Ben Slater, co-founder and operations director of WAE+ explains why he thinks his one-year-old, self-funded business will take £15 million in sales next year, after a dazzling growth trajectory in a popular and ‘under-served’ niche.
When and why did you first decide to set the business up?
I first decided to set up WAE+ with my business partner Darren Cresswell when I ran Turn90, a company that specialises in developing ecommerce websites and, after working on a number of successful sites for other retailers, we decided to launch our own retail business.
We started working on WAE+ in 2011 as an office supplies retailer, but have since branched out to consumer electronics, toys, wholesale food and drink, and parts and components.
When did the business become a reality?
WAE+ was launched in September 2011.
What help did you have in setting up your business?
I worked with my co-founder, Darren Cresswell – we didn’t have any external help in setting up the business. We are self-funded as banks are currently very cautious about lending to start-ups. As we have grown we have started to get more support from Government organisations but it’s taken a while to appear on their radar.
How difficult was it to start as an ecommerce business?
There were a number of challenges – technical, economical and logistical – involved in setting up an ecommerce business but, thanks to having web development experience and funds from our previous venture, both Darren and I were confident we could make it work.
Planning is very important as, with the growth of the business, you quite quickly become a more conventional retailer – with hiring staff, moving into bigger offices and getting a dedicated warehouse – so you need to be prepared for those changes.
Were there any hurdles that you had to overcome, and if so, how was it done?
Our main hurdle to setting up in 2011 was the recession so, to ensure success, our focus was on keeping costs low. This was achieved by working on the website design and sourcing manufacturers, suppliers and couriers for products and delivery ourselves.
When did you really start to feel like you were taking off as a business?
When our first year results came in. We beat our projected revenue of £1.5 million to achieve a turnover of £1.65 million in our first year.
We’ve also been recruiting and, on our first birthday, we celebrated with 16 members of staff compared to two a year ago. We’re now on track to do 10x the business that we did this last year so everything is changing very rapidly. It’s a challenging but fun time and great to see our ideas coming to life.
Any advice you would give to people wanting to set up their own ecommerce business?
Find a niche or sector that isn’t being supplied well. We have an extensive wholesale food and drink offering which other online retailers may struggle to compete with. I would also advise that companies wanting to enter this space invest in their technology platforms and customer service.
Be prepared for the bad times, there is a hard slog ahead and it will undoubtedly be stressful at points so always think positively. I find writing lists of what I need to do and checking them off is a satisfying way of seeing what progress you are making/have made.
What software did you use when setting up the business?
We built our own software platform.
What plans do you have to grow the business?
We have just launched a toy range ahead of Christmas, so anticipate having to recruit even more staff in the run up to the festive period, to meet demand. Also, with customer conversion increasing as quickly as it has done over the past 12 months, we expect next year’s turnover to jump from £1.65 million to over £15 million.
We are just opening a new Distribution Centre to ensure we can efficiently serve many thousands more customers a week from across our huge range.
If you could have done anything differently, what would it be?
We would have been ensured that our delivery service actually delivered on time! We have switched to UPS now and they have so far saved us from any headaches.
Hi Ben I know your a busy man, I have recently bought 3 products from a 3dsamsung tv and then all the 3d glasses and now a cinema sound system been very pleased with price service for first 2 orders but now can’t get a reply from phone or fast track it’s leaving me thinking is your business still there simply because nobody gets back I live down on south coast what do people like me do is it just a matter of time or does some one get back to us eventually a. Response from some one wouldn’t go amiss cheers Colin loft
This is the worst online trader iv ever dealt with. They take your money then don’t deliver your goods or in my case they delivered half my goods a month late I ordered on the 24/04/2013 it is now 23/07/2013 and i still don’t have my order or refund. The customer service is useless they lie to you and just don’t do anything to help. I have filed a complaint with action fraud and trading standards. I will wait to see what advice they give me but going by the experience so far I’m pretty sure i will have to take wea+ to small claims court to get my money back.
this company should be closed down (the sooner the better) i ordered something that was showing as in stock 4th july 2013 only to be told it was not in stock in the uk warehouse but was in stock in GERMANY ? obviously being lied too because 10th july my order was cancelled and i was told i would be refunded soon (haha) 15th august i’m still waiting ! phoned earlier asked to be put through to accounts department and was told i got put through to calcutta in india ? and i would be refunded soon ? an absolute joke of a company.
Ben and Darren : u had better start delivering on your promises otherwise u will not be in business for very long……………………………please go on-line and read your recent reviews and when so doing organise the delivery of my TV without furtherado – or refund the cash forthwith.
Kelvin W. Aldus – one of your overseas customers
Ben and Darren : u have had a very successful launch but in order to maintaın same u need to bolster your Organisation for from my ordering experience u r not able to cope wıth demand.
Please take a look athe recent reviews on WAE which are self-explanatory!
Furthermore, kındly see to it that my TV ıs despatched whıch ıs nearly one month on order.
Kelvın W. ALDUS…………one of your Overseas customers from Turkey
their main problem is not with delivery agents
The fact that they say a item is in stock take payment for expedited delivery when the do not have the item in stock or know when they can get it . Customer service abysmal
Mostly, he’ll make that sort of money because his company are basically robbing b*****ds.
Google them, it’s unbelievable how shoddy this lot are.
There is no way this business will survive. Their service is terrible. I think most people would prefer to pay a little more and get the item they ordered on time and working. They use every excuse in the books but the main one is that the item is on its way from their European warehouse to their UK location. They provide a web site to provide order updates but it is completely useless. For example what does “item allocated” as a status mean. You either have the item in stock or you don’t if you have it in stock you ship it. I only wish I had read the reviews before I ordered instead of after I encountered problems.
Hi
After almost 40 days of cancellation, still have not receive my refund! Your website doesn’t work anymore. Have lots of promissing emails but no money back so I have to take the legall actions,
Looks like there is no end to this con of taking money for items that they say are in stock but cannot deliver. I purchased a monitor which was showing as in stock and paid for 1-2 day delivery but am now being told there is a problem with shipment and it could be another week. They have canceled the order but i cant have my money back for up to another 30 days I would really like my money back as i cannot afford to buy another monitor whilst waiting for a refund. Also my kids are now struggling to complete they course work without a computer. Please can i have a refund now.
AVOID WAE+ Like the PLAGUE
They take your money and then change delivery dates, I tried calling to Cancel but after being on hold for 30+ minutes I tried there ‘Fast (Sorry should be Extremely Slow) Response’ while order was in “Awaiting Fulfilment”.
2 Days later they replied via Fast Response (still won’t answer phone or call back) saying ‘Items Allocated’ am I sure I want to cancel….tried ring again after being on hold for 20 minutes I messaged back saying ‘yes please cancel’. 2 days later I logged in to see ‘Item Shipped’ I again called no answer so bombarded them with messages and called UPS courier who said label had been printed but items not picked up yet. Finally I got a reply saying ‘Shortage of staff through sickness was to blame’ (not being funny that is not the customers problem.
I then emailed the managers and finally got an apologetic reply saying ‘Items will not be delivered and they understood why I was upset’
I finally thought it was a human being but no, 10 minutes later I got a message saying to reject items that day…At this point I was confused and emailed the manager again who eventually replied ‘Items not out for delivery, will not be coming to you, refund will be processed’.
I then ordered from a reliable retailer along with other items from other sources and went off to work leaving family at home to accept my parcels. To my surprise when I got home I had my replacements and other items but WAE+ had shipped them even after confirming on 3 different occasions the items would not be posted and my refund was on the way.
I immediately tried calling (why they have a phone I don’t know) so emailed the Managers who were very rude and said it was all my fault and if I wanted a refund I would have to send back at my expense.
I have refused this as they are to blame for this whole fiasco.
After reading other review sites and experience WAE+ do not seem trustworthy.
I have emailed Trading Standards and will be contacting my Bank, but please if you want your items
BUY ELSEWHERE. I would rather spend twice as much if needed than deal with this untrustworthy website.
Hi Your Company is crap!!!!!! and you will get shut down if you carry on the way you are doing.
Pay people back their refunds straight away when you have not got the items INSTEAD OF PISSING THEM OFF
Hello Ben, let me warn you. If i dont get my money back i will personally track you down and take it out of your pocket myself.
You have been warned.
John I’m with you mate shall we pay him a visit?
Like my FB page and find out how to even the odds with WAE+
Dear All,
We are sorry for any problems you are having with WAE+.
Unfortunately, we can’t answer your customer service queries on this forum, but for any query re our range, customer service, returns or refunds, please use our contact us page: http://www.waeplus.co.uk/contact-waeplus/ or call .
We have increased our customer service centre by 50% this week, so aim to get a response to you quicker.
Do mention esellermedia in your correspondence with us.
Regards,
Customer Service Team at WAE+
dave roy, Dont bother contacting them they will not get back or will tell you lies. I am in the process of raising a fraud action against them.
WAE+ owe me money for an item which was advertised as ‘in stock’ when in fact it was not. If I cannot get it back via your website team I shall come get it from you personally Ben. That’s a promise.
I am starting to worry, I bought something from them and it never turned up, so I asked for a refund and got no reply, twice. Now when I track my order it has disappeared off their website.
I am not a wealthy man so I really need this money returned to me. I don’t want to have to wait months to get my money back, it’s my money. Is everybody’s money just sitting in a bank account somewhere earning them interest? Surely pretending a product is in stock is breaking trading standard law.
I wish I’d never used google shopping search now which lead my to WAE+. Google you’ve let me down, allowing crappy companies to list on your engine,
If I don’t get a quick refund Visa and Ann Robinson will be getting a call.
Don’t even consider purchasing from WAE+, you will then avoid involuntarily subscribing to providing this company with a 30+ day interest free loan (when your IN STOCK order becomes unavailable several days after banking your payment, due to issues beyond your control).
Learn from my mistake/experience and avoid any purchase or transaction with WAE+
Ignore the dubious “glowing 5 star” reviews (see http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2013/jan/26/fake-reviews-plague-consumer-websites).
FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE HAD A SIMILAR WAE+ EXPERIENCE, PLEASE VISIT
http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/shut-down-wae-plus-for-conning-millions-of-online-shoppers
I guess that the self funded business model that the article refers to, is significantly boosted via 30+ day interest free involuntary loans taken from hundreds of unhappy WAE+ customers.
I believe that WAE+ is the child of WEAREELECTRICALS another company founded by yourself and Mr. Cresswell (same address as WAE+, so just a change of name really). I recall that firm was highlighted in The Guardian newspaper a couple of times, cross referenced you too. I just cannot think what the story was about now.
Oh well, I can always google it I suppose.
I appreciate Mr Slater’s enterprise in setting up an e-commerce site, but unless he improves his customer service he will continue to have many disgruntled, unhappy ex-customers. Like others, I have had to wait an unacceptably long time for a refund and the service I received was appalling. You can contrast this with the excellent, helpful response you receive from retailers like Amazon for instance. If he actually cared about his business and his customers he would focus on this aspect, as unhappy consumers don’t come back! I also do not appreciate being sold obviously ‘grey’ imports with European adaptors which are passed off as UK stock.
In the UK it’s an offence to sell electrical goods that don’t have a UK plug (or have an approved adaptor fixed on). I’d take this up with trading Standards.
Absolutely abismal service, ordered a product almost 30 days ago thats was “in stock”, status is still “awaiting fullfilment”,many calls to their indian call centre often waiting 30 minutes on hold with untrained idiotic members of staff who tell me “maybe it will turn up next week?”, will it? how about you give me some tracking details for that? Oh wait you can’t. Its at that point its not too hard to understand why you will take (steal) £15million. I hope you’re company fails spectacularly and i can’t wait to take legal action to get my money back.
Ordered my item on express delivery on the 10th March. Item didn’t turn up within a week. Was only then told they didn’t have the item in stock and couldn’t source it. I immediately requested a refund and have been chasing a refund ever since – it is now 23rd April and I received this email.
BEGIN
Dear Customer,We are contacting you in regards to complications that have arisen with your order therefore your order has been cancelled. This has affected our ability to process a full refund due to problems with our previous payment merchant. As a result, we must unfortunately notify you that you will need to file a dispute with your bank for the transaction, as we are unable to complete the refund now from our side. In many cases this should be straightforward, and quick. Charge-backs are there to protect the consumer in situations where they are unable to receive their funds back via normal methods. We realise that this is asking more of you than is normally expected, and we can only apologize for this, and any inconvenience this may cause you. Should you have any issue regarding this, let us know and we will see what we can do to try to help further. We regret that we are unable to refund your transaction
and hope that your bank can assist you with a swift conclusion.
END
Scammers. They need shutting down.
Despicable con men, until my purchase of a Samsung Smart TV, not European version as we know it in the UK…it has Eastern European settings…wasn’t aware until updates…DS time changes…the guide is worthless…you cannot watch live tv.
I digress…the TV ordered Nov 2 2012, arrived 7th Nov…with no power adapters as promised in the description? I told them, nothing, I had my carer contact them, nothing, I ended up in hospital…and they ridiculed me on email to each other, but accidentally cc’d me in.
Without consulting with me, They arranged for UPS to collect TV, but would not confirm refund etc…they sold me a lemon. Tags shipped from France, but had to resolve power adapter with Samsung…as WAE+ breached Plug and Socket Safety Act 1994, by supplying only plug adapter…which is not allowed in UK.
These folks have the audacity to take people’s money, fir faulty, unsatisfactory quality good, or just not supply goods, change their T&C to suit only them…30days to refund!
35,000 orders they claim they had in Oct, Nov, Dec 2012…imagine even 2% interest on those payments…that’s how they make their money…real you in with low price, upsell you on shipping, only to fob you off with excuses…until you ask for refund…then they milk your payment….all the while trying to avoid your calls, emails and demands for your money back.
Remember, Section 75…if item purchased is over £100 … Your credit/debit card should be able to get all your money back.
Banks will also help, but takes a little more time.
Long distance selling regulations, you have rights see http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/general/oft913.pdf
WAe+ Despicable
Same experience for me, ordered, website says in stock , Wae banked payment and 2 weeks later am told item unavailable from suppliers, why when its supposed to be in stock. So Wae have had my money and interest – they have told me now money will be refunded “soon” . Wish I’d read this post before.
This company is run by criminals who take your money and don’t deliver. Appalling customer service – impossible to escalate complaint or resolve issues. They sell items they can not source. Avoid at all costs.
Con artists of the highest order!!! I am having to go through visa to get money back, for an order that never even got dispatched let alone arrive. they actually laughed at me and put the phone down. have been in touch with trading standards watchdog and everyone in between. your going down bitch!!
A dreadful company. They took my money for a product they said they had in stock. Guess what they didn’t really have it in stock. I cancelled the order later that day via the helpline, because they wouldn’t let me cancel the order via the website.
One week later the account department have still not issued a refund. A terrible company that is the successor to the awful weareelectricals.com (that’s what the wae stands for). I hope they go bust.
I’ve initiated a refund via my bank under the visa chargeback scheme.
Just do yourselves a favour. Buy from Amazon or John Lewis. I can also recommend eEbuyer.com, BT Shop (used to be Dabs.com), Misco and there are others.
Don’t take the risk on saving a few £££’s
stick to reputable online retailers that won’t rip you off.
They are *not* in the retail business, they are in the business of taking millions of pounds in interest free loans by deceiving people unlucky enough not to have researched this scam outfit before placing an order.
Just do a simple Google search on them. It’s really quite illuminating. And if you’re wondering how they can possibly get any positive reviews at all, have a look at this: http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2013/jan/26/fake-reviews-plague-consumer-websites
Ben Slater and his accomplice Darren Cresswell are, quite simply put, criminals. They belong in jail. Just look at him, that’s not the face of an honest person. You can positively see the deceitful intent in his shifty pig eyes.
AVOID THESE SCAMMERS LIKE THE BLOODY PLAGUE!
Day 12
04-06-2013
Hi Team & Computer
Don’t you just love this weather. This email is to let you know that you did not reply to yesterdays email, I’m still waiting for my MONEY BACK QUICKLY AND EFFICIENTLY AS POSSIBLE.
Regards Customer
PS. I called myself Customer as it might help you remember where my MONEY is hiding.
Day 11
03-06-2013
Hi Team another lovely morning, I am very sorry I did not get to meet you on Friday but my dog was feeling sick and could not travel, I think the poor thing is has a sense of impending doom that my money is in someone else’s bank account.
Thanks for the email dated 01-06-2013 I feel there’s a conflict in the statement (quickly and efficiently as possible) and (a 30 day wait)
ef•fi•cient:
a. Acting or producing effectively with a minimum of waste, expense, or unnecessary effort.
b. Exhibiting a high ratio of output to input.
Quick:
1. Moving or functioning rapidly and energetically; speedy.
2. Learning, thinking, or understanding with speed and dexterity; bright: a quick mind.
3.
a. Perceiving or responding with speed and sensitivity; keen.
b. Reacting immediately and sharply: a quick temper.
4.
a. Occurring, achieved, or acquired in a relatively brief period of time: a quick rise through the ranks; a quick profit.
b. Done or occurring immediately: a quick inspection.
5. Tending to react hastily: quick to find fault.
Regards Customer
—————————————————————————————–
So far still not so
good, I am hoping for an improvement when the computer realises it should be working quickly and efficiently as possible. (watch this space)
Day 10
Looks like they are going to give me my money back in 30 days time quickly and efficiently as possible, I wonder what they spent my money on?
———————————————————————————————
Day 9
01-06-2013
Dear Customer
Thank you for your e-mail.
We are sorry you are not satisfied with your order, we have received your request to cancel. We will be more than happy to provide you with a full refund. The refund will be processed and back into your account within 30 days as per the terms & conditions when cancelled, i.e., 22nd May 2013 @ 11:09:07.
We aim to resolve this as quickly and efficiently as possible. Thank you for your time and cooperation.
Kind Regards
Customer Services
WAE+
Day 9
01-06-2013
Hi Team
No reply to yesterday’s email, please ask your computer to reply to my emails, better still RETURN my money.
Bet you get some laugh’s when you read about yourselves on the internet, Your site should carry a health warning and free access to a psychiatrist to help your “customers” with stress problems caused by NO REFUNDS GIVEN.
Regards
Me
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————–
31-05-2012 Day 8
Hi Team,
I note from your two automated email’s that you don’t even know my name as your computer refers to me as “Customer” and calls itself as WEA+, Perhaps it would be kind enough to override the automation and RETURN my money I have contacted my bank and they say it should take only a few seconds to do the refund.
Regards
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————
30-05-2012 Day 7
Dear Customer,
Thank you for your enquiry in regards to your refund.
We are pleased to confirm that this now has been look into and we do our utmost to resolve it as quickly as possible. The next email we will send will be confirmed that your refund has been processed and cleared back into your account.
We apologise for any inconvenience caused and ask for your patience.
Kind Regards
WAE+
Dear Customer,
Thank you for your enquiry in regards to your refund.
We are pleased to confirm that this now has been look into and we do our utmost to resolve it as quickly as possible. The next email we will send will be confirmed that your refund has been processed and cleared back into your account.
We apologise for any inconvenience caused and ask for your patience.
Kind Regards
WAE+
Hi Team how are you today, no response to my request yesterday, I not sure if you are the fastest growing online company seems your not in the business of actually selling anything only collecting money, any chance you want a partnership, if that’s the case I wont sue you to get my money back.
Looking forward to my REFUND.
Regards, Old Pensioner
———————————————————————————————————————————–
29-05-2013
Hi Team WHAT NO REPLY TO YESTERDAY’S EMAIL’S. If you have some money left please return my money,
Regards
A Very old and poor customer.
————————————————————————————————————————————————————
28-05-13 2nd emal
Still waiting for my refund or have you stopped giving customers there refunds that cant be good for business .
I am passing your premises on Friday I will call in and hope to see you then.
PS. YOU SAID (We aim to resolve this as quickly and efficiently as possible. Thank you for your time and cooperation.)
Regards
————————————————————————————————————————————————————
28-0513 1st email
No reply to my email
———————————————————————————————————————————————————
Day 5 26-05-13
Hi team any luck with refund.
Regards
Communication so far:
Initial message – 22/05/2013 11:06:05
Hi
Please cancel my order number: #1009112307 as your delivery system is taking far to long; the order was placed on the 18 May,2013 your 10 days delivery should arrive on the 28th May not the 6th of June.
Regards
PS: I think I will stick to Amazon they have got there free delivery’s sorted.
Admin – 22/05/2013 11:09:24
Dear Customer,
Thank you for your enquiry.
We are sorry you are not satisfied with your order, we have received your request to cancel. We will be more than happy to provide you with a full refund. The refund will be processed and back into your account soon.
We aim to resolve this as quickly and efficiently as possible. Thank you for your time and cooperation.
Kind Regards
WAE+
Customer – 22/05/2013 11:19:09
Thanks for the quick response to my email I confirm that I want the order cancelled.\r\n\r\n
Regards,
Admin – 22/05/2013 12:10:05
Dear Customer,
Thank you for your enquiry.
We are sorry you are not satisfied with your order, we have received your request to cancel. We will be more than happy to provide you with a full refund. The refund will be processed and back into your account soon.
We aim to resolve this as quickly and efficiently as possible. Thank you for your time and cooperation.
Kind Regards
WAE+
Day 13
05-06-2013
Hi Team & automated computer this is just to remind you I would like to buy into WAE+ after my accountant has seen the books that is, but from what I’ve seen on the web you do seem to have a lot of money going in and not much going out, It seems a lot of your customer are waiting for REFUNDS.
Had a few of the boys from the old motorcycle gang sorry I meant club for a game of poker, I told them about deals to be had at WAE+ and the difficulty you had returning my money, instead of feeling sorry for me and my poor dog (still sick) they fell about laughing got out the mobiles and quickly set up a sweepstake as to time and date including never that I would get a RETURN OF MY MONEY QUICKLY AND EFFICIENTLY AS POSSIBLE, your words not mine.
As you probably know, I got no reply to my email yesterday.
Please inform me of the time and date I will be getting my REFUND, Then I could win the sweepstake.
Regards,
Dog & Customer.
Day 13
05-06-2013
Dear Customer,
Thank you for your enquiry in regards to your refund.
We are pleased to confirm that this now has been look into and we do our utmost to resolve it as quickly as possible.
Your account should be fully refunded per terms and conditions which is located on our website.
We apologise for any inconvenience caused and ask for your patience.
If you have any more questions please don’t hesitate to contact us .
Kind Regards
WAE+
WAE+ is a criminal company which refuse to either deliver or refund you. I ordered goods 2.5 months ago and have not received them and neither a refund after cancelling my order. Contact is almost impossible or useless as the customer service is based in India and is unable to help with almost anything as they do not have any info and just tell you to contact management.
Do not use them they are the worst company you can buy products from.
Day 14
06-06-2013
Dear Team
Many thanks for the email which points to your conditions of sale, I would much prefer that you gave me my REFUND which no way conflicts with your maximum 30 day wait, I have spoken to Trading Standards Service Warwickshire and I got some wonderful news; they told me that it wasn’t illegal to RETURN customers money before the 30 days are up so happily I can get my money back today and get some food for my poor dog (Humphrey). At the moment we are sharing my dinner and Humphrey dribbles on my half.
As you know it was you who increase the delivery time as soon as you got my money which was the reason I cancelled the order.
Regards Customer
Day 15
07-06-2013
Hi Team we are half way through the miserable experience of dealing with WAE+. You forgot to return my MONEY yesterday or reply to my EMAIL; starting to look like you want to keep it for as long as possible which may be legal loophole but is morally unjustified. A lot of prospective customer know getting ones money back is fraught with difficulty, I whish I had one of them.
I WANT MY MONEY BACK NOW
Regards Customer
Day 16
08-06-2013
Did NOT reply to my email yesterday and did NOT RETURN my MONEY
Pensioner + ex-servicemen
Ben,
I wonder whether you might be able to explain the reason why the ISIS and IDIS logos have disappeared off the WAE+ website?
The WAE+ blog site still mentions having the accreditations but I cannot see them.
Day 17
09-06-2013
Hi Team, Sunday is here again I hope one of you is having a kind thought and has remembered where you hid my money (wonder if its in a offshore bank) just think you could make an old man very happy by thinking of me on Monday and RETURN MY MONEY.
Just to remind you yet again You did NOT reply to my email yesterday and did NOT RETURN my MONEY QUICKLY AND EFFICIENTLY AS POSSIBLE.
Me again & again & again & again & again & again.
I placed my order over 5 weeks ago. Having not received it by the allotted time period I contacted them only to hear back 4 days later that they no longer had my item in stock and would not be getting it again. Seeing as it took over 3 weeks as well as an email from myself before I heard from them, I wonder if they would have even bothered to contact me regarding this without my prompting them.
I have since emailed twice to request a refund and have yet to receive a reply or my refund – this was over a week ago now. I will be contacting my bank to get the money back off of these charlatans.
Extremely poor service. I will not be using them again and urge others to avoid also. Don’t waste your time or money!!
Placed a £50 order for my 11 year old son with money he had saved up. Item was suddenly out of stock (notice a pattern here?) once I paid and had waited 2 weeks. Requested a refund one month ago and am still waiting.
AVOID WAE+ LIKE THE PLAGUE. THEY ARE SCAMMERS
Day 19
11-06-2013
Hi Team You seem to have completely forgotten me; I bet its because you owe me money, been doing a little research on WAE+ and I have found many sites where shell we say your customers are somewhat less than happy with their dealings with you, looks like the saga is continuing.
I want to be happy and say nice things about WAE+ so RETURN MY MONEY QUICKLY AND EFFICIENTLY AS POSSIBLE. Your words not mine, You will find the meaning of the theses words at this address ( http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/quickly )
Regards
Pensioner again and again and again and again and again and again and again.
Day 20
12-06-2013
Hi Team Another day and you are still desperately hanging on to MY MONEY, do you think you could have a whip-round the office for a few pounds then I could come over to pick it up the cash your company owes me. By the way you have forgotten to email me again, that seems to happen a lot.
Just to remind you of what WAE+ said, YOU WOULD RETURN MY MONEY QUICKLY AND EFFICIENTLY AS POSSIBLE, Your words not mine. Why am I still waiting?
Regards
Old Person
Day 21
13-06-2013
Hi Team I’ve just check my Bank Account to see if you had returned my MONEY; guess what; YOU HAVEN’T, O I’ve just remembered you are going to email me if you remember to RETURN my MONEY, you could email me with a reasonable excuse as to why you think my money is better off in your bank account than mine.
I am starting to get excited as my enforced 30 day wait’ it can’t be that far off before I see my money again, I don’t want any tears at your end when you release that huge amount of money back to its rightful owner. If you cant remember when my money became your interest-free lone just email me for the relative information.
Just to remind you of what WAE+ said, YOU WOULD RETURN MY MONEY QUICKLY AND EFFICIENTLY AS POSSIBLE, Your words not mine. Why am I still waiting?
Regards
Pensioner
Day 22
14-06-2013
Hi Team I note that you are still ignoring me; I have not even received an auto-response for several days, I suppose you are just carrying out your normal business practice.
WAE+ took my Money on the 18 May 2013 add 30 days and Repayment is due 17 June 2013 then WAE+ are legally required to RETURN MY MONEY.
Consumer Protection Distance Selling Regulation 2000 legislation states that a trader has up to 30 days to supply goods. If that does not happen, the trader is in breach of contract and the consumer is entitled to a full refund without question. If a customer cancel an order the trader must refund your money, as soon as possible and within 30 days at the latest.
Regards,
Pensioner.
Wish I’d never seen their site. They are rubbish. Avoid at all costs. Had my money over a month for a product that shows in stock online. Stopped responding to my emails and my patience will not run as long as their ignorance on the phones. I hope what goes around comes around. I wish you no success at all.
On the 31st of May, I placed an order for a hard drive (Order #) and I was given a delivery date of 11th-13th of June. Whilst this was longer than most other online retailers, I was happy as the delivery was free and I had been given a delivery date. From the 11th of this month, I looked on your site and checked my emails awaiting notification that the order had been dispatched, but my order’s status was still “Awaiting Fulfilment”, almost two weeks after the order had been placed, even though payment for this order had been taken on the day I placed my order.
I checked my email and logged onto your website again today to see if this had been updated, and was disappointed to find no update. At around 1pm, after the last Royal Mail delivery to the office I work in, I decided to call your support team to see if I could get any further information.
I was left waiting on hold for over 20 minutes with no message warning of long wait times. When my call was finally answered, I was given no reason or apology for the length of time taken to answer my call. I queried the status of my order and after the support agent queried this with the consignment team, I was told that you were having to source this item from an external warehouse out of the country and that my order would take another 7 to 9 days to arrive. As I had not received any communication about this via email or through your website and had already waited almost 2 weeks for this item, I enquired about cancelling the order and receiving a refund for the payment that had been taken, at which point I was told this would take 15 working days. As I work as a technical support advisor for an e-commerce provider, I know that it takes no more than 5 working days for a card payment to be refunded to a card and so considered this completely unacceptable and asked to speak to a manager. At this point I was told that there were no managers in the call centre, which is an utterly ludicrous notion and was advised to email this address with any complaints.
Frankly this is the worst experience I have had through a retail website. From my experience, the excuse that was given for the delay in dispatching the item is simply a cover for the fact that this item was not in stock at the time of purchase, which I should have been notified of at the time, or at some point during the 13 days I was waiting for my order. The fact that I have been given no such notification and instead had to call your support team, waiting over 20 minutes for my call to even be answered, to find out that my order would take another 7-9 days is completely unacceptable.
Ordered a computer desk 1st may from Ben Slater’s company.
Promised deliver by 9th. Never arrived. Dispatched on the 11th when I was on holiday. UPS held onto it for a week and then delivered.
To my dismay they had sent the wrong desk, which was duly returned.
Since then I have chased this shambles of a company on almost a daily basis, getting false promises of the returns department will dispatch my desk today, tomorrow, or it’s on order and will be here in 3 days etc (oddly during this time the desh has ALWAYS shown as being in stock!), you know the drill. Fob off the muppet on the phone.
After upping the ante and refusing to be fobbed off they have now started hanging up on me.
So here I am almost 2 months later with no desk and £126 lighter on my credit card.
Credit card company is now involved and will hopefully be getting my money back soon.
This bunch of crooks really should be on rouge traders.
If you want to lose money on false promises then use this company. If you’d like your stuff on time. Then do not touch this lot with a barge pole!
Ben Slater is a lying scumbag crook.
Atrocious.
Still awaiting a response to several emails and no product delivered after 6 weeks.
£200+ taken from me.
Lawyers next.
24-06-2013
Hi Team Thank you for the refund its just shown up on my bank statement, I am glad to say all’s well that ends well, even though the experience it was somewhat painful.
Regards
Pensioner
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DO NOT BUY FROM THES! Waited over a month for some cables, each time I contacted them I got a message back saying it would be there in 3 days. Absolute rubbish. Now they are saying my refund is being processed. I very doubt it’ll ever come, I’m calling my bank tomorrow.
Bought a £250+ Graphics card that was “in stock”
After waiting long enough it became very clear that the Graphics card was not in stock at all.
So far WAE+ still have my £250. I asked for it back but they told me that now i must now wait 30 days for a refund, why 30 days i have no idea.
I reported WAE+ to Trading Standards as it is actually a criminal offence to falsely claim an item is in stock when it is actually not. Birmingham Trading Standards already have a case open against the Directors of WAE+ right now and you can forward them details of your similar experiences with WAE+ to
The more you research WAE+ the worse it gets, these guys have many many many County Court Judgements against them already, im about to go through HM Courts & Tribunals Service to recover my payment and i would advise others to do the same, dont wait around without your money, report them to trading standards and then go through court.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsiC_89Cbek
I do hope these two go to jail, i’m sure there’s some big bloke who’d love to shaft them as much as they’ve shafted thousands of others!
Firstly, I’ve reported this company to a few organisations (including Consumer Advice and Trading Standards). I ordered my item on the 2nd of July and was given a time frame via their order system that it would arrive by the 8th of July. When the 8th came along and I heard nothing, I contacted them. I was asked to “wait a few more working days for it to arrive”, of course when I told them recently I was asked to wait those few working days they had no record of the conversation (what?). I contacted them again and was told it would *definitely* be here by Friday 19th July. Nothing here today, so I phoned them again. Notice that I have to contact them!
They have told me that it will be delivered TO THEIR WAREHOUSE by NEXT Friday (26th July). So I ordered something on the 2nd which was apparently in stock, only to receive it a month later? No thanks. I told them I want a refund, apparently they are sorting that out but I highly doubt this will be a quick and pleasant experience. Reported to a number of organisations, sent a complaint in to WAE+ which will likely be ignored. I’ll continue to write the terrible reviews they deserve on every website I can find. Social networking is also going to prove very useful.
Ben, You are a disgrace. I am one of the hundreds (thousands?) of customer who never received their “in stock” items and have never received a refund. I don’t know ho w you can sleep at night. Pointless issuing CCJs as I understand that you ran away from over 50 at your last company. You represent everything that is bad about capitalism and a disgrace to the entrepreneurial community. I’m astonished that “e-seller” has given you a platform and note that. like your customer service, you do not have the decency to reply to any messages.
Please join my campaign to get this company shut down and ensure it never operates again!
On July 2nd 2013, I ordered a Logitech Mouse from these crooks and was quoted 7-9 working days for delivery but of course, when nothing arrived I phoned the company on July 16th and they promised to check what was happening to the order. The next day, I received an email stating that it would take a further 7-9 working days to receive my order and 46 seconds later another email quoting 10-14 days. In both cases there was no explanation whatsoever for the further delays.
I called them again the next day and asked for a proper explanation and none was forthcoming other than some gibberish about the mouse coming from a German warehouse.
I next Googled this company and discovered this article and immediately called these crooks to cancel my order. The member of staff I spoke to suggested that the refund might take up to 30 days but I told him that was complete rubbish – they took the money out of my bank account quick enough – and I gave them until today to refund the money, but they haven’t and so I will be reporting this to Watchdog, Birmingham Trading Standards, etc.
In summary:
1. The company are fraudsters
2. They already have stock emails that they send to aggrieved customers but say nothing of any value
3. in all probability the company is in default to its own creditors.
AVOID, AVOID, AVOID
With regard to my last post, anyone wishing to express some suitable comments to these villains should look here:
http://weareelectricals.wordpress.com/
Yesterday, I sent a couple of emails to birminghamben on Facebook and today I have contacted Watchdog and Birmingham Trading Standards. The more of us who do so, the more likely we are to put these crooks out of business.
Please Please Please dont purchase anything from this company. Paid for item £153 & decided to cancel the order before it was wvwn despatched.
Web site stated refund within 30 days. No refund. After many calls & emails still no refund. Got on to Trading Standards & Chargeback through my bank, but I was not going to give up, I was determined to give them hell. Finally got the refund this morning 44 days after cancellation. After reading numerous articles from other WAE+ customers it seems i’m lucky to have got my money back at all. Avoid purchasing from this company & hopefully they will go bust. I feel sorry for the customer service reps who have to work for this fraudulent company.
This is a criminal deception.
Dear Ben,
Perhaps your company could trouble itself to refund the money for my order () which was listed “In Stock” and clearly isn’t.
The money is rightfully mine and should be returned to me since you’re company couldn’t provide something that was apparently stocked. To make a customer wait up to 30 days (whilst you make interest on my money) is insane, it’s especially insane considering the item I ordered was never even sent to me.
Yours,
A customer who had the misfortune and displeasure of paying your company money.
WAE are a terrible company
They are unable to deliver but take money
I am taking legal action to recover over £1000.00
NEVER NEVER buy anything from this company, it is a total sham.
Like many companies they don’t have the guts to deal with issues over the phone or in person they just hide behind emails.
This company needs to be shut down.
Ben Slater you should be ashamed of the performance of your company. You need to get to grips with it and sort out the problems.
This company needs to be shut down. i am still waiting for a refund as like others here when ordered goods stated in stock ,but wae+ new that was a lie.so i asked for a refund and im still waiting. Trading standards should be involved to shut them down and make sure all the so called directors of this company banned for life ever starting up another company that is after they get out off jail.
You know how you could call the A-Team in the old days?
Is there any way of calling those Anonymous hacktivists to just take down their website to prevent other folks who haven’t read the reviews from falling foul?
I won’t bother telling my WAE+ story as it’s just the same as all the rest.
Still waiting for them to refund the money they owe me for goods never delivered, went ‘out of stock’ (even though still listed on the website as in stock!), etc. Ordered 13 Nov 2012, and still waiting in October 2013. Refund promised ‘in 30 days’ by one email, and then ‘okay, we’ll expedite it–will be in your account in 2-4 days.’ No refund ever showed up. Shocking company. And now they escape scot-free and start yet another scam company?!? Without paying all their creditors? How is this allowed?!????!!!