Michael van Zwanenberg

Hard to deal with and overly complicated.
Overly pushy insurance sale at pick-up; no CDW as standard - which is highly unusual and means 3rd party damage excess becomes irrelevant. Then impossible to change once rental started. Finally no invoice or confirmation of succesful vehicle return and now being held on online chat for 30 minutes mid-conversation with no answer.

Pressure selling from a cold call with incorrect and misleading information regarding a price cap increase.

Great company and best prices. Keep up the work, it's much appreciated

Transfers out to SIPP are nearly impossible.

Impossible to transfer funds to another SIPP (such as HL) without closing your account which is more of a nuisance especially if you are still trying to make pension contributions. Have spent 2-3 hours jumping through hoops.

Now have just received a marketing email from them about consolidating pensions with them from other providers which is slightly ironic given the hassle they impinge on you to transfer pension out to other providers.

Got gifted (secret santa) pair of nice climbing trousers which unfortunately are to big. Alpkit returns are strict and even though they're unworn with Alpkit labels a receipt is apparently required to swap for a smaller size - shop assistant was helpful and gave me head office number and they reiterated this response. This stance seems at odds with their ambition to be seen as a b-corp ethical company and setting them apart from other high street stores. Up until this point was keen to buy more from them but now feels like it's lost its charm and certainly not as ethical as they claim to be.
Hoping this review is read by management and they can reconsider the level of flexibility and autonomy given to their staff to give customers the level of experience you'd expect from a branded b-corp.

ps. Replying to Nick: I've shopped previously with M&S and they offer either swap or gift vouchers if items are returned without receipt so I'm not sure your statement of this being the norm is entirely true.

pps. Replying to your 2nd comment: The item I was trying to exchange (Secret Santa hence not bought by me and no receipt) still had the Alpkit tags on and was obviously genuine, I don't see any significant difference to your comments below. It was very obviously an Alpkit product and swapping it for the right size would have no negative financial consequences for your business.
Stepping back from the detail the reason I've written the review is because of how I've felt by your policies and unfortunately I still feel this way. It still doesn't feel like you trust your customers or operate the company aligned with your brand ethics.

Beware of giving these as a gift / not keeping reciept.
We had 2 of these flasks; after 2 years one of these has a vacuum failure and the flask is hot on the outside once filled. We've emailed Thermos customer services who have been less than helpful and state without proof of purchase there is little they can do. Very disappointed that Thermos as a well recognised brand take this approach.

Tracking system poor, ended up on premium rate phone line trying to resolve it for my client.

Used to answer their phone within 5 rings. Now I've had to wait 15 minutes. Caller handler wasn't helpful - firstly apparently I can't email over the required form it has to be by letter, secondly the problem is my other provider who isn't set up on their electronic system. Seems to be double standards here. Oh and there's currently a delay on all mail of about 2 weeks due to Covid (I'd understand if this was 2020 but you've had 12 months to fix this guys!!!). Getting an ISA setup in next 30 days now looks very unlikely. :(

In the end the caller went blank - whether it was an IT issue or a plug issue I don't know.

Broken washing machine - great I find out Hotpoint can repair. Here's how it unfolded
A) Call and sign up to their plan - no probs.
B) Call 2 days later to check part required on order - it's not, they order and reconfirm date.
C) Repair man ill (fair enough)
D) Rebook appointment for 2 days time
E) Check appointment day before - no appointment, system error and they couldn't phone out to let me know. Rebook for 1 weeks time?? I don't think so. Advisor gave completely different responses to the other advisors.

Apparently 28 days is acceptable time-frame for washing machine repair and good customer service. Make what you want about that.