Family Historian User Group

Has anyone had problems with S&N Genealogy Supplies?

I placed an order for FH v4 on 3 February and today chased it as it had not arrived. They said it was sent first class recorded delivery. They did not want to chase delivery and so I asked for the reference number and contacted Royal Mail. All they could tell me was that it had not been delivered and that they had not attempted delivery. They added that S&N had not paid for a service that allowed them to track it through their system.

I spoke to S&N and they said I would have to wait 15 working days, 3 weeks after I ordered and paid for the goods, to claim it was undelivered as they had an agreement with Royal Mail that they could claim after 15 days. They did offer another copy which they would dispatch today but I had to pay again and then claim a refund on 24 February. They claimed this was their terms of conditions. It is not included in their terms on their website.

I asked to speak to the office manager who introduced himself as Dave. He gave me the same message. I asked to speak to a director and was told he was a director.

I accept that sometimes parcels go astray but S&N’s attitude to customer service is very poor. I will be claiming a refund, even if it is delivered, and go elsewhere. I will not be going back to S&N.

[mad]

ID:4351

I've ordered from them a few times and had no problems. To be fair, the terms they are telling you are normal GPO practice.

Anne

I accept that they are normal Royal Mail terms but S&N have the relationship with Royal Mail, I do not. How many businesses want to charge you for the goods again while they sort out their problems?

As Anne said, it is normal practice when ordering online to have to wait a certain amount of time before they can confirm an item is not delivered. I am waiting for an item of clothing from an online supplier, and I have to wait 21 days before they will confirm non delivery. I must say, I do agree with them, there has to be a policy the GRO have regarding non delivery of post before a claim can be made. It is the GRO that stipulate this and not S & N nor the supplier I am buying my item from.

I handle the shipping for my bookstore, and I can confirm that the vendors are at the mercy of the shippers. The various post offices and shipping companies dictate to us how long we have to wait before they will admit that they don't know what has happened to a parcel. Then if we submit a claim to be reimbursed for the lost goods, we have to wait again to find out whether the insurance claim will be honored. These time frames are set by their policy and there is nothing we can do about it. I am still getting the run-around from the US Postal Service about a parcel that went missing in September.

My experience is that most companies will charge you when shipping a replacement, and refund you when one of the shipments is returned. It does not surprise me that Royal Mail told you that 'S&N had not paid for a service that allowed them to track it through their system' because most of our customers don't want to pay for that level of service. They won't pay for the service, but when the package goes missing, they expect the tracking data to be there as if by magic.

For what it's worth, when I ordered FH3 from S&N the parcel arrived promptly and contained all the contents I was expecting.

I'm sorry your package went missing -- I know how frustrating it can be. Have you asked your neighbors if one of them might have received the parcel by mistake?

Jan