Marine Megastore - bad service

whiteoaks7

whiteoaks7

Well-Known Member
Joined
29 Nov 2002
Messages
570
Location
South Wales, UK
www.seasolutions.co.uk
Is this typical of this outfit?

1) Well overdue on longest forecast delivery
2) Won't accept "existing order" queries by email - direct you to "live chat"
3) Live chat doesn't work
4) Restricted telephone access

Not good customer service and I'm no further forward.

I also wanted to change my password (now there's a novel idea) for which there's no obvious function; they also don't allow distinguish between upper and lower case so it's less secure than it should be.

I now want to close my account but there's no function for that either which means my details will hover on their server forever - not impressed.

David Berry
 
I agree whole heartedly, I ordered on line a total of £631.00 they took payment very quickly but then told me the item was out of production since 2007!. They did refund my payment when asked but how unprofessional to still advertise this item when it hasn't been available for almost 6 years !!
 
whiteoaks7 said:
I now want to close my account but there's no function for that either which means my details will hover on their server forever - not impressed.

David Berry
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No, write to them quoting the data protection act and if your name isn't off the database lickety split then they won't be allowed to have a computer anymore. To be honest this may be the best thing for them...
 
lustyd said:
No, write to them quoting the data protection act and if your name isn't off the database lickety split then they won't be allowed to have a computer anymore. To be honest this may be the best thing for them...
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The man who manages the DPA is on holiday at the moment lol. The only thing he maybe interested in is loss of info and similar. There need not be any automated way of deregistering if verbal or written communication is possible. That is certainly no breach unless no action taken.

Don't get me started about GroupOn - they allow you to deregister but then ignore your request.

Just contact the company.
 
TonyBuckley said:
The man who manages the DPA is on holiday at the moment lol. The only thing he maybe interested in is loss of info and similar. There need not be any automated way of deregistering if verbal or written communication is possible. That is certainly no breach unless no action taken.

Don't get me started about GroupOn - they allow you to deregister but then ignore your request.

Just contact the company.
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That's what I meant, if you contact them in writing they are obliged to take all of your information out of their computer systems and if they don't then they get the whole lot taken away. You can also write asking them to provide you a list of info they do have - this can be interesting to do before asking for removal because if they say they have nothing yet continue to mail you they are breaking a pretty serious law, and chances are they will be lazy and say they have nothing.
 
lustyd said:
That's what I meant, if you contact them in writing they are obliged to take all of your information out of their computer systems and if they don't then they get the whole lot taken away. You can also write asking them to provide you a list of info they do have - this can be interesting to do before asking for removal because if they say they have nothing yet continue to mail you they are breaking a pretty serious law, and chances are they will be lazy and say they have nothing.
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All well and good in theory, but everything I've heard suggests that the Information Commissioner's Office is hilariously overworked and will only act on fairly egregious breaches - which an online shop hanging into data you freely gave them hardly counts as.

Pete
 
ukmctc said:
sounds more like Force4
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Not sure what that comment is supposed to mean.

The OP probably should have dealt with Force4 in the first place.

Generally people on here report good service from Force4... I only recall one or two grumps since I've been using thess forums. Unlike MMS.
 
VicS said:
Generally people on here report good service from Force4... I only recall one or two grumps since I've been using thess forums. Unlike MMS.
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Always excellent service in my experience, but then I generally visit their nearby shops rather than mail-order.

Pete
 
Agree, Force 4, Marine superstore, Seamark Nunn have all given me excellent service. Marine Megastore operates a business model that can only lead to tears - and the huge amount of negative comment on these forums, and others, is testimony to that.
 
After all the consistently bad reports on these forums about Marine Megastore, isn't it surprising that forumites use them at all? Should there maybe be a sticky saying "Avoid Marine Megastore"?
 
pvb said:
After all the consistently bad reports on these forums about Marine Megastore, isn't it surprising that forumites use them at all?
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I don't remember ever seeing a "Megastore woe" post from a regular I recognise. People who spend a lot of time on these forums know full well what a crappy outfit they are. The lamentations are always from those with low post counts, ie better things to do than hang around on here :)

Pete
 
prv said:
I don't remember ever seeing a "Megastore woe" post from a regular I recognise. People who spend a lot of time on these forums know full well what a crappy outfit they are. The lamentations are always from those with low post counts, ie better things to do than hang around on here :)
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Well, the OP has been hanging around here for 10 years, and has 460 posts. Not exactly a newbie.
 
The lack of a response to this and previous threads from MMS is pretty telling i.e. they don't care about negative comments from customers!

Force 4 have always come up trumps for me when ordering out of stock items, was in Plymouth recently @ QAB. The force 4 chandlery was on site and had the item i needed delivered for the following day, top service
 
pvb said:
Well, the OP has been hanging around here for 10 years, and has 460 posts. Not exactly a newbie.
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I deliberately didn't say "new members", rather people who don't spend a lot of time (like thee and me) participating on the forum. Presumably just dip in from time to time with specific questions, but are unlikely to notice an ongoing pattern like negative posts about MM. A few hundred posts spread out over a decade seems to me to fall into that category.

Pete
 
prv said:
All well and good in theory, but everything I've heard suggests that the Information Commissioner's Office is hilariously overworked and will only act on fairly egregious breaches - which an online shop hanging into data you freely gave them hardly counts as.

Pete
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From personal experience, about three months to get a first action-response (not counting any automated acknowledgement replies). The more solid evidence you can provide up-front the better e.g. all correspondence and their replies (or lack of). Don't expect the IOC Case Officer to go on a fishing trip to look for evidence for you.

But first, make sure you have clearly made a Subject Access Request, in writing, addressed to The Data Controller at MMS.
You are entitled to be told:
- whether personal data about you is being held or processed and, if so, for what purpose(s)
- to whom the data may be disclosed
- the source of the data

When you send the Subject Access Request to MMS, don't forget to include your full name and address, and your cheque for £10 (the usual fee).

IIRC, an organisation is allowed 20 working days to respond(?) - not 100% that is correct though - anyone know?

Plenty of guidance on the ICO website.
e.g. http://www.ico.org.uk/upload/docume..._is_personal_data_-_quick_reference_guide.pdf
 
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