Big Norman?

bought a sony nex lens from them at the end of june, miles cheaper than elsewhere so took the plunge, paid for express delivery and it arrived next day as expected with no problems.. does say its out of stock now on the site though..
 
I have used Big norman to buy a camera im May 2012 and was informed by Cannon that the camera they supplied was not ment for sale in teh Uk and was not covered by any warranty and that they had repoted to matter to a fraud authority I have spent teh last 2 months asking Big Norman to explain this but they eaither ignore me or lie. be ware they are cheap but sell goods that are grey imports and it may cost you in the long run .
 
Oh and one other thing the box i received had obviously been opened and was missing the quick start guide once again when i emailed them they chose to ignore. I guess that this was a returned product. Im a reatail manager and have never posted a review in my life but was so outraged by there lack of after sales and there evasive tatctics that i feel compelled.
 
CitizenB said:
I have used Big norman to buy a camera im May 2012 and was informed by Cannon that the camera they supplied was not ment for sale in teh Uk and was not covered by any warranty and that they had repoted to matter to a fraud authority I have spent teh last 2 months asking Big Norman to explain this but they eaither ignore me or lie. be ware they are cheap but sell goods that are grey imports and it may cost you in the long run .
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CitizenB said:
Oh and one other thing the box i received had obviously been opened and was missing the quick start guide once again when i emailed them they chose to ignore. I guess that this was a returned product. Im a reatail manager and have never posted a review in my life but was so outraged by there lack of after sales and there evasive tatctics that i feel compelled.
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Seems to have been quite well known across the internet that Big Norman sells grey stock (there is even an ongoing thread here about them) and had less than stellar CS skills.

Surely you did some research before spending hundreds of £s over the net? It's always a slight risk dealing abroad that is normally offset against a significant cost saving.

I'm always slightly bemused by people joining a forum to froth away about a grey import seller selling grey imports....
 
CitizenB said:
Oh and one other thing the box i received had obviously been opened and was missing the quick start guide once again when i emailed them they chose to ignore. I guess that this was a returned product. Im a reatail manager and have never posted a review in my life but was so outraged by there lack of after sales and there evasive tatctics that i feel compelled.
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It's well known they sell grey imports. The box would have been opened to remove the foreign language quick start guide and replace the power lead with a UK version.
 
I tried to use them about three or four months back. I wanted to buy a Nikon P7100 as a gift for my mother, I was visiting her back in my home country so I ordered with over a month to spare just in case.
Long story short, after repeated attempts to contact them, I was replied to saying they didn't have it in stock (despite their site saying that had it in stock) and that I'd have to wait, blaming couriers and all manner of other excuses.

Eventually I cancelled the order (which to be fair to them was refunded soon after) and took my business elsewhere.
I'm aware that these types of sites with large savings are hit and miss, but on the only occasion I've tried to use them, they've been a massive miss
 
Ok, I ordered an item (Nikon D3100 Lens & Body Kit) back in January. Not much cheaper than other places but didn't charge extortionate amounts for delivery to the Highlands!
Anyway, received all fine- thrilled with it! All parts intact, all in what looked like original packaging, no sign of being opened etc etc.
Lens malfunction in June caused me to send back both the lens and body as they wanted to check there were no faults in either.
I patiently awaited notification that it had been fixed and was on its way back to me and after 2 emails to them asking for updates instead received an email on 31/07/12 about the burglary! Since then there has been a series of emails back & forth about supposed 'refunds' but no money has been allocated to my Google Wallet account. The last one suggested that if no refund was showing in my Google wallet then I should approach my card company to apply for a chargeback?
What should I do?! I am quite concerned and don't know where to turn as I fear Google Wallet will be unable to help me as the purchase was so long ago!
Any advice much appreciated!
 
daisychain said:
Ok, I ordered an item (Nikon D3100 Lens & Body Kit) back in January. Not much cheaper than other places but didn't charge extortionate amounts for delivery to the Highlands!
Anyway, received all fine- thrilled with it! All parts intact, all in what looked like original packaging, no sign of being opened etc etc.
Lens malfunction in June caused me to send back both the lens and body as they wanted to check there were no faults in either.
I patiently awaited notification that it had been fixed and was on its way back to me and after 2 emails to them asking for updates instead received an email on 31/07/12 about the burglary! Since then there has been a series of emails back & forth about supposed 'refunds' but no money has been allocated to my Google Wallet account. The last one suggested that if no refund was showing in my Google wallet then I should approach my card company to apply for a chargeback?
What should I do?! I am quite concerned and don't know where to turn as I fear Google Wallet will be unable to help me as the purchase was so long ago!
Any advice much appreciated!
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My initial thought would be whether you are entitled to a refund. You had the item for 6+ months and then sent it for repair, to me that is a seperate transaction.

If you had sent the item to a different company to repair and they lost it or went out of business would you expect a refund from the original retailer?

You might be able to try a sect 75 charge back but it isn't a clear cut case.
 
I sent it back to Big Norman themselves and they had the burglary whilst it was in their possession, being fixed. They agreed that the lens had an existing fault.
It was still within its warranty when I sent it and I followed their instructions for returns to the letter so surely they have some responsibility?
Yeah i've looked at the charge back details and that might be an option. Thanks for getting back to me.
 
Dave1 said:
If you had sent the item to a different company to repair and they lost it or went out of business would you expect a refund from the original retailer?
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Regardless of whether I'd bought the thing there or not, if I sent an item for repair and the place was burgled, with my item amongst the things stolen, I'd expect them to be properly insured and to provide me with a suitable replacement or to reimburse me for the loss of my goods while they were in their safe keeping.
 
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Musicman said:
Regardless of whether I'd bought the thing there or not, if I sent an item for repair and the place was burgled, with my item amongst the things stolen, I'd expect them to be properly insured and to provide me with a suitable replacement or to reimburse me for the loss of my goods while they were in their safe keeping.
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That was my point (and I agree completely with you). The problem is Big Norman are totally responsible, but whether the CC issuer will be prepared to chargeback/refund on a separate transaction 6 months ago is debateable. The camera was bought, paid for and delivered. Contract concluded.

6 months later it was returned for repair, is the CC issuer still responsible? While Big Norman is 100% responsible the fact they are outside the UK and out of business makes a difficult problem to resolve.

I feel the only chance (and it is a chance) is trying your luck with section 75 chargeback claim and hope the CC issuer gives some latitude.
 
I have replied on the thread that has a parallel discussion about this but another possible option is to claim on your own home insurance or photographic insurance. My home contents insurer paid me on a claim when some items were stolen from my car whilst on holiday in Ireland. This may not be possible in this but I was surprised they actually paid out but there was a clause that covered items up to a certain value outside the home.

Worth a call to your insurer or broker.
 
Hi All,

New here, been scouring the net for info on these guys as I posted on another forum, and my personnel google alerts lead me to this forum:

http://www.hotukdeals.com/misc/big-norman-com-1062563?ppp=60

Think rc_hammer has offered good advice and i'll be exploring this option should anything go wary, but one wonders if their burglary case is for real? Seem pretty convenient it happened when Google Wallet say they don't allow them to process orders using them anymore (as mentioned at beginning of this thread). Surely a burglary of warehouse with valuable goods would have been on file with the local police, and if they aren't really budging with refunds then a insurance company/bank can investigate their claim? Understand bad things happens and I feel sorry for them, but we need to protect ourselves as well


rc_hammer said:
I have replied on the thread that has a parallel discussion about this but another possible option is to claim on your own home insurance or photographic insurance. My home contents insurer paid me on a claim when some items were stolen from my car whilst on holiday in Ireland. This may not be possible in this but I was surprised they actually paid out but there was a clause that covered items up to a certain value outside the home.

Worth a call to your insurer or broker.
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Hi Beautifulday, I was just wondering how did your claim through Google Wallet work out for you? I may have to do the same after all (see the full story here if you wish)

beautifulday said:
I made a claim through google wallet and received this reply:

Thank you for contacting us about Google Order ................. (my personal data).We no
longer allow www.BigNorman.com to process orders using Google Wallet. As
your account shows that you have already been charged for this order, we
have issued you a refund to the credit card used to place this order.

Refunds can take up to an additional three business days to appear on your
credit card statement. If the refund does not appear, please contact your
bank for more information. To see which credit card was used in this
transaction, visit https:........................................(my personal data)

If the refund is successful and the seller provides sufficient evidence
that your order was completed according to our Terms of Service and their
published policies, you may be recharged for this order. If you don't hear
from us within four weeks, please consider this refund final.

If you'd like to place a new order with this seller without using Google
Wallet, please do so at your own risk. Alternatively, to view a selection
of other shops that use Google Wallet, please visit
http://www.google.com/wallet/m.html

We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience this order may have caused
you.

Kind regards,

The Google Wallet Team


So,I just hope that I will receive my money back.I have purchased the same camera through Amazone yesterday,together with 3 years guarantee,I have paid £90 more,but I received the camera this afternoon,everything perfect!!!!
Next time I will be more careful where I buy my stuff from.It was a good lesson.
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Apparently BN & pro......shop, amongst others, search sites like this & threaten legal action to get offending posts removed.
http://www.urban75.net/forums/threa...g-norman-deleted-due-to-legal-threats.284038/
http://www.cameralabs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=30939

You only need to check Reviewcentre & trustpilot etc for many OTT & imo, not indepenent reviews.
Better to actually listen & take note of posters on specific forums who aren't happy about a supplier & who take time to warn folk.

btw, BN site is down?
 
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I posted some time ago in the mse thread linked to in post 2 to warn people about this company and BigNorman threatened to take legal action against mse so they removed the thread. They did the same thing to other people on other forums.

You can tell a lot about a company by how they deal with complaints. The customer may not always be right - but any company that accuses customers with complaints of lying, fraud, being a competitor, etc and bullies/intimidates by threatening legal action I would not go near with a bargepole.
 
Was the BigNorman company set up by the same lot that previously had Camerabox, before it went t!t5 up?

Makes you wonder just how safe you are online when buying stuff. Certainly worth using a credit card for stuff over £100
 
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