M. G.

I'd give zero rating if it were possible. A thorough waste of time. I spent time navigating the very slow and clunking reporting process to enter my details and account of the crime. Today, I received an email telling me the incident I reported wasn't a Police recordable crime. So, apparently, it's perfectly legal to hack into someone's shopping account and use their credit card details to fraudulently obtain goods. Plus, fine apparently for the scammer to then call me pretending to be my credit card company and try to obtain by fraudulent means the security code to purchase a high-value item. The email from Action Fraud made zero sense, it was splitting hairs and ignoring the seriousness of this type of crime and identity fraud. No wonder thousands do it, they know they can get away with it! Action Fraud is itself a fraudulent waste of public money- looking at the 1-star reviews here, it achieves NOTHING. An outrageous waste of resources. The Police service for non-emergency crimes these days is non-existent - no contact details available for any stations, and many branches are closed. It's clear that serving the public is not in any way a priority or aim. Contacting them was a total waste of time, I feel like Action Fraud is like a scam on the public, an excuse to do absolutely nothing! Strange though how many Police can be deployed to arrest old people for holding pro-Palestinian placards in a peaceful protest. We know what the State's real priorities are. We should all lobby our MPs to get rid of Non-Action Fraud.

The staff at Specsavers in Stockport have been absolutely fantastic in helping our son with some complex test results as part of a job application process. We've had to keep going back to request further information, but everyone has handled things so patiently and with good humour as well as being amazingly helpful and supportive. The manager, Lauren, has gone out of her way to ensure we have the right documentation. We appreciate the amazing support we've received and would like to thank everyone. We thoroughly recommend Specsavers Stockport for their lovely, first-class staff as well as it being an excellent optician service.

My son parked in a city centre Euro car park. His car was broken into so when he came back he had to clear lots of broken glass and call the police, etc. He overstayed by 34 minutes. They've had the nerve to turn down his appeal despite sending the police report, etc, so now has to pay £60. If he appeals to the independent body and loses, he has to pay a £100, so he can't afford to risk it. Absolutely outrageous. No empathy, just greedy scumbags. We will never use a Euro carpark again and the more of us that make a stand, the more it will impact on their obscene profits. Car parks should be run by councils rather than diverting profits to greedy shareholders.

We had shower water leaking through our kitchen ceiling again, after spending £3,500 on trying to patch up the problem. This was two weeks before our entire kitchen replacement work was due to start. We knew our only option was to spend more money we didn't have by replacing the whole bathroom to sort the leak permanently. We were desperate to find a solution given the tight timescale, and thought we had in Manchester Bathroom Fitters, also calling themselves LSA International and various other names on the internet. It turned out to be a sole trader called Andy Northam and he came to quote. He seemed to know what he was talking about and said he could swap over an existing job as ours was urgent and the other customer would understand. We were grateful and his quote came in £3000 cheaper than the other fitter. He said his work was covered by a guarantee and his quote cited that his work was insured by Zurich International. We didn't have much option and thought he seemed competent so we took him on. Andy seemed like a nice guy and worked hard but didn't always communicate about changed arrival times. He ordered stuff to arrive directly at our property but didn't warn us or inform us of delivery times which caused complications when we were out. Our hallway was crowded with stuff as a result. I repeatedly asked to see the shower fitting as I didn't want a cheap, plasticky one. He constantly avoided showing me until he actually fitted it. It's cheap and plasticky, and the head has sprung a leak along the joint within 7 months of being fitted. He was evasive when I asked about his plumbing training and also said he preferred to pass on numbers of customers rather than list reviews. That raised my suspicions, but we gave him the benefit of the doubt as he did seem competent. He didn't have a van, which I suppose should have been a warning sign. I paid a £2000 deposit for materials but he then quickly asked for more money implying some hardship as he said he'd had no income for a month. I paid more up front to help. He then acted as though there was no problem saying he just hadn't had his 'own money' for some time and just wanted to spend it! I wasn't impressed to put it mildly, I felt he'd taken advantage. He then made an excuse about needing to hire a van and needing more money upfront. I refused, as the excuse didn't make sense and wasn't even related to our project, as the van wasn't for the work on our bathroom. Alarm bells were now ringing and trust was undermined by this. The bathroom looked ok though and the shower reasonably solid so we hoped it would be ok. He assured us it was all leak proof. However, within a few weeks the sink started leaking. He hadn't pushed the fittings in correctly and they weren't cut to the correct size so the joint remains fragile. I told him I was worried about the shower, what if the same issue happened to that but he assured me it wouldn't and that it was 'rock solid'. I asked him to come and sort the sink. He said he would the following week but never turned up, and gave no explanation, there was no communication. He was also supposed to fit a shower basket, as he'd taken our old one which was good quality, but he never came to replace it. He lives a fair distance, so we didn't hassle him about it. Last night, though, our brand new kitchen lights tripped the fusebox. We couldn't switch them back on. This morning, water was leaking through our brand new kitchen ceiling! The shower is clearly leaking, so is not 'rock solid' as he promised! I called him today and his initial reaction was 'so you've got a leak after months and months and months!' I pointed out it was less than 7 months and he'd told us we have a year's guarantee. As soon as I said that, the conversation turned to him saying he was ill, with gallstones or something, and he claimed he was heading to hospital for an appointment at that moment. He then kept talking in an increasingly panicky way and said he had to go. I sent him an image of the water stain on the kitchen ceiling and his reply was 'could be anything', which was odd. It's beyond doubt now that the shower's leaking and our regular plumber is still investigating. Thankfully, he's so far avoided cutting through our brand new kitchen ceiling to check the waste. However, he says our tiled shower boards should have been replaced with solid boards before Andy fitted the plastic panels over them. So, we may end up having to rip everything out at a cost of around £3,000. Andy has offered to come and look but we don't know if he'll turn up and we now have lost confidence in him correcting the issue to prevent future leaks. I'm writing this in the hope of preventing anyone else going through this stressful situation and would advise being wary about using this sole trader, the cheaper quote is a false economy.

Our kitchen was designed and managed by Ujjal at the Macclesfield office. From the very start, we had a brilliant experience and this continued all the way through. Ujjal was creative, very helpful and extremely patient with our endless queries and adaptations! He was also mindful of our budget and worked hard to secure an excellent quote for us, including an extra discount via Bosch, which all made a huge difference. He also helped us find a brilliant installation team, James Morris Joinery, who did a superb job. We also dealt with Vanessa at Macclesfield, also a lovely, welcoming person. It was always a pleasure to deal with Ujjal and Vanessa, they are both so helpful. We now have a beautiful new kitchen which we're delighted with. A very big thanks to Ujjal and Macclesfield branch staff for all their brilliant input and support along the way.

Further update today: we re-sent photos of wrong toilet seat AGAIN as requested. After us repeatedly requesting a refund, they've totally ignored and are now sending a replacementtoilet seat which won't arrive until 20th December - the toilet was fitted on 14th December and we can't fully use it without a seat! We've explained this is why we had to buy a new one, which is why we want a refund but they've completely ignored us and are sending a new seat which we don'tneed, rather than the refund to cover the cost of the new seat we've had to urgently buy. Unbelievable, just avoid this useless company! This is an update - despite them claiming below that they were sorting our issue they weren't and they haven't- they've just ignored our emails and closed our case without any resolution or refund, absolutely DISGRACE. Here's the story from the start: They sent a completely wrong toilet seat with the wrong fittings - the toilet they supplied required a top fixing seat which wasn't supplied. I called customer service, after a slow response I was put through to the technical team who were useless and said they'd need photos and a video to send to yet another team. I supplied several images and received an acknowledgement confirming receipt. They were supposed to reply after 24 hours but didn't - all this time we were unable to use the toilet fully. Today, almost 3 days after I sent photos, they then sent an email claiming they hadn't received images! I responded straight away, forwarding their own acknowledgement of receipt and said we were fed up of messing about, they'd sent us the wrong item and we can't wait for a replacement. I said we just want a refund for the wrong item. They totally ignored that email and have just sent an email saying they've closed our case! Absolutely no dialogue, no resolution. This company is a disgrace. Avoid at all costs, they just want your money and if you have issues caused by them sending the wrong item they won't sort them. Extremely unhappy and will have to take further action to recover our money. DO NOT TOUCH THEM WITH A BARGEPOLE!

DO NOT SIGN UP WITH SO ENERGY! I refuse to believe this company has such a high star rating. Go onto social media and you'll see a different story. Holding onto large balances in customer accounts, then refusing to lower direct debits. They never respond to emails, website chat function doesn't work, the only other communication channel is via FB dm. A company of this size, operating at such an amateur level, with non-existent customer service, can you believe it? I'm now starting the process of transferring to a different supplier. I felt sorry for the admin staff initially, but now I'm just thoroughly sick of their lack of help and support, I no longer sympathise because they're simply not doing their job. It's not rocket science, but they can't seem to manage to even answer an email and resolve a simple problem. Management must be vastly overpaid considering how useless they are at running this company, they don't deserve to have jobs.

This is a review for an event at Darkwoods. We attended their home barista course yesterday, run by Paul, one of their directors. After greeting each of us with a cup of wonderful Darkwoods coffee, he delivered an absolutely brilliant training session, providing detailed information and advice on, for example, how to dial in your home grinder, how to prepare an espresso, and how to steam milk. We had the opportunity for hands-on coffee-making on their superb professional machines. Alongside all this, Paul spoke to us about all the wider aspects of the coffee trade and how Darkwoods work with an ethics-based approach to build relationships with growers (they are a certified B Corps company). His deep knowledge of coffee and his vast professional experience made for a truly fascinating morning. He shared his advice so generously in response to our questions, and his practical demonstrations were brilliantly informative. We now have a much clearer idea of what to aim for in making a good espresso at home. The superb setting in the beautiful old Mill building also added to the enjoyment. Thank you, Paul, for one of the most inspiring, interesting and useful workshops we've ever attended. We hope to be at Darkwoods again in the future for the monthly cafe event.

After posting here in December 2022 about issues similar to those mentioned in numerous other reviews here, I received a reply on Trustpilot, claiming they'd been unable to obtain my details from Trustpilot to contact me directly, despite me including my complaint reference number during the process of posting my review. The response asked me to contact them on their complaints email address, which I did. That was back in December but, guess what? Again, absolutely no response, deafening silence, not even an automated reply. PATHETIC. I want to cancel my direct debit as, I was around £3000 in credit when I last checked, but don't want to be faced with a massive bill further down the line. The biggest issue is that I have no idea what our actual bills are, as I've received nothing since June. The gap between the old gas meter final reading and the starting reading on the new meter fitted in summer is huge and I'm afraid they'll miscalculated and charge me when I haven't used that energy, it's down to the gap between the old and new meter. I've informed SoEnergy repeatedly of this issue, with photographic evidence, but it goes into an administrative black hole. I'm sick to death of this useless company. They're ripping us all off for the benefit of their greedy shareholders, holding us to ransom. With their vast profits, there's no excuse for not having sufficient staff to run the company properly so these issues don't arise. They're treating us all like dirt, whilst extorting billions in profit. I'm outraged, we should all collectively refuse to pay these charlatans.

Absolutely appalling, useless customer service. Same experience as many others state here: endless emailing, with occasional polite responses to a formal complaint lodged several months back, but nothing ever gets resolved. Like other customers report here, we've experienced a failure to turn up and fit our smart meter on the scheduled date, then the failure to process our opening gas reading from a new meter fitted this summer (not our decision even to have it fitted). We've sent the opening reading numerous times with photos but still nothing showing on our account. Since July, we've received NO bills at all, for either gas or electricity, even though nothing has changed with our electricity. Our account balance is several thousand pounds in credit and I've asked them to reduce our direct debit but no response whatsoever. I've threatened to cancel our direct debit, still no response. The only thing we received was an email announcing an increase in our direct debit payment! How do they know the amount when they haven't produced and sent our bills for the last six months? It's really stressful and surely they have a legal duty to provide bills? They're extorting thousands of pounds from each of us and yet they can't afford a decent admin system that actually works, and are clearly understaffed. It's not the administration staff's fault, as ever, it's useless management probably earning 6-figure salaries plus bonuses but absolutely clueless in how to run their company. No accountability, just endless rewards and profits at our expense. A disgusting state of affairs, evidencing the need to make energy companies state-owned to protect us from these greedy neoliberal enterprises. I have no idea how Trust Pilot is showing SoEnergy's average rating at 4 stars given the high number of negative reviews. Still no response even with a Trust Pilot complaint, so next steps are cancelling my direct debit, Ombudsman complaint and seeking an alternative supplier.

Our son has taken two exams at Macclesfield Tutorial College and our experience has been highly positive. The team are all absolutely lovely to deal with, extremely helpful and supportive, as well as thoroughly knowledgeable and professional. They put students at ease when sitting exams, and the small, more compact setting is a great help for those who are more anxious. They gave us a lot of invaluable advice which enabled our son to prepare for the exams and made the process so much easier. It was a pleasure to deal with everyone at Macclesfield Tutorial College and I highly recommend them.

As others have posted here, this card scheme is a legalised scam. DO NOT BUY! A friend bought a card for each of our sons quite a while back. Expiry date isn't until 2024 on one and the other is 2025. I thought we had lots of time and I couldn't remember if I'd used the cards at any time previously. Today, I tried to use the cards in a participating store, but the cards didn't work. I then tried downloading the app but it wanted financial permissions I wasn't happy to give on my phone. I tried texting to check the balance but my provider wanted to charge for the text. I tried calling the contact no. and entered the 16-digit card number several times but each time it failed and said not enough digits had been entered! I then went onto the website where, eventually, I found the balance check and saw that a management fee of 0.90 p had been applied every 2 months since my first use apparently quite a long time ago. I'd used around £5 initially, and the other £10 had disappeared in fees! Absolutely scandalous. I've seen the same company response repeated under every similar complaint, as though having it in the t and c's actually justifies it. The whole question is, why is such a rip-off scheme allowed to operate in the first place? I've never come across this with any other gift cards used in the past. The One4all scheme is the most complicated and duplicitous scheme amounting to legalised theft. I'll be passing this on to everyone I know and hope others do the same. I want to see this disgusting company out of business.

Our experience with Manchesterwindowfactory has been first-rate. They have been very good to deal with, professional, thoroughly reliable and trustworthy, and most importantly, they really know about windows and do a fantastic job of supplying and fitting them! At the initial survey, they gave me all kinds of different options for the style and functionality of the window that I didn't even know existed. The person who then came to fit the window was clearly very experienced and did a first-class job. The window itself is solid and high quality and exactly what we'd asked for. The finish is first-rate, and everything was left very clean and tidy. Despite this company being extremely busy, Ash managed to schedule our window fitting even earlier than the original promised date. It's worth adding that I chose a different company to do our window originally (i.e. Affordable Windows - avoid like the plague!), as their quote was cheaper. This was a poor decision, as they let me down extremely badly, keeping me waiting for 3 months despite saying they'd do the work, then just completely ignoring my emails chasing them. I ended up calling back Ash in desperation, and even though they were booked up for months, he found a way to squeeze us in and complete the work well before Christmas, which we really needed. I highly recommend Mancehsterwindowfactory, and can't thank them enough for doing such a fantastic job.