Problems with Farnell France and possibly other parts of europe

[Goobley]

I have been a long time lurker on this forum and project, however I have been looking forward to getting my Pi and helping the community get ready for an educational launch (I only recently turned 18 myself). This post is not me whining about not being able to get a RPi, but me attempting to raise awareness of an issue which could affect a reasonable number of hopeful Pi purchasers.

Here is a copy of an email that I have sent to Farnell (I live in France), with a small amount of personal information removed. (TL;DR available at the bottom)

(Texte anglais en haut/français en bas)

(english text above the french text)

This email has been sent to the UK customer service address (as Farnell is a UK company) and the French sales line, because it’s labelled as customer service on the website. It covers an issue that I have found with Raspberry Pis and Farnell’s French division although it may not be limited to France.

Ce message a été envoyé à l’adresse du service clientèle anglais (car Farnell est un entreprise anglais) ainsi que l’adresse des ventes françaises car cette-dernière est marquée comme adresse de service clientèle sur le site web. Il traite un problème que j'ai trouvé avec la distribution du Raspberry Pi par Farnell France et peut-être d'autres pays aussi.

English:

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing to express my disappointment in the way that your company has handled the release of the Raspberry Pi today. I am not talking about the fact that the servers crashed and were rarely reachable before midday as this always happens on large product releases, I have personally experienced it when trying to buy an iPod touch 4g and then that company’s sites were blocked for almost three days. A server failing on release day is acceptable and even expected; I have no complaints on that matter, what concerns me however is the clear lack of briefing of your sales staff and the unclear manner in which this product was launched on your website.

Following the link from the Raspberry Pi Foundation’s (RPF) static webpage I arrived at your global portal. After having read “Both Premier Farnell and RS Components have worldwide distribution networks, so wherever you are in the world, you will be able to buy from a local distributor. This will saves [sic] you money on shipping; it’s a much better way for you to buy than getting them all shipped from the Foundation in the UK.” On RPF’s webpage I decided that, living in France I would use your French branch as it appeared that this was what was expected and could even save me a bob or two on shipping. I was able to very quickly and easily locate the product on the front page of the French website, at a price higher than expected and add one to my basket. I rapidly advanced through the payment process with a couple of page timeouts (normal expected behaviour), and confirmed my item which was more expensive than it was supposed to be and my 12€ shipping costs. I later found out through RPF’s twitter that the extra charge on the board was supposed to be to cover shipping, so… an extra 12€ on top? Nice! Well I wasn’t going to cancel as I had received my confirmation at 0612 GMT, so I thought I’d grit my teeth and accept that I was paying 53€ for my 35$ (+p&p) product in the hopes that I would have one of the first batch.

Then at 1639 I received an email from French customer support saying that I couldn’t pay for it using my debit card as this item was either coming from the US or was on backorder.

Quote: “Nous vous remercions pour votre commande passée sur notre site Farnell AR ****-****

Cependant, la référence commandée n'est pas disponible, les commandes en paiement CB ne peuvent être validée avec des références en reliquat ou produit en provenances des USA.

Cette commande est annulée, cependant, si vous êtes une société vous pouvez ouvrir un compte professionnel afin de réserver cette pièce. “

I phoned the French customer service branch who told me that my order had been cancelled and the only way I could keep my reservation of that product was by opening a business account. It’s is suggested that the product was either on backorder or coming from the US, this is neither, it’s a pre-order! For the launch of a product aimed at normal consumers this is a terrible problem. What’s more is that I could find no mention of this rule in the any of your terms and conditions in either English or French. If we weren’t supposed to buy from the French site this should have been explicitly stated on the item page or the portal or RPF’s page, along with no payment by debit card, which is, I would add the only payment option available for individuals.

If your French site is going to remain raspberry pi stockist then this needs to be sorted rather pronto as this project is aimed at individuals and will be on pre-order for quite a long time, as the stock will take quite a while to arrive. Your company may be one of the largest electronics stockists and resellers in the world but this product is geared to consumers and needs to be dealt with as such.

I would like to know your stance on these problems that are frankly weird and not covered by your FAQ or T&C’s (as far as I can see) and I hope that you will be able to find a speedy resolution for all the pi fans out there who may be afflicted by this issue.

I eagerly await your early reply,

Yours sincerely,

Chris Osborne

Français

Monsieur, Madame,

Je vous écris pour partager mon mécontentement à propos de votre gestion de la vente des micro-ordinateurs Raspberry Pi ce matin. Je ne parle pas du fait que les serveurs ont planté et étaient très difficile à contacter avant midi car ceci arrive le jour de sortie de tous les grands produits. Personnellement lors de la sortie de l’iPod touch 4 g j’ai dû attendre 3 jours pour que les serveurs du fabricant deviennent utilisables. Ceci est acceptable et même attendu, ce que j’ai à dire ne porte pas sur cela, mais sur la préparation des employés et la façon peu claire dont ce produit a été mise sur le site.

En suivant le lien sur la page du Raspberry Pi Foundation (RPF) je suis tombé sur votre portail global. Après avoir lu read “Both Premier Farnell and RS Components have worldwide distribution networks, so wherever you are in the world, you will be able to buy from a local distributor. This will saves [sic] you money on shipping; it’s a much better way for you to buy than getting them all shipped from the Foundation in the UK.” Sur la page du RPF, je me suis dit que, comme je suis un habitant français, j’allais acheter sur le site français, car d’après la page du RPF c’est ce qui est attendu des acheteurs dans des pays "hors-angleterre", et je pensais que j’allais peut-être gagner quelques sous en frais de port aussi. J’ai rapidement et facilement trouvé l’objet en question sur votre site, le prix était plus important que ce que j’attendais, mais j’ai ajouté un à mon panier. J’ai rapidement complété mon achat avec quelques problèmes du chargement dû aux serveurs (ce qui est normal) et j’ai confirmé ma commande qui était plus cher qu’elle aurait dû être avec 12€ de frais de port en plus. Plus tard j’ai trouvé par le twitter du RPF que l’objet était plus cher qu’il est censé être car Farndell avait ajouté déjà les frais de port. Donc 12€ de plus… ça fait plaisir. Du coup je n’allais pas annuler ma commande car j’ai reçu ma confirmation à 0612GMT (0712 CET), donc même si j’allais payer 53€ pour un objet qui coûte 35$ (plus frais de port), j’espérais d’avoir un Raspberry Pi, et un des 10 000 premiers, ceux qui vont bientôt arriver.

Puis à 1639 j’ai réçu un courriel de la part de votre service clientèle, cité ci-dessous.

“Nous vous remercions pour votre commande passée sur notre site Farnell AR ****-****

Cependant, la référence commandée n'est pas disponible, les commandes en paiement CB ne peuvent être validée avec des références en reliquat ou produit en provenances des USA.

Cette commande est annulée, cependant, si vous êtes une société vous pouvez ouvrir un compte professionnel afin de réserver cette pièce. “

J’ai appelé le service clientèle français pour essayer de comprendre, et ils m’ont dit que la seule manière de garder ma réservation était d’ouvrir un compte de société. Ce produit ne vient ni des USA et ce n’est pas non plus du reliquat car c’était marqué sur le site en tant que précommande. Pour le jour de sortie d’un produit visant les consommateurs normal ceci est un grand problème. De plus je n’ai pas pu trouver cette règle dans les conditions en anglais ou français. Si on n’était pas censé acheter à partir de Farnell France alors ceci aurait dû être marqué explicitement, avec la mention que vous n’êtes pas en mesure de prendre un paiement pour ceci par carte bancaire, donc seulement les entreprises peuvent en acheter, car les individus ne peuvent seulement payer par carte.

Si le site de Farnell France reste le revendeur de Raspberry Pi alors il faut que ces problèmes soient résolus assez rapidement car ce projet vise des particuliers et sera en état de précommande pendant assez longtemps avant que le stock arrive. L’entreprise Farnell est peut-être un des plus grands du domaine électronique mais ce projet vise des particuliers et doit être traité ainsi, étant assez souple pour qu’ils puissent facilement en acheter.

J’aimerais savoir votre opinion sur ces problèmes bizarres qui sont non traités dans les conditions de votre site ni dans la rubrique questions fréquentes (enfin je ne les ai pas trouvés) et j’éspere que vous seriez en mesure de rapidement résoudre ces problèmes pour tous les fans du Raspberry Pi , présent et futur qui sont peut-être touchés par ceci.

Dans l’attente de votre réponse, je vous prie d’agréer monsieur, madame, l’expression de mes salutations distinguées,

Chris Osborne

TL;DR Like everyone else I battled my war through the sites on Wednesday morning, I managed to place and get an order confirmation from Farnell France at 0612, the price was higher than expected because Farnell's delivery costs were supposed to be included in the advertised price, however they still put an extra 12€ on top! Later in the day (mid to late afternoon) I received an email from Farnell France stating that they had had to cancel my order due to my having paid by debit card. I phoned them up to see what I could do, and the answer was, nothing without a business account. (There was no other method of payment). This therefore means that for the duration that RPis are on pre-order the French will not be able to buy them through Farnell France (as far as I am aware) unless they are a business.

I'd like to know if anybody else has been affected by this and also ask what we can do to resolve this problem.

Goobley

[Sajina]

Well I sort of had the same problem as you (from German). But I didn't bought it. The site only had a button with "Business Order" and "Personal Order". Clicking on "Personal Order" led me to a list of "local distributer" in which Germany wasn't included. Clicken on "Business Ordner" had led me to the "Cart" but as it was "Business" it was clearly not for "Personal Order". If I had bought it this way I may had been end up like you.

It ok that I didn't got my hand on a Pi yet but it really is frustrating that I couldn't buy a Pi 'cause of the ****ed up "Shop". And to be totally honest in my whole life I've never seen such a bad designed totally confusing, misleading "Shop" or "Page" as farnell.

The second I got on the page I thought I was totally wrong. And without google it is sort of impossible to finde anything on the site, take apart of even buying anything. If it wasn't for the Pi I wouldn't even dare to revisit this site ever again.

The DDoS was one thing and something farnell couldn't do much about but the shopingsystem which doesn't allow personal preorder and the design which is just confusing is something which is farnells blame as it sucks heavy. I don't give the Pi the blame but farnell!

[Goobley]

I agree totally, the DDoS, as I put in my letter, was expected and I have no complaints, the issue is that we either weren't allowed to put in for a personal pre-order or, in my case, and possibly other, it was rejected. The foundation are doing good solid work, Farnell, not so much.

Goobley

[Goobley]

So after having had my order kicked out by Farnell on Wednesday, I registered my interest on both Farnell and RS. Farnell sent me an email today asking if I wished to pre-order. The link takes me through to a page which states that the price of €44.82 includes VAT and P&P so I go through to the basket and once again I get the 12€ supplementary postage price added (because there is no choice other than next day in France). I don't know whether to go through with this order because I can't see that their policies will have changed enough to allow me to pay by debit card this time for a product not in stock, and besides, any order passed now will be expected towards the end of may, won't it?

Goobley

[Sragir]

Hello

I had some problems with RS  and later with Farnell.

When finally I was able to get on the RS site, it directed me to their Dutch division.

And you had to fill in your credentials if you were interested in a Raspberry. It also requested to fill in "your company name " I have no company so I just put in my name.

The registration worked, because the site stated "thank you for your interest"

Because I got no confirmation on my mail, I decided to phone the Dutch Division.

When asked about the Rasberry and about the confirmation, they asked me if I own a company or business. I told them no. Then they told me plain, sorry, only companies are allowed to buy a Raspberry Pi, normal costumers will not be able to order one. And they asked me if I did not know that. I told them I"m registered at the Raspberry forum, and the only thing I do know is only 1 Rasberry per costumer. And nothing about only companies be allowed to buy from the first batch.

So they said Raspberry Foundation has misinformed me, because only companies could order one ( with a registered company/trade number ) . So they will remove my order.

So what I don"t understand is the following:


As far as I know and have read here, the Raspberry Pi is avaible to one and all.

(I do know there are only 10000 in first batch, so first come, first served)


Rasberry foundation is working with RS and Farnell, because of several reason ( the announcement last wednesday ) And these buss are only going to distribute to companies. And also asking me if the Raspberry Foundation did not told me that.

If I could not get a Raspberry, because it was sold out, I can live with that.

But not after I got registered for one, the order is removed because I don't own a business/company". So I was a bit upset about it.

Could anyone from the Foundation shed some light on this?

Thank you

[abishur]

Yes this is a mistake on their part that the RPF is working on getting sorted out.  I know that it *really* sucks since we all want one, but they will get it all worked out for us as soon as they can. 

[williamsj]

Farnell just tried to stich me 15.00 CHF for delivery From Switzerland to Switzerland. The Pi was sent normal post and was simply pushed through my letter box.

The reply they go was simple:

Please tell me why an item of 15.00 CHF for postage suddenly appears on my bill?

Neither accepting nor paying your 15.00 CHF delivery, this was NEVER agreed.

The notification from Rasberry Pi was 4.50 delivery worldwide

Please advise, or I simply return the product; order cancelled

John

[grumpyoldgit]

Farnell just tried to stich me 15.00 CHF for delivery From Switzerland to Switzerland. The Pi was sent normal post and was simply pushed through my letter box.

The reply they go was simple:

Please tell me why an item of 15.00 CHF for postage suddenly appears on my bill?

Neither accepting nor paying your 15.00 CHF delivery, this was NEVER agreed.

The notification from Rasberry Pi was 4.50 delivery worldwide

Please advise, or I simply return the product; order cancelled

John

You are confusing Farnell with RS who do have a single worldwide postage charge. Farnell do not.