Poor BWS Delivery Service

I placed an order with BWS Neutral Bay for delivery to a friend as his Birthday present. The delivery didn’t show up so I rang the store.
They told me it wasn’t their issue and I had to call the courier company? 1st Red Flag
They give me the name, I call the courier company. After waiting 27mins on the phone they say they know nothing about the order. 2nd Red Flag
I ring the store back and they say they don’t know when it will be delivered and… wait for it… are too busy to follow it up. 3rd Red Flag
By this time it has missed my friends birthday so I call him and explain. He says he will go down and pick it up, which he does.
He gets the product and asks what will happen with the delivery charge, Julian in the store says “I don’t know, not my problem” 4th red flag
I then call the store and speak with Julian who says, "Not my problem, I don’t care if you get your money back or not. 5th red flag
I ring BWS customer sevice. I wait 1hr and 12 minutes with no answer 6th red flag
I email their customer service and after 3 days no response. I guess I have been scammed by BWS and there is nothing I can do?

2 Likes

Hi @Pricey, welcome to the community.

A question, when you placed your order what was the indicative delivery date given by BWS?

Were the purchased products delivered within the provided timeframes?

The answers to these questions will determine whether you have grounds to ask for a refund for the delivery costs.

I have also amended the topic title as it isn’t a scam (which means knowly defraud someone of the money), but potentially poor delivery service.

4 Likes

Welcome to the Community @Pricey

Following on to the salient question @phb asked, and now focusing on your seemingly quite ordinary customer service experience, there are a few things you might do.

If it was for ‘immediate’ or ‘special’ delivery and they missed it, one path is to ask the store manager to process a refund, and if it is declined to present a ‘Letter of complaint’ to the store manager (many links and advice on the Community about your rights under Australian Consumer Law).

Another is disputing the charge with your bank so long as you have sufficient evidence they charged you for ‘on a time’ delivery but did not deliver within their T&C for doing so. If you do that the bank often asks if you first approached the merchant for the refund or rectification, and if the case remains open will ask BWS for their side. In the interim they will credit you with the disputed amount until they make a determination about whether the charge was valid and correct or not.

You can also lodge a complaint (include what you want them to do) here at BWS that might get a better reply than an ‘email’, or through their facebook page. As for emails, in these times of COVID many companies are overwhelmed by the online demands so more than usual patience is often required.

4 Likes

Thank You for your reply.

I have contacted the store manager - Julian - who said ‘not my problem, talk to the courier company and hung up’

I have emailed them and received an email that says they are very busy and should be back to me within 7 days.

I called and waited over an hour before giving up.

I have now contacted them through their Facebook page, as per your suggestion, although it it the Woolworths page.

I have also queried the charge on my credit card, as per your suggestion.

Thank You for your guidance
Andrew

6 Likes

I also understand they are overwhelmed with orders, but that’s no excuse to say ‘not my problem’ and hangup on me.

4 Likes

It should show BWS, not Woolies. In fact Woolies recently spun off their entire liquor business to Endeavour Group. (Dan Murphy, BWS, Cellarmasters, etc)

Their banner is interesting. 1 hour delivery, with some fine print.

Totally agree, my comment was about email response time not Julian.

4 Likes

This only applies to Online ASAP orders. The website doesn’t give many clues to what a Online ASAP order is, but reading what is there it appears that it exists for some products (maybe only those in stock in store) and also from some stores (which have such delivery available). It is also likely that the delivery location will also determine if 1 hour delivery is possible.

It is critical to know

as this will determine if the delivery times outlined by BWS have been met. Just because they didn’t meet the time/day one wants it delivered (namely when one hopes the delivery will be made rather than what may have been communicated at the time of purchase), it doesn’t necessarily mean that BWS has not met their delivery obligations. Knowing that was indicated and what happened will allow members to determine what course of action may be possible.

BWS responses appear to be unsatisfactory if they have not met their delivery obligations, but, if they were within their nominated delivery period, it could be seen that some of what occurred may be reasonable in some respects. It is also worth noting that if one is emotional/argumentative when contacting a retailer, sometime what transpired may be seen through one particular light especially of they were not accommodating to the action being requested.

The website also indicates that of you used the BWS App to make the order, you can provide feedback in relation to an order through the App. The website states ‘Within the BWS app, click on the account tab in the footer, then click on ‘App feedback’ to submit your thoughts.’ This might be a good avenue as it may link your comments/feedback to the order (indicating that it is a genuine customer) and thus they will be able to investigate what happened in relation to your order.

2 Likes

I ordered online and selected an appropriate time, which was 6pm. It accepted the order.This was a longer time period than their stated ‘1 hour delivery’.

I rang the store to confirm and they said they had the goods in stock.

I provided feedback via the website and received a response which says:

Hi There,

Your ticket 2234XXX has been received by our Care Team.

Our Customer Care team is currently overwhelmed with queries and experiencing a wait time of around 7 business days.

If your query is urgent (e.g. relating to an order out for delivery) we would encourage you to call us as soon as possible on 1300 138 297, Monday to Saturday 9am to 9pm and Sunday 10am to 8pm. Please be advised that due to the increased demand we are experiencing long wait times.

If you need to update your ticket or need further assistance, please reply to this email. Thank you.

BWS Customer Care team.

I then called the number and waited for 1 hr and 12 minutes before giving up.

4 Likes

At least you can’t complain about the service.

There isn’t any.

If BWS failed to delivery on the agreed day around the time (6pm), and then the product had to be collected from store say on a subsequent day then you can rightly ask for the delivery charge to be refunded. It appears that BWS may also give you free delivery for your next order (subject to validity).

It is unlikely providing feedback days after non-delivery will be classed as urgent. When they contact you, if they didn’t deliver in accordance with what was agreed, ask for the above.

1 Like

Just to make it worse……
I posted this message on their Facebook page and they deleted it with no response, or at least I can’t see it?

1 Like

You have one that reads ‘Not true’ that is live there. I do not see another.

1 Like

Yes, I just posted that when I couldn’t see my original post

1 Like

Just be patient. If you start trying to push your complaint using various methods, when they have already acknowledged receipt of your feedback by issuing a case number/ticket, they may consider you a frivolous or vexatious complainant and decide to do nothing or block other pathways you take trying to push the issue.

Be patient, they have acknowledged receipt of your feedback. Wait until they respond before considering any further action. Not being patient may backfire on you.

If they don’t respond in say 10 business days (which is usually considered a reasonable time frame), then you can follow them up with your case number/ticket, and enquire how it is progressing.

Remember, those who work for BWS are people with sensitivities and emotions, just like you. Consider if the shoe was on the other foot how you would expect a customer to behave in your predicament.

2 Likes

Will do. Thanks for the advice.

1 Like

I have received a response from BWS. They have done the right thing, although I didn’t need the voucher, it’s a nice touch.

Natalie (BWS)

Sep 6, 2021, 11:04 AM GMT+10

Good morning Andrew,

I wish to start this off by first sincerely apologising for the terrible experience you had.

We are very sorry for the time you had to wait on the phone, we are experiencing higher than usual volumes of calls and do on occasion have long wait times.

Regarding the behaviour of the staff members in store, please be assured we will be taking immediate action to speak with the store manager/area coach as this is a completely unacceptable way to interact with our customers.

In regards to your order, I have followed up with the courier company; the driver had collected the order and attempted delivery at - however, had returned the order to the store claiming the recipient was not available.
I am not sure if Christopher was home, or the driver may have been unable to contact him.

I am more than happy to provide a refund of the delivery fee, and will be sending you a $30 goodwill voucher as a small token of apology for this poor experience you have had.
You should receive a separate email shortly with the code for the voucher.

If there is anything further we can do for you, please be in touch and we will happily help you out.

Once again, our sincere apologies for this experience you have had.

Kind regards,

Natalie
EGL Customer Hub Team Lead

4 Likes

Worst Choice article I ever read. Did they ever test any of these? BWS takes about 24-72 hours to deliver on it’s 1 hour or it’s free delivery offer, and there are so many conditions, a geriatric would need to bring her grandparents into BWS on a Tuesday at 3.00 am in a blue moon to qualify. It’s a joke. Shonky Sherpa is the main delivery company BWS use as well as Yellow and in-house Jimmy Brings, so it’s a all a stitch up scam as they also own Dan Murphys and Jimmy Brings as well!

BWS customer service call centre is the worst, more insolent and arbitrary than a Manila energy call centre. “Danielle” is the worst! Requested delivery times (and dates!) are change and you are told you are wrong, despite having written email confirmation. Try and be persistent and they will cancel your order on RSA grounds, despite not even being obnoxious, let alone rude or descending. Teenagers with a low paid job who shouldn’t have jobs.

Give BWS, Dan Murphy’s, Jimmy Brings a miss, they are such a mess. When you email a complaint, you get a copy and paste response for each and every request!

MUST DO BETTER!

See:

https://choice.community/t/fast-alcohol-delivery-services-compared/25794

Does the Choice article that you linked say that they tested the delivery performance? Perhaps a Choice representative could answer directly but my reading of it is that they don’t say they tested any service therefore they did not. I would then conclude that the claims of delivery time are just that.

How many attempts are you summarising in your description, do you call these people often or is this just one failure?

No it does not particularly state, but as it gives opinions on delivery services it would be expected that they had experienced it, not just writing an advertorial.

My experience is at least weekly, sometimes multiple times a week since the local stores became lazy and we were forced into the delivery system.

It appears to be a compendium of product claims, not a test. From the ‘Comparison’

We’ve compared the key features and costs of six delivery services that operate in multiple cities across Australia. not that ‘We’ve tested’ or ‘We’ve tried

Choice has published similar ‘non tested’ reports. The writer for this one is Grace Smith, whose biography notes she is currently a freelance writer and not on Choice staff.

Other signs include that there is no ‘Test’ mentioned, and tests are usually accompanied by a ‘Buying Guide’ and a ‘How We Test’ article that reinforces it was a paper and pen comparison of delivery product, and the Buyer Guide and How We Test are also cross linked/referenced to each other.

It would serve readers well that any Choice ‘comparison’ that is not a ‘test’ makes it very clear when it is a pen and paper comparison of claims rather than Choice staff having ‘checked reality out’.

I am unable to find her contact details so perhaps @BrendanMays or @jhook would confirm or correct the above?