Lou Glandfield

I bought some paracetamol in H&B Haywards Heath. They were on special offer - 44p a packet. I bought two and the cashier rang up 98 pence. I pointed out that it should have been 88 pence. A colleague (manager?) appeared and argued the toss, first saying that the offer only applied to one packet and then making a show of going to the shelf to check the price. Then he grudgingly told the cashier to give me my change, muttering in my hearing that it was a lot of fuss for 10p. Avoiding eye contact throughout, he was disagreeable, rude and offered no apology. For me, it was not about the 10p but about the principle of labelling a product at one price and then changing it when you get to the till.

Hunted high and low for replacement brackets for an old-fashioned curtain rail. Annette didn't have them in stock but tracked them down on eBay and gave me the details I needed to get replacements. Old fashioned courtesy and helpfulness. An example to traders everywhere.

I subscribed to the Intego VPN app a year ago and promptly forgot that I even had it on my computer. A reminder of the impending automatic annual payment came a few weeks ago but I forgot all about that too. When Intego duly informed me that they had taken the money from my account, I asked them to belatedly cancel my subscription and refund me - a long shot, I reasoned, but worth a try. To my surprise and gratification they agreed to do this despite the fact that the fault lay entirely with me. A welcome human touch from a friendly and approachable company. I can recommend their Internet Security suite too. Top marks.

Ordered some TCP and it didn't arrive. After 19 days, I phoned the number on the website and got the "no such number" message. I emailed them and they said that they could no longer obtain the product. They could have told me this nearly three weeks ago. They had not however taken my money. Just wasted my time.

I should start by saying that we are pensioners and not very savvy when it comes to backing up &c. Plusnet was our ISP for a decade and proved to be consistently reliable and helpful when things went wrong. A couple of weeks ago, they pointed out that our contract was due to expire and that they no longer offered a landline service. They suggested that I move over to EE. The new EE hub duly arrived and a date was set - November 14th -when I could change over. On that date I awoke to find that Plusnet had simply cut off our internet. My wife tried to pick up her emails only to find that her account had alread been deleted and with it ten years of attachments including photos of grandchildren, holidays, contacts &c. I now realise that, had we been fully informed in advance, there would have been plenty of time and straightforward procedures for moving her entire content across to a new email address. Had Plusnet bothered to inform us of this, they would not have robbed an 85 year old lady of ten years of memories. I phoned Plusnet, explained what had happened and asked if they could help. There was a pause before the agent said, “Regarding what?” No apology. No help offered. Subsequent enquiries were met with a promise that they would look into things and phone back the next working day. Instead, I received an email saying that the case was closed. I phoned yet again and they promised yet again that someone would call me back but they did not. My lasting impression of Plusnet is that they are as nice as pie all the time they are taking your money but, the moment the cash stops coming in, they treat you with utter contempt. Cynical and heartless.

Great product at great price. Everything about the transaction was a pleasant and easy. Excellent communication and a real personal touch from genuinely nice people.

Although they had my phone number and email address, Collect+ failed to provide me with a collection code. I tried to contact them in order to obtain the code but you can't submit an enquiry unless you have - you guessed it - the collection code.

It would be good if the parcel were left in the porch rather than out on the step in the rain.

Ordered a digital voucher on Dec 5th for my granddaughter's birthday on the 8th. When it didn't arrive, I contacted them via their complaints form. Still no reply two days later. I checked my account with them this evening and it said "awaiting despatch". Five days is surely long enough to send an email.

Spitfire's products and - importantly for the technically inept like me - after-sales service and technical help are second to none. Thank you.

I bought 6 Porcelite bowls from Buzz at what was by far the lowest UK price I could find. They arrived quickly and packaged with impressive care. Great product from a great seller. Many thanks.

We insured our house with Swinton. When we needed some repairs, we contacted them to see if we qualified for help. I don't remember the date but it was back in the late spring. The person on the phone indicated that the damage was most likely covered but appeared unable to give us any assurance. Subsequent attempts were no more successful and culminated in the assistant abruptly cutting my wife off. We assumed that they would ring back but they didn't. Realising we were flogging a dead horse, we made our own arrangements and paid for the repairs ourselves. In short, Swinton were efficient when it came to taking our money but useless when we tried to make a claim.

Kamsons recently took over our local village pharmacy in Newick. After years of dealing with Lloyds, I have repeatedly found the level of care and sheer professionalism evinced by Kamsons to put other pharmacies - including the big chains - firmly in the shade. Thank you.

Straightforward, sensible and affordable. Everybody wins.

This company has a rare gift for getting it right, constituting a superb resource for composers. Even those on a tight budget can take advantage of the ever-expanding free LABS series and the Originals suite will expand your soundworld for the price of a few pints. Videos ensure that everything on offer is demonstrated with care and flair by real musicians. My latest acquisition is the Epic Strings suite - a steal at twice the price - and I'm just bowled over by the sound quality. Finally, installation is a breeze and technical support (you're unlikely to need it) is prompt and friendly. If I could give Spitfire 6 stars, I would.

I returned a faulty electric blanket to the Haywards Heath branch - the second dud I'd bought there. I was given a refund on my card - or so I thought until I checked my bank account and found that they had debited my card instead. I had now paid twice for a faulty item I'd already returned. I don't live in Haywards Heath but the manager insisted that I "pop" in yet again as he was unwilling to settle by bank transfer. This was doubly inconvenient as I'm partially disabled. In the shop I could hear him giving instructions to the till assistant over the phone but he didn't bother to come down apologise in person.

I've just bought an M-Audio sustain pedal which works fine with both my Yamaha keyboards and my Alesis Q-88 MkII. It's sturdily built and has more heft than the competition at this price point. It also has a non-slip base plate which means that, with lino or parquet floors, you don't spend half the gig trying to hook the thing with your foot to bring it back into range. The action is smooth, resistance is perfect and I can't recommend it too highly. A great product at an affordable price.

Purchased Tile as I only have one key to my car. It immediately told me that my key was more than 800 miles away somewhere around the Moray Firth (it was actually in my pocket in my home outside Brighton). I then checked Recent Locations. These included the Bering Straits, Pas de Calais and an address in Bath that I left in 1973 and have not visited since. When I tried to connect to the key which was hanging on a hook in the next room, the app told me that it was out of range. Support proved to be as inept as the device itself. Full marks for creativity but about as much use as a rubber towel. Avoid.

If there was a way they could get things wrong they unerringly found it; wrong meds sent and a continual bombardment of "reminders" to request more meds within hours of receiving them. Add to this an apparently unmanned "help" line, "no-reply" emails and a "chat" option that offered multiple choice irrelevant queries but didn't allow you to chat and you have Echo - a monument to heroic incompetence.