Lenny

I wanted to add my voice to the various comments regarding Aquos TVs.
The one I have is a piece of junk and has been from day one.
It has always ‘lost’ it’s tuning of stations. Chunks of the list of stations will just disappear so you have to re-tune to get them back. Totally random. Sometimes it will lose a few, sometimes half the channels etc. the most annoying thing is when it just ‘hangs’ on the channel list. The ‘roundel’ in the top right corner spins permanently with a ‘loading’ message. This does not clear at all. The set is completely unresponsive from then on. It will take no notice of any other remote button input. Not even the ‘off’ button. The only way out is to completely unplug the set to a total power down. It has a ‘record to usb’ function which works if it feels like it. It will show ‘program saved’ and show the little record icon on the channel list, but 50% of the time absolutely nothing happens and nothing is recorded. If it does record something it doesn’t show on the record list (so can’t be deleted) although it can be played back. Oh! The list goes on and on.
This is undoubtedly the worst, most unreliable set I have ever owned and after 18 months I am thoroughly tired of ‘fighting’ with it all the time and it will soon be heading for the dump. It’s criminal to scrap an 18 month old TV, but I can’t even give it away to family or friends because I know they will become as frustrated with it as quickly as I did.
As others have said, any attempt at help is totally futile. I’m sure my 10 year old nephew is more tech-savvy than sharp’s ‘customer service’. I’ve tried an internet connected firmware upgrade but nothing fixes it.
Another sharp product? I don’t think so!
I cannot remember being so bitterly disappointed with any other product I’ve bought - ever.

I’m afraid I have been moved to add one more ‘poor’ review to this staggering total of one star reviews. Our postal service is certainly worse than ever. In recent months the service in my area (Redruth, Cornwall) has deteriorated to the point where I am lucky to see one post delivery per week. I’ve decided to finally add my voice to the obvious displeasure expressed by others because cards, dispatched on the 31st Aug, on ‘first class’ stamps, for my birthday on the 7th Sept still haven’t arrived - not one! (It now being the 9th Sept.). Similarly, I have a small item I ordered from eBay, which I’m assured was dispatched on the 30th Aug for which the sender paid for ‘tracked 48’ service which I am also still waiting for on Sept the 9th.
This really is beyond a joke now. ‘First class’ - 9 days? ‘Tracked 48’ - 10 days? (and both still counting).
What on earth is going on? This is by no means just a ‘hiccup’. In recent months I have had two monthly bank statements turn up on the same day (where the last month’s took so long to deliver, it arrived on the same day as the current month’s statement). The list goes on and on.
I also read today that Royal Mail charges are due to be hiked again. How can they expect customers to keep paying more and more for service which is getting worse and worse?
Well, Royal Mail, if you continue with this business model of trying to charge customers ever more for a constantly declining service, you won’t have a business left.

I can’t really say much about the content quality because in spite of having a reasonably modern iPad, the site never seems to fully load. Scrolling constantly stalls and anything one might try to read jumps all over the place as adverts constantly (but slowly) load.
I have given up now. The site is so crippled by about 2 million adverts trying to load that it has become unusable.

There isn’t much to say beyond what has been said already. My item (as part of a Christmas present) was picked up from the supplier on the 12th Dec. Sitting here, it having just turned Christmas Day, pretty miffed that this particular plan has been ruined by Hermes/Evri, I felt moved to register my displeasure.
Usual story. Their equally useless tracking system says it’s out for delivery - nothing happens, then ‘delayed’, then out for delivery…..etc, ad nauseam. Of course, there is no way of contacting them, just the hopeless ‘bot’ system which just leaves you more frustrated than ever. There’s more chance of securing an audience with the Pope than finding a person in Evri.
Sadly, this bad service is not just lately, or at Christmas but goes back a long way. Even approx 2 years ago I had a random parcel dumped on my doorstep. Wrong name, address and postcode area. This is when I had my first experience of trying to contact Hermes. Impossible. Because I’m a decent sort, I actually took this parcel around to the rightful recipient myself. Two roads away. The grateful owner told me it was a rather expensive set of cookware. Why it was just dumped on my doorstep two roads away I never did know. The lady I gave her parcel to said she would complain. I thought “good luck with that Mrs. !”
So, this isn’t a new problem and I’ve had many other problems along the way to the point where I won’t use Hermes/Evri any more.
I, too, don’t know how these people are still in business. Perhaps the money spent changing their name and repainting vans might have been better spent on improving the service. Wasn’t it Shakespeare who said ‘A rubbish service by any other name is still as bad’
I’m surprised sellers don’t realise these cowboys are losing them business and entrust their deliveries to someone more reliable.
The perceptive among readers might guess that I’m less than impressed!

Communication was good in terms of notifying me what will happen and the timeframe it would happen in. This was kept and the carrier company notified me also of delivery time. All in all an easy transaction with no problems.

I obtained good advice from lockandkey company as well as good service and top end products. I would have no hesitation in recommending this company for your security needs.

I’ve used Toolstation since the catalogue was about 3mm thick. Over the years, the range has extended to that which we see today, in addition to developing retail outlets.
Toolstation has therefore gone from strength to strength, but that can’t happen if the customers don’t arrive, and there is Toolstation’s success formula. I have always found their pricing to be as competitive as any, and more so than most. In addition, that is backed up by first class service. In my many years of using Toolstation I have found that they just ‘get it right’ (with perhaps one, solitary exception in about 10 years. That’s not a bad record for any company).
I’ve got to the point where Toolstation is my first ‘go to’ and I only bother to look around if they don’t have what I’m after (which is rare). All in all, a first class company, selling good products at competitive prices, backed up by excellent service.

Ordered an alternator for my Ford quite late in the day (16:30) and in spite of this company’s ‘order by 17:00 for same day dispatch’, I didn’t realistically expect it to be actioned until the next day. To my astonishment, within about 10 mins I got another mail marking my order as ‘dispatched’. Old cynic that I am, I wasn’t sure that I believed it! Good to their word, it duly turned up by courier the next day. OE Denso alternator, at an
extremely good price (all-in i.e. inclusive of VAT and delivery). I am SO impressed that I felt moved to say so.
Item, price, delivery and service have all been truly excellent from this company.
The most satisfying thing of all, perhaps, is in not paying Ford
an additional £100, or so, for them to plonk one of their pretty but very expensive labels on an identical item.
I suppose I should just add that said alternator has already replaced the one which was whining louder than the missus on cup final day and is working impeccably AND quietly!

Having recently made my usual seamless, all in stock purchase at my local branch, I realized I had never filled in any kind of review about toolstation. I therefore just wanted to take a few minutes to offer an overdue 'thumbs up' for toolstation generally. The point of my comments here is to be wider than my last experience at toolstation and to point out that I have been using toolstation for years, since the catalogue was about 3 mm thick and long before toolstation branches even existed. In that time I must have spent thousands of pounds with them on every type of product necessary to completely renovate my house. From the earliest days of mail order only, to the present time encompassing the excellent service at the several depots I have visited, I have had only one item which was incorrect across the (it must be hundreds of) items I have purchased. Even that one item was corrected immediately.
I have therefore found toolstation service to be second to none, as I say, not based on one transaction, but an incredibly consistent, excellent service over more years than I care to remember. That is a VERY impressive record!
I have also found the products offered to be of first-class quality at prices which are difficult to beat anywhere. I cannot think of one single thing which I have been disappointed with.
Needless to say, toolstation is always my first choice when looking for something and I only consider purchasing elsewhere if it is something toolstation doesn't stock.
Finally, no! I am not a toolstation employee or shareholder! Just a consistently satisfied customer, over many years, who has just realized we are very quick to complain, but not so quick to praise a genuinely (consistently) outstanding company, so yes, this is something of a 'glowing' review, but for no other reason than it is justly deserved.

I ordered both front lower suspension arms for my Ford via click and collect (next day). Went into the branch on Wednesday and my parts were there. No problems at all. I fitted the O/S arm on the Thursday - great! Fitted a treat! Tackled the N/S arm on Friday, and when I unpacked the second arm, I realized it was the wrong one (smaller lower swivel taper).
The point here is that I GOOFED. I ordered the wrong part number, having confused myself over the fitment options, proving that the customer isn't always right! (Although one correct part out of two suggests I might, at least, have been half right!)
I took the part back to Truro (red-faced) on Saturday, and they corrected my mistake immediately. Just booked one part number back in, booked out the one I actually needed (in stock) as a straight swap. No fuss. No drama. I was back on my way with the right part in my grubby mits in a few minutes. So, there we are. Speak as you find, and I have to say I was impressed, especially as it was my mistake, not theirs.

My comments here relate to a visit I have just made to my local ATS branch, but sadly, the comments may equally apply to some other tyre suppliers I have used over past decades. The industry business model seems to be geared to guarantee dissappointment.

Things started well. A friendly welcome and a look around my car to determine that I needed a complete set of new tyres (which I already knew - they were very old and were deteriorating badly, in spite of being technically legal tread-wise). After some previous research, I had decided upon the tyres I wanted to try (top grip rating, reasonably priced for a mid-range tyre and UK manufactured). I was given a price (which was in line with expectation) and was further told that they had 4 of that tyre in stock, in my size and they could fit them there and then.

At this point I was so impressed that they were well on their way to a five star rating......Until... "We'll do a free tracking check for you sir". Well, anybody who has been in this situation will be ahead of me at this point and know exactly where this is going.

Sure enough, my tracking was 'out' and needed correcting (surprise, surprise). When I pointed out that the previous tyres had been on the car for years (low milage car, so, as said, they had deteriorated rather than worn-out) and seemed to have worn evenly over that time, I got the usual sales pitch "The tracking may have only recently been knocked out of alignment" and "There is a bit of feathering on the outside of the tyre" (which I hadn't noticed). Then the whammy. "We can put that right for £47" !!!! Which, of course, is precisely where the whole 'customer experience' fell to pieces.

I was left open-mouthed and couldn't help myself sayng "What??? nearly fifty-quid to twiddle two track rods???...Jeez, that's a LOT of money!". As a 'concession' (or fearing that I was about to collapse from apoplectic shock) I was told that as I'd had all four tyres replaced, they would do it for a mere £37. I stood there and 'ummed and arred' for a while, well aware that they have you over a barrel - not a good situation to put a customer in. Eventually, against my better judgement, I agreed to let them do it, but from then on the whole 'customer experience' I mentioned was nastily tainted. The smiles had gone and whole atmosphere was much more cool and business-like.

They did the job, I paid the bill and left. This is what has driven my 3 star rating. They did do the job, in a reasonable time, and as far as I can see, competently, which I think deserves a basic, 'adequate job' rating. Any additional 'wow! factor' which might drive a higher rating was lost. *SEE UPDATE*

The price of the four tyres I bought was £196 exactly (inc VAT). by the time I left, with all the add-ons, the final bill was inflated (no pun intended) to £283.32. I noticed afterwards that they had even charged me £5.20 for 'nitrogen inflation' without even asking me if I wanted nitrogen inflation. Nitrogen inflation may be of some use on a formula 1 race car, but on a low milage, ageing, shopping car? Really? I seem to have managed perfectly well with a few puffs of fresh air for decades.

These places really don't understand customer satisfaction. It is really quite simple - you set an expectation, then exceed it. They seem to do exactly the opposite, ensuring the customer walks away feeling as though they've been 'had'.

When I thought about this afterwards, I attempted to analyse the uncomfortable feelings I was having over this transaction. I decided the problem was probably one of 'proportionality'. The cost of the tracking, for example, was disproportionate to the overall cost of the transaction. If they had said that the tracking was out, and they would put it right, for, say, a tenner, I doubt I would have blinked because it was a proportionally small charge in the overall scheme of things. When, however, this (relatively small) job adds the cost of a complete extra tyre to the bill, it just doesn't pass my test of 'reasonableness'.

I look forward to one day using a tyre supplier where customer satisfaction is understood and such things as fitting, tracking set etc. are 'free and just part of the service, Sir'. What a difference that would make to customer perception (even though the cost would have undoubtedly been built into the cost of the tyre in the first place). Yes, I know it's a competitive market, but if one company tried that approach, I'm sure it would pay dividends to the point where others would have to follow.

As it is, when relating my experience here to family and friends, (potential future customers) what will I remember in the long-term? Any 'positives' will undoubtedly be overshadowed by the overwhelming feeling I have of being the victim of some 'sharp practices' and having my 'pockets picked' as a consequence.

Will I use this company again? No. Will I be reccommending them to anybody? No. When I next need tyres I will try yet another supplier in my long (and vain?) quest to find a company where I can walk away with a spring in my step, a smile on my face and a nice warm feeling that I've been treated fairly, got a good deal and that I'm a valued (and therefore probably a repeat) customer, rather than feeling I've been hoodwinked and exploited. Well, I can dream, can't I? Though I won't be holding my breath....

*UPDATE* My original review was done after I had returned from ATS. It is now a week after I had this work done and I have had the opportunity to do a few longer runs during this week which has minded me to update my three star 'basically competent job' rating to a one star rating.

As I noted in my original review, when told my tracking needed adjustment, I pointed out then that the existing tyres had been on the car for at least the 5 years I had owned it and were being replaced because of age deterioration of the rubber, and that I could see no uneven wear of the tyres.They still insisted the tracking needed adjustment.

Having had the opportunity this week to do the couple of longer and faster runs I mentioned, it is obvious the steering wheel is now set 'off centre' to the right quite noticeably when running straight. The car certainly doesn't feel 'right'. I'm aware they are different tyres, but that isn't what I mean - anyone who has had a car for some years and knows it well, will know what I'm talking about.The car doesn't want to 'hold a line' now and wanders, so I am constantly having to 'steer'. This is not something I've had before. This car always felt as though it was on rails. I don't know what they've done to it.

In my perception, therefore, I took my car in to ATS with no problems with the steering at all. It ran straight, the wheel was straight and there was no noticeable (to me), uneven wear on the tyres which had been on the car for years.The wheel is now crooked, the car doesn't feel right at all, and I am now obviously worried about future, uneven tyre wear which has not previously been an issue. I have to therefore conclude that they have charged me nearly £40 for unnecessarily 'messing' with my perfectly good steering and during this 'inept dabbling' have messed it up.

Where from here? I obviously feel outraged that they have charged me to unnecessarily 'tinker' with my car and have managed, in so doing, to create problems where there weren't any. The obvious, usual course of action would be to take it back and complain, but frankly, I don't want these incompetent, money-grubbing fools anywhere near my car again. This experience (and that of every other person here with a similar story), suggests that these people are so bad that I have no confidence that having messed things up, they would get it right a second time (or any other time). Consensus across the reviews here also suggests that their 'customer service' is such that to complain is generally futile in any case.

I guess I will have to chalk this up to experience, swallow the fact that they have stolen money from me (I don' know what else to call it) and messed up my car for the privilege, and pay the same amount again (hopefully to somebody who knows what they are doing) to have corrected what they have broken. These people will therefore have cost me a totally unnecessary additional spend of about £80. If I add add the cost of getting my car looked at again, to the existing bill, the 4 tyres I bought, at the basic price of £196 inc VAT, will end up costing me about £320. Their tyres have not proved particularly 'cheap'.

I guess we all make mistakes, but walking into ATS has proved one of the most serious (and expensive) mistakes I have made in quite a while

*FINAL ANALYSIS*
Took the car to a local independent dealer (one man band set-up) after two personal recommendations. (How I wish done this in the first place!). After having a look, he asked me if I'd had a go at the tracking myself - he saw things had been disturbed. I therefore related the story. If I have ever seen a 'knowing' look, this was it, though he diplomatically said nothing. He was quite happy to have me under his feet and showed me just what he was doing. Initial measurement showed my tracking out by 125%!!!! I.e. It should be 0 (straight) on my car. Max tolererance is 20'. This was out by 25% more than that!
He adjusted it back using the 'witness marks' from before (the clean threads which had been exposed from the previous 'fiddle'), and on his screen-thing, everything came straight. He also charged less to put it right than ATS charged me to break it. My steering wheel is straight again and my car is back on its 'rails'.
So. I am confident my previous criticisms are justified. How things became 'unadjusted' in the hands of ATS becomes irrelavent, because having charged me to correct it, It is absolutely inexcusable for it to be so wrong after supposedly being fixed. The reader can draw their own conclusions from this whole sorry tale.

First time I’d used DHL ( for a Christmas parcel to the family). I offer five stars because the delivery was made next day, which was a Saturday, and was in the Christmas period, which I thought was impressive. It is expensive to send any parcels these days, so although I initially thought this service expensive, upon investigation, it was no more expensive than other major delivery companies. The only thing I found rather odd was that having packed my parcel, I then sought a carrier. Upon reading the terms, they curiously said that the parcel should be left open so the driver could see what was inside??? Firstly, my parcel was well packed, boxed, then paper and taped. Are DHL seriously suggesting that the driver would wait 20 minutes while I packed my parcel, fitting all the presents in with internal void packing, and papered and taped it? That seemed a nonsense. If the driver did see inside this parcel, he would have just seen a dozen ‘squares’ wrapped in Christmas paper, so, similarly, would the driver be prepared to wait about four hours while I wrapped each present in order for him to see what it is? (as well as packing the whole parcel as above). All this caused me some confusion as to quite what was expected. These ‘rules’ seem totally unworkable and need overhaul. The pick-up driver was OK with what I had done and said it wasn’t too serious as it was an inland parcel. These instructions need to be better clarified, but, as already said, I was pleased with the delivery service itself.

Much of my review has already been said, but adding one more voice may serve to illustrate the overall picture.
I too was fooled into thinking this was a UK company by the '.co.uk' email and (what I can only assume is) a 'shadow' address (in the midlands, if I remember correctly). Like others, I only realised this wasn't so when the e-mailed invoice was in euros. Why this is necessary I don't know, unless it is to hide the probable increased delivery time from mainland Europe.

I ordered 2 belt kits plus brake discs and pads for all 4 corners (Ford Focus - not an unusual car). Ordered 6th July. When nothing happened for the whole week, I found these reviews and wondered what I'd done. On the Friday, I mailed Cartech pointing out that it was now the end of the week and I had heard nothing. Could they tell me the status of my order please?.

I received a mail on the following Monday saying that they were waiting for one of the belt kits to arrive from their suppliers which would push delivery to the week after. (2 weeks now - if, indeed, it happened). By now my aux belt idler was grumbling pretty badly so I told them I couldn't wait that long as I feared the idler was in imminent danger of failure and would they please therefore cancel my order and refund me.

The only reason I have offered 2 stars instead of 1, was because they did cancel my order and refund my paypal payment promptly, but otherwise the whole exercise was a dead loss.

So to summarise, This is a company in Germany, from where the correspondence and dispatch are handled. In spite of the 'UK connection' they are promoting, I couldn't find one. All the items I ordered were shown in stock and available for 'immediate dispatch'. This clearly wasn't true, so how anybody is expected to believe such claims in the future escapes me. I wasted a great deal of 'research' time on ordering this stuff and delayed my repairs by about a week-and-a-half (by the time I'd sourced parts from another supplier). They were not proactive at all when they realised they couldn't supply and just waited until I complained (presumably to buy time at the customers' expense).

My opinion is that there is something fundamentally wrong with the culture of this company. I would suggest they look outwards towards their customers and tailor their service to the expectations of 2018, not 1950, as driven by the rest of the aftermarket industry. The 'bottom line' - would I attempt to use Cartech again? No.

Quick delivery, good price, item well packed, all good!

I found all I needed at metals4u at good prices and delivery was surprisingly quick. The only problem I had was that, in my case, the packaging failed rather badly. The delivery chap struggled up the drive with bits falling out of the packing tube, and when he pushed them back one end,they fell out the other end. Fortunately, none of my order was lost. I did email metals4u, by way of customer feedback about this and was disappointed to receive no acknowledgement for my trouble. Pity, because I think I had identified why the end caps broke away from the tube. A shorter length of 20mm brass round had been slipped inside a 1 meter x 25mm Ali tube. Yes, it saves space, but also creates a very effective slide-hammer! No matter how carefully the tube is inverted, once it gets past 'tipping point' the heavy brass whistles down the Ali tube and smacks the end caps. Anyway, I still think full-marks are deserved for an easy to use web site, quick service and fair pricing.

Order was correct, (type of memory, speed etc.) It was delivered quickly, safely packaged in purpose made packing 'modules'. It all worked upon installation and was all purchased (I bought 3 types of memory for 3 different devices) in a 'one stop shop' transaction (not every company had the range to cover all 3 types I needed) at a very competitive price. I cannot find one single reason NOT to award this company 5 stars! They certainly have my endorsement!