ASOS Part 2 - The Refund Saga Continues

This is a picture that depicts how angry I am.
That's the ASOS customer service team in the background.

You may have read the first part of the refund saga with ASOS here, well, part 2 is required, because, well, I still haven't got the refund, and, it's got alot worse, monumentally worse...read on...

T+ 48 days
After waiting the 17 working days requested at the end of the last blog post, the cheque had till not arrived. So I sent another email asking again what was going on, Sarah K replied to let me know she was forwarding on my query to the finance manager and would get back to me that day with an answer

T+ 49 days
I haven't heard from Sarah again, so I send another email asking what is going on. Later that day I get an automated email telling me that "We are pleased to confirm that your cheque cancellation has been requested". Guess what, this did not please me as it pleased them, so I again sent an email asking what was going on this time.

T+ 52 days
Email sent to customer services asking for an update. No reply.

T+ 53 days
Email sent to customer services asking for an update. No reply.
It's now 5 days since I've heard anything via email, so I go to the ASOS facebook page and leave a message on their wall, it's a public forum, it's in their best interests to sort that asap so that other potential customers visiting them aren't put off by my negative comments. I get a private message from ASOS marketing department apologising, and saying they will ask customer services to investigate. Karen tells me that someone in customer services will call me, and if I have not heard anything by tomorrow afternoon, I should send them a a message back.

T+ 54 days
No call was forthcoming, so I sent another message to the facebook team, expressing my lack of surprise at being forced to contact them again. It's Kelly this time, so she has to find out what’s going on from the other person before we can continue.

T+ 55 days
Karen calls me late afternoon and says rather than me waiting for a cheque to arrive, she would take my updated card details and pass them onto customer services, who would send the money directly to my account. Although I don't normally give my card details over the phone, for the sake of putting this to bed and my own sanity, I agree. She tells me it will be actioned tomorrow and will show up in my bank account within a few days.

T+ 59 days
Having left a few days over the weekend, I check my account to see if the refund has been issued. Sure enough, the £115 has moved, but not in to my account. No, they have not refunded me. Oh no, that would be far too easy. Nope, they've taken another £115. So now, they owe me £230. The original £115 refund, and the £115 they have just stolen from my account. Message sent to facebook team again.

In Karen and Kelly's defence (the marketing girls on facebook) they were very helpful, but there has been a monumental cock up in communication between them and customer services which leads to me now being £230 out of pocket. Let's see where this one goes...

ASOS, The Coat Buttons & The (not yet received) Refund...

I had to return some coats recently to ASOS, as after one wear, the 50 year old string holding the buttons on had disintegrated and the buttons lost somewhere. I sent the items back on the 1st January. Now I knew there would be a bit of a delay in the refund due to the Christmas postage and the fact that my card had expired since I had purchased it. But not on this scale.

Has anyone had a worse experience than this? 40 days have passed, 16 emails have been exchanged, I've spoken to 4 different people who have collectively given me different and erroneous information, blaming the postal system, Travelex, fabricated postal delays and most intriguingly, "strict procedures" for the delay. And still I wait for the cheque...

GQ's Best Dressed Men 2011. No. 26

At first, when you scroll down the list to the right, it looks like it could be a list of the top 30 complete bell-ends in this country at the moment. (With a few exceptions). As your eyes move down, you'll see that predictably, David Beckham is 16th in the GQ Best Dressed Men of 2011. Keep going down the list and at number 26, you'll find his 8 year old son, Romeo Beckham who is 8 years old, at the age of 8 is apparently the 26th Best Dressed MAN of 2011 at only 8 years old. 8. Eight years ol.... Ok you've got it.

GQ magazine says, when it comes to fashion Romeo Beckham is “frighteningly tuned in”.

Other "experts" describing the Beckhams' second son, who last year signed a deal for his own fashion label, as "the celebrity of the future".

David Walker-Smith, professional moron, who works in menswear at Selfridges and is angling for a job at GQ by supporting their no.26 choice in the bullshit awards, also agrees. Walker-Smith told GQ: “Romeo is experimental, quirky and fun, and his style has nothing mini-me about it. It’s me-me.”

The one next to Posh Spice

Without even getting on to the moral implications of "Brand Beckham" skipping this kid's childhood and thrusting him to the young adulthood like this. How is it that someone who is dressed by their mum and has a bowl hair cut, can end up as the 26th biggest male style icon of this country? Romeo Beckham, is probably more interested in being an eight year old boy, playing computer games, picking his nose and telling girls they are smelly than he is about what style message he want's to send out.

He is a rich kid dressed in expensive clothes in an attempt to promote Brand Beckham. For GQ, it's a shameless attempt at selling magazines.

Other choice quotes from the story include:
Prince Harry, another new entry in the style rankings, beats his older brother by coming fifth, with experts crediting the fact he "looks good because he really doesn't care".

Prince William is also a new entry at 27, with US rapper Pharrell Williams endorsing the future king's style, saying: "I like it when Prince William goes dandy. He's got all the proper wardrobe when they do the hunting thing. They kill that!"

"I won't play my music out loud"

I'm sure those of you that travel on London public transport have seen a poster similar to the one on the left, asking you what you will do to make London's public transport a nicer place to be. I'm also sure you will have had to put up with someone breaking this particular one.

Every type of person, from any and all walks of life are guilty of this, but generally, it's either little chavs at the back of the bus listening to some generic rap on the tinny speaker of their stolen phone in an attempt to be cool. Or some pretentious suited city type on the tube, whose headphone volume is high enough for everybody on the carriage to hear what sort of musical mood they are in.

He's not Harmless, He's a Twat...

You're not funny, you're not harmless,
you're not a 'character', you're a twat

Have you ever heard someone described as harmless? Ever been venting your anger at someone over something someone else did or said to you, only to have your view dismissed in the two words, "he's harmless"?
I've noticed that there are a small percentage of the population, that while complete and utter toss pots, get away with things because people see them as harmless. I think it has alot to do with pity. Picture the people in your mind that you have heard described as harmless. Got them? Right, do you think they are described as harmless because they have some reason for people to pity them? I know the 4 or 5 in my head do. Be it a drink problem developed because of some family bereavement, or the fact that they are a bit simple but regularly put people down with scathing and biting comments, or people that intentionally go behind your back on something but get away with it because they are "so nice usually".

Let me describe the people to you that inspired me to write this article, and afterwards you can decide wether these people are harmless or just twats. They drink in the same local pub as me, two mates, ones Irish, ones English, lets call them Paddy and George...

Wills, Kate & The British Media

A statement has been released confirming impending marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton and we might get a day off work for it. Good. That's all I needed to know.

However, the British media has gone absolutely mental over this. Every news channel last night dedicated 95% of its program to discussing the story, it's all over the front page of every news paper, and there are already tv programs about the Wills & Kate story being advertised on the TV. Does anyone really care that much?!

Pointless Motorway Matrix Signs

Why is it the signs you see above the motorways never have anything useful on them? Always some nagging health and safety nanny state inspired message. I'd rather be informed about the huge delaying queue I'm about to join rather than be advised to "check my fuel level".

The amount of times I've been told there's a queue ahead then sailed straight through empty road, or not informed about a queue and then immediately found one. What is the point in spending what is obviously millions of pounds on a network of motorway signs that just display pointless or misleading information?!

Saw this last month..

There are many companies that monitor traffic jams for the purpose of their route finders including AA, RAC, and even Google. Perhaps one of those should work out a way of getting these signs to work properly, because the highways agency is failing miserably.

Some of my favourites are pictured below...