Viking Direct reviews

Good service and prices, email format rubbish

No problems using the website and prices are good. But the email confirmations are all in html format no matter what setting I use for my email. Makes it impossible to review the purchase records.

FREE SWEETS THAT YOU DON'T GET

I NEEDED HP PRINTER INKS AND BECAUSE VIKING OFFERED A JAR OF SWEETS FOR EVERY THREE INKS AND NEEDING 4 DIFFERENT COLOURS I ORDERED A TOTAL OF 12 INKS. THE EMAIL INVOICE CONFIRMED 4 JARDS OF SWEETS, ONE PER THREE INKS.I RECEIVED ONE JAR AND WHEN I ENQUIRED WAS TOLD IT WAS ONE PER ORDER, I.E THEY HAD NOT FULFILLED WHAT THE INVOICE HAD CONFIRMED. AFTER COMPLAINING AGAIN THEY SAID THAT THEY WOULD PROVIDE 2 JARS AS A GESTURE OF GOODWILL.
IN SUMMARY BE VERY CAREFUL WITH VIKINGS FREE OFFERS

Next day prompt delivery excellent service.Easy ordering

Next day prompt delivery excellent service.Easy ordering

Absolute Joke of a Company (DO NOT DEAL)

I ordered 2 iPad 4s from this company ..... they asked me to make a same day chaps payments (costing me £17) so they could despatch the iPads the same day. After 2 days and no correspondence from Viking my customer informed me he had not received anything... called in to chase delivery, was told no stock, they then changed the order to two white iPads guaranteeing next day delivery.

Assuming my customer had received the items I left it for a further 3 days before hearing from my customer that he STILL hadn't received his iPads.
Rang Viking and was told completely out of stock for a further week!!!!
I told them this was not good enough and a lady told me a refund would appear in my bank the following day and a cheque of £17 would be sent out to cover the CHAPS payment.

I thought this was fair enough because every now and then companies make mistakes on stock, however, 2 days later I have still not received my refund from Viking so decided to ring them up. Now I am being told that the refund will be sent out as a check and will not be sent out for 10 days because they haven't even started the refund process!!!! I asked to speak to a supervisor only to be told that none are available, I demanded that one calls me back 2 hours ago and still haven't heard from them!!

COMPLETE JOKE OF A COMPANY

I URGE PEOPLE DO NOT DEAL!!!!!!!!!!!

Thieves

Returned item which was broken/faulty within 7 days to Viking.
After 2 months they sent invoice for same item despite it being returned. After all this time, I had no paperwork as I wasn't expecting an issue with this.
They forced me to pay in full for item I no longer had and threatened to take action if payment not made.because I could not prove it had been returned.

They are a disgrace and I for one, after many years, will not be using them again and would urge others to find alternative supplier. Things have gone down hill over the past few years for some reason.

office depot are taking the piss out of Viking Direct

I work as an employee,Viking Direct was Ok until the Yanks took over.Im a delivery driver I see what goes on!!!

Declined to do business with me without reason.

Viking appeared to be the cheapest vendor for a printer that I wanted. I ordered online and my order was accepted with payment through PayPal. A few days later I received a call saying that they 'cannot trade' with me as this was my first order with Viking and it was for a large sum of money (£364.80). I suspected fraud so checked their website. I see that the price for the same printer has now increased to £418.80.

I suspect that this was a dirty trick to avoid selling the printer at the lower advertised price.

My recommendation - avoid.

Awful. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. Wouldn't even give them 1 star.

Hi, I ordered a hair dryer & waited a month for delivery, when I enquired as to where it was I was told the item was no longer available and that my order had been cancelled. I was pretty angry so I sent off a few emails etc & was then given a £24 off £40 spend voucher. I then ordered a 3.5" USB 3 desktop hard drive, they sent me an inferior toshiba usb 2 portable hard drive. I emailed them & then entered into an argument via several emails as to whether or not the seagate was or was not a desktop drive (it is). Eventually they decided just to give me a refund & told me to return the drive. At this point I called it a day & paid for the item, I have asked for them to delete my account & I hope never to do business with them again.

Stuart Hall found this review useful

Great customer service and delivery times.

I ordered a white chair, as comfy as it was the chair started to rip. I decided to e-mail them to ask about a replacement. Prompt reply saying they'll send another chair and asking for dates to pick up the original, I stated the date as next day and straight away the new chair arrived and everything perfect. Couldn't ask for more as some companies make disastrous excuses when it comes to warranty.

Easy ordering, prompt delivery excellent service.

I have never used the Viking site before but I will certainly be ordering more from them in future. Very please with this Website, a BIG tick from me. I even had a phone call from the very polite site rep asking if I was pleased with my order etc. Which I thought was a very nice touch.
Melodie

Worst customer experience ever!

Have been dealing with a situation for 3 weeks now on behalf of my boss and this company is starting to make me look incompetent in my company!! Viking-Direct do not even know about their own basic delivery procedures and when calling to resolve the matter they offer nothing but false promises and false delivery times!!

Ordered office chair 3 weeks ago - received email stating that it would take 5 working days... Nothing arrives.

Call on 6th day and am told that for this specific item it actually takes 10 days (contrary to what the email notification says)... 10th day.... Nothing arrives.

Speak to online sales representative on online chat who said that the delivery is actually a direct delivery and should only take 3 days... Took my mobile number and said someone would call me from the direct delivery team later that day... Waited until end of the day... No phone call...!

Just called today and they told me the product was out of stock from their supplier even though online it stated that it was on stock and that someone would call me about a delivery time... Guess what... No phone call... It's safe to say I have cancelled my order with Viking and I will not be using them ever again.

Who is running this business a chimpanzee? Viking need to learn that when you take a customers money there a certain degree of trust, honesty and responsibility needed to satisfy a customer... not mess them around when they are trying to run a business!!

Excellent service and delivery

Ordered an office chair yesterday afternoon and it arrived this morning. That is fast delivery

Whatever happened to Viking Customer Care?

I bought an Apple wireless mouse from Viking 8 months ago. It fell apart so I phoned them up. No amount of persuading would work, they point blank refused to help me. They said 'its in our terms and conditions, the warranty is with Apple not us'. I said, send me a new one and then you can credit me for the old one when Apple sort it out. No way.

The solution proposed? A 120 mile round trip to my nearest Apple store.

Now, I am self employed. Have been for 20 years and I have used Viking throughout all that time. On what planet do they think I have half a day to waste driving 120 miles to replace under warranty a £50 mouse? How do they imagine I earn the money to buy stuff off them?

Why have a been a loyal Viking Customer for 20 years? Because they always gave me good service. I knew I could count on them for prompt delivery and after sales. But it seems that now they are run by Office Depot they don't need loyal customers any more.

I can take a hint.

Goodbye Viking Direct.

Excellent!

Still using the paper I bought on offer 6 years ago lol x

good customer service and product

After another company failed to deliver twice I turned to viking!
great product delivered within the timescale quoted by viking
will use again in the future and recommend to others

Great

Great Company, ordered printer, paper and ink which arrived the next day. The ink was faulty and they sent a replacement no questions asked which arrived first thing the next morning and collected the faulty set all within 24 hours. Good value. Will use again.

Always fast service

I've used viking direct for many years now and have never known them let me down, to the contrary, their service is now faster than ever - next day delivery even when ordering late in the day.

The items have always been delivered in full and when a mistake has been made (window envelope ordered, plani envelope sent) they dispatched the correct ones so we had them the very next morning by 10am.

scam

I ordered a portable hard drive for a very competitive price.
Without telling me anything, they sent me a cheaper one instead.
It is lucky I could notice it!
When I asked it to be replaced by the item I actually ordered, they told me they won't have it in store for months.
Also the product was still available on their web site. But for a more expensive price !!

First time customer. AVOID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

my item a small rolo, received an email stating in bold that it would be delivered on or before 5 working days, on the sixth working day I phoned up to see what was happening and was told that they would get someone to look into it and phone back that day. Later that day no phone call so I phoned again and was told the date for delivery is the 23/02/12 it was ordered 09/02/12 as a present which has been and past it's not nice turning around to someone and saying " your present isn't here and I'm not sure when it will be, but when it is I'll give it to you" was also told someone from direct would call that night again no phone call. The next day I phone again on the phone for 15 minutes and been told that the wrong delivery times has been reported but nothing done before and a £4 refund for a £40.80 item when it has been delivered it will be refunded. If I knew it would take this long I would have gone else where!
On the Internet for this direct item it has delivery details link and states that if ordered before 6pm mon-thurs it qualifys for next day delivery! Although I'm in the highlands it states in the same bit it says allow 3-5 days. My order was placed on the Thursday at 15:34!!

Wholesale store at retail prices!

You can pretty much get stationery at the same price or cheaper from online and offiline retail stores including poundland!

They got 3 stars because you can place orders quite late for next day delivery which is pretty much the only bonus!

BEEN WITH THEM OVER 5 YEARS - MEANS NOTHING!!

I have been with them for around 5-6 years now and when a problem crops up - no one wants to help you resolve it.

The first time was when I issued a refund, they charged me interest and charges when I said take it from my card at the time, which they said they would and then did not.

The second time was just too much; they charged me one amount and it shows that in my account as I did it online. However they changed the amount and increased it over 30%, the customer line ignored me, the second laughed and said prove it because their system shows nothing of what I said.

I have the proof from the account with Viking online, which they said they would not log in to and the email, which they said they would not check.

So this is me saying DO NOT USE THEM - complete waste of time. and KEEP ALL YOUR EVIDENCE including promotion items as they send threatening letters, only when it goes to court can you prove your innocence.

**UPDATE** After refusing to pay the increase and formally requesting a review by a senior staff member, and that I would dispute this (Basically spent 30 minutes making sure legal procedure was in my email and letter) they finally admitted fault and resolved the situation. I havent ordered since though; too annoyed at this experience so I am paying a bit more but get a better service from a competitor.

Great mail order company

Have used before - will use again.

S Urquhart found this review useful

Want poor service then buy from Viking

Rubbish do not deal with this company. Waited over a week for a next day delivery to be told they had lost my credit card details and would I give them again which I refused to do and cancelled the order.

They seemed quite happy at this.

Do not deal with Viking Direct they are poor.

They are lousy - dont touch, its just a con

Ordered 2 tvs on Friday 2nd September, requested delivery date wed 7th september.

Checked the online account, "last order" showed the order, the price, the card I was using and the delivery date, no problem you think.

WRONG - having sat in all day the order didnt turn up - checked the online account and it still looked ok. I phoned them up thinking there was a problem with the courier or something, but my order had been cancelled owing to lack of stock and these con merchants didnt bother to tell me.

Customer service guy claimed there were 500 other folk in the same boat and they were "phoning them" to tell them - well they certainly didnt tell me and they still havent corrected this on my online account.

DO NOT USE VIKING DIRECT

Excellent Customer Service, Reliable and Fast

Before I bought an item, I asked them a lot of questions regarding the order that I was planning to buy. Their customer service was fast and I would like to personally thank Charlotte Machan, the UK Internet Customer Services of VikingDirect for her swift replies and she helped the process order of an item which I bought recently.

I'm not currently happy with the Depot Service because obviously, I have given a correct phone number but they said they couldn't contact me. I'm now patiently waiting for my item which I just bought today and it's expected to be delivered tomorrow. We'll see how that goes.

But overall, I'm quite happy with their service. So far.

Good at what they do

NOt the cheapest, but very fast and they have everything you need for the office or warehouse. Paper, ink, pens wrapping -it's all there and if there's a problem they deal with it fast. Don't know what all the others are whinging about, if you buy a cheap chair and it breaks your fault for buying a cheap chair! Buy a better one!
They take returns no problem, rectify mistakes and sort out problems.
As I said , only problem is you pay for the service! But, if you need the stuff it saves messing about and searching for hours.

Damaged Goods

I received a storage unit which was damaged and have spent the last week trying to get a replacement and wasting numerous phone-calls.
The company are just not interested when their service goes wrong and seem to be passing on the responsilibity to their suppliers/delivery people etc.

I still do not know the outcome of the damaged unit and whether they will refund me or send me a replacement.

I would recommend that if you are thinking of ordering a high value product from them, not to. It is just not worth the hassle!

Office chair broken within 14 months of purchase

They tried to keep me as a customer getting the PA of the MD to phone and e-mail to me assuring me she would oversee any further purchase I was prepared to make of a piece of equipment. I told here I would never again buy any equipment from Viking Direct. The gas lift on the office chair I bought in January 2010 started playing up late last year and I had to dispose of the chair in March 2011. I was not aware there was a guarantee but when I realised it it was too late as it only covers a 12 months period.
I will never buy any piece of equipment from that company again as in my opinion you get what you pay for, i.e. as far as I am concerned cheap means poor quality.
Hans Peter Schaad
Dorcas Farm

Not very happy customer

I ordered a PS3 Move controller from Viking Direct on 3rd December. As they were going out of stock at a lot of places I phoned up to make sure that they definitely had them in stock and their Customers Services department assured me that if it didn't say 'out of stock' on the website then it will be in stock. I also then phoned them back to make sure that a discount code that i applied would be deducted if I paid via Paypal and they said it would be deducted when they invoiced me. They then took payment for the full amount on 7th December. At the time I didn't query the fact that the discount hadn't been applied as I was just glad to be getting a controller in time for Christmas. On 15th December I still hadn't received the controller and was getting a bit worried so I rang them up again and was told that their supplier had advised them to go ahead and invoice everyone which meant that the items would have been despatched and should hopefully be received in time for Christmas. I wasn't convinced at this point and I managed to order a back-up one from elsewhere which proved to be a good move as I received a phone call from Viking Direct on the following Tuesday saying that their supplier had run out of stock and would I like a refund. I said yes and several e-mails later have finally (4th January) had an e-mail back from them saying that they are processing my refund, although I haven't had any confirmation from Paypal yet, so won't hold my breath! I'm very disappointed with my whole experience with Viking Direct from placing the order, them not fulfilling the order (despite their reassurances) and the delay in refunding my money. I will definitely not be using them again, or recommending them.

Wrong items delivered to me and credit card debited over £100

Ordered boxes of coffee pods for my coffee maker. Delivery received today. Instead of 6 boxes of cappuchino pods at £2 each box I have been sent a substitute of 6 huge tins of decaf coffee powder totalling £125.94. Checked with my credit card and yes they have charged this amount through my card. Are they allowed to do this? I did not give permission for my card to be debited with such a large amount of money.

I also ordered other pods which wwhich did not arrive even though my confirmation email showed that all was in stock and was to arrive yesterday.

Do not shop with this company

Ordered a Wii Party bundle with Viking on 7th December, after searching the net and seeing that they were the only company in the UK who claimed to have stock available for dispatch. Company website claimed that the item would be 'shipped direct from their supplier' and that I would receive the order within a few days. My credit card was debited immediately (how convenient) and I thought all was well....

Received an email from Viking on the 10th December, telling me that Nintendo had discontinued supply of this particular bundle to all UK retailers and that they would no longer be able to send my order, but I would receive an immediate refund. Essentially, what this says to me is that they were giving the impression of the item being 'in stock' when they were actually 'awaiting delivery from the manufacturer' - a fact that seems to be lost on Viking's Customer Services Manager who keeps repeating the 'we advertised in good faith' mantra.

Still no refund received as of Monday 13th December, so I went onto Viking's website for the email address - out of curiosity, I checked the product page and was amazed to see that they were STILL advertising this product as being available for order, despite having informed existing customers who'd paid for it otherwise! I emailed them that day, requesting a refund and telling them how disgusted I was, and received an automated response.

Still no refund on Tuesday 14th, so I phoned the Customer Services department and was assured that someone would call me back later that day, which never happened.

Today, Wednesday 15th - still no refund to my card, and I phoned the Customer Services department back, demanding to speak to a manager. Apparently, my request for a refund was only actioned on the 14th (presumably as I was starting to make some noise) and I can expect to wait 3 working days for it to reach my account!

So, Viking have had my money for a week, after telling people an item is available when it was not; they continued accepting orders all through the weekend, even though they know full well by that stage that they couldn't honour them, and then the customer has to chase them for a refund?

For such a popular Christmas product, I dread to think how many people Viking will have let down with this. I will never, ever use them again. Shocking.

Never again

Ordered a Wii game which seemed to be a goods price, paid with Paypal, following day received an email telling me there was no more stock and my oreder was cancelled, you would expect a refund straight away, i have emailed a few times and opened a paypal dispute, all i get is your email has been forwarded to the dept that deals with this type of enqiry, waste of space, i will never deal with Viking again.

X BOX Kinect

Pre - Ordered Xbox Kinect sensor 3 days before launch. Showed my order as "dispatched" on the wednesday and took payment. Nothing arrived thurs. Rang them and was told sorry they only came in today and will be delivered either fri or monday. Nothing arrived by end of monday so called them. was told they never got them in on thursday(they lied) and will be december before I get my order. Asked for refund.

Spammers and frauders.

While I was watching TV, I got four e-mails from viking-direct.co.uk on email adress that differs one dot from mine, but email vendor see that as the same adress (btw. no one knows my email password and it is really strong one).
1st mail: confirm subscription - no answer from me (I'm watching TV)
2nd mail: confirm setting up an account - it came at the same time as 1st one; I do not answer
3rd mail: first order confirmation - this came 10 minutes later
When I finished watching TV and I've read that I knew it's a fraud.
And next day I got 4th mail: "your credit card issuer has declined to authorise the transaction"
And that is true because I do not have any credit card and bank account neither!

To those who don't want to read the whole thing:
viking-direct.co.uk just want to make a FRAUD, write e-mail to you and they want you to PAY FOR SOMETHING YOU'VE NEVER ORDERED

viking-direct.co.uk are CROOKS, WATCH OUT for them

Sorry for my strong language and mistakes (I'm not even english)
Mark

Good range, fantastic delivery, no quibble returns - used them for years

Viking sometimes deliver on the same day as the order. It is almost always more convenient to get stationery from them than to go to a shop which must be making it tough on the high street as they are cheaper for simple standard items if you are careful what you choose. Sometimes all deliveries are free but larger orders always are free of delivery cost which encourages you to reduce their carbon footprint..... -:)

I have used them again and again at home and at work for many years.

Viking will, however, sell more or less any item that fits their product range and do not make much (if any) effort to establish the quality of the items they sell. They describe it, often briefly, and then it is up to you to decide. However, if you don't like it then their no quibbles returns policy really has no quibbles. They come and take it back, no fuss, or even abandon it in your wastebasket!

Their online site is good, recalling your previous orders so you can reorder easily. Their phone service works but the staff are not knowledgeable; they just get the transaction processed and can usually get around difficulties you may have had in finding an item.

Don't expect Viking's price to be the cheapest except for special offers. But, then, if you want it NOW that is not the issue, is it?