Francesca Bellis-Jones

I wanted some smart boxes and these definitely fit the bill, just what I wanted and with a fast turnaround time

Normally I receive very good service from Kaleidoscope and have been buying from them for many years. However, on this occasion I felt very let down. I ordered four items which I needed urgently so I paid for next day delivery. Two days later having heard nothing I investigated what had happened to the order and discovered that they were waiting for bank authentication although this wasn’t requested at the time of ordering and no-one had been in touch about it. I used the online chat function and was told the problem was with my bank so I should get in touch with them. The bank told me that they had received no request for payment which made sense as kaleidoscope don’t charge your card until the point of despatch and there was therefore nothing the bank could do as from their point of view the transaction didn’t exist. I then phoned kaleidoscope but got no further other than to re-order the goods and tell my bank to cancel payment of the first order. So I re-ordered but obviously the dress I wanted had been the last one in my size so I had to do without that, although frustratingly it was then back in stock a day later. I hope that this complete mess was just a glitch and that I can carry on using Kaleidoscope in the future

I buy a good proportion of my clothes from kaleidoscope and have always had a good experience. The clothes are on the whole good quality and a good price. The refund process can sometimes be a little slow but I’ve never had any major problems

I ordered a pair of the Lulu x Jim Thompson sandals. They came beautifully packaged and fit perfectly. I can’t wait to wear them when we finally get some summer!

The item was just what I wanted and arrived quickly with a lovely personal message inside which was a nice touch

I ordered a pole and curtains for my living room from The Curtain Shop and was thrilled with the level of service I received. They were happy to order me as many fabric samples as I wanted, offer me advice and endless patience! They came to my home to put up first the pole and then the curtains and I was impressed with their professionalism and friendliness - they definitely went beyond what I would have expected from many bigger companies. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them.

We bought a curtain pole from The Curtain Shop, it was very reasonably priced and Paul who came to fit it was very pleasant and efficient. Very happy with the service

I agree totally with everything the other reviewers have said. At the point of my initial enquiry there was some limited communication with the fosterer in Romania but once I paid the £450 adoption fee in September 2022 all communication stopped. I was originally told I would have my dog in 4-6 weeks but heard nothing. After many attempts I was told that he would arrive on 5th November, then 13th November, then the week before Christmas, then 5th January and then 12th January. It was at this point I couldn’t take the stress of waiting any longer and requested a refund. I heard nothing back from Kendra Pinder who runs the rescue so I approached PayPal for a refund which luckily I got - many others were refused if their payment went through as a donation. Ms Pinder no longer has a PayPal account. The constant delaying tactics also mean that people who paid through their banks went over the 120 day chargeback time limit and were also unable to get a refund. Communication from Ms Pinder generally consisted of reasons why she couldn’t leave a message at that point - often sending a long message with excuses during which time she could actually have sent a proper message with information about the dog transport. On occasion the messages could get quite abusive and many people were removed from the group WhatsApp for asking too many questions.
There are many other more reputable and efficient rescues out there but do plenty of due diligence - I thought I had but at that time all the reviews were 5* and, I now realise, probably suspect.
By the way, the group WhatsApp I was eventually included in consisted originally of about 30 people many of whom had been waiting for months and as of writing they still haven’t got their dogs.

I felt I was taking a bit of a risk ordering blinds online from a company we’d never used before but I needn’t have worried as we were delighted with the end result. The blinds look really good and the instructions for fitting were very straight forward.

I was very disappointed with the level of service I received. I bought a cardigan for my sister’s birthday which happened to have 20% off. She had also asked for some knickers and when I saw they were 3 for 2 I bought 3. However at checkout I wasn’t given this discount. When I emailed to ask for an £8 refund I was told you could take advantage of two offers at the same time. I pointed out that I’m quite sure that if I was in store I would have got both offers and if not I would have bought one item and then the others. I was told that in order to get both offers I spooks have bought in two separate transactions, which is quite honestly completely ridiculous

My items arrived extremely quickly and I’m delighted with them