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Jungle apologises for crap service

New computer system adds fortnight to delivery times

Jungle.com has apologised to customers for its particularly poor service of late, which it admits stems from a new computer system it installed on 24 September. Customers are now faced with a 21-day guaranteed delivery time, as opposed to the 3 to 5-day service the site has offered previously.

The online retailer tried to put a brave face on the mess until today when it finally relented under a wave of complaining customers, delayed deliveries and the loss of some orders. A press release entitled "Jungle demonstrates responsibility" popped up this morning.

In a mass emailing yesterday, Jungle told customers "The Jungle Team this week decided it would be better to bring you up to date with what's happening, rather than bombard you with our usual offering of 'killer deals' at unbelievable Jungle Prices!"

Which sounds quite positive until: "Jungle took a decision 12 months ago to implement a new Management Information System, so that we could ultimately improve communications with our suppliers and more importantly, our customers."

This system cost Jungle £5 million and the company claims it was running it for eight weeks before it went live. "As with any system implementation of this size, there have been challenges working with new technology," the email continues. "Some problems have surfaced, affecting our ability to take telephone orders and the capability to deliver across all channels. This has resulted in some lost calls and delivery expectations now being set at 21 days from order, if stock is available."

It goes on a bit more before saying how great everything will be really soon and thanking customers for their support (twice). A new-look Web site is going live next month, so we hope Jungle has at least got that one right.

We are hoping that Jungle thinks it worthwhile to call us back so we can discuss what precisely went wrong with its Retek management system, how many thousands of customers have been affected and whether there will be any discounts. ®

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