Viking Direct www.viking-direct.co.uk

No delivery for 1 week, finally cancelled with template explication. Never order from Viking again

An account of order I placed with Viking. Ordered 3 rolls of printer tape and a set of marker pens. Order was stated as free delivery in August 2021 signed into Paypal and authorised payment. 2 days later informed pens were discontiued and did I still want tape, of course I did I would not have ordered otherwise! 3 days later tape delivered by which time I had bought elsewhere. Received email showing postage charged. Spoke to customer services which took ages trying to explain, then received credit for postage on which I see that they were still charging for the discontinued pens. This time I emailed them and was given the reply that the tape had been delivered and whom signed for it, They cannot read their emails properly, another email sent and another credit given. put the tape in my drawer as did not need it now and put it down to my error for ordering from them. A few weeks later received email stating account was overdue. I do not and never had a credit account with Viking. I replied stating that it was paid by Paypal and had no reply. 14 months later receivced another email stating money was owed, again replied stating was paid by Paypal and again no reply from them.

December 2022 received an email and letter from Flintbishop solictors chasing a debt of £39.44 from Viking. I emailed them a copy of my order which stated payment method Paypal and they said this was not proof. Went into my Paypal emails and seached VIKING and found nothing from Paypal. Went into my Paypal account and all orders over 12 months archived. Ask them to cover my costs contacting Paypal and was refused. Ask them to arrange collection of these unwanted goods and refused. I have since discovered that Viking use a different name with Paypal OFFICE DEPOT INTERNATIONAL and the single word VIKING does not appear on the authorisation email so did not come up in my search. Now I have also since read that Flintbishop specialise in collecting unpaid monies by working efficiently with their clients and clients customers clearly not! They could have contacted Viking to see why they produced this order document stating payment method Paypal and informed me of Vikings other trading name. but did nothing apart from trying to add their fee.

Wrote to Vikings CEO in UK, beware that Viking do not inform Google when they change CEOs so got the wrong person, Recieved reply stating money was due, had to ask again WHY as paid by Paypal. Apparently because an item was discontinued they moved my order to "invoice". The correct way to have dealt with this as Paypal have since confirmed to me was to "capture" my authorised payment and issue a partial refund via Paypal. This is what has been done by other suppliers in the past with no issues. By moving this to "invoice" they have avoided paying Paypal fees, Whatever reasons they state, this cannot be denied, I was told that they sent three letters regarding this to me which is completly untrue, ask for proof and none received, Apparently I have an online Portal that I can access copies of these letters. Found a link to this but contained only reminders. Viking NEVER told me this order went to invoice. Looking at the figure I owed something was wrong, I checked the original order and they had still charged postage, I was then told the order was not free postage because it was not over £49.99. I went on their website and free postage over £30 now, Sent them this original order again which stated free postage and they sent me a credit note on PDF which is easy accessed rather than a Portal with no appology for the over charging.

I have paid the revised invoice by bacs and I think unwise by Paypal but have notified Paypal of this fee avoidence, I know this was only a small amount but this could be a small link in a larger chain if Viking move other authorised Paypal purchases to "invoice"they are avoiding a lot of fees. Let Paypal investigate if they wish. As you can see Viking customer service and accounts department and solicitors need something!!

Bought it on 13th, promised next day delivery, didn't turn up so I cancelled on their Livechat on 15th. The day after I cancel (16th) they dispatch it. Pathetic customer service, misleading information on the website. Items are not stocked at Viking, but at their suppliers. Communication between them and their suppliers must rely on "some bloke ringing them up" because this is disgraceful. I WANT MY MONEY BACK. Now been told I have to wait 90 working hours for a reply. 

Viking used to be an amazing company. Used to use them a few years back when I was buying for another company. Everything was excellent, delivery always on time, any issues resolved promptly.

Just took over the buying for a charity and decided to use Viking again. BIGGEST MISTAKE. THE COMPANY IS UNRECOGNISABLE. Needed a printer urgently to set up an off site food bank the next day. Placed order on the website at 9.30am and paid by the charity debit card, and received a confirmation email 5 mins later. Thought all good. At approximately 4.45 missed a call from Viking so called them straight back.

1. The first person I spoke to didn't seem to know what was going on, but said to me that as we were a new customer the Credit Control dept were doing their 'investigations'. I reminded her that we hadn't asked for credit, the order was paid for and our bank had already authorised the payment as pending for Viking (Checked while on the phone). She said they would call me back probably the next day. I informed her that that was unacceptable as the order was urgent, and if they could not deliver they should just say so. After some insistence she finally agreed to put me through to Credit Control.

2. The second person (in Credit Control) just started repeating everything the first one said just in a louder voice! I informed her that I can speak louder as well so I suggest she lowers her voice. Once again I explained that this order was urgent, paid for, and she needs to confirm whether they can deliver or not. She turned around and said we they can't deliver as they had only just received the order at 4.30pm. I informed her that I had a confirmation email from 9.35 am, but she kept on insisting that they had only just received the order, and eventually cut me off!

3. I called back immediately, and spoke to another person in Credit Control. Who said to me they can't deliver as we hadn't paid for it. I sent her a copy of the confirmation email as well as screenshot of the bank payment authorisation, but this Credit Control person didn't seem to understand and said 'that means they haven't paid us'. I then had to educate her about how card authorisation works and she replied, 'you should wait a couple of days for the bank to pay'!!! Her other alternative suggestion was that we should make another payment by bank transfer.!!! Eventually, she said her shift was up, and I gave up. Time 6.00pm.

Next morning I emailed Viking to cancel the order and our account, and placed another order with another company with no headache and perfect delivery. The food bank had to be delayed for a few days due to Viking's incompetence. BEWARE.

I ordered some paper. It never arrived. Viking Direct told me that it had been "re-directed" to their warehouse. It took 6 emails to get most of the money credited back to my credit card. They claimed that was all I had paid. I sent them a photo of my credit card bill. Viking then said I had been over charged!! They eventually credited remainder to my Viking account, which is the last place I wanted it to end up as I have no intention of ever using Viking again.

Hopeless company - unreliable (failure to deliver) and untrustworthy (over charged).

Van driver said I had all the boxes ,I noticed in his van another one of mine,and said another 2 should be there,this was denied.

Next day contacted and asked where my other 2 parcels where,and told they where returned to the depot,so lie from the driver.

I have contacted 3 times and each time told on van for delivery,and guess what seen a pig fly by and still no outstanding parcels.I have real difficulty with the call staff and understanding their strong accents!.

I will try again but no doubt same old story, will end up in dispute with the credit card company.

Stay well clear from this outfit,they would have had a repeat order every 2 weeks!

Been a Viking customer for approx 30 years. Placed a business stationary order (as normal) - they sent it to the wrong address - they have admitted this. They have tried to recover the parcel from the address, but appear to have failed. Despite this being their fault they are continuing to invoice me for the missing order (over £500!) Had many promises from customer service and credit control teams to credit my account, but they never do... Instead, I receive Final notices, credit rating warning and threats to send to debt recovery. Nice try Viking - NO WAY. Had no choice but to refer to legal.

Persistently sent marketing information when I told them to stop. Eventually had to raise a complaint to the ICO but they STILL sent it. Threatened them with court action and they finally removed my details. If you can't trust a business with your data, I wouldn't do business with them.

While waiting for a collection I contacted service.

Their agent said a collection will be booked 72 hours after being arranged. I said it has been 8 days and not heard anything. They said there's still 1 day left. I said 72 hours is 3 days.

No there's still 1 day to go.

"we only work 8 hours so 72 / 8 = 9 days"

I have never read such utter nonsense

My parcel for return sat in my porch for almost x6 weeks, the company kept asking same questions and sending same repeat emails, they did not listen to a word which was said, I would not recommend and would never use again