The browsing and ordering system for OzBazaar was very good. However I found the after-order service to be below the average sta...

Posted by: 20-Nov-2007

The browsing and ordering system for OzBazaar was very good. However I found the after-order service to be below the average standards to what I have become accustomed from other online stores in Australia.

Firstly I did not find their order status information provided on their site terribly informative and had to email for explanation as to what had been indicated. However, they did email me when major things had happened with regards to my order (payment completed, shipping notice, etc.), so this compensated somewhat.

Their website promo claims that they reply promptly to all enquiries but I did not find this to be necessarily the case. Most email replies I received were sent in the very late hours of the evening or incredibly early hours of the morning. For an Australian-run business, I found this a bit off-putting as it meant that having a proper conversation really took days rather than a few hours at most. (i.e. Write an email during the day, don't find the response until the day after at the earliest - then you have to write back, and wait at least another day for a further response).

Other than that, they did not disclose where their products came from. I was a little shocked to discover that the mobile phone I ordered was coming from Hong Kong, rather than somewhere in the local Australia region. This meant that my phone is actually more suited to a Chinese user, as although I changed the language of the phone to English easily enough, certain applications were purely directed to the Asian market, and remained in Chinese - hence some of the usability of my phone was not really that acceptable to me. Passable at best.

However, their prices are fantastic and incredibly competitive - if you are happy to receive a product better suited to the Asian market - or indeed, if you speak Chinese, it's absolutely fantastic. Perhaps if unsure make sure you contact the original manufacturer of the product you are interested in purchasing first to see what if any differences exist between the same product sent to the Australian region Vs. Hong Kong.

I'm sure as time goes on OzBazaar will only improve, but they still have a little way to go.