Beware of companies selling primarily on the web.

In recent years it has been a sad reality that service has lost out to price. The web has seen a huge surge in sales. Are we worried? You may be surprised to know that web sales last year (2007) saw a 60% drop in sales. Why?

Many web based companies don't even have premises, they actually operate from a bedroom in a house. They hold no stock, they rent no premises, they employ no skilled customer care staff. They employ no service engineer of their own. They work on selling 1000's of 'boxes'. Their skill is designing a website.

They of course can undercut any conventional company who does bare all of the above overheads.

What they cannot do is show you a range of products. They cannot ask you what you want the product for and help you decide which will be best for you. They cannot let you actually try out the product before you buy. They rely on you coming to someone like us to do all of that and hope that you will then just 'trawl' the web to find the cheapest price.

Of course you are at liberty to do that and no one, least of all us would blame you for being tempted to do precisely that. However just consider the following:

1. You need to consider the cost of the product for it's lifetime, not merely the cost at the time of purchase.

2. Warranty claims. Under the terms and conditions of many web companies they can legally require that you as the buyer, when a problem occurs that may prove to be a warranty claim, re-package the product in it's original packaging (often a pallet crate) and send it (at your expense) back to them. Even if you are willing to do this, they will establish that the problem strangely enough is something other than a warranty claim and is something that you are liable for. This charge will end up being something very expensive which you will have to pay, possibly twice whatever another company will charge. To add insult to injury you will have to pay a heavy courier charge to have your product returned to you.

3. These companies are often trading insolvent. They may go into liquidation after they have already taken credit card payment for your product, and you do not receive your item even though paid for. (Your credit card company may give you a refund under some circumstances)

Could this be the reason why website sales have seen a 60% reduction in the last year? Has the bubble burst?

Is not peace of mind worth paying a fair price for?