We’ve all been there. You’ve been desperately searching online for something that ticks all the right boxes – it looks the part in the picture and it’s the right size… so you commit to buying it, but it’s all downhill from there.
The chances are that you did your research and hunted around for it, reading the reviews, and so you’ve been excitedly anticipating its arrival on your allotted delivery day.
But on the day in question, you patiently wait all morning for it to arrive, then a good chunk of the afternoon, until you call the customer service team to see what’s happened. Turns out it hasn’t even left the warehouse and you have to wait several more days for it to arrive.
You’re already feeling disappointed, but then the real sting comes. When it finally does arrive, it looks NOTHING like it did in the picture and it’s much smaller than you’d imagined.
Purchase error
That feeling can be much worse if you’ve been busy telling everyone about this amazing purchase you’ve been waiting on.
Spare a thought then if you would for the City of Cardiff Council.
On 10 November, the Welsh capital’s annual Christmas lights switch-on went ahead without a tree, much to the chagrin of its residents.
Bit embarrassing to not have the Christmas tree up in time for the light switch on. 🙄 #Cardiff
— Shane (@gingio) November 10, 2016
Whether it was supposed to arrive in time for the event is debatable (a tree was in place the year before), but a spokesperson from the council assured locals that when it did arrive, they’d be stunned by the spectacle – a 40m-high artificial tree that would dominate the skyline.
For scale, the tree would’ve been 2m taller than Rio’s Christ the Redeemer statue and twice the height of the Angel of the North.
So, imagine the horror then when said tree finally did turn up for it to be a decidedly underwhelming 12m high. In old money, that’s 40ft, so it’s by no means small, but the fact remains that it’s still a third of its promised height.
Apparently, a translation issue was to blame for the error. But with the council having leased it for three years, at a cost of £10,000 per year, it’s a purchase mistake that could be haunting them for at least another two Christmases.
Here’s #Cardiff‘s £30,000 Christmas tree. The council thought they ordered one three times the size. pic.twitter.com/kkk11JggWG
— Alasdair Keane (@alasdairkeano) November 27, 2016
According to press statements, a spokesperson from Cardiff City Council said:
‘The City Council’s Christmas tree which was installed outside the castle on Friday night will cost £30,000 over a three year lease agreement. This is a saving to the tax payer of £5,000 a year on previous tree installations. The person who told us the tree was 40m high has since revealed he believes he is 18ft tall. We apologise to everyone who was expecting a bigger tree and are cutting the person responsible down to size!’
So, it would seem that Cardiff’s Christmas tree is here to stay, at least for this Christmas anyway. But, as many of you here on Which? Conversation will know, the council probably could’ve requested a refund for goods that turned up not as described under Distance Selling Regulations.
Disappointing deliveries
Have you been left disappointed by a delivery? What did you do?
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