Proviation customer care problems
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Southampton
Age: 38
Posts: 49
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
What a joke
Said a Sennheiser I wanted was in stock. Ordered it. never got it.
Eventually did get the refund mind.
But it turned out it was discontinued after speaking to another pilot shop. So I called the sennehsier office to complain. Turns out these guys are not even official legit dealers for Senn. Suggested I use there official "list of partners" , you know TA, Pooleys Flight Store as those stores actually stock the products.
PS: Had a jolly over to the coast. and mentioned to them about this. Didn't surprise them. Said they do this with every product available and then try and find some way to supply it.
Advice: Stay clear. there is enough professional stores in the UK who actually stock the products.
Eventually did get the refund mind.
But it turned out it was discontinued after speaking to another pilot shop. So I called the sennehsier office to complain. Turns out these guys are not even official legit dealers for Senn. Suggested I use there official "list of partners" , you know TA, Pooleys Flight Store as those stores actually stock the products.
PS: Had a jolly over to the coast. and mentioned to them about this. Didn't surprise them. Said they do this with every product available and then try and find some way to supply it.
Advice: Stay clear. there is enough professional stores in the UK who actually stock the products.
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: lancs.UK
Age: 77
Posts: 1,191
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Sounds like a typical "Drop-Shipping" setup.
The essence of a drop-shipping trader is simply that they take orders and pass them direct to the manufacturer (or distributor) to ship,anonymously....taking a cut along the way. customer pays the D-S trader who then pays the supplier.
Works fine IF the partners play properly. Unfortunately , the trading-agreements don't seem to be good with this company and customers are disenchanted.
WRT the Sennheiser case, It's possible that Proviation would hope to source from a recognised stockist at a discount not available to the retail customer,- depending on the discount, there might be room for a small price-cut to the customer.
Many makers / distributors shed crocodile tears over these practices....they can say that their authorised agents do not undercut to compete with each other,-whilst selling another unit "through the back door"
The essence of a drop-shipping trader is simply that they take orders and pass them direct to the manufacturer (or distributor) to ship,anonymously....taking a cut along the way. customer pays the D-S trader who then pays the supplier.
Works fine IF the partners play properly. Unfortunately , the trading-agreements don't seem to be good with this company and customers are disenchanted.
WRT the Sennheiser case, It's possible that Proviation would hope to source from a recognised stockist at a discount not available to the retail customer,- depending on the discount, there might be room for a small price-cut to the customer.
Many makers / distributors shed crocodile tears over these practices....they can say that their authorised agents do not undercut to compete with each other,-whilst selling another unit "through the back door"
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Luton
Posts: 22
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Just to provide some information in order to respond to recent points raised.
In response to the specific Sennheiser issue raised here, it should be noted that as a company we work closely with Sennheiser. The details of this relationship and our supply chain are clearly not up for discussion publicly, and we ask people to respect this. What matters is that we're able to offer a sensible price while respecting Sennheisers' reputation for a quality product. We have the necessary contracts in place with UK-based servicing agents to ensure our customers have warranty support. We also collect, repair/replace, and return for free.
Insofar as stocking goes, we always try to have Sennheiser available as they are one of the top choices of headset. We have never knowingly advertised a discontinued Sennheiser online. The recently discontinued ones are HME-43 and HME-100. These should have been withdrawn immediately. We have contacted CaptainChaos981 via OM as we have been unable to locate the order so far. We're sorry to hear there may have been an issue with this being listed and sold. If this were to happen, we'd normally try our level best to secure last-stocks of any item this happened to. There are normally a few units available somewhere in the world once a product is discontinued!
We don't sell an item then 'hope' to get hold of it. We'd be interested to know who said this! At the end of the day, we're trying to build a solid business. It is designed to distribute products and serve customers. There'd be no sense in building a business without a robust supply chain behind it.
We aim to hold stock on all popular items. The site is updated with stock-positions manually. In the interests of professionalism we have never mentioned any other aviation supplier. But there are occasions where an item may be drop-shipped no matter what the company. It's a reflection of good supply chain arrangements. This simply allows us to provide an item more quickly when requested, especially if we're in an oversold position.
The aim is to be very careful on what we stock. This is what enables us to be competitive on price. We don't have sales. Products should be sensibly priced at all times. We work closely with and respect all our suppliers which include all main aviation distributors worldwide. We are actually sole UK distributors for 9 brands and growing.
We used drop-shipping more when the company was younger, but now we have a greater despatch capability and desire to fulfill the majority of orders in house. This means control over each order, ability to provide tracking, and observe special instructions. We use UPS at no cost to the customer, which we hope is good value.
With respect to the Lightspeed Ear Seals mentioned earlier. We're sorry these were/are so late. We did on this occasion refund the monetary value of the ear seals, but as these were offered free, we'd not normally do this as the offer would be open to abuse. Lightspeed ear seals do last a long time- obviously they'll degrade before the headset will, so we hoped the offer of free replacements would be well received after 1-2 years of flying when the seals might start to become shabby.
In response to the specific Sennheiser issue raised here, it should be noted that as a company we work closely with Sennheiser. The details of this relationship and our supply chain are clearly not up for discussion publicly, and we ask people to respect this. What matters is that we're able to offer a sensible price while respecting Sennheisers' reputation for a quality product. We have the necessary contracts in place with UK-based servicing agents to ensure our customers have warranty support. We also collect, repair/replace, and return for free.
Insofar as stocking goes, we always try to have Sennheiser available as they are one of the top choices of headset. We have never knowingly advertised a discontinued Sennheiser online. The recently discontinued ones are HME-43 and HME-100. These should have been withdrawn immediately. We have contacted CaptainChaos981 via OM as we have been unable to locate the order so far. We're sorry to hear there may have been an issue with this being listed and sold. If this were to happen, we'd normally try our level best to secure last-stocks of any item this happened to. There are normally a few units available somewhere in the world once a product is discontinued!
We don't sell an item then 'hope' to get hold of it. We'd be interested to know who said this! At the end of the day, we're trying to build a solid business. It is designed to distribute products and serve customers. There'd be no sense in building a business without a robust supply chain behind it.
We aim to hold stock on all popular items. The site is updated with stock-positions manually. In the interests of professionalism we have never mentioned any other aviation supplier. But there are occasions where an item may be drop-shipped no matter what the company. It's a reflection of good supply chain arrangements. This simply allows us to provide an item more quickly when requested, especially if we're in an oversold position.
The aim is to be very careful on what we stock. This is what enables us to be competitive on price. We don't have sales. Products should be sensibly priced at all times. We work closely with and respect all our suppliers which include all main aviation distributors worldwide. We are actually sole UK distributors for 9 brands and growing.
We used drop-shipping more when the company was younger, but now we have a greater despatch capability and desire to fulfill the majority of orders in house. This means control over each order, ability to provide tracking, and observe special instructions. We use UPS at no cost to the customer, which we hope is good value.
With respect to the Lightspeed Ear Seals mentioned earlier. We're sorry these were/are so late. We did on this occasion refund the monetary value of the ear seals, but as these were offered free, we'd not normally do this as the offer would be open to abuse. Lightspeed ear seals do last a long time- obviously they'll degrade before the headset will, so we hoped the offer of free replacements would be well received after 1-2 years of flying when the seals might start to become shabby.
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Tr_no 688
Posts: 235
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Its all well and good stating manual stock updates as if thats some sort of superior service, but if its just hopefull fantasy ........?????
First class waffle though, I'll give you that
First class waffle though, I'll give you that
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: kent
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Same as you
Paid for a GoPro2 May 14,kept me waiting and saying that they are waiting for a delivery, then they tell me that the GoPro 2 is not being manufactured any more
On there web site it states that they are a agent for GoPro so they should know all about the product and its availability,and even now on there web site the GoPro2 is still being advertised,so now l am on phase 2, to get my refund, lots of telephone calls and emails with no response, with all the un answered telephone calls, l could have been a customer wishing to place a order.This company has got to get its act together, customers call and place a order and has there money up front,
and then they have locate the order, its money for old rope, you can understand why Amazon are so successful with there customer care,wish now that l had brought the Go Pro from Amazon.As my friend said when he checked the Proviation web site, it looks very professional. You just get sucked in.
On there web site it states that they are a agent for GoPro so they should know all about the product and its availability,and even now on there web site the GoPro2 is still being advertised,so now l am on phase 2, to get my refund, lots of telephone calls and emails with no response, with all the un answered telephone calls, l could have been a customer wishing to place a order.This company has got to get its act together, customers call and place a order and has there money up front,
and then they have locate the order, its money for old rope, you can understand why Amazon are so successful with there customer care,wish now that l had brought the Go Pro from Amazon.As my friend said when he checked the Proviation web site, it looks very professional. You just get sucked in.
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: UK
Posts: 58
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Why would you NOT buy it from Amazon? £235.81 Amazon vs £249 Proviation. Amazon also have it in stock now.
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Southampton
Age: 38
Posts: 49
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Sennheiser stockist not correct
After seeing Pvs waffle above i called Sennheiser back
Now confirmed proviation are not a Sennheiser dealer
Have never been one and they have no idea where they are getting them from
Ps: Trustpilot is good for a laugh
Some poor souls on there :-(
Now confirmed proviation are not a Sennheiser dealer
Have never been one and they have no idea where they are getting them from
Ps: Trustpilot is good for a laugh
Some poor souls on there :-(
"We don't sell an item then hope to get hold of it. We'd be interested to know who said this"
You're joking, right?
Go back to the start of this thread and read all the posts again. I'd be interested to know who hasn't said it.
You're joking, right?
Go back to the start of this thread and read all the posts again. I'd be interested to know who hasn't said it.
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Southampton
Age: 38
Posts: 49
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
No need for drop shippers
Anyone can slap up a website and start selling and then if they do try and work out where to get it from
We had this in my industry - sailing but they don't last
Nowadays the big shops are just as cheap as these type of operations that don't have overheads so why bother
I'll stick to transair for helis, pooleys for charts and flight store for everything else.
Mind you just bought a new elt(h) from Adams. They know their stuff too.
So as you see, plenty of shops without having to risk your dosh with chancers
We had this in my industry - sailing but they don't last
Nowadays the big shops are just as cheap as these type of operations that don't have overheads so why bother
I'll stick to transair for helis, pooleys for charts and flight store for everything else.
Mind you just bought a new elt(h) from Adams. They know their stuff too.
So as you see, plenty of shops without having to risk your dosh with chancers
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Newcastle
Posts: 5
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Sennheiser Dealer
Why would you have to be an official Sennheiser dealer? I am a flying instructor and have worked for many flying schools. We have bought Sennheiser headsets from Transair and Pooleys and sold them on to our students. We/I have never been an official dealer but have received discount to resell them. There is probably 500 flying schools around the UK that could do the same. Perhaps you should call Sennheiser and ask them about each flying school? You can use the Flyer 'where to fly guide'.
When you order something online these days it could come from anywhere. Drop-shipping works well. Hence Amazons great success!
Perhaps you have too much time on your hands. The weather is great! Go flying!
When you order something online these days it could come from anywhere. Drop-shipping works well. Hence Amazons great success!
Perhaps you have too much time on your hands. The weather is great! Go flying!
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Southampton
Age: 38
Posts: 49
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Drop shippers part 2
When I buy a headset and don't get it , and the reason I don't get it is it that the person who supplied me is a grey importer and they take my money I have every right to be peeeed off.
I have no problem with getting it from Scfc, I just don't like being lied to.
Sorry for lateness of reply. I have just been flying
I have no problem with getting it from Scfc, I just don't like being lied to.
Sorry for lateness of reply. I have just been flying
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: London
Posts: 22
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I now run an online furniture business. Yes this is relevant... My spare time is spent in aviation and my past, professional life in aviation spares, brought me to Proviation as a customer. Since then I have acted as a consultant for the past 12 months and shared some 40 years knowledge.
I can tell you that there is a highly professional team behind the company. I can vouch that the company has satisfied thousands of orders successfully in the last five years and has truly established itself.
A lot of words echoing those used in recent TV shows have been used slappdash here. While considering this company v. the rest; consider that PV has established relationships with all of the key aviation supply companies in this country and overseas. I can tell you that aviation companies do work together to service the pilot consumer.
It comes with the territory on this forum, but I know how personally damaging internet forums can be since selling online. People can and do take their experiences public before dealing with them in-house. As a business owner, I used to think; Damn, I could have done, x, or y to prevent this. If only I'd acted quicker.
Do think about leaving feedback with the company directly, however. They are aware of the areas needing improvement and some of them are growing pains. But I can assure you that feedback, sent directly, will be well received. Use the internal messaging system of Pprune for a start.
They have taken on extra staff since becoming busier so to deal with customers more swiftly. Gone are contracted 'workers'. You'll get a personal service. I am proud of my association so far with the company. I am also doubtful that some of the experiences posted here are genuine and I have already made this known to Internet Brands in the USA.
I can tell you that there is a highly professional team behind the company. I can vouch that the company has satisfied thousands of orders successfully in the last five years and has truly established itself.
A lot of words echoing those used in recent TV shows have been used slappdash here. While considering this company v. the rest; consider that PV has established relationships with all of the key aviation supply companies in this country and overseas. I can tell you that aviation companies do work together to service the pilot consumer.
It comes with the territory on this forum, but I know how personally damaging internet forums can be since selling online. People can and do take their experiences public before dealing with them in-house. As a business owner, I used to think; Damn, I could have done, x, or y to prevent this. If only I'd acted quicker.
Do think about leaving feedback with the company directly, however. They are aware of the areas needing improvement and some of them are growing pains. But I can assure you that feedback, sent directly, will be well received. Use the internal messaging system of Pprune for a start.
They have taken on extra staff since becoming busier so to deal with customers more swiftly. Gone are contracted 'workers'. You'll get a personal service. I am proud of my association so far with the company. I am also doubtful that some of the experiences posted here are genuine and I have already made this known to Internet Brands in the USA.
Join Date: May 2013
Location: EGLL
Age: 44
Posts: 5
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Nothing to report
I placed my... seventh order... at Proviation-dot-com on Friday and it arrived this morning as booked. 15 quid gets you Sat AM drop-off at LHR. Nice.
Lifted my spirits as entering hotel with holdall in tow has been a drag. Not so now with my in-line wheels...
Lifted my spirits as entering hotel with holdall in tow has been a drag. Not so now with my in-line wheels...
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Manchester
Age: 42
Posts: 120
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I feel I should also chip in here as I ordered several items prior to doing my PPL course back in March, including a Sennheiser headset, and all went well.
Ordered on Sat 9th Feb (all price-matched to the lowest prices I found elsewhere and sent with free shipping):
Sennheiser HME 110 Special Edition
Single Headset Bag
Jeppesen Student Kit Bag
CRP-5W Computer
CAA UK Northern Half-mil Chart
Thom APM Vol. 3/4/6/7
All shipped on Thu 14th Feb and arrived on Mon 18th Feb, except APM 7, which was noted on the included invoice as shipping separately and arrived a couple of days later.
Ordered on Sat 9th Feb (all price-matched to the lowest prices I found elsewhere and sent with free shipping):
Sennheiser HME 110 Special Edition
Single Headset Bag
Jeppesen Student Kit Bag
CRP-5W Computer
CAA UK Northern Half-mil Chart
Thom APM Vol. 3/4/6/7
All shipped on Thu 14th Feb and arrived on Mon 18th Feb, except APM 7, which was noted on the included invoice as shipping separately and arrived a couple of days later.
Last edited by JDA2012; 28th Jul 2013 at 10:10.
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Glasgow
Age: 51
Posts: 6
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
My personal experience with this company is 2 emails, 6 phone calls to 4 different numbers, all with no response. As for using this forum as a point of contact for a company, forget it. Either send my goods or give me my money back....
Nick has since sent me a pm however his web site does not state that PPRUNE is a point of contact so I'm afraid it is now in the hands of PAYPAL.:
Nick has since sent me a pm however his web site does not state that PPRUNE is a point of contact so I'm afraid it is now in the hands of PAYPAL.:
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: lancs.UK
Age: 77
Posts: 1,191
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Since then I have acted as a consultant for the past 12 months and shared some 40 years knowledge.
I can tell you that there is a highly professional team behind the company.
I can tell you that there is a highly professional team behind the company.
you don't just have to build a strong house, you have to make sure there are no gaps in the roof, or between the floorboards.The continued criticism here, suggests that Nick hasn't yet embraced this foundation of retailing to the great British Public.
(I, too, spent most of my working life dealing with them.Judges to roadsweepers, Surgeons to toilet cleaners. you'll always get someone you can't please,but this goes beyond....)