Pixmania.com are rubbish
If you are thinking of buying any goods from Pixmania, please read this first.
We purchased a Nokia N73 mobile phone from Pixmania, ordering it on 4th August 2006. It was delivered on 10th August. For a start this was poor delivery service for an Internet company.
The phone was faulty and we notified Pixmania on 14th August. It was collected on 16th August by courier. We requested a full refund.
We have repeatedly requested a telephone number from Pixmania to discuss the problem. They have not replied to this request.
We were advised on 29th August that they had received the phone back. They stated that the matter would take a further two weeks to resolve as the phone would be inspected before any refund could take place.
On 31st August we were told that there will be a further delay of one month while the item was inspected by the manufacturer. This was unreasonable and disgraceful. They mention as per their "terms and conditions". We have never experienced such rubbish customer service. Normally faulty goods returned within 7 days would justify an immediate replacement or refund. Still we have no customer service direct telephone line.
Their own Cancellation and Reimbursement Policy states:
Question: Can I return the product if I am not happy with it?
Answer: You have a 7-day money-back guarantee that starts when you receive the product.
Despite many e-mails from us requesting a full refund we are getting nowhere. We have now contacted our credit card provider and asked them to obtain a credit for us, as Pixmania do not respond in a positive manner. In the meantime we are £379.58 out of pocket.
Also, this will mean that we have not had the use of the mobile phone for two months, although Pixmania have had our money during that time. It is outrageous that they expect us to be without a mobile phone for two months. This is stealing money from us, as we will pay interest on our credit card and they will receive interest to their bank account.
If your purchase is faulty, you will almost certainly experience the same service.
We suggest you buy from someone else, who will value you custom and treat you properly as a customer. Try Comet, PC World, Jessops, anyone else!
Please be warned and learn from our situation.
But don't just take our word - read other people's experiences:
http://www.dealtime.co.uk/xMR-Pixmania~MRD-44090~S-3~PG-1
http://www.ciao.co.uk/Reviews/pixmania_co_uk__6304487
http://pixmaniaproblems.blogspot.com/2005/11/my-pixmania-experience.html
http://londonerslife.blogspot.com/2005/10/pixmania-steer-well-clear_24.html
or type in "pixmania problems" or "pixmania complaints" on the Google search engine.
If you have already purchased from Pixmania and have similar problems to us, contact your credit card provider immediately and request a full refund from them.
A couple of e-mail links at Pixmania are:
s.rosenblum@fotovista.com is Steve Rosenblum. He is one of the bosses.
a.walker@pixmania.com is Alice Walker. She is a Supervisor and her assistant is Suzanne Delsol e-mail s.delsol@pixmania.com
Pixmania want you to send complaints to mediator_uk@pixmania.com
Following the creation of this web page and countless e-mails to the above, once I started sending copies of my e-mails to Steve Rosenblum, things have suddenly changed. At 09.30 on 7th September, Suzanne Delsol was still sending me a standard reply stating that we would have to wait a further two weeks before the goods were inspected. By 10.45 we had received three more e-mails indicating that we will get an immediate refund, which will be actioned on our credit card within 3-4 days. Watch this space!!
On Monday, 11th Setember, our credit card provider rang to tell us that the full amount had been credited to our account.
Moral to story: Make a lot of noise and you do get heard.
POSTSCRIPT 2009: Since creating this web page I have had a number of e-mails from Steve Rosenblum, who has pleaded, threatened and requested that I take his e-mail address off this page. So far, I have ignored them. In August 2009, I received this e-mail from one of his associates:
Hi John,
Could you please remove the following post as soon as possible?
http://www.thewwwsite.com/pixmania.html
This article dates back to 2006 and does not reflect our current level of customer service. For this reason we would appreciate if you deleted it as soon as possible.
It also names certain individuals within our organisation and provides their contact details. If you would like to provide a contact address for customers who have experienced problems with PIXmania, you can provide the following email addresses:
UK mediator_uk@pixmania.com
Do not give direct contact details for people who work for us. If you are unable to delete the post, we would appreciate if you edited out the names and email addresses of the individuals involved.
Don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
Kindest Regards,
Gareth DYER
Affiliate and Partnership Manager Junior
Pixmania UK & Ireland
Business DevelopmentGareth has now told me he is leaving Pixmania on 28th August 2009. I am very willing to delete or amend this page, providing Pixmania have changed their ways. However, I notice that it does get a fair number of hits, which implies that they still do not have their house in order. For this reason I intend to leave the page unchanged, until I am sure that Pixmania are being fair with their Customers. You, the Reader, can help me with this. If you have problems with Pixmania and have arrived on this page, please e-mail me with your problem and I will forward it on to a senior person at Pixmania. I am already receiving a steady flow of your complaints and if this continues, I will publish them here. They really do want me to delete / change this page, so it could be that your problem will be resolved sooner and their service will improve. We live in hope and expectation!
NEW DEVELOPMENTS 29 September 2009
I have today received the following letter from the attorneys of Pixmania.
From: Deprez Guignot & Associes
Cease and desist letter
Dear Sir
We are the attorneys of PIXMANIA, a French company located 183 rue Chealeret 75013 Paris, France, which is a first-ranking brand in online distribution of electronic goods to consumers.
In this respect, our client owns the well known and registered "PIXMANIA" trademark, whicj is protected in numerous countires, including the United Kingdom.
PIXMANIA is the owner, in particular, of the following trademarks:
> European Community Trademark <<PIXMANIA>> nO 003253481 OF 2nd July 2003;
> International Trademark <<PIXMANIA>> No 784903 of 14th June 2002, and No 823869 of October 23, 2003:
It also owns and runs the www.pixmania.co.uk and www.pixmania.com domain names, which promote its activities and services.
Our client has noticed that you severly infringe its rights and interests being the editor of the website www.thewwwsite.com/pixmania.htm which is only driven on a disparaging mentality.
Moreover, this website points at an unfair and defamatory centent challenging Pixmania professionalism. The terns used as "rubbish" or "stealing" are definitely not justified.
You suggest several competitor of PIXMANIA as "COMET", "PCWORLD", "JESSOPS" to be more diligent without any reason, except to harm PIXMANIA.
The webpage www.thewwwsite.com/pixmania.htm constitutes:
> An obvious violation of our client's intellectual property rights over the International, Community and American trademarks "PIXMANIA";
> An act of libel.
Therefore, we order you, by the present cease and desist letter within 10 days, ending on October the 8th, 2009, to:
> Remove the webpage hosted under www.thewwwsite.com/pixmania.htm and cease any use of the trademarks PIXMANIA;
> refrain, in the future, from any behaviour or action susceptible to cause, directly or indirectly any tort to PIXMANIA.
> confirm to us in writings that you wish to submit unconditionally to the terms of the present cease and desist letter.
Moreover, you have been asked by Mr Gareth DYER to remove the page www.thewwwsite.com/pixmania in august and you contented yourself with copying his e-mail on your webpage. Such an attitude reveals your bad faith.
Should you fail to act as requested, our client has instructed us to bring forward all proceedings required to ensure that its rights are preserved and to compensate the damage it suffers.
In any case, our client reserves its right to claim damages in compensation for the damage suffered.
In compliance with our rules of professional conduct, we remain available upon your counsel's request, to further discuss the matter.
Yours sincerlelyDominique CALMES Vincent FAUCHOUX
I have replied as follows:
Dear Sirs
I acknowledge receipt of your "Cease and desist" letter dated 28 September 2009.
I have published this letter on my webpage and may additionally publish the many letters of complaint that I have personally received from customers of Pixmania over the past few months.
Your client's attempt to frighten me has made me very angry and I shall be seeking advice from various British Consumer Associations and websites. In the event you choose to pursue this matter further, then I shall ensure that it attracts maximum publicity in the United Kingdom, including BBC TV coverage and national and local newspaper reportage. The fact that your client is a French based company using a .co.uk website will also be of interest to many of your potential customers.
Should you wish to stop this harassment now, please advise me accordingly and I will not print the many letters of complaint that I have personally received from customers of Pixmania over the past few months, as I do not wish this to develop into a personal feud. Please let me know by return. Should I not hear from you, then I intend to print the previously mentioned customers e-mails over the next few days.
Yours faithfully
Also today, 29th September 2009, I sent the attorneys a further e-mail, as follows:
Dear Sirs
In the interest of fairness, which is a British characteristic, I would agree to publishing on my webpage a written rebuttal by your client, giving his point of view. This should be no more than 500 words.
Yours faithfully
After sleeping on the matter, I sent a letter of conciliation on 30th September:
Dear Sirs
Further to previous correspondence on this matter, I submit that your letter has no legal foundation whatsoever. As you should be aware, a trademark is a word, symbol, or phrase, used to identify a particular manufacturer or seller's products and distinguish them from the products of another. To be more specific, the use of a trademark in connection with the sale of goods constitutes infringement if it is likely to cause consumer confusion as to the source of those goods or as to the sponsorship or approval of such goods. In deciding whether consumers are likely to be confused, the courts will typically look to a number of factors, including: (1) the strength of the mark; (2) the proximity of the goods; (3) the similarity of the marks; (4) evidence of actual confusion; (5) the similarity of marketing channels used; (6) the degree of caution exercised by the typical purchaser; (7) the defendant's intent. So, for example, the use of an identical mark on the same product would clearly constitute infringement.
However, the use of PIXMANIA on my website is purely to identify your client's business and is not being used in connection or confusion with any other business or product, or for any monetary or pecuniary advantage on my part. Therefore, "intellectual property rights" are not applicable, and I suggest your case is built on sand.
In respect of libel, this is defined as a false and malicious published statement that damages somebody's reputation. The allegations made by me are plainly stated and I consider that a Court of Law may well decide that in the context of the text, the words "rubbish" and "stealing" are a matter of fact and not false, particularly when a number of similar cases are brought to light.
I suggest a simple solution to this problem, that your client may wish to consider. I am prepared to delete the webpage and desist from further action, on personal receipt of a cheque from your client for £50,000.00 GBP, made out to payee BBC Children in Need. This is a Registered charity (England & Wales no. 802052 and Scotland no. SC039557) Your client must agree not to use this donation in any publicity. Such an amount is well within your client's means and would probably be tax deductible.
Yours faithfully