[Jonesy1966]

My wife ordered a Passport the first day of availability and is still waiting for a shipping date. She was told that shipping would start again on the 6th (yesterday) and still no word. But that's not the worst part. Communication with Digital River has been next to impossible and when we do mange to get through to someone all we get is a scripted response that the "advisor" never strays from. All we want is some idea as to when she's likely to get her new device. We've emailed BlackBerry but they just forward the message back to DR and we get the same form response. Customer service is friendly but meaningless and uninformative. Cancellation has to take place within the first day of order otherwise you have to take delivery and then send it back making it a moot option.

So why does BlackBerry use Digital River? I've been reading up on them and nearly everything I read mirrors our own experience. With the recent coupon debacle and obvious customer service issues, how can John Chen put up with them??

[lactose]

When I become king, companies that learn of customer abuse, and continue it anyway, will have their executives transferred to prison. There they will be able to reflect the freedom they were given, and how they used it to cause harm.

[OneofLittleHarmony]

BlackBerry is not exactly on the solidest of financial grounds.

Posted via CB10

[Just Me]

I gave up. I am not going to bother getting a Passport now. The initial excitement has transitioned to frustration. I'll spend the money on new skis instead and go on another Crackberry hiatus.

Posted via CB10

[Jtaylor1986]

I too hope they in source this function eventually. They probably had bigger fish to fry than trying to setup a warehouse and distribution function at the time but hopefully they will get there once the business get back to health

[anon(1852343)]

I remember when DR offered a bunch of BlackBerry accessories for free and then cancelled my ordered a month later. I think BlackBerry stepped in and I received all the accessories gratis 2 months later. Agree they are very hard to communicate with. I will never buy anything from that company even if it's free, well maybe

Q10 with Telus on 10.3.1.396

[anon(5906760)]

Actually, they don't let you cancel. I tried a few hours after I sent my order and they wouldn't let me. I argued with probably 4 different people because their website clearly states that it does let you. They admitted that the website was wrong but wouldn't let me cancel. After over an hour on the phone they matched the price of the amazon Passport and gave me a partial refund.

Conclusion: I'm NEVER buying from them again. Not even a charger or a case...

Posted via CB10

[yunvi]

My wife ordered a Passport the first day of availability and is still waiting for a shipping date. She was told that shipping would start again on the 6th (yesterday) and still no word. But that's not the worst part. Communication with Digital River has been next to impossible and when we do mange to get through to someone all we get is a scripted response that the "advisor" never strays from. All we want is some idea as to when she's likely to get her new device. We've emailed BlackBerry but they just forward the message back to DR and we get the same form response. Customer service is friendly but meaningless and uninformative. Cancellation has to take place within the first day of order otherwise you have to take delivery and then send it back making it a moot option.

So why does BlackBerry use Digital River? I've been reading up on them and nearly everything I read mirrors our own experience. With the recent coupon debacle and obvious customer service issues, how can John Chen put up with them??

...and you still went ahead with them after all your reading ? i feel sorry for you.

more so because i had a terrible experience with them and then came in here to see if anyone had similar experiences...*sigh*

[sonicpix]

BlackBerry is not exactly on the solidest of financial grounds.

Posted via CB10

Having $3b in the bank and no dent sounds pretty solid to me.

BB Proud

[Jonesy1966]

...and you still went ahead with them after all your reading ? i feel sorry for you.

more so because i had a terrible experience with them and then came in here to see if anyone had similar experiences...*sigh*

I'm not entirely too sure what you mean. I read other peoples' experiences this morning, my wife's order had been placed since the first day, 10 days or so ago (?) Besides, it's not made entirely clear that you're dealing with Digital River until after your order has been placed, and even then the invoice is in BlackBerry's name and branding. Had we known that DR was difficult to deal with she would have just gone to Telus and got it from there.

[Phi Nguyen]

Having $3b in the bank and no dent sounds pretty solid to me.

BB Proud

That won't last forever
They are burning thru money

It takes a lot of money to start up a ecommerce and shopping and shipping and distribution sites

And even then if they do direct sales it requires then to do something they resisted for years direct support to customers which will cost hundreds of millions in lost direct charges

Digital river is one of the biggest and friendiliest ecommerce companies around they handle Apple store ms store etc

Posted via CrackBerry App

[Jonesy1966]

I too hope they in source this function eventually. They probably had bigger fish to fry than trying to setup a warehouse and distribution function at the time but hopefully they will get there once the business get back to health

I understand why BlackBerry has to use a 3rd party logistics' solution but I would have thought customer service would have been higher up the list of priorities.

[Jonesy1966]

They are burning thru money........Digital river is one of the biggest and friendiliest ecommerce companies around they handle Apple store ms store etc

Posted via CrackBerry App

Um, no, BlackBerry is not burning through cash as has been proven by their quarterly reports. Secondly, I never said that DR was unfriendly, in fact I said the opposite, but there's a difference between being friendly and being uncooperative. I'd rather have moody and sullen and get the answers I need than happy and friendly and get the run around.

[Bold_until_Hybrid_Comes]

Sounds like typical digital river. You won't get any answers just parroting sorry sir. You convey clear information that it was supposed to ship yesterday where is it, but they just don't get it

[Bold_until_Hybrid_Comes]

For me they opened a case to find out why my other case was not resolved.

[Jonesy1966]

For me they opened a case to find out why my other case was not resolved.

Hah! I've got a case number, too. It's not worth the pixels it's written in it seems.

[z10baby]

Yes the accessory fiasco with digital river ended up very well for me! i got great deals on alot of stuff.

[mlbrowninsc]

I know a lot of people have had problems with them but I would like to chime in and say that both times I have ordered with them my phones arrived on time. I ordered a Z30 and th Passport from them both priority overnight and received both next day. Both times the shipping info email came late night several hours after fed ex had actually picked up the device but that may be a delay based on info coming in from the shipper. They have worked well with me but discussions on this board may limit what I purchase from them in the future.

Passport on AT&T

[eddy_berry]

I was lucky enough to have an okay experience with DR the one time I got stuff from them, but it seems I'm in the minority and even that was a slightly confusing affair. I don't see why Chen couldn't get Amazon to be their distribution hub. Let Amazon take care of all the online shopping and logistics. Even shopblackberry.com should just be an Amazon page. Would anyone know what's stopping them from doing exactly that? I don't know, but I would favor that route.

Posted via CB10

[Jonesy1966]

I know a lot of people have had problems with them but I would like to chime in and say that both times I have ordered with them my phones arrived on time. I ordered a Z30 and th Passport from them both priority overnight and received both next day. Both times the shipping info email came late night several hours after fed ex had actually picked up the device but that may be a delay based on info coming in from the shipper. They have worked well with me but discussions on this board may limit what I purchase from them in the future.

Passport on AT&T

I'm glad things have worked out for you and the point of my post was never to put people off who have had good experiences with DR. If they work for you then that's great!

[Jonesy1966]

I was lucky enough to have an okay experience with DR the one time I got stuff from them, but it seems I'm in the minority and even that was a slightly confusing affair. I don't see why Chen couldn't get Amazon to be their distribution hub. Let Amazon take care of all the online shopping and logistics. Even shopblackberry.com should just be an Amazon page. Would anyone know what's stopping them from doing exactly that? I don't know, but I would favor that route.

Posted via CB10

I have a feeling this is where it's going to end up, not that it's such a bad thing. BlackBerry can still have their Shop BlackBerry branding and have all the logistics handled by Amazon. Makes sense especially when you take into consideration all the other tie ins.

[TGR1]

I was lucky enough to have an okay experience with DR the one time I got stuff from them, but it seems I'm in the minority and even that was a slightly confusing affair. I don't see why Chen couldn't get Amazon to be their distribution hub. Let Amazon take care of all the online shopping and logistics. Even shopblackberry.com should just be an Amazon page. Would anyone know what's stopping them from doing exactly that? I don't know, but I would favor that route.

Posted via CB10

Even if not Amazon, some other distributor. Even if one doesn't hear about all the good experiences, the bad comments for DR is rather high on the highest profile BBRY fansite available, that many potential buyers may visit. Surely BBRY can do better?

[Dave79]

Got a yoga thinkpad from lenovo.ie - Even Lenovo use Digital River, a very frustrating and painfully long (close to two months) experience. Basically the customer service has no clue of anything and contact them after you placed the order is just a waste of time.

[yunvi]

I'm not entirely too sure what you mean. I read other peoples' experiences this morning, my wife's order had been placed since the first day, 10 days or so ago (?) Besides, it's not made entirely clear that you're dealing with Digital River until after your order has been placed, and even then the invoice is in BlackBerry's name and branding. Had we known that DR was difficult to deal with she would have just gone to Telus and got it from there.

disregard that post. I apologize. still extremely bitter from my experience with them. it was a christmas present at that last year. i ended up forgetting about the money i paid them, i bought the item from the crackberry shop.

I wish you the best of luck OP.

[z10baby]

blackberry should just give me 1000 units and ill sell them on amazon myself!!