Problems with makershop.fr

[ClausJ 5]

2 weeks ago I bought an Ultimaker 2+ Extended in Denmark and since I spend some months working in France during summer I brought it with me. Being here in France I found a cover for the Ultimaker that I thought whould be practical. It is for sale at makershop.fr, apparently the main reseller of Ultimaker in France.

On the surface Makershop.fr looks like a great place to shop. Expert advice always available on the phone, 24 hour shipping and a “generous” 14 days return policy “no questions asked”. As they write on their site, translated from French, “we go further than the return policy required by law, you can try out any purchase for yourself and if you don’t like it, you simply return it”.

So I ordered spools of different materials to try out, an extra build plate and this hood made from 7 sheets of acrylic held together by 3d printed brackets. The hood was not cheap, 400 euros, but I thought it was a good investment.

The goods arrived and I unpacked the hood, laid out all the parts and started to remove the protective foil from two of the 7 acrylic sheets. Then I realised I made a mistake because the front door was too small. By mistake I ordered the kit for the 2+ and not for the extended. So I quickly put everything back in the box and called makershop.fr to initiate the hazzle-free return. I reached their customer service girl Brigitte (I changed her name) who quickly asked me to send them an email with the request to which she later replied herself that they were able to accept the return only if the product was in the original packaging and had not been unwrapped. And the money would be returned as credits for the shop, adding “Dont hesitate to contact us for further info, have a nice day”.

So I called Brigitte again, explaining that 2 of the acrylic sheets had been relieved of their plastic wrap and trying to solve this potential problem I suggested at first they swopped the unwrapped parts with the parts from the package they would send me as a replacement. She asked me to put my suggestion in an email and a few hours later she answered “I’m sorry that that is not possible, dont hesitate to contact us for further info, have a nice day”.

I called again, not at all happy with her reply. A collegue of hers answered the phone. I asked him if he was informed about my problem. “yes, I heard about it, what do you want now?” I told him I was not happy with having to trash a 400 euros product and wanted to discuss some kind of solution, maybe I could pay for the unwrapped parts and they could send me the right model for my printer?”. He wanted me to discuss with Brigitte and put me on hold. I waited for 5 minutes or more, a long time. Then he came back on the phone: “Brigitte don’t want to talk to you, she already wrote you an email and there is nothing further to add, you cannot return the product”. Struggling with my self control I asked if he would discuss this with his boss and get back to me, suggesting again they could charge me for the unwrapped parts. He asked me to put my suggestion in an email, which I did.

This happened friday and today it’s sunday. This morning I searched the internet only to find out that European consumers are well protected when buying stuff on the internet. You always have 14 days return and during this period you are allowed to unpack and unwrap your purchase and test it. If you then wish to return it you don’t have to explain to the seller, it’s your right, except for foodstuff, hygienic products, digital media and some services. And within the 14 days you must be paid all your money back including the original shipping cost. Obviously I put all this in an email for Brigitte. And however this case turns out makershop.fr is the only looser because there is no way I am going to order from them ever again. And of course I’m sharing my experience.

So while there is no doubt I will in fact get to return my product and get my money back eventually, I have to warn everybody about this shop. French people have the unfortunate reputation of being arrogant which I find only partly deserved, however these guys seem to have reinvented the concept of arrogance, adding the middle-finger-gesture of “have a nice day” as an insult to injury. What worries me more is that these cowboys are the main resellers of Ultimaker in this country and I wonder what kind of damage their non existing customer support will add to the Ultimaker brand.

Edited June 15, 2016 by Guest

[Makershop 4]

Dear ClausJ,

We are very sorry for this misunderstanding.

It appears that you contacted, at first, our customer service for an exchange and not for the 14 days warranty.

Before you told us your product was opened, we accepted to make the exchange right away.

The fact that the product was opened made the exchange with another product impossible (we talked about mixing pieces of two different packs to get a brand new one, which was not possible since the pieces of those packs are different)

After we received your e-mail about the conditions of the 14 days warranty, that's when we understood you wanted a reimbursement.

We then checked with our lawyer who confirmed we had to take back your product even though it was opened which we told you on Monday afternoon right after we had this information and accepted to take the product back.

About the phonecall when you could not talk with "Brigitte", our colleague confirmed "Brigitte" was not available and he had to go ask her during a meeting, that seems to be why you had to wait a little longer to get an answer but she never said she did not want to talk to you because she simply could not.

We informed our team about the conditions applicable for this 14 days warranty so everyone has the right information from now on.

We now wait for the return of your product and will proceed to the reimbursement.

[ClausJ 5]

Dear Makershop representative

It's absolutely true that returning an unwrapped product is probably no problem at Makershop, however I wonder how often this is relevant, since it is when you see the actual product out of it's box, you know you made a mistake.

At first, I simply wanted to send back the product I ordered by mistake, and get the right one for my printer in stead - and pay the transport and the small difference in price of course. Wether or not this would be some kind of exchange or simply the return of one product and the purchase of another should not matter, the point is, that I tried to be inventive and helpful, even suggesting to pay the cost of the two acrylic panes I unwrapped, I just wanted the product I thought I ordered without causing trouble.

The unfortunate and unacceptable about this story is first of all that you did not (until now) live up to the claims you make on your webshop which states that your customers can try out the products for 14 days and then return them if they wish so. Doing that without unwrapping is very difficult. I know it's hard to own a webshop because people will actually unwrap and use stuff and many returned products can't be sold again or only as "refurbished" at a discounted price. I agree to an extend that consumers are almost too well protected, I heard of people who order clothes for a wedding and return them afterwards, very bad behavior. I have friends who have webshops who tell me that up to 40% of all the clothes they sell online is returned. It's difficult terms, however it is the European consumer law.

What disappointed me most was the coldness of your peoples response, it could just as well have been like "hey, YOU made the mistake, dude, YOUR problem". I never met this kind of response before, normally people go out of their way be helpful. I got in contact with my lawyer and he was the one who pointed me towards the consumer law. You probably know what lawyers cost and just making that phone call will probably cost me whatever I get for returning the product. Dealing with webshops should not involve lawyers, neither for you or for me. And I deduct from your post that the only reason you accept the return is not because you feel it's the right thing to do but because your lawyer told you you had no choice.

I sent the product back today, I carefully wrapped the two acrylic panes in plastic. If I was you I would take the protective foil off all the panes and repack them in the box with layers of paper or plastic between them. The next guy will not know the difference and he will probably appreciate not having to remove all the foil.

Best regards

Edited June 15, 2016 by Guest