Kes

I needed to replace a T5 fluorescent tube, which I discovered are now obsolete. We are moving house, so calling in an electrician to rewire for a led fitting is not economic. Ordered on Friday (after the cut-off time), the parcel arrived on Monday with standard postage, well packed. This is how business should be!

We chose John Lewis Insurance because of the unlimited house, contents and alternative accommodation costs, other higher individual limits, and a reasonable base price. However the wording on the website and quotation could be a little more precise. The policy schedule lists 'Identity Theft (Included as standard)' Well, yes it is, but you have to pay for it as an extra whether you want it or not, which I would call the opposite of included as standard. Furthermore (and this seems to apply to all insurance companies not just John Lewis) valuables are covered up to £40,000 in the Gold policy. Again it depends what you call 'covered', but as soon as you add valuables worth more than £5,000 the quote rockets and can be doubled as you approach the £40,000 limit. Add cover away from home, list all your valuables again, and the quote becomes eye-watering. In the end we took out the base home and contents cover and insured our jewellery separately with Ripe Insurance.

John Lewis Insurance is underwritten by Great Lakes Insurance UK, a subsidiary of Munich Re Digital Partners. A shame it couldn't be a UK company.

Our house and contents insurance Jan '24 renewal came in at a whopping 30% increase. I know insurance costs have risen, but this was rather steep. On the renewal letter Nationwide said that 'When you took your policy out we offered you a 25% discount for being a Nationwide member..... We're now offering this lower price to non-members too. This means you'll still receive the lower price...' I may be a cynic but if Nationwide were offering a 25% insurance discount to allcomers, or any discount at all, I would have expected it to be plastered all over its website and in its advertising, but there is not a single word anywhere. I just don't believe it.

In the end we renewed with John Lewis at just about the same base price, but with unlimited alternative accommodation costs, unlike Nationwide's measly £30,000, and some other higher limits too.

My wife and I have two accounts, a growth bond and income bond. As usual, with the crippling reduction in interest rates, we tried to close both. When we tried to logon a few days ago the promised phone call never happened, after several attempts. Then we read these reviews, and our hearts sank. But on Sunday evening we tried again and I logged on immediately with the promised call arriving first time. I updated my growth bond to leave at maturity - we'll see what happens.

My wife then tried to logon only to get, or not to get, the phone call. After a few more tries the call came and we were in. To withdraw the income bond a bank account had to be added, and we were asked the security questions which seemed to come out of the blue. In the end we just guessed the answers, and managed to add the account (with another call which went through). To close the account you have to ask to withdraw all the balance, despite it saying that the max withdrawal is balance-£500. It was done and the money appeared in the nominated account a day or so later.

The phone call is an annoyance, but a similar device is used on many other banking systems. It is easy when you actually get the call. We managed to access the site at a quieter time. The website is clunky, but perhaps will be more usable when the withdrawal rush dies down. Unfortunately I don't think we will have a reason to try it then.

I haven't opened the products yet, but I am assuming they are of high quality. The price is half that of my previous source, and delivery was both free and fast. I shall order again.

I wanted a late model Britax car seat and Babys-Mart was the only firm offering it. I phoned the firm to confirm (as I had never heard of Babys-Mart before), and a very pleasant lady assured me they had the model in stock. I ordered online, with 10% discount, and the seat was delivered free the next day. Just what I wanted, how online sales should be.

I needed shelf space in my garage, the dirt cheap B&Q shelves were too flimsy for words, so I went for Tufferman after looking at the YouTube video. I ordered the 3-bay set, and added carriage: I was rather miffed to find that the carriage charge applied to each of the three bays, adding another 20% to the cost. The bays arrived in three heavy boxes, containing a lot of parts which it is best to sort before assembly. The metal parts were reasonably strong and very well powder coated, the mdf shelves thin but as I have found adequate. I assembled the bays myself, an easy job with the H-section front and back rails being the trickiest to handle with only two hands. I didn’t need the rubber hammer (a toy for my grandson? Hmmm...), I tapped the sections together with the palm of a gloved hand. With a little care most went in correctly with few errant tabs. The feet were easy to fit, once you know the technique. Smear a trace of vaseline on the end of an upright, slip one side of the foot onto one edge of the upright, then squeeze the V angle of the upright a little tighter until it matches the angle of the slot in the foot. Tap home with the other hand. Easy peasy.

I didn’t order the bay connectors, but bolted the bays together. You need 10mm spacers and 6x25mm bolts. The spacers are because the feet, and the ribbing of the uprights, stop the uprights from being in direct contact. By this time the whole setup was fairly solid, but I screwed each section upper half back to the wall (I see shelves, grandson sees climbing frame).

Just remember to check all joints for correct fitting before finally putting into position, and lift the bays holding the lower uprights, not the shelves. In all the shelves look good and give over 40 feet of storage space. They will last me out. Recommended.

Very competitive prices, same day despatch and next day delivery, despite selecting the cheapest delivery option. I had a small problem with my order - not ColGlo's fault - and the sales manager rang me, posted a replacement, and refunded my postage. Exceptional service. Highly recommended.

A R7s 78mm Megaman LED is a standard commodity, so I bought where it was cheapest, at Fastlec. It arrived within four days, well packed. Fastlec could have saved some costs by posting it next day second class, instead of waiting three days and then posting first class. But it's the lamp I wanted at the best price, so I'm happy.

We use these tubes to sanitise our spring water supply. Thy are difficult to source locally so we bought online. We were of course pleased to see that the tubes were very competitively priced at LightBulbs Direct, especially as they were described as Osram. When the tubes came, within two days, they found that they were manufactured by Wemlite. We installed one tube and it's working fine. We don't know whether the Wemlites are as efficient as Osrams, or whether they will maintain that efficiency for the 15 months or so before they need replacing. So we're very pleased with the price and delivery, we'll have to see if the tube life is as expected.