I'm really appalled at how Thomann have treated me - a longstanding customer who's spent many thousands with them over the years. My preference from now on will be to order equipment from elsewhere, even if the cost is slightly higher.I ordered a B-stock item but when it arrived a couple of weeks later (DHL delayed the initial delivery) it was faulty - clearly it hadn't been properly tested before they put it back out for sale as it was D.O.A. So that was a bad experience but only the beginning...I'd already spent a while with the device manufacturer's support team confirming there was nothing more that could be done, and I explained this to Thomann when initiating the return but they still wanted to waste time putting me through product support channels before eventually issuing me a DHL return label on a Friday morning. I immediately packaged the item up and took it to my nearest ServicePoint. I'm in the UK and Thomann are in Germany, but the label was to a Worldwide holding centre here in the UK in Aylesbury (that's important for later).Fast-forward to Wednesday afternoon and the item tracking showed it as having not been collected from the ServicePoint (bear in mind items are usually collected daily) and to top it off it showed that it should have been delivered (to Aylesbury, not Germany) the day before. Clearly something up then. DHL's automated phone systems were no help and wouldn't let me speak to a human (I wasted nearly an hour) so I called up Thomann to advise them that DHL may have lost the parcel.The first Thomann adviser I spoke to understood the issue immediately and was polite, friendly, helpful and understanding. He appreciated that it was unusual for there to be NOTHING on the tracking other than my having dropped the parcel at the ServicePoint. He reassured me that if DHL had lost the item then they'd cover it and I wouldn't be out of pocket, etc. etc. (which I already knew but it was nice to have confirmation). He asked if I had the physical receipt from the drop-off, which I did, so was asking me to email it when unfortunately the phone call dropped.Out of courtesy I called back and this time was connected to Maria - she could not have been more different. She was uninterested in my plight, rude and unhelpful. She wouldn't let me explain the issue in appropriate detail so that she would understand - instead demanding that I keep quiet and let her speak, which I did. She insisted it was far too early to launch an investigation into the lost parcel and I should wait until the middle of December, because it has to go all the way from UK to Germany and Brexit red tape holds that up even more (fair enough - Brexit was a stupid thing). But I tried to explain this leg of the journey was only to Aylesbury in the UK, not them in Germany, and it had clearly already gone wrong because the tracking showed no movement and a delivery date of "yesterday". I also pointed out that having parted with the money on 22nd October and been sent a faulty item, it wasn't fair to make me wait until AT LEAST the middle of December for a refund for that faulty item. But she didn't seem to care about me being over £400 out of pocket due to Thomann's multiple failings (including those of DHL their subcontractor).She then started to try and hide behind the terms and conditions of sale, offering to send me a copy of those - to which I said that's not the point, please understand when I try to (a) explain why I think there is very clearly an issue with the return at this early stage and it should be taken seriously and (b) why this whole experience is a very negative one for me a the customer, and surely they should be looking after me after their failings.I was really quite shocked by the tone of her voice and how unhelpful / rude she was being to me, and her complete unwillingness to listen, reason or see things from my point of view. It was like she couldn't possibly think outside of the box and consider that maybe things weren't quite as she initially presumed - it was insulting that she didn't even consider the possibility that there might be slightly more to it and I might have a point.In the end I had no option other than to ask my credit card company to put that charge on hold, which they gladly did, pending the outcome of the process / investigation - but it's a telling shame that I felt I had no other option.It's a shame because I've been a Thomann customer for many years, spent thousands of pounds with them for my business, and generally been pleased with their website, range of products and the price. But I will be thinking very long and hard before giving them any more money in the future - I feel like the whole organisation's reputation has been destroyed in my mind by this one staff member's very poor attitude.
