Complete waste of time and energy
Complete waste of time and energy. I'm beginning a new role that requires me to have a transcription tool and the company suggested I source it from Speak-IT Solutions. I'm based in Ireland, but other Irish colleagues had used them before. My address was not accepted on the form and I verified on their website that they offer international delivery before phoning the helpdesk. The woman who answered was very apologetic and said that they'd stopped shipping to this island entirely (i.e. including Northern Ireland, which, as I'd hope you all know, is part of the UK) following Brexit. So the website info is out of date.
An obstacle, but thanks to the Irish postal service (An Post) facility AddressPal, not insurmountable. I could use the AddressPal UK hub, and pay them a fee for onwards delivery to me. I ordered the item for delivery to the UK hub and received a confirmation email. Ten calendar days later, I'd expected to hear about its onward transit, but crickets. I downloaded an app to scan a QR code to track my parcel, and the app informed me that my order had been cancelled! Not a word from Speak-IT Solutions.
Two phonecalls and several hours later, Sean called me. He said that Elliot must have cancelled my order because it was headed to Ireland. But IT WASN'T. The delivery address was the AddressPal hub at Hatfield, and its subsequent destination is not information Elliot or any of his colleagues had. If there was any concern about my order, why not contact me? It is entirely unacceptable not to have notified me that my expected order had simply evaporated.
Sean summoned up a limp apology only after some sharp tones and uncomfortable silences. He offered to send a payment link for next-day delivery to Hatfield, but when this new invoice arrived it didn't state the product (only my previous order number on the item line) and the price had increased. That was me done. I ordered from a competitor my employer had not mentioned, for the same original price, and a day later my item is already in the hands of AddressPal.
This appalling customer service has delayed my start date and I'll advise the company to amend their recommended supplier. I wish I'd read these reviews before I tried to give Speak-IT Solutions my business.
Avoid Very Poor customer service
Avoid Very Poor customer service , purchased ad Speak It Mini personal body cab for a family members, works for few days then whirl not record and help turning off, called spoke to some who suggested send back for repair or replacement or refund, highlighted if quick easy fix please repair if not send replacement, after 2 weeks no response or update, chased and spoke to a very rude and unprofessional lady who had zero customer service experience and did not understand what i was asking, i asked for an update, and as its been 2 weeks please just send a replacement or refund the money and i buy another camera form you no problem, she spent 30 mins trying to undernsd i needed a camera and as they still had not checke3d and i was not expecting such a long wait refund and i will buy another, was promised an update by end of day, got an email saying we will have refunded you, she never called back, they did not care they had camera there for 2 weeks, and we ended a replacement, i should have just a skid for refund and owed replacement buy did not realise these people would take such along time and then no update and then rude, i went onto ebay found another seller purchased another camera half the price arrived in 2 days job done, such a shame these guys have been around since 1995 and have hired people who are not fit enough to make tea to deal with customer service, i would avoid this company bad experience, poor aftercare / zero aftercare / zero help, not interested in helping, had they called back i would have ordered another camera, best to satay away as mine did not work, kept turning off you think its recording but its not probably abad batch from china but at least try helping you silly people.
From start to finish of my order
From start to finish of my order, Absolute PROFESSIONAL, Scott, Elliot and Beth you are ambassadors for this company... To the CEO of Spark-IT please give these staff members a pay-rise...
Great start. Unfortunately, not so good aftercare
It's a real shame to have to provide a poor review. Things started out well with great service getting a specialist microphone delivered very quickly: I wanted to support a business that focused on helping people who needed assistance accessing technology effectively.
A month or so later, the microphone stopped working entirely - and a simple test of recording your own voice showed that it had clearly developed a fault. It was then harder to engage with SpeakIT and work out how to get the microphone repaired / replaced. Once it had been sent to them, sadly, two things happened:
1) Extremely sluggish responses to multiple chasers.
2) A position that it was entirely fine after testing.
After further chasers to actually get it sent back to me (a process that in the end lasted over five weeks from first contact), I now have a relatively expensive microphone that will sit in its box having had to be replaced with one that works from another supplier.
I wish my experience had been better; it had every chance to be, but sadly I would recommend purchasing from a larger store with hopefully more customer-focused aftercare.
I've also just noticed that I've posted this review against SpeakIT, and now seen the feedback on Speak-IT Solutions here. I wish I'd read this before ordering.
