Major West

I am not sure what item I purchased from JL since there is no date of when the purchase took place or what it was?!

I searched past email and it could have been anything from a mobile phone data exchange to a mobile phone to a lead?

Having had a Smart Meter installed in December 2019, when OVO supplied my energy, it was sad that 3 months later the In-Home-Display (IHD) failed to indicate how much electricity I was using). Having this electricity consumption information, and at the very time of viewing is a good route to knowing what economies can be made there and then, plus how much one is paying in total of course. After all, the IHD was still provding gas consumption data and costs.

I called OVO (Acc No. 2118102) but all they did was to enter some architypical Covid-19 mantra but I tried every month until June but all they sang was, COVID-19, Covid-19, covid-19..... (to be fair a number of organizations do or did this to fob off customers according to a remark made to me by a "Which" magazine employee).

I threatened OVO that I would change company but this had no effect, and so I joined Bristol Energy (Acc. 200353032) in June 2020 and after 3 months presented my problem to them, and was almost given a promise that changes to their data communication Hub or whatever would correct this problem by November/December 2020. To be fair such matters were probably not helped by a takeover from Yu Energy, and later by Together Energy.

I called again last March and undertook the necessary computer-like routines again such as switching it off waiting a while before turning it on again, and moving the IHD closer to the meter but it would not provide electricity consumption information of any sort. They did at least at one time give me the phone number of their software maintenance chap but he had clearly never been to charm-school, and was far more interested in how I obtained his phone number rather than in rectifying any fault(s). However, this attitude is not untypical in our new millennium of UK customer relations.

I even approach one of these Energy companies much recommended by 'Which', writing them a detailed email of this Smart Meter problem but the reply, although being polite, demonstrated they had no interest whatsover in this problem but at least they did not blame it all on Covid!

In April 2021, I decided to try Good Energy because apart from being a true green supplier with no 'green-washing' unlike most of the others, the representative did at least speak about sending an engineer to my address which was much more hopeful.

I gave things time to settle down, and approached Good Energy last month. After going through the expected routines again regarding switching the In-Home-Display off&on, taking it closer to the meter etc, I managed to communicate with an Emily Burke who had clearly been to charm school. She arranged for someone to call with a definite appointment date but it was not necessary.

While casually looking at my IHD a week ago I noticed it was now providing electricity information, and the gas consumption too, and all solved without an engineer calling but why could the others not achieve this or do a bit more one must ask?

One can only give three cheers to Good Energy for going the extra mile when the others would not even go an extra few meters. I can now look forward to a good long term relationship with Good Energy.

I do not wish it to look as if I am bitterly complaining but prior to entering a coach I never seem to know what garments to put on; that is to say do I need a full jumper and/or jacket, or just a T-Shirt etc. It is because while the temperature may seem fine on boarding, after a short while one feels cold. This problem is not helped of course should one fall asleep when ones metabolism slows down.

National Express has improved coach temperatures over the last 8 years but nevertheless when one feels comfortable it often becomes too hot, or it becomes too cold, and often after the bus has only gone about 10 miles.

I have in the past (2 years) seen drivers trying to adjust the air conditioning or whatever it is on the R.H.S. of the coach about 2.3 metres back from the dasboard, and the unit is within a sort of cupboard at about 1.8 metres up from the floor. However, they don't often get it right, which would be fine if it was the same 'middle-of-the-road' temperature all the time such that one could put on one garment for the entire trip, and before you write back, I am aware that 'solar gains' from when the Sun is bright does make any effective narrow margin temperature control impossible but what about in cold like weather?

I still feel you can still do better?

This company is totally beyond belief in comparison to other mail order companies. I could not criticize the products they send, or the time taken to receive them but having assisted many friends and colleagues in the past regarding 'returns' then this company does it best to confuse customers in order to avoid you returning anything.

The software they use for customers must have been written for a large international shipping company, and then recast or remolded for mail order use. The pages could be laid our much clearer but all it does is to baffle, bemuse, or bewilder customers, and please read on to find out why.

The packaging for the goods they send has 5 different apha-numeric printed on it (not including a Chinese bit) but none of the numeric relates to ones order number in respect of ones purchase, and when one finds the relevant section within their on-line forms regarding returns, they ask for something I have never been asked for before, which is a "photograph" of the product but it does not end there!

Now some people are not able to produce a photo but when they can who wants be bothered with all this? I decided to send them a photo but they sent a clammy little written apology stating that unfortunately they must have the photograph of a number on the packet - no doubt in the full knowledge that many would not have this item at hand. I realized that lightinthebox were simply being obstructive, and was tempted to write back sarcastically asking if they would like a forensic sample of the product, or perhaps it might be easier if one just sent the product back!

I waited for a reply, and we placed bets at work regarding what they would ask for next? Would it be another photograph but in B&W because they made that harder by stating it must not exceed 2 mb in the full knowledge that most pictures formed would have more data, and that many would not be able to subject ones photos to data compression. Would light in the box say it take 3 months we asked as we placed bets on the table, or will they say the company had gone into administration etc. etc.?

What lightinthebox said was that the item would have to go back to China, and it would be delayed but they could offer a refund with some sort of 30% compensation. And lightinthebox said you the customer would have to pay for the cost of sending it back too! Our predictions about this lot ended up worse than what we had ever encountered with any mail order company, or perhaps this is how in 2020 they do business in China, and is this the shape of the new world economic order to come!

And what did I request was quite simple. It was a large size rather than a XLarge size which was what I asked for at the start so why all this song-and-dance about a simple return? The answer is simple. Lightinthebox management are under pressure not to return anything to customers. T0 be fair they did get my first order right but the second one wrong.

I can only advise those reading this to not use lightinthebox for anything because they will simply send a wrong product just to get a sale in the full knowledge that most cannot be bothered with their purposefully created rigmarole.

I never ever thought I would give this company any compliments whatsoever but during these traumatic times when many companies go into their boring mantras constantly saying Covid 19, Covid 19, Covid 19 etc, Amazon just concentrate on getting the job done.

I have placed two orders late on Saturday afternoons and they have arrived the very next day Sunday, and for no extra charge. One of these was over a bank holiday weekend too. No excuses, no requesting more patience from customers; just performing their duties as if nothing had happened.

They are indeed a lesson to us all. Please take note all companies out there using Covid19 as your new standard for a perfunctory excuse.

My complaint regarding BuySpares in not in respect of their product quality, or price nor is it in respect of their returns policy, or anything related to delivery times.

Over the last 15 years the ability of many companies from John Lewis to well know electronic suppliers regarding their packing has got worse and worse. It is not unusual to find an oversized box with excessive packing material but with ones precious item just floating around next at the edge of the box such that there is no transit shock protection whatsover from the excessing packing used!

However, BuySpares really take the biscuit by placing an item having a fragile porcelain section inserted between two sheets of cardboard as if they were sending a simple paper document.

They refunded the money soon enough but I wanted that part, and while not expecting any appology from within the ignorance of today's suppliers, I discovered that one of their competitors, which charged more, cannot now supply for another month. And I orignally went to BuySpares because they claimed better delivery times but their lower price has cost me more in the long run.

I first reviewed Three in respect of Truspilot close to two years ago, and after reading Which Magazine it seems they have not improved. Some companies will say almost anything on the phone in order to get you to sign up with them.

Around 6 weeks ago I was intending to slag this company but after careful consideration of all the various parameters since circa 2009, I have to be fair and give them a Great Rating but if in any doubt I would raise this to an Excellent Rating.

I would have given this company a totally glories review in respect of quality, delivery time, and price etc. but for the fact that one small item was missing from my order.

The item cost just merely £1.35 and not worth me asking for it, and anyway it is too late now to be part of tailor made equipment for a client. A small local shop miraculous sells the same item but for more than twice the price but has closed so that the owner can go away for a few weeks!

I would have preferred if this order had taken 2 - 3 days, and not one day but arrived with everything requested.

Like so many companies today that are praised by our elected governments as being, "Free-enterprise rising to the challenge of demand", they are just "Here Today And Gone Tomorrow". To be fair I never thought that a 10 year guarantee would be valid unless it was perhaps backed by some form of independent insurance but there are other factors.

Most breakdowns are caused by the invertor. The 'Aurora' Invertor (say the 3.6 version) selected by PVsolar UK had a real design fault in respect of where a printed circuit board track(s) connected to one or more relay pins (error 031). It looked as if it had been designed by first year University students with no worldly electrical/electronics experience, and I say this without any hindsight.

Aurora sold out to ABB (how convenient), and ABB faced with repairing legacy equipment does not respond to queries regarding this subject - although one could try 'social media' to take them out of their ignorance and arrogance? Consumers would have expected that any takeover would have been factored into the cost of a product legacy as good business practice but private enterprise has become so greedy within Europe they just don't care anymore. It is greed, greed and more greed plus fat salaries.

The time has arrived for the consumer champion "Which" to lobby our governments into ensuring that long term guarantees in all such matters are kept by forcing these fly-by-night companies into inserting money into an insurance pot with a time trusted insurance company. It will cost the consumer a bit more but many already cough up extra regarding extended warranties for inverters in any case.

I purchased a blue glass dolphin, and I can say is that it was well liked as a Christmas present. It was worth the money I paid such that I was even tempted to keep it myself!

I decided to place my trust in MyBuilder during a time when I was far too busy to research a particular builder myself, and it has proved to be a big mistake, and one I shall regret for a long time.

The very next day after I had transferred my deposit monies to the bank account of this particular builder, MyBuilder sent me an email stating this builder was to be taken off their register but would not provide any reason(s). However, it did not take me long to discover this recommended builder did not answer my phone calls, had run off with my money, and so I undertook the most basic research which MyBuilder decided to neglect.

For starters, the builder concerned had been struck off the register at Companies House for nearly one year before the date when I received this sort of beware notice from MyBuilder, and this is something they should have picked up after one month rather than waiting almost 12 months to inform vulnerable potential customers.

The most basic use of Google, something a young child can do, demonstrated that this particular builder recommended by MyBuilder had conned a couple out of a most considerable sum, taking a deposit while providing nothing in return. I sent an email to the relevant person at MyBuilder who's responsibility it was to ensure this did not happen only to be told they had not seen the newspaper article, and they could not find it! Such incompetence could be explained if MyBuilder employed cretins at their offices but the excuses just get worse. Please read on.

The couple who lost their money lost it 5 months after the con man had been removed from the register at Companies House, and it was another 6 months before MyBuilder sent me that email stating this particular builder had been removed from their list! One must ask what time frame does MyBuilder reside within, or whether they fall asleep for most of the working day.

I made contact with someone higher within MyBuilder than the previous employee I spoke to. I was told "they cannot monitor every company continuously" as an excuse for such incompetence. This raises the question as to where the feebleness of MyBuilder ends, and one is tempted to ask what they do all day at their offices other than collecting money from companies who wish to be on their "great" recommendation list but prefer to drink coffee or hang around the office water cooler talking all day to boost their egotism.

Another check on this con man produced other crimes including drink and drive offences with his excuse that he only drove his van back from the pub because he kept his work tools in it! How this con man builder was not banned from driving may be because he really did have the-gift-of-the-gab.

MyBuilder did not discover this trail of offences by the simple use of Google is because although MyBuilder may have been a fine company during the past, like so many organization today, egotism diminishes the quality of the work as employees start to believe they really are at the pinnacle of man's evolution.

I did of course write to the Fraud Squad, and have received two written replies, while the legal team at Which Magazine just said I should feel lucky that this con man did not take more, which makes one wonder if the so-called "Consumer Champion" has any interest in researching the quality of those such as MyBuilder who may produce a fantastically great Websites but underneath the glossy façade they are a pile of total rubbish.

This company may appear very nicey nicey but once they have got your custom you will find that any complaint(s) are met by those who do not have English as their first language or 2nd language. Coupled with what can only be described as slow speech communication the operatives must only be reading out pre-written statements on their computer screen, not use any of their own initiative, and when they think you may leave them they simply try and get you into another contact with another lie. (Pease read on)


I have travelled round the globe and never have ever met an Indian in the consumer commercial field who will not distort the truth in respect of what their product or service will provide. This distortion of the truth is not just rampant in Three; it is within their very inner core.

The person you contact may give the impression they use a land line phone number to suggest the company is in say Hammersmth but just search the operatives unusual name on Facebook/Llinkedin, and the nearest they are to Hammersmith is Mumbai airport.

I have complained about their coverage too, which may be fine in the towns but enter the countryside or the highlands, and it is below another well known mobile phone operative which I shall not name in case you think I am commercially biased in some way.