BARRY SIMPSON

In September I ordered an item from a Belgian company, the price for which explicitly included customs duty. DHL were the delivery company and alerted me more than once about the incoming parcel. They gave me the opportunity to avoid the need for a signature on receipt, but I ignored this offer. However on delivery no signature was requested and the parcel was simply handed over. A week later DHL invoiced me for unpaid customs duty and despite seeing evidence that my order included customs duty they have pursued me for payment. At no time prior to or at the point of delivery did they alert me that any kind of payment was required. Later contact with them was utterly farcical when they left a voicemail asking me to call them. They left the wrong number; then I was given a second incorrect number; followed by a third call which DHL inadvertently cut off and finally I got through to the correct team, only to learn that they had called me in error, believing I was the Belgian seller. They continue to pursue me for payment. This is a company to avoid if you possibly can.

I ordered a lamp at a price that explicitly included customs duty. DHL delivered the lamp and later billed me for unpaid customs duty. Despite multiple email exchanges, including documentation that shows that LampTwist had failed to pay the duty they had charged me for, they refuse to take responsibility, and as the recipient I am being pursued for payment of the duty a second time.

LampTwist's reply is incredible. My order was placed from the UK, not the US. Here is a quote from their website (at the time the order was placed):
*Prices include UK VAT and import duties
*No hidden fees or extra charges upon delivery.

Readers can make up their own minds whether they believe LampTwist to be fraudsters or not.

The staff were excellent and I had great confidence in the quality of the eye test, but I feel that despite getting the highest grade varifocals, they have a narrower field of vision than I am used to.

I have no complaints about the parking space I booked however when I realised the day before I needed to arrive an hour earlier than originally planned things swiftly went south. The booking didn't appear on my app so I needed to go through their customer support systems to amend the booking. The first one simply gave me a useless automated response. The second told me I would get a reply in 24-48 hours. Eventually I got through online to real people and then spent a further two hours trying to get the booking changed. I learned that they needed to cancel the original booking and create a new booking, but they then stopped responding to me and I was left with no choice but to stick to the original booking time.

The response shown below from Yourparkingspace is totally disingenuous. I wanted to extend, not shorten the booking, and the customer service team themselves advised they were able to do so. Their failure cost the parking space owner revenue and cost me valuable time.

This company has some really good people but truly awful systems and procedures, resulting in a terrible customer experience.

With the help of a great sales team I ordered a dining set in June with expected delivery late August. Early August I received an email saying delivery was delayed to mid November. After interrogating their online system and making multiple phone calls I learned only the bench was delayed and negotiated delivery of the table and chairs on the due date in August.

The delivery team who had never seen that type of extending table before then took 2 hours putting it together and trying to set it up but failed miserably, leaving the table top uneven and a large gap between the sections.

I then made the first of many calls to the Product After Care/ Customer Service Team. The first advisor was helpful and pleasant and sent me a link for me to complete an online form and upload photos. Every time I submitted it, a security system blocked my response, but gave no indication of why, so I could not sort the issue.

I emailed the information instead, but the email went unacknowledged and unread until I made the next in a series of phone calls in the following week. I requested a technician be sent out to set up the table correctly but initially was told it was not possible because I was too far from the store where I bought the table. One week and three phone calls later (after they failed to call me back as arranged) a different advisor offered to arrange for a technician to come out to look at the table.

I repeatedly asked to speak to a manager in the Product After Care Team ( because of the repeated failings of their staff, systems and procedures) and was denied this, eventually again being offered a call back in 3 to 5 working days.

Hopefully they will learn it is better to listen to their customers directly and respond appropriately rather than wait for a terrible review (which might yet end up even worse.)

I needed a Dulux paint that is no longer available. Going to Paint Shed I quickly found exactly what I needed and it was delivered, very well packaged, a couple of days later. It's not a cheap option but well worth it.

Opening a new savings account was simple and straightforward. The information provided was very easily digestible too and the app is very easy to use. Combined with the very good interest rate I'm very happy, for now, to give 5 stars. However if, in common with virtually every other savings provider, there is a significant drop in interest rate in the next few months that does not match movement in the base rate, I will be sure to revise my score.

Not only did they do a great job in dealing with a couple of minor scratches and stone chips, but they also helped in dealing with the insurance company. As well as that they were prompt and courteous. I couldn't ask for any better.

I have only used Furdeco once, and it was a simple delivery of a bulky item to the front door, but it was as good an experience as I could expect. I was given a convenient delivery slot well in advance, followed by a telephone call 20 minutes prior to delivery.

I purchased a Google Pixel 8a phone with 256 GB storage at a far lower price than I could find anywhere else. It arrived promptly and is working perfectly.

I ordered a small but pricy pack of biscuits as a Christmas gift. When they arrived they were already out of date. I telephoned F & M to ask for a refund. Their agent was charming and helpful, but their systems were not working properly and it took multiple attempts before they could send me the necessary email to begin the refund process. On 26 November I was told I could expect a refund within 5 working days and 11 working days later it has not arrived.

Communication was good, delivery was in the expected timescale, items were decent quality and the prices reasonable. The lost star is for the woefully inadequate paperwork, especially the instructions for the 11 button remote control. It's mainly a case of pressing the buttons, see what happens and then write it down in a notebook!

Ecotricity offered a good fixed term deal and the switching process was straight forward. I had to contact customer service soon afterwards when there was a problem with reading my smart meter. The issue was promptly and professionally resolved, in complete contrast to the treatment I had always received from my previous supplier.

I found everything about Daals was good, except for their appalling delivery policy/information. I live in central Scotland and there was no indication that they would not deliver to my postcode. I wanted bedroom furniture and initially ordered a bedside table to ensure it matched the room. It did, so I then attempted to order more, only to find they would not deliver larger items. When I rang them they told me the only deliveries of large items they made to Scotland were to Scottish cities. Their delivery information needs to reflect such restrictions.

Travel FX gave the best exchange rate for our holiday US dollars, ordering was very easy and it was great being able to choose the delivery date. The only negative was that no choice was given on the denominations. We received just one 10 dollar bill, with the rest all 20's, 50's and 100's. Next time I'll hold some back and buy small denomination notes at the outbound airport to avoid the niggles we had in the first few days.

I did no more than search for items on Google then click through to Temu.com to research potential purchases (which I did not follow through on) but that was enough to prompt the arrival of spam emails apparently from Temu. In this situation I'm not prepared to risk my personal data with this company.

I've been a customer for many years. I stick with them because their prices are good and there has never been an error on my account. In those respects they are better than any other energy company I have used. However their customer service is appalling. I have contacted them many times over the years and the only time I was impressed by their response was when I raised a formal complaint. My current problem is that my smart meter is still not working properly a year after the initial installation. Emailing them is usually fruitless. An automatic or standard response is the norm, followed by a long wait when nothing happens. Telephoning is only possible if you can hang around long enough for them to answer (20 minutes today) and the normal response is that they will assure you that they will sort the issue or contact the relevant team to deal with the it. The same long wait then usually ensues. That is where I stand today with my smart meter problem.
Update 6 Nov: After I posted the initial review So Energy immediately contacted me and have instantly fixed the problem. However I shouldn't have had to go to the bother of sending two emails, phoning them and posting a negative review to get this particular issue sorted.

The whole process of buying a bed was simple and the information supplied was excellent. The delivery service was great and it was a high quality product. The only minor issue was a slight technical hitch putting the bed together since the fittings did not guarantee the bed would be perfectly aligned. It took a long time checking alignments before risking tightening the bolts.

We ordered a mattress which arrived promptly. Everything was just as described and the mattress came with very clear instructions on how to handle it. Unfortunately it wasn't quite right for us so we invoked the no quibbles returns policy. True to their word, there were absolutely no quibbles, just a very swift online chat to make the arrangements and the courier came to collect the mattress a couple of days later. The only problem we encountered was the completely unprofessional courier (not Eve themselves) who came with no thought of protection for the mattress or our carpets and made quite a mess of the mattress. On contacting Eve again I received an excellent professional and sympathetic response with a full apology. The refund was processed the same day. Without doubt this was the best customer service I have ever received from an online supplier and I recommend this company without reservation.

We were very pleasantly surprised by the service we received in Dreams while looking for a mattress. The assistant, Aaron, was extremely friendly and helpful, without ever being pushy and the mattress selection machine was an interesting and helpful experience. Thanks to Aaron's assistance we found what we think is the perfect mattress at a reasonable price.