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WARNING: There are many websites that hide extra charges and add them to your basket at the last minute - this is NOT one of them
Philfing - \ fil - f - ing Verb. Acronym. Purposely hiding what I'm looking for.
Description; The practice by underhand website owners of hiding extra charges such as, delivery, creditcard surcharges and insurance.
It looks like britain is becoming a nation of angry online shoppers with 93 per cent
getting annoyed with sneaky website tactics, according to our latest
research
Our survey of more than 2,400 web users, found hidden delivery charges to be
the most annoying with 64 per cent saying it makes them not buy - and
business buyers get just as hacked off as consumers.
Hot on the heals of ‘Wilfing’ ’What was I looking for’ the aimless surfing
syndrome that over two thirds (69 per cent) of the UK’s 33.7 million
internet users admit to. ‘Philfing’ is the name given to the increasingly
popular practice of ‘purposely hiding what I’m looking for’ - holding back
the real cost of ‘extras’ until the last minute.
Our research reveals things like so-called ‘free delivery’ that turns out to
require extra purchases and surcharges forpaying by credit card frustrate consumers
immensely.
The online shopping comparison sites are finding it increasingly difficult
to maintain a level playing field when listing prices.
"We carefully monitor merchants for any signs of illegitimate or
miss-leading behaviour," states Justin Sedgmond, Merchant Relations Director
for PriceGrabber.co.uk. "When we are made aware of any suspicious activity,
we verify the problem and take appropriate action from there. We will
contact the merchant, and solve the problem to make sure our customers are
protected."
According to our research, online shoppers also find poor stock information,
the lack of contact telephone numbers and the use of 0870 telephone numbers
very annoying.
We’ve always avoided ‘Philfing’ we believe our customers are smart enough to
see through the scams. One thing we have changed, as a result of the survey,
is our 0870 contact number back to our standard geographical 0114 number.
Even though we didn’t make money from phone calls the perception was we did.
With more people having ‘inclusive minutes’ it makes sense to let them use
them”.
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Have your say - Add an example of Philfing that annoys you
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Add an example
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I bought a holiday on-line for my girlfriend and I. When I received the email confirmation I had been charged £16.68 for a credit surcharge which there had been no mention of. This is excessive and not reflective of true costs incurred by the holiday company. I use a credit card on line which has an internet fraud guarantee which my debit card does not so I get charged for protecting myself against fraud. Hardly fair that?
Steve B - 11 June 2007
I bought a package holiday online recently with the so called 'total price' being displayed next to the BUY button. After 45 minutes of choosing preferences and entering my families' information I finally got to the end of the basket only to be greeted with an additional £75 in taxes - I was furious!!!!!
Simon - 04 June 2007
Simple but essential details such as size and weight not clearly stated in imperial and metric measures.
Michael - 30 May 2007
I dislike sellers insisting on you paying through PayPal or other certifying payments.
John Cassels - 30 May 2007
Retailers who try to fob customers off and make them deal with the manufacturer when goods are faulty. Any retailers who try this are in breach
of their legal obligations. Remember, if goods are faulty, it is the retailer, not the manufacturer, who has to sort it out. Watch out for websites where the terms and conditions say something like "Please contact the manufacturers directly" in the case of faulty goods. Now, I wonder which website I found those words on ....??!! One beginning with M, maybe? A case
of the pot and the kettle, this Philfing thing, perhaps?
***OUR REPLY- Rob raises an interesting point, we do ask customers with a suspected faulty product to contact the manufacturer. In order to replace a faulty product manufacturers like to talk to the customer directly, some insist on it. Since they are the experts on their products we think it makes sense to talk to them. When the manufacturer has established the problem they often issue a returns authorisation number, the product is either sent back to us or to the
manufacturers and a replacement sent to the customer. Manufactures do things in different ways and we will always steer the process along. We agree it's our responsibility to sort out faulty goods and we don't breach any legal obligations along the way. We will always replace or refund faulty products. Philfing is about hiding information customers want, our returns and faulty goods processes are very easy to find with links from every page.
Rob - 30 May 2007
One classic example is package holidays. I recently booked a holiday online and discovered that the *same* holiday, from different brands all owned by the *same* parent company, was for sale at 3 widely differing prices..
Peter - 25 May 2007
A Game website that you download 30, 45 and 60 minute downloads from, then when the time is up you get the oppertunity to buy the activation key, it sais you own the game then if you buy the key but after formatting the computer of re-installing the game 3 times you have to buy the key again as you are only entitled to 3 free activations. ##### WHY NOT TELL US THAT BEFORE WE BUY THE KEY #####
John - 25 May 2007
etailers who have full specification for 1000's of items, but sell very few. Their website comes up on a product search, then they often try to flog you something else. They just want to get noticed, but they're just timewasters
mark - 25 May 2007
Free delivery to UK addresses but you pay extra for Highlands, Channel Islands and N.Ireland which at the last check ARE ALL IN THE UNITED KINGDOM
Brian - 25 May 2007
Sites that either claim to have stock but do not, or give no indication as to stock until confirmation email. Sites that make custtomers register before being able to get a clue as to delivery charges. I have been caught in the past but no longer use sites that are not open about their terms and conditions.
Jen - 25 May 2007
On paying £87 for a set of headphones that were shown in stock when I bought them on line, I had to waite 3 weeks for delivery.
Mike - 24 May 2007
A pan-European etailer (owned by a major British high-street chain) that sells everything from PCs to home appliances to 3000GBP cameras. I ordered 10 packs of Epson paper (over 130GBP) -- it was shown as in stock, then out of stock, and then in stock but my order never arrived! No phone number is given and all emails were ignored -- until I demanded a full refund (and I gave the amount). They refunded the cost of 1 pack of paper. I sent an even stronger email demanding the full cost back because I had already spent that money again to buy from a site that delivered. Instead of politely refunding me as requested, they sent the remaining 9 packs -- but they sent them in 9 separate largish cartons (each one with its own delivery note). The courier driver was well amused.
Richard - 24 May 2007
Trying to buy cheap airline seats for say £29.99 and then finding that on the day that you want to go they are not available and then huge extra fees added for taxes etc.
Dennis - 24 May 2007
Retailers who claim to have stock of popular yet hard to find items only to take your money and then tell you theres a 4 week wait. [edit name]and [edit name] both pulled this stunt on me the other week on the same product.
Andrew - 24 May 2007
didn't a large Irish pc company do this? They advertise a pc on TV or in the press, telling you to quote a product number. When you get around to paying they've added £70 for a warranty, but made the selection process so complicated just to hide the fact that they've added this in. It is in plain sight but along with about 20 items that go into the pc such as the memory, cpu, hdd, mouse type and warranty, see stuck it in there and you didn't notice.
Peter - 24 May 2007
Watch out for adverts in newspapers which give a price including carriage if you order by post but if you go online they charge extra for carriage. Surely it should be cheaper online! I have been caught out a couple of times but "won't be fooled again!"
Chris - 23 May 2007
No wonder so many companies charge for credit card use; after all that has to finance the "free cash back". That and the 2.75% foreign use.
Still, that does explain the G for Greedy Britain. UGH
Michael - 23 May 2007
Paid deposit for a book that was about to be published in November 2006 the book still hasn't been published and haven't heard anything from the retailer. They're earning interest with "my" money disgusting.
Paul - 23 May 2007
[edit, X and Y], two companies, same owner, two charges. Disgusting. Listing AND selling fees!!!!!
William - 22 May 2007
Sites that ask you for all of your details then you find out that they are philfing you then ask for your details to be removed from their list but then are bombarded days later with spam from them and all their other TRUSTED partners
David - 22 May 2007
[edit, big IT online retailer] have good pricing, but in their checkout screen they add their extended warranty by default and even more cheekily tack on their loyalty card as well. Neither is removable by simply unchecking a box. You have to go to the warranty page to deselect it. I'm sure they're not alone.
Ian - 22 May 2007
I won an auction on [edit, a popular auction site] for a pair of headphones only to discover 3 days later they wanted another £7.50 from me because of the location where i stayed namely the west coast Scotland. The postage and carriage has fascinated me ever since i went on line. The advice i give to people is cyber shop just to see how much the carriage charge is and don't click on the final buy button
IMACOMPUTERBYDDIE - 22 May 2007
I cant believe it! After reading your article in my lunch break I though nothing of it. Later on I've just gone to buy a new laptop from [edit, a major IT eTailer]. The site clearly stated 'free delivery'. However just as I went to check out I spotted not only that delivery was actually £4.99 but they added a 'Delivery surcharge' of another £4 on top of that!! What a con! I just wouldn't have spotted this in the rush to order it, so thank you morecomputers for alerting me to this growing trend!
Morgan - 22 May 2007
Sites that advertise free delivery - but then it's only when you spend over a certain amount. If there's a catch tell me before the basket check out.
MoreComputers.com survey response - 21 May 2007
No indication if prices include VAT. When you get to the check out you find out they don't.
MoreComputers.com survey response - 21 May 2007
Sites that don't make any mention of a credit card surcharge then take an extra 2% at the submit order stage
MoreComputers.com survey response - 21 May 2007
Shopping sites that say delivery is free then charge for 'packaging and handling'
MoreComputers.com survey response - 21 May 2007
Sites that make no mention of a delivery fee - until you get to the shopping basket
MoreComputers.com survey response - 21 May 2007
Free delivery that turns out to be only free when you buy more than one item
MoreComputers.com survey response - 21 May 2007
Credit card handling charges that state £2 - then turn out to be £2 per person, per flight - so three people flying costs an extra £12!
MoreComputers.com survey response - 21 May 2007
Train ticket sites that charge extra for ticket insurance
MoreComputers.com survey response - 21 May 2007
Budget airlines that charge extra for checking in your luggage
MoreComputers.com survey response - 21 May 2007
lack of clarity about when 'nextday' really is. IE order goods on friday nextday and they don't arrive 'till monday. Not yourselves of course : )
MoreComputers.com survey response - 21 May 2007
Things showing as in stock but once you hit the order button you find that the item wasn't in stock and you can't cancel
MoreComputers.com survey response - 21 May 2007
PRICES BEFORE VAT SHOWN LARGER THAN 'THE PRICE YOU ACTUALLY PAY'
MoreComputers.com survey response - 21 May 2007
When asked to make up a password, to be informed that it must be a certain number of characters only AFTER clicking Enter.
MoreComputers.com survey response - 21 May 2007
Annoying if it is not clear at the start about delivery charges and you get to the end and find there is an extra charge for delivery
MoreComputers.com survey response - 21 May 2007
SMALL PRINT.
MoreComputers.com survey response - 21 May 2007
Hidden VAT, hidden P&P, hidden extras
MoreComputers.com survey response - 21 May 2007
I don't like having to pay postage for each item. I like P&P to cover all of the order, oblivious of the amount.
MoreComputers.com survey response - 21 May 2007
Disparity from site to site in including vat or not - some search engines just hit the price link which while cheaper in the search may not have included vat - so in reality it wasn't the lower price, some sites make it very difficult to tell whether the price being shown is inclusive of vat or not.
MoreComputers.com survey response - 21 May 2007
lead times that go back and back after you've place the order
MoreComputers.com survey response - 21 May 2007
Delivery and VAT charges which don't get explained until the very last page
MoreComputers.com survey response - 21 May 2007
I like honesty. Mistakes happen, things go wrong, that's just life. What really bugs me is when people promise things they can't deliver or out and out lie to you.
MoreComputers.com survey response - 21 May 2007
Delivery and VAT charges which don
MoreComputers.com survey response - 21 May 2007
Membership scams
MoreComputers.com survey response - 21 May 2007
Having to reach the end of the check-out process before reading delivery details (eg signature required, etc)
MoreComputers.com survey response - 21 May 2007
Not only annoying 'hidden delivery charges' but having to go through the whole order placing, plus credit card info, before being shown the actual delivery costs - Arghhhhhhh!
MoreComputers.com customer - 21 May 2007
When I can't tell whether the product is an original or a compatible
MoreComputers.com customer - 21 May 2007
I like sites that show me the full cost including delivery etc before I go to check out. What really annoys me is sites where I have to register and go to check out before I find the full cost of the order
MoreComputers.com survey response - 21 May 2007
People who do have a telephone number but then have an automated service with no people to speak to
MoreComputers.com survey response - 21 May 2007
Handling charges as well as P & P.
MoreComputers.com survey response - 21 May 2007
Higher actual prices displayed than those shown on search websites, e.g. Pricerunner, etc.
MoreComputers.com survey response - 21 May 2007
Delivery and VAT charges which don
MoreComputers.com survey response - 21 May 2007
Not being able to check if in stock unless start the placing an order process.
MoreComputers.com survey response - 21 May 2007
I am reluctant to give out information that is not directly needed as part of the transaction, I feel this is an unnecessary invasion of my privacy and I have withdrawn from websites and/or business on several occasions when this has occurred.
MoreComputers.com survey response - 21 May 2007
I dislike sites where one has to reach the final checkout to learn what the total costs will be
MoreComputers.com survey response - 21 May 2007
No postal address
MoreComputers.com survey response - 21 May 2007
0800, 0808, 0844, 0845, 0870 and 0871 numbers, bad customer service. I rather pay a bit more if I know I can rely on the company
MoreComputers.com survey response - 21 May 2007
Most important, by a long way, is knowing if an item is in stock. A great price and no availability is a waste of my time.
MoreComputers.com survey response - 21 May 2007
Having placed an order / Receiving order confirmation - only to get an email days later informing about lack of stock / change in price or a longer delivery period.
MoreComputers.com survey response - 21 May 2007
No proper address details (ie. just a PO BOX)
MoreComputers.com customer - 21 May 2007
Emailing questions and not getting a reply. Why do they invite you to submit a question when they can
MoreComputers.com customer - 21 May 2007
Retailers who say something is in stock and ready to ship that day when it is actually at a suppliers warehouse and arrives several days later with no warning when you are at work. This does not apply to More Computers.
MoreComputers.com customer - 21 May 2007
Payment options (types of credit card/payments accepted) not being clearly displayed until checkout process, and often after collection of other order/delivery details.
MoreComputers.com customer - 21 May 2007
I am very annoyed when some online shops debit your credit card immediately, when they do not have the stock to dispatch.
MoreComputers.com customer - 21 May 2007
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