Craig

Really irritated that I can't get to speak to anyone to cancel my renewal. Tried online - can't be done. Tried ringing them. They have a 40 minute wait, so I chose the call back option. They called me back 8 mins later, while my phone was engaged, and left a message that basically said that's it, you've missed your call back, you'll have to repeat the process. Tried via online chat, and after more than 5 mins of giving them every personal detail under the sun, I was transferred to a human who said he couldn't assist because I'd bought my policy via a comparison site. So more than an hour in, I still haven't been able to cancel the auto renewal (which I don't need as I now have a company lease car). None of this bodes well for if I ever needed to contact them in an emergency. Is Green Flag's objective to make it so hard to cancel that customers give up and just allow the renewal to happen automatically?

I’m still suffering the consequences of using six bags of their contaminated multi purpose compost three months ago. All my seedlings failed, despite prefect growing conditions. I’m still getting horrible little mushrooms growing in all the indoor and outdoor pots that contain this compost (but not in any of the pots that don’t). And worst of all, every indoor pot that I used this compost on is massively infested with fungus gnats. Again, this only affects the plants I potted up or re-potted in the spring with the compost sold by Westland. God only knows where they dredge up this filthy muck, and it’s an absolute disgrace that they think it’s ok to sell it to customers, and then refuse to accept any responsibility afterwards.
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Just a note about the reply I received below. Firstly, I complained about this issue direct to them three months ago. They fobbed me off, refused to issue a refund, and essentially blamed me for all the mushrooms in my pots. Multi purpose compost either has multiple purposes, or it doesn’t. If it’s not suitable for indoor pots, then it shouldn’t say multi purpose on the bag. And as I’ve already said, the only issues I’ve got with fly and mushroom infestations is with their compost. None of my other plants are affected in any way. The fly eggs and fungal spores were in these bags of compost when I bought them, meaning they hadn’t been properly processed, heated, or sterilised. They basically took raw untreated muck scraped off the ground and sold it as premium compost.

I've been a keen gardener for many decades, and I use a lot of compost. Westland has always been a trusted brand, but something seems to have gone very badly wrong. I bought three bags of premium multi purpose compost a few weeks ago, then another three bags soon after. The consistency of the first batch was thin and poor quality, but I used it anyway, in seed trays, in re-potted house plants, in fresh garden pots, and in my borders. Within a few weeks, I had disgusting little brown mushrooms sprouting everywhere I had used this compost. This has never happened before in over three decades of gardening. I've had to throw away loads of seedlings and some houseplants, and I'm very worried that some of my bigger house plants might have been contaminated. I contacted Westland direct, and they sent me a very dismissive email stating their compost does not contain fungus, and that the spores must already have been in my house. Even though the mushrooms have only appeared in places where I have used Westland's compost. What an appalling and preposterous response from them. Everyone gets things wrong sometimes, but a business which can't say sorry and instead tries to blame its customers doesn't deserve the time of day. I've insisted they issue a refund (£30 for 6x bags - they've ignored this request). But it's not about the money. There are plenty of options when it comes to buying compost. Westland have lost a customer for life.

This is a follow up to my earlier review. I was right at the point of suing Warrantywise when they offered me a settlement. It was well under the amount I was owed, but I accepted it so that I could move on from what has been a dismal experience. I'm not sure how they're generating so many positive reviews - do they offer incentives? But in my experience their warranties are worthless and they will literally make up reasons not to pay up even if your claim is very obviously legitimate.
** Regarding their reply below, please note my failed window regulators WERE specifically covered by my plan. Warrantywise refused to fix them because they argued these parts had not 'failed', but rather had 'worn out' (after 70k miles). These parts are non serviceable, they didn't fail at the same time, and Warrantywise never examined them. They simply dodged their responsibility because they could.

I paid them £1100 for a Gold standard warranty on my immaculate BMW which had just come off its BMW warranty. Since then, I’ve made two claims. The first was after the engine management light came on and I had to pay £2000 for a faulty inlet manifold. Warrantywise declined to pay out on this claim, saying this particular issue isn’t covered. Secondly, the regulators failed on both my front windows (a very common known parts failure apparently). Despite window parts being expressly covered by my policy, Warrantywise declined this claim on the totally spurious grounds that both windows failed at around the same time. Clearly, they will invent any excuse to dodge their liabilities, and my warranty is not worth the paper it’s written on. I have today took the first steps towards suing them for a full refund.

Bought a mint condition used Nikon D5 from them recently. Really pleased with the item and the speed of service. Thanks very much.

Sick of this company, which I think is part of Currys. I took out a contract with them for £10 per month just for data on my iPad. But I then found out that because I had already had an account with them at some point in the past, I couldn't re-use my email address to set up a new account. After speaking with them via chat, I closed the account. I was assured that my balance was zero and there was nothing to pay, however now I get regular letters from their lawyers, "Overdale Legal" demanding I pay £12 or face the consequences. I have told them to get a transcript of my online chat which will confirm that I owe nothing, but they don't seem able to do that, and instead they think they can bully me into handing over £12 that I don't owe.

I bought an approved used 5 series via salesman Stefan. After a couple of weeks I realised it wasn’t right for me. Stef was brilliant, and quickly sorted out an exchange for a 6 series which I love. I’m fussy about my cars, I want everything to be mint, and I have had a few problems. These have all been dealt with very professionally by Sopers in partnership with my local BMW dealership, all my expenses have been reimbursed without any quibbles, and my car is now 100% perfect (touch wood). I’ve never bought from a main dealer before, and I’ve never spent this much on a car before, but I would definitely buy from Sopers again, and I would happily recommend anyone looking for a BMW salesman who always calls you back quickly and gets things done without any messing about to ask for Stefan.

I had an account with them a few years ago but had to close it when I swapped to an O2 locked device. Tried them again earlier this year. Their prices are great, but their system only allows you to register one SIM. Online support tole me that my email address is permanently linked to my old SIM, and that I would need to set up a new email account to register my new SIM. I'm not prepared to do this - I do everything through one email address which I've had for 25 years. And without an account, I can't set up the app, monitor my usage, buy extra data or do anything really. So I've had to cancel my contract and go elsewhere. Shame.
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Good to get a reply from Tyler, thanks. It's just a bit rubbish. Why don't ID Mobile just improve your system to allow old customers to easily come back? The worst thing was that when I did try to take out a new contract, I still had my original SIM card. But there was no way that I could find to start using it again in combination with a new contract. Hence I had to order a new SIM. And as explained, once I received the new SIM, it too was of little use because it needs a new email address. Ta for the reply anyway.

Unspeakably terrible company. My broadband has been misfiring for FIVE MONTHS. They have diagnosed a fault with the wires outside, they keep saying they will fix it asap, but they never do. Right now I have had no broadband and no landline for 18 hours. I rang them at 8.10am, and was told to ring back in 5 hours, with no explanation given. They never answer if you ring in the middle of the day, so it’ll be tomorrow before I can even speak to someone. Absolute rubbish, the worst company I have ever dealt with.

**Edit. The reply below from Virgin is insulting. I’ve already done this, multiple times. I know I have to do it again, and I know they’re going to let me down again.**
I’m totally sick of my broadband going down. It’s been happening for four months now, I’ve contacted them countless times, they never fix it, and they refuse to compensate me in any way despite me not getting what I pay them for. Disgusted and fed up.

**Edit Pt 2** I think more through luck than anything, I eventually managed to speak to someone at Hostpapa who actually tried to fix whatever the issues they were having at their end. He told me one of my plugins was causing a conflict, so I disabled it. Simple as that. Six months ago when these problems first started, I specifically asked Hostpapa to tell me if the problem was being caused by a plugin. They wouldn't tell me, and instead tried to get me to pay them more money. I'm still amazed that they invested so much of their own time, and wasted so much of mine, when this issue was so easy to diagnose and fix. Two weeks on, and everything is working fine now, and their constant flow of annoying emails have stopped. So I've added one star to my review.

**Edit: I gave Hostpapa my contact details as requested below. They promptly used them to shut my website down. They haven’t issued a pro rata refund as requested, and they haven’t reached out in any way to deal with my complaint. Genuinely abysmal company.**

I left a negative review about Hostpapa six months ago. They did reply, and I hoped that would be the end of the matter. But the thing I complained about is still happening. They contact me constantly to tell me my minuscule Wordpress website, which gets around ten hits per day, is using excessive resources. There are no faults being reported at my end. I have paid someone to health check my site, and they found no problems. Yet Hostpapa insist there is a problem, and that the best way to fix it is to pay them more money. My previous hosts never reported any problems, nor the one before that. And I only use standard plugins. I’ve asked them to stop badgering me, and I’ve invited them to cancel my contract and refund me pro rata if my website is causing them so many issues. But they haven’t done that, and instead just keep driving me mad with their unwelcome emails.
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I don't use this company too often because they are so unreliable, but occasionally for different reasons I have to use them to send small parcels to the USA. Very sadly, they have a nasty habit or issuing surcharges on my parcels after they have been delivered because, they claim, they are overweight. My latest parcel weighed 1.3kg. On the advice of Parcel Hero, I took a photo of my parcel to prove this. They delivered it a week ago (via DHL), but today they charged me an extra fee, deducted from my payment card without my permission. According to them, my parcel weighed 3.5kg, which is just ridiculous. This is the second time this has happened, from just three recent parcels, which unless they can come up with a better explanation, strongly suggests it's deliberate.
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I had to swap a number of emails, and send a number of photographs of my parcel (always take these!) which all took time during my busiest period of the year, but eventually they refunded my £2 and gave me a £5 credit as compensation, and an apology. I would still far rather they didn’t keep making the same mistake over and over again, but I’ve given them one extra star.

Booked a delivery three days ago, on a three day priority service from the UK to the USA, costing me £34. It’s supposed to be delivered to my customer tomorrow, but Parcel Hero still haven’t even collected it. I’ve messaged them three times and had no reply. Impossible to speak to anyone. Rubbish service, waste of money.

I’ve always really liked this company and I left them a five star review some time ago. But they’ve really messed up recently. They offered me a fair price to buy two of my camera lenses (not a brilliant price - a fair one). I sent the lenses immediately and they received them in two days. They later reduced their offer on one of my lenses by £25 because, they claimed, I hadn’t included the hood. I had, and I sent them photos to prove the lens included the hood. They then changed their story and admitted they received my hood, but said it was not the correct hood. It was. Again, I have photos to prove it. I’ve been really polite with them, but they have now stopped replying to my emails. Which means at the moment, more than two weeks on, I have no lenses, no agreed price, no contact, and no payment. One star I’m afraid.
EDIT: After writing this review my case was resolved within 12 hours and my full payment has been processed. Thanks to Imogen for sorting things out. I’ve added two stars.

After more than three weeks of trying to get them to honour their three year warranty, they have finally said my expensive hedge trimmer is exempt from this offer, as is their entire range of petrol powered tools. This is deeply misleading, and probably illegal, as their website has a clear offer of a three year warranty on power tools. It's only when you read the small print you see a very large chunk of tools are not included. This is a cheap and tacky way to mislead and cheat their own customers, and doesn't fit with their reputation as a premium brand. Never again.

Very happy with this company. I bought a Makita hedge trimmer from their Ebay shop (with a £51 flash discount voucher!) It arrived in 36 hours, and the package was spotless and very well presented. Brilliant item, rapid delivery, great price, 5 stars.

My direct debit is too high. I’ve spoken with them three times during the course of this year, and I’ve been told each time that I’m about £1000 in credit. But they refused to reduce my direct debit, because this can only happen after a review, and reviews only happen twice a year.

My review has now happened, and they still won’t reduce my direct debit. Also, mysteriously, my credit has now dropped to £301. The customer service rep was totally incapable of explaining why my credit has gone from £900, to £1000, to £1150, to £301. When I insisted (politely, I’m never rude) that my direct debit be reduced, my 50 minute online chat was suddenly terminated. Something stinks here. I don’t trust this company.
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Contacted Halfords again today, for the third time, to discuss this. The extremely unhelpful online chat person refused to even discuss my refund, and instead gave me a number to ring. I've already tried this number, you get stuck in a loop of pressing buttons, and it's not possible to speak to a human. Odd that the two previous online chat staff were helpful, and were happy to investigate my refund, but this bloke flatly refused to do so. He also refused to transfer me to a manager. Is Halfords going bust or something? They seem desperate not to give me my money back. One more star deducted.
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Three weeks on, still no refund. Rating reduced to two stars.
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I've used the branch in Preston a few times for air-conditioning and tyres. They're really good and I've got no complaints about them. Two weeks ago, they told me that because they hadn't been able to diagnose any faults with my aircon, I would get my money back in 3-5 days (I'd paid online). Two weeks on, and after speaking to the customer service dept twice, I still haven't had my refund. Great workshop staff let down by poor support staff.

I left a 5 star review after signing up with them last year. Now I'm not so sure. They recently renewed my domain for one year when I wanted a three year renewal. And now, from nowhere, they've started emailing me to say my minuscule, off the peg Wordpress website is hogging their resources. I haven't made any changes to my site, and they can't tell me which element of my site is causing the problem. When I spoke with them, all they could say was that these were "random faults" but that if I pay them some more money, this issue will go away.

This is no better than the junk Microsoft emails we all get asking for cash to fix non existent problems. I even had to double check their email addresses to make sure it wasn't some third party trying to have me over. Obviously I've refused to cough up for some non specific and probably non existent 'fault' with my website. I can't really put it into polite words just how unacceptable it is for Hostpapa to attempt such a cheap trick on their own loyal paying customers.
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Further to the reply received from Hostpapa. My domain was due for renewal. I contacted Hostpapa via chat three weeks before expiry and asked them to renew for three years. I was told I would have to wait til 14 days before expiry before I could renew. So I waited, and then contacted them with 13 days to go, again via chat. They told me at that point that my domain had been auto-renewed, for one year. So that's two completely different bits of advice given by two different customer service staff.

Secondly, as I have said, my webpage is tiny, a handful of pages. It generates very little traffic, maybe a dozen hits per day. I've owned this website with different hosts for 7 years, and have never needed to purchase any kind of optimisation or premium package. Some years ago my previous host told me my site was causing problems, and they very quickly established that one of my plugins had become corrupted. I deleted the plugin, problem solved. Hostpapa haven't done that. They just want me to take their word for it that my minuscule site is generating untraceable random faults and taking up all their resources, and that the one and only solution is to pay them more money. In the absence of any evidence I still don't actually believe there is a problem. My website is functioning fine and I maintain that this is an attempt by them to trick me into paying more than I need or want to.