like mystified and bbbbbbtttttt, I too have received one of these letters from Claire Sullivan, INVESTIGATIONS MANAGER. Scary or what?. I have managed to use their on-line system to register a complaint.
8:09PM on 1st March 2010
Very disappointed. A useless company. I have ordered some wardrobes and my delivery date was changed, fair enough it happens. I check my account regularly to make sure that my order is still coming on time and to ensure i have the time off work. So i checked my account a week later to only find my delivery date has been changed. I changed my day off at work and a week later a letter arrives from VERY to say again my delivery date is changed. They were telling me that the order was out of stock however on the website it is advertised in stock. I called the customer service line to tell them about this they replied the website takes longer to up date i was very angry at the time and told them i have had the order placed for a month and it doesn't take this long to up date a website. I then later found out the item had £52 off so i called them up to ask if i could have the money off as my order had not arrived. They said no so i canceled it and re-ordered. The same problem has happened again my delivery date has changed 4 times since 13.02.2010. I am very frustrated and upset. When i finally receive my order it will be 18.03.2010 if they don't change the date again. This will be just under 5 weeks of waiting the second time round and just over 4 weeks the first time round on the website it was advertised as delivery within 7 days bollocks to that. I called the customer service line up to tell them this and they said there was nothing i could do i just had to put this into writing. Do not bother ordering from VERY as they are a waste of time. I would rather spend another £100 or £200 on a similar wardrobe without the hassle.
5:23PM on 2nd March 2010
DO NOT BOTHER WITH THIS WEBSITE! Same here. I ordered 2 lights on the 30. Dec. (!!) and I called after the estameted delivery date(13.Jan) to find out why have I not received them. After 3 times I have given my name phone number and dob I finally was transferred to the right person who told me that I cancelled the order! I said I didn't, she said I did and I cancelled it by phone!! (I have never called them before) Apparently they cancelled my order and refunded the money witout notification, no email or phonecall about that whatsoever. Once I received the money back (I had to ask for the postal chagres to be refunded as well) I gave another try and reordered it again on the 03. Feb.(estimated delivery date 17. Feb) Since then still no lights!! I did even ordered it to a different address, to my office where is a ground floor reception service from 7:30 am until 6:30 pm and it is on one of London's most well knows street (Oxford street). I called again on the 22. Feb to see where are my lights again and they said there was a courier problem, they tried to deliver it on the 19. Feb but they could not find the address (!!!) so the car was already on the way back with the lights, once they receive it I will be refunded. Today is the 2nd march and still no lights or refund so I called them again. After being transfer several times and asked to confirm my details twice, the rude customer service advisor informed me that the money was never refunded as my order has not even been dispatched yet! madness, worst customer service experience ever, I waisted more than 2 months for being treated like an idiot and not get what I paid for. thank you VERY much
7:22PM on 5th March 2010
Awful company.
Cancelled my order without informing me. I have spent hours trying to get a refund and yep as you have guessed still no refund over a month later. My credit card company is now fighting this on my behalf.
11:45PM on 21st March 2010
I can see that many people have been messed around by this company, however, this started off as a review of their website.
Nevertheless, they are Very bad at most things by the looks of it.
I tried to use their web site, here are the problems I faced
1. They always search for the address on the post code. This is buggy and crashes the whole order process. It keeps your items in the basket but you have to start from the beginning. A simple form would be more than sufficient.
2. Try changing the address on the account. No chance. If you can get remotely close to this option then the site refers to non-existent buttons for changing your address. Truly rubbish and amateur. I just could not find a way to do it.
3. Try ordering when your delivery address is not the same address as the card is registered to. Forget it, the order system will crash.
For an online shop they have programmed it up without some basic account management and order features working. I don't think there is any excuse for this.
Having said that, with the customer experiences described by other users, perhaps it was a good thing I couldn't place my order afterall
5:55PM on 27th March 2010
Worst Online Store EVER!
one of the worst online stores i've used. I ordered aroudn £200 pounds worth of furniture and it didnt turn up till a week late, then when i go the order i had packages missing. then when i opened the boxes there was bits missing to assemble it. I called the serivce department which took over 10 mins to anwer (sales phone took 2 mins lol hmmm) then when i told them they said can you discribe the pieces missing lol what a joke, its a piece of wood how the hell can i describe it any other way. Then they said well we cant order the missing bits until you describe it. So i said instead pick it all and refund me, they said they can only pick it up during the week not weekends, and cant specify a time, which means i would have to take the whole day of work lol another joke! i said i will leave it outside, they said well if it rains you will be charged for damage...think they have a nerve! So now i have to take it all to work for them to pick uo and then i still have to wait for refund. This company is a joke and i would stay clear of very.co.uk
5:31PM on 6th April 2010
I agree with any and every bad comment about this cowboy company!!DO NOT use them. I've ordered a computer game which seems to be coming from China!! They are useless,robbing b*!*!*!s!
9:31PM on 6th April 2010
Veryuseless.co.uk!!
We ordered a 5door wardrobe back in Feb from this website and they advertise within 3 weeks well they mislead you to get the sale because it was actually more like 6weeks and when we phoned up to complain they told us all furniture as a delivery date of up to 6weeks. Anyway they ring you the day or two before to arrange delivery with time slot and we had a nice 7am till 1pm slot so we got up a little earlier for this and then at 9am they cancelled it and then it did actually arrive two days later (with a phone call prior) So we put it together box by box as per instructions (all four boxes) get to box four where one the mirrored doors has a big crack right down the centre!! Hardly surprising when you see them practically running the deliveries so they can finish early. So we rang them about this on the 20th March and they said not a problem the last pack would be resent within ten working days and we are still waiting for a replacement mirror and have spent many days phoning them because they don't phone you back. They did eventually send this delivery out last Thursday and posted a card through at 7am but even though I had been on the phone day before asking when it would be delivered they just kept saying you will get a phone call to arrange the delivery of this replacement door. I never did just a delivery card for missed delivery that was arranged with me. I spent most of last Thursday on the phone and finally got through to the Directors office who then said it would arrive on Saturday between 7am and 1pm and guess what it never did!!
Directors office said she would we be ringing me today to over see that it all went ok and when she did ring at 9:30am I said it never turned up. She said ok I will get back to you. AGAIN THEY NEVER RING YOU BACK! I waited until 4pm for her to get back to me and ended up having to phone her to find out that she has sorted out delivery for Friday.. Thing is Friday is no good so will be interesting to see how long they can drag it out for..
These guys and Home Delivery Network people are useless!! They just pass the buck and basically don't care about customer service as they take no responsibility and are so used to saying sorry it doesn't even seem genuine anymore from these idiots . We have paid them over £400 in full and still you get get treated this way!!
My advice don't waste your money or time on these guys because you will regret it. We have an Wardrobe that has been built over two weeks ago but is still missing a door.. LOOKS GREAT!!!!
10:25PM on 9th April 2010
VeryIncompetent.co.uk
VeryUnhelpful.co.uk
VeryDisorganised.co.uk
VeryPoorCustomerService.co.uk
VeryWe'llMakeYouThinkYourOrderIsActuallyGoingToArrive.co.uk (but it never will!)
VeryStressful.co.uk
Sums them up. Absolute rubbish DO NOT ORDER ANYTHING FROM THIS COMPANY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
6:41PM on 26th April 2010
My mixed review of very.co.uk
Bad Points:
I placed an order with very.co.uk online, thinking that they were an ordinary online retailer and not a catalogue company. I paid for the goods in total, rather than what is obviously a credit arrangement and specified a thursday delivery.
I then looked the company up online and realised that my hopes of a wednesday delivery may be dubious so gave them a call. 3 phone calls later, just 24hrs after the order they can only cancel 1 item, another item I have to refuse delivery of when they call to arrange it with me, and the other 2 items are already despatched so need to be refused on delivery - on tuesday... not friday?
I requested the number of the delivery comany - The Home Delivery Network, and was told that very.co.uk have a helpline to call where they can cancel the order before it even gets to me, so why make me wait for HDN to arrange the delivery nearly a month later? HDN also advise that the items have not reached them yet, so could easily be cancelled from their end, so again why am I waiting for several different deliveries to cancel them?
Note - it took two calls to get the right number as they firstly gave me a number of a scottish courier company that do not deliver past the borders, yet I live in London!
The biggest problem that I have is I move on Saturday so if the goods are delivered after then I am concerned the new tennants will just keep the items and I will end up paying for them. I feel like the cancellation is going to take about a month to process which just seems crazy as they have taken the order, and the money but not yet sent anything out for delivery... so why go through this process?
I have sent them several emails through the cancelation form, they havent replied to any yet.
Good points:
I found the website very easily on Google, and the search facility online was decent. The range of goods also seemed good and the discount codes online made the items really cheap.
The order process was painless and the customer service that I have recieved over the telephone has been OK. 2 people were average, and one excellent. The goods were quite nice looking and I didnt feel as though it would have been the bad experience it potentially is.
Overall:
The site is user friendly, comes up well on google and the goods and service on offer are reasonable price wise. The whole thing seems to fall down when you look at the 'service model' that very have deployed. They are not able to link up the supply side of their operation to their website, they do not have an integrated approach from courier to website and finally to customer. They do not offer a commercial level of delivery service and they do not make good on the customer service requests from.... the customers!!!
Overal I would give 3/10 and never order again. If they could just get the supply of goods a lot tighter and provide some better customer service I think the experience would be a lot better... 8/10 possibly. Not far to go, but loose your catalogue roots very.co.uk.
10:58AM on 27th April 2010
Yep... I ordered a dress on the 20th from very.co.uk (I thought as they were an established company, they would be reliable?!) I wanted it for the 22nd and that was the delivery date they stated. Well, the 22nd came around and nothing... I sent them an email to ask where it was and got one back saying that I would have to wait up to 24 hrs for a reply (not happy) When I finally got a reply, they said that they had tried to deliver my item on the 22nd but it was refused (highly unlikely as I was in all day!) Then they said because it was refused, they would send it back to the depot and re-deliver. It's now the 27th of April and I STILL have not received my item.
I won't be using this company ever again.
3:14PM on 3rd May 2010
I have ordered a bedstead from Very.co.uk and I am expecting delivery on May 18th. After reading all of the reviews on here, Im a little afraid its not going to come!!! Does anyone know of someone I might be able to get in touch with in order to try and pre-empt this? I dont have a whole lot of holiday left over and I really would rather not be using it up to wait in for a bed not to turn up!! :)
10:43AM on 13th May 2010
I ordered 3 items, totalling £98.00 with £3.95 delivery, but with a special offer of £30.00 off as it was my first order with them. I had used their collection option, whereby my items would be delivered to a nearby shop, where I could collect them at my convenience. After not hearing anything for a week or so, and by which point, the occasion for which I had ordered the items had passed, I called Customer Services. I was told my order had been returned. He stated their lists may not be up to date and the store may no longer accept these deliveries. I asked to cancel my order and be refunded which he agreed to. Later that day, I received £57 in my account. When no further refund appeared, I emailed Customer Services. They replied, fairly quickly, saying that as I had returned the items, the £30 discount code was no longer eligible. I explained what had actaully happened (again) and am now waiting for the rest of my money to be returned. I thought the discount code and collection option made this a very promising site. After this, I won't be bothering again.
4:49PM on 14th May 2010
I was looking for stuff on Very tonight and cam across these reviews, and well, what can I say.
Thank goodness there is an alternative - www.amazon.co.uk. Google for their key principles, and as well as price/selection they are very clear that a good delivery experience is absolutely critical - that seems to be Very's main problem!
6:44PM on 26th May 2010
AWFUL company. Funny thing is, I was actually getting MOST of my stuff the day I was ment to get it. The delivery company APPARENTLY asks a neighbor and put on the form that person has moved. It's almost impossible for anyone living here to say that, not because they know who lives here, but the fact is, the neighbors I know see me in and out all the time, and the ones I don't, which is most, wouldn't have a clue. Awful service from VERY's end, who just asked for it back to depot, even after I called them within hours of it being undelivered, and they said its still with the delivery company. From then it just got so confusing and frustrating, I asked to cancel the order. Just waiting on my money back, which apparently should take 14 days! Well I hope THEY mess it up again and pay be all of it back, bonus to me, because I used a discount voucher online. BAD company to deal with, even their delivery company is bad!!!
6:30PM on 28th May 2010
I have such a distaste for this company, their attitudes and customer service is the worst I have ever had to deal with. I am an avid internet user and held an account with additions direct since they opened and never had any problems.
We tried to order a kids bunk bed in April 2010 and was told that it could take two weeks. Within a week we were given a delivery date, took the day off. We then received another email changing the date to the 27th May 2010. Another day off work, we then called to confirm the date they said they can not give out that information and that they did not have any contact details for the manufacture. How is that possible? Went onto very's website found the name of the manufacture ,, spoke to them again they said if you do not receive the bed on the 27th give them a call back. Again very unhelpful call back they can not help, asked to speak to a manager we were told there was no manager available but that they would get someone to call in 30 minutes. No one called
The reason for the urgency for the bunkbed was the fact that I am 8 1/2 months pregnant soon to deliver and would just like to have some information as they were so quick to take the money out of the account and just refuse to keep us informed as to what is happening. The attitudes of the customer service team is they do not care they offer us to cancel the order or just wait in the house everyday just in case it is deliverd, this is with a delvery slot of 8am to 8pm. Finally agreed to cancel the order for them to say we can no longer cancel it because the order has been despatched, this was within 20 minutes of saying that we could.
They are rubbish and I will never deal with this company again and I am going to make sure that everyone knows about it. I know that problems can arise with deliveries but for me it is more to do with the attitudes and customer handling which i can not stand. I am so angry from this experience because now it has left me having to look for a bunk bed in two weeks of giving birth.
3:26PM on 8th June 2010
I have been away for two weeks and should have paid on 5th June but paid on 7th June. Does this mean I will get a bad credit rating or is that saved for if I was ever to make another late payment? Surely they wouldn't give me a bad credit rating for being two days late? I haven't heard anything yet but am sure I will !!
8:09PM on 23rd June 2010
HI, I ordered a mobile phone from VERY couple of weeks ago. They sent me a faulty item when I called customer service I been told that I have to arrange collection first and after receipt of collection I have to wait for 22 days for replacement item. I arranged a collection date. waited all day even cancelled couple of very important appointments but no one turned up than I have been given another date for collection again I took a day off and stayed home all day b/w7am- 8.30 pm but again no one turned up for collection. Ever since trying to contact their customer service but every time get disconnected after they put me on a long hold. This is a worst customer service ever. I will never order anything from them aver again. I'm sure they delivered faulty item deliberately. I am so angry with this situation & just want to make sure that every body knows how rubbish they are. Still waiting for collection and replacement item. I really appreciate if any one let me know their complaint department contact details if they have any. thanks
1:43AM on 30th June 2010
just want to let everyone know i think very are brilliant quickest delivery i have had, narrowed down ETA's for delivery as well, also to everyone who are complaining about deliveries being late or not turning up for what ever reasons probably repressent about 2-3% of all deliveries (i work for comet) and i can say for a fact that there can and will be errors at some point in ANY company no matter what it is, so i think people should really take this into account before jumping on the band wagon and complaining, because in all fairness its not sorting out your problem quicker is it?
11:48AM on 2nd July 2010
this seems to be the only place that might answer my question - i really want to buy a couple of items from Very but just want to pay them all off at once and ideally don't want to create a Very account. My question is, for those of you who have a Very account, are you able to simply pay it all off in one go and be gone with it, and how much extra do they charge you? Would i be able to get away with (if i had to), creating an account in order to buy my two items, then closing the account after they had arrived, in order not to receive further unneccessary payments? Or is there a way of buying items without a credit account? (Many questions i know, but i would be really grateful if someone could answer me! :))
2:28PM on 2nd July 2010
I ordered a play center for my kid. Although they have splashed "Next day delivery" all over the site, I discovered that my delivery was scheduled for 14 days after my order. And they didn’t even bother to inform me about this change and it does not show up when you order. The only email I received had links that go nowhere and their telephone service is "voice controlled" just to make it more inconvenient. I finally got to customer services agent who said he cancelled the order. Today, I checked the account and it said "in depot" so i called again and was told that the order was not cancelled and was on its way. But I am told now it is cancelled. I am crossing my fingers. Please don’t shop here!
8:21PM on 2nd July 2010
Rosie, I want to know exactly the same as you. I just want to by a few things for my holiday and pay for them and that be it, I don't want to be worring that I'm being charged hidden extras every month. The sites FAQ's are useless!!
9:16AM on 6th July 2010
I've never had any problems with Very. I have an account and I pay on time. Delivery has always been great and the one time I did have an issue it was resolved via Facebook within a day. You can pay by cash though - just select pay with debit card when you pay.
10:09AM on 9th July 2010
their service is unproffesional and lousy. They should do some shopping at Tesco direct, kiddicare or Argos so they get a taste of what it is suppose to be like to sell on the internet, because obviously they don't have the slightest idea. They should spent less money on tv ads, and invest in improving a bit.
3:47PM on 12th July 2010
Very are useless there customer service is a joke at the best of times and if you have a problem with any item/s from them thats 10mths old and under 12 mths old they will mess you about about getting a replacement or it repaired do not buy from this sad joke of a company, if i had bought from argos i would have got a replacement instead of getting messed about by very yet again
9:28AM on 13th July 2010
This is the worst merchant on line EVER. In six years that I have been shopping I have never encountered anything like this. They tell you you will receive your order one day, you dont and then they dont know where it is or when (or if) you are going to receive it. They don't have the slightest idea of what they are doing really. I guess they spent all their monies in the tv ads instead on infraestructure, and the only thing they manage to do well is charge you on your card. The customer service is a joke, they take ages in answering you and when they do they are happy just telling you anything even if it is not true. Still I feel sorry for them, I myself would be ashamed of working in a company with this kind of bad service. If you want a piece of advice STAY AWAY FROM VERY!!! From other reviews I can see that it is not that my experience with them is one of..there thousands of unhappy customers out there. It is a shame I did not read the reviews before.
11:22AM on 19th July 2010
i have made an order on the 10th may 2010, promised a delivery date, which was a week later.
12 days passed, then i recived an e-mail to say it will take another 14 days for the dilevery, so i canceled the order as my wife gave up, and we only had 3 days to attend a wedding, so she bought another dress from a local shop.
today, 19th july 2010, and yet am still waiting for my refund.
everytime i call to chase , i get promised it will only be another 5 working days, but nothing yet.
i e-mailed them but no reply. so not sure what to do, should i forget the money i paid.
very bad customer service !
1:08AM on 5th August 2010
very.co.uk Finally decided to get some stuff from them because kept hearing about them from friends who shop there. brought a couple of things from them and might shop through them again in future since Im moving house in a couple of weeks.. I like: the look of the site is quite young and attention grabbing. Product videos are good but don;t seem to be in all products. Descriptions are good for the most part and unlike Argos they explain what the product is. Was easy to order and pretty simple and my stuff arrived when they said it would. All in all good sevrice but it's only one thing I got so maybe I got lucky! Bad stuff: images don't show the products well or at least as well as other sites. Hard to find your way around, just tons of stuff all stuck up..A lot of stuff is a bit high priced compared to other sites. Enjoyd my experience on the whole and will update my review to say if it's as good next time
6:37PM on 5th August 2010
VERY Disappointing! After dealing with them, I don't even have the energy to go through it again with you guys.
With them, it's a case of the left hand never knowing what the right hand is doing.
The only advise I can give is as follows:
Make sure whichever representative you speak with, puts a clear note on your account confirming what they have told you. Otherwise, the rules will have totally changed when you speak with someone new.
9:14PM on 5th August 2010
The worst website i have ever used (i have been shopping online for 10 yrs), i ordered a product which was to arrive 2- 3 working days but i had waited and waited for 3 WEEKS, advising me the product is out of stock but this not advised prior to purchase and i was promised the product will arrive on two occasions but he never did.. i had a enough and cancelled the product via telephone which the operator did not care less and got the impression she was use to it... anyway i ordered the product on Amazon and got it within 2 days... i recommend new users not to use the site (very.co.uk) as i have spoken with friends, work colleagues and most people here have agreed they are useless...the stress still continues as my card was cloned since using this website am not saying it was due this website but i just don't know anymore.
Formula
Very.co.uk = Headache and disappointment
8:34AM on 6th August 2010
such a shame this company has spent obvious time and effort making their site look good but don't get the end service right. Spent last month looking through the different products and enjoyed browsing. The product pages are so much nicer than Tesco which is where I usually use for my shopping. Very makes it easier because they give you more info and don't just give a couple of lines of info so you feel like you know the product better. Then they go and let me down by sending faulty goods and when I complain I have to jump through hoops to get it sorted. The guys on the phones don't seem to care that I'm an unhappy customer at all and just treat you like you're being a pain. I used to work in marketing and it is no good having a well presented site if you're just going to TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN!!!
5:28PM on 6th August 2010
An awful, awful company, with the worst customer service I've ever experienced. I bought an item with a discount code that promised £25 off all orders over £40, within its validity period. First of all the online ordering process was painfully long winded, trying to get me to open a credit account I did not want. Eventually I get to the bit to make a cash purchase and the code is refused. I had to complete the order over the phone (charged £6 to my mobile as I did not twig it was an 0844 number), and I was told the code was valid and there was a problem with their system. I was to pay in full, then call them back once my item was delivered and they would then refund the £25 to my card. Foolishly I did this. The item arrived OK so I called them they said, yes, they would refund my card but it might take a week to appear (why? It should take 2-3 days at most). 10 days later, still no refund. I email and get told that it will get refunded, followed by an email stating "Thanks for your enquiry regarding your card payment. I can confirm that I have now refunded your card. Please allow 14 days for the credit to show on your card statement." Three weeks later, still no refund. I contact them again and get told "Unfortunately, your order does not meet the criteria for the promotion code you quoted because the code you used ... is only for agents who have taken out shopping insurance, but it is not applicable on this type of account and this would of been advised in the terms and conditions on the code offer." This is a load of bol****, there was never any such condition stated, and their own staff checked and told me it was OK before I ordered. A friend bought the same item the previous day with the same code, and despite having to go through the same hassle of phoning them to place the order, had it accepted at point of purchase. So I have now been blatantly lied to twice, and the discount promise that was the main reason I shopped with them in first place has been broken. How the hell do they expect to retain customers when they treat them like this? Stay well away! Once they have your money they don't care a fig and will charge you for the privilege of phoning to complain to them. They will pass you between different people for each correspondence, you will be told different things by different people, they will change the rules as they go and lie to you, anything to keep your money and put you off. Incidentally their normal landline numbers are 0151 432 1000 and 0800 180 000 (http://saynoto0870.com)
10:04AM on 22nd August 2010
Saw this site advertised on the xFActor last night so just had a look at it. Not bought anything but will def be going back there this week. Like the fashion advice with the clothing. Its like having someone in the shop helping you choose lol. Looks pretty cool! Will check back about the service x
11:11PM on 31st August 2010
VERY are the worst site ever i joined and then a few weeks later i got sent a coral dress that i did not order then i arranged for someone to pick it up and they never turned up so by then i got charged for not making a payment and now i am gettin letters through saying i owe them £18 when i already sorted this over the phone to customer services so thank you for the directors adress i have just written a letter in complaint saying i am not paying for bugger all! STUPID PEOPLE !
6:03PM on 15th October 2010
Absolultey awful webiste in my opinion! So many problems with ordering and having to give so much information. I've had so many credit rejections with no reason given. I even phoned them to find out the problem and everything then went through fine until 6am the day of delivery when they decided I couldn't have it! They seem to have some odd rules and policies that they don't let you know about - such as you can't deliver to an alternative address if you are a new customer. Terrible customer services. I will never use this site again and will warn others of it. I agree with the above comment. Stupid people!
9:59PM on 21st November 2010
Please be very wary of using this company, especially if you intend to return an item. The have bombarded me with telephone calls, and letters asking for money after I return a purchase to them.
Their customer service is absolutely shocking. Departments do not work from the same system, I.E. Returns, arrears, customer service. They expect customers to solve the problems which they have caused. And also you will get the pleasure of your credit rating being affected as a result of their incompetence.
PLEASE PLEASE BEWARE, THIS IS A GENUINE REVIEW - Only use if you intend to keep the product do not use if you have intention to return it.
5:07PM on 7th December 2010
DO NOT USE I have placed an order and they have taken my money and have no knowledge of my order. I have sent 5 emails and after holding for half an hours been promised a call back to receive nothing. I am so angry.
6:50PM on 17th December 2010
I have worked in call centres for over 15 years, AND worked for Littlewoods (which is what Very used to be called) and I have NEVER experienced such poor service. Out of 5 orders, ALL 5 were late. One by 4 days, and the most recent one by 3 days.
I called customer service and was told "What do you want me to do?"
Waited in now for 3 days, virtually perched looking out of the wndow for a delivery van and twice the lying sods have said they were unable to deliver due to no-one being home???
If this wasn't linked to a fairly well known name, I'd honestly think it was a Nigerian internet scam, it's that bad.
DON'T SHOP WITH THESE PEOPLE - YOU'LL BE SORRY.
5:52AM on 24th February 2011
Received damaged goods!
I purchased a digital camera and £500 laptop in the January sales from this site. I received £700 of damaged second hand goods. Both products stopped working after 1 week of receiving them! Clearly refurbished products being sold as 'new'. Never again!
5:53AM on 24th February 2011
Received damaged goods!
I purchased a digital camera and £500 laptop in the January sales from this site. I received £700 of damaged second hand goods. Both products stopped working after 1 week of receiving them! Clearly refurbished products being sold as 'new'. Never again!
7:33PM on 16th March 2011
Very.co.uk is shocking!
Firstly their customer service is extremely unhelpful and lack knowledge about their own site.
Also, be careful, when you sign up to very.co.uk for the first time, even if you are only buying a one off item, you get automatically get signed up to their credit account which charges you each month you have the account!
The site itself does have a wide selection. However the products are all very expensive, and although they boast a wide selection, all the products can be found on other websites.
I never normally write reviews, but I really don't want anyone else to use this awful website. I felt it my duty to warn people!
5:40PM on 8th April 2011
Anyone know how to take action against these unsolicted credit checks?
10:50PM on 29th April 2011
Faulty goods, crap customer service, over the top prices. AVOID.
7:19PM on 11th May 2011
Don't waste your time with them. They are s**t.
9:22AM on 6th June 2011
Absolutely appalling service and I was denied my refund after sending the goods back within the same day, they contacted me after 4 weeks accusing me of destroying the item, they also told me that I could only send a letter for complaints even though there is a complaints number... I dont recommend anyone buying anything from this site...
10:31AM on 16th July 2011
I have had nothing but good service from very.co.uk. I found them easy to use. My delivery arrived the next day as promised. And although i'm currently waiting for my new computer. If it arrives today as implicated by my tracking of the parcel. It will be a week earlier than originally promised. Result. When i rang cusatomer service to discuss my account they were nothing but helpful. Xox
3:14PM on 28th July 2011
Got a letter stating £30 off an order over £50, so bought a vacuum. Couldn't get code sorted online, so had to do it by phone!! They wouldn't accept any fault with on-line shopping!!
Delivery was ok, untill i got the bill today!!..they have ONLY GIVEN ME £15 OFF..so i still owe £15!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WTF!!
Rang customer services, they just don't want to know. She kept stating any change re promotional codes is in our terms & conditions!! WHAT TERMS & CONDITIONS WOMWN???????????????!!!!!!!!!!
There was no problem when i ordered the item, i used the promotional code and paid the difference by credit card..ALL WAS ACCEPTED!!..Check your computer!!..but no, its terms and conditions, so you still owe £15!!
My advise, CANCEL ALL YOUR ACCOUNTS..this is one dodgy business strategy of fraudulent enticement! Once suckered, exit door closed, your trapped!
This is the only company i found to totally blank put any sort of customer service. I recall yesterday British Gas receiving a £75M fine from OfGem for this sort of customer disregard!!..Pathetic to say the least!
I'm going to cancel my account and buy from someone who cares..if everyone did this, they will realise, BUSINESS IS WORTH NOTHING WITHOUT CUSTOMERS!!
..with the above in mind and a lack of genuine understanding of successful retail operations..as Alan Sugar would say...YOUR VERY FIRED!
6:20PM on 8th August 2011
avoid this company they charge your account as much as they like and talk to you like rubbish dont touch them
10:42AM on 18th August 2011
their hidden interest and charges made me owe more than double what Id had in products! it got ridiculous so i got a loan and paid my very account in full. trying to close the account has been a nightmare they put me on hold for ages and keep on about ordering again (must be joking!) ive been fobbed off twice now, today they said call monday! will be seeking legal advice as they cant keep it open surely?? even if they gave me free products i wouldnt take them. i dont trust them an inch
4:21PM on 18th August 2011
Wish I'd seen this site before ordering from Very!!!! Terrible products and terrible customer services!!!!!
8:17PM on 22nd August 2011
Do not order from this company worst service ever .Constant payment date problems which conveniently get further and further away from payday there for you occur charges ive wrote 3 emails regarding this ow called basically to waste my time to be told cant change date which is a load of rubbish!they want you to occur charges thats how they make there money DONT GET SUCKED IN THERE ONE BIG CON.If you want credit go to NEXT EXCELLENT SERVICE GOOD QUALITY GOOD SERVICE !!DONT ORDER OF VERY CRAP QUALITY CRAP SERVICE!!!
1:25AM on 26th August 2011
"VERY" Disappointing
I opened and account with Very in January 2010 with a £750 credit limit.
I proceeded to purchase a SONY HD TV: £450
The delivery date ended up being OVER A MONTH LATER!?!?! from the original date quoted!
and...
A Nintendo DS and games: £250
and an Ipod Nano: £50
(I had ordered a wireless usb dongle at the same time as the TV but didn't get it: On calling up to cancel it I was assured that it had already been delivered to me!!???!
- When they looked in more detail they told me it had been out of stock and had in-fact NOT been delivered but put on my account all the same!)
All items, and I stress, ALL, I purchased on a 'Buy now pay nothing for 12 months deal'...
...HA!
I was charged interest from DAY ONE!
Very could not even deliver on what seemed,
(though now evidently is certainly NOT)
their only redeeming feature, of the ability for their customers' to buy now pay later!!
When I called to question this they didn't have a clue - blatantly making it up as they went along.
The conversation went thus:
Me: Why when I selected buy now pay later on all my items are you charging me interest?
Advisor: (after a VERY long time umming and ahhing and then putting me on hold for 20 minutes to go and speak to a manager - presumably no-one - )
Unfortunately sir the option for buy now pay later appeared on the website when it shouldn't have.
Me: (under the impression that everything will be okay and that they'll just rectify this for me and allow me the buy now pay later)
Oh ok.
Advisor: OK? Is there anything else I can help you with?
Me: well how are you going to sort it out so I don't have to pay the interest?
From this point the advisor shut down, was non-responsive and became rude as I continued to make the point that this was WRONG!
I had to hang up in the end as I was getting nowhere.
Long story short - I have since ploughed ALL my wages for a whole month into Very to get rid of it!! :D
-Now I just need to cancel my account - from what others have said here that should be a real barrel of laughs too!
VERY ... Expensive products
VERY ... Unreliable delivery
VERY ... Rude, ignorant and unhelpful staff
!!!!!!!!AVOID VERY LIKE THE PLAGUE!!!!!!!!
1:15PM on 10th September 2011
Appalling customer service! Incapable of showing any flexibility or initiative. Generally uninterested when problems arise. Require customers to ring expensive 0844 number before 6.00pm - as if! Avoid Very! Beware!
5:23PM on 16th September 2011
Do not get involved with these people. Its a shambolic set up, and Ive had a right carry on with these guys. They took money for goods they didnt have in stock and then closed my account not enabling me to get a refund. This has gone on for weeks and weeks. I have the runaround alright but you can email them at this address, , its very, all same firm. Anyway best of luck, they do nothing at all there but apologise, no effort to make amends. Well you can write in, cant call god forbid, it would take a call centre bigger than Britain itself afterall, anyways its a 21 day turn around on correspondence haha! And after 21 days they probably wont reply at all. STEER CLEAR OF VERY I WARN YOU ALL!!! :)
10:47AM on 27th September 2011
I also have had problems with VERY. Me and my partner have ordered items from this website separately. Both items stated that they were in stock on ordering! However my partner has now been waiting over 4 weeks for his item which stated a delivery time of a week! No email was received to explain this to him until after he emailed to complain and even then it seemed to be an automatic email stating the item was out of stock! Similarly with my order of over a week ago the site stated was in stock with a delivery date of yesterday. However at 4 O'clock yesterday the order tracking page changed giving me a new delivery date of a further 2 weeks. 3 weeks it total for an Item they state was in stock on ordering! Again no explanation was given and it took me to email them to find out yet again the item is out of stock! Not happy customers at all!!!
8:04AM on 1st October 2011
Just posting a further email address here for Very/Littlwoods on line:-
This lady was helpful and I understand is secretary to the chief exec there.
4:20PM on 20th October 2011
Possibly the worst online ordering and customer services company I have ever had the misfoturne of dealing with. Disgustingly rude customer services and standard automated responses when complained. All I can say is what a load of misrepsented rubbish and a waste of time. I will be very vocal in communicating to everyone I know what a load of rubbish this site is, full of promise and no delivery - was perfectly willing to part with a lot of cash upfront - but Very in their wisdom did not "approve" order despite not even wanting credit. Back to Amazon thanks very much ... what a brilliant service they offer.
4:05PM on 21st October 2011
My "Buy Now Pay in 12 months" expired in September. Paid the whole amount (over the telephone)7 days before due date, which was shown correctly on my statement. Big shock on receiving October statement £55 interest added on. They promised to call me today but no luck so far. After reading the comments on this site I'm beginning to get scared !!!!
11:17AM on 6th November 2011
VERY IS SHIT... DO NOT SHOP THERE, WHAT A CON.........
11:04AM on 16th December 2011
Ordered a pair of boots from very at midday yesterday and received them before midday today. It may be that the problems with delivery are with electronics. That said the boots look good but not sure they are worth the money xxx hope you all get your problems resolved
12:39PM on 16th December 2011
VERY useless!!!
I think they defo get paid on how long they can keep you on the phone - 4 times now for 27 minutes! What annoys me more is that if the online promo's work I wouldn't have needed to ring them in the 1st place. I then had to ring because they sent me the wrong size - but not only could i not send back 2 of th 3 items that they sent in the wrong size, I had to send all 3 because they were on a multi-buy promo - even tho I had to pay £30 instead of the £20 (3 for 3 £10 each). I then had to re-order the 3 items and pay another £30 (instead of £20) because the promo offer still wasn't recognised and it wasn't possible to just charge me £20.
4 months later I still don't have my £10 back and I've spent over 2 hours trying to put right their wrongs and almost £7 on phone bills later I am extemely annoyed.
First and last time I would use Very!
Avoid at ALL costs otherwise it will cost you.
4:45PM on 19th December 2011
I ordered 2 items on 3rd December. First was a jacket and the second was a rocking/ride-on toy for my baby daughter's Christmas present. Both were meant to be delivered on 9th December. I waited in all day as both items required a signature. Went to bed at about midnight having received nothing from them. In the morning I checked the website to track the orders. According to them the jacket had been delivered and signed for at 10.14pm (it bloody well hadn't) and there was a delay on the toy but that delivery should be expected before Christmas. I emailed them to advise that the jacket had not been delivered and they basically called me a liar and said they'd send a copy of the signature they obtained through the post. After a few days I had still heard nothing and then got an email from them asking me to REVIEW the jacket I hadn't bloody received! Then I got a text saying that they toy would not be delivered until Jan 23rd due to a problem with the supplier (Mamas and Papas) I called the supplier directly to see if I could get it quicker from them. They informed me that it had been discontinued and would never be restocked. I contacted Very to inform them of this and they offered a replacement but this can't be delivered until after Christmas either. I said I wanted to cancel my order and requested a refund. I had paid £95 for the toy in full and had planned to pay for the jacket on the account. They said they would refund me the cost of the toy but would be deducting the cost of the jacket I never received! The saga continues. Without the refund my daughter will be going without a main present on her first Christmas...I have been lied to, called a liar and messed around from start to finish and would recommend avoiding this company completely!
2:24AM on 30th December 2011
I found an item on this website, heavily discounted, that I had been looking at for a while. When I attempted to buy it I had to go through this process whereby I had to give certain details such as d.o.b (gave a false one) and time at address (likewise), leading up to an application for credit??? WTF??? If I wanted credit I'd ask for it! To make a long story short, I stopped the order then and there, as the setup of the website struck me as incredibly dodgy - hence the reason I am on this site. I was wondering if it was some sort of a scam! I do a lot of online shopping both here and internationally, and I can't say as I've seen such a crappy and mistrust-inspiring website in many a year. Too bad, I'll live without the item.
11:23AM on 12th January 2012
Very.co.uk and i suspect all the other online retailers under the parent 'Shop Direct' allow anyone with a name and an address to set up a credit account and then make an order to a completely different address!!!! 28th Dec 2011 someone ordered £160 of jewellery using just my name and address, and had it dispatched to a totally different address - all on Credit! This is a totally ridiculous setup which opens up the door to any opportunist, With the fraudulent goods aside I suspect the profit is far greater once you tumble into the recommendations of the 'id theft team' to sign you up with 'cifas' and what ever other credit agencys are involved. Hundreds of Moronically trained people sitting in offices taking calls dealing with this nonsense all because 'shop direct' allow people to order anything they want on credit in someones elses name! It stinks. Probably the cost falls back on the tax payer somewhere along the line.
Do not give these people more information ontop of your name and address and probably phone number by now - demand the debt cancelled and the mark they added to your credit ref when the credit was created be scratched immediately!
4:52PM on 12th January 2012
DO NOT BUY ANYTHING FROM THIS COMPANY!!!! I ordered some items under the 'Buy Now Pay Later' deal, however, when I checked my account the next day the goods weren't listed as BNPL.I rang Very to ask them what was going on and they assured me there had been a mistake on their system and they would rectify it. A week later I checked and they had not sorted it. The goods had arrived and I once again phoned them to see what was going on. I also told them that if the goods weren't on BNPL I would send them back. After several phonecalls later, Very Customer Service rang me personally telling me there was no need to send the goods back and that all of the items were definitely all now on the Buy Now Pay Later deal.
A month later, when my Very letter arrived, I saw that yet again the goods still weren't on BNPL. Once again I phoned them to sort the problem out. I kept being put through to the Complex Queries Team who were never in and after many promises of a phonecall back, I was never contacted.
I wrote to the Customer Services Team and eventually got an email back simply stating that I didn't qualify for the Buy Now Pay Later deal, so I have been basically duped into buying the goods.
I now intend to contact the Financial Ombudsman and the Managing Director because they are just conning people.
WORST COMPANY EVER!!!!!!!!!!!
7:46PM on 16th January 2012
Hi All
I have been trying to register in order to make my first order, and was told by a friend this website is very good and has a lot of deals.
But unfortunately I have struggled to sign on, the postcode issue did put me off -plus the comments above.
Free hassle
8:16PM on 26th January 2012
Terrible customer service. Ordered an item with estimated 2 weeks delivery, well two weeks have come and gone and now been told I have to wait a further 2 weeks. What has annoyed me was when I called customer services to complain the representative said if I order the item again and pay twice I'll have the item by Friday .... How about you just send me my original order?!
I want to cancel my account but as I have an order pending I can't!
DONT USE VERY.COM ... this is just one of many issues I have had with them of late!!
6:10PM on 19th March 2012
the worst company i have ever come across ,sofa was so bad it was beyond repair after six week ,it was like something you would pick up at a recycle tip ,springs showing ,fabric sagging,cushions coming apart ,they got some one to look at it with a view to repair ,they were the one that said it would cost to much to repair as it was such poor quality in the first place ,now they are trying to bully my partner who is 30 weeks pregnant ,all i can say is bring on the lawyers i cant wait ,i will be posting pics ect on line to warn others about this company ,they even claim that there sofa s come from the same place as DFS ,i think not ,
10:58PM on 4th April 2012
I am completely outraged, ordered a self assembled cupboard that didn't fit together and cracked during assembly. They offered me to collect it and maybe refund it, and we arranged the collection date twice, they've confirmed it with me, even with voicemails left on my phone and then no one appeared. Last collection date was today so at 4pm as no one came I called them again and they called the driver who should give me a call back...
They are taking a piss and the only answer I get is oh, we are very very sorry... I am usually a peaceful person but this is frustrating over the limit. I am really sorry I have not read those reviews before the order...
9:35AM on 5th April 2012
Very is useless…… DO NOT ORDER ANYTHING FROM THIS COMPANY.. Ordered a bed for my little one. Let's just say it did not arrive, he has had no bed to sleep on as I got rid of his old one on the day the delivery of the new bed was due.… No new bed turned up. Then very informed me they had to reorder the bed so the delivery would be even longer, no attempted to locate the bed previously ordered! The crazy part is the bed was sat in a dc 5 minutes from where I lived, but for h&s I was unable to collect it myself. The date came and went for the second deliver. So the bed is still sitting in a dc 5 mins from my house, but the best part is the carries will, I hope at some point collect the bed, then drive past my house and drive 2 hours to Bolton, then call me to arrange delivery, then drive another 2 hours back to the area they orriginal collected it from in order to deliver it. That is some fabulous logistics. My 7 year old could organise this far better than they do. To top it all off I still have no bed!! The delivery date has been and gone twice now. Each time I call customer service (which is a joke) I just get fed more lies. No customer service has happened at any point. Basically this company logo should be veryfcukinguseless.co.uk
8:50AM on 8th May 2012
DO NOT ORDER FROM THIS COMPANY. They have taken money from my bank account and not delivered any goods and when i phoned them they told me i don't have an account with them, so how did i order my stuff and pay for it. I now have to try and find out through my bank how to get my own money back.