An unpleasant experience worth sharing

Being a keen follower of your column I would like to share with you an unpleasant experience I recently suffered, leaving it up to you to open it up to a wider audience as you deem fit.

On November 9, 2002, my wife and I went to The Lightshop Limited of 68, Naxxar Road, Birkirkara. We chose a table light costing Lm20.50. Since it was not available at the time, we ordered one and paid a deposit of Lm6 with a view to collecting it before the end of the month.

A few days later, I heard on the radio about a Website www.electricvouchers.com wherein one can print discount vouchers from selected retail outlets. On logging in I learned that The Lightshop was one of the shops offering a discount. In fact I could print a voucher entitling the bearer to a 25% discount off any item. The expiry date on the voucher was November 30, 2002.

Meanwhile, following several telephone calls to chase the progress of our order, we were informed that we could collect our table light on November 30, 2002. We duly went to collect it and, when we produced the voucher from electricvouchers.com to get our discount, this was turned down! The shopkeeper informed me that the voucher was not valid.

What made it even more bitterly disappointing was the fact that when I had made the Lm6 deposit, I had explicitly asked for a discount but was flatly refused on the grounds that all prices were fixed.

In any case I have learned some valuable lessons:

1. I will never ever set foot at The Lightshop, something I communicated to the shopkeeper while still debating my case. It is very obvious that the concept of Customer Service is alien to him.

2. Always try to avoid leaving a deposit, the curse of the consumer. This immediately tilts the balance in favour of the supplier and limits your options.

3. Never assume anything, even if it appears blatantly obvious to you. Check your position beforehand.

4. Vote with your cash.

There, that takes a big load off my chest! Please note that no copy of this letter is being sent to The Lightshop as I am not expecting anything from them. This is only meant as an eye opener to my fellow consumers. (Charles Tedesco)

I thank Mr Tedesco for sharing his experience. However, in line with our column's policy, I never feature such letters naming companies, traders, etc., without having given the relevant company/trader a fair opportunity to give us their side of the case as outlined in our terms and conditions.

Therefore on December 24, 2002, we sent a copy of the above letter to The Lightshop and gave them an opportunity to give us their side of the case to no avail. On February 4, 2003, we sent The Lightshop another copy of the above letter and asked them for their comments to no avail.

On March 11 we sent The Lightshop yet another copy of the above letter with yet another request for their comments, still to no avail.

With due respect, such a silence is too loud to ignore and, in the light of such an attitude, I believe consumers have a right to share the information.

In any case The Lightshop Limited are still invited to send us their comments on this issue if they wish.