grumpyoldbird

J'ai acheté la brosse de toilettes en ligne pour une fraction du prix pratiqué sur d'autres sites.

I bought this sign to post on my gate as a warning that there are dogs running free in my garden. Obviously I didn't pay specific attention to the sizes when I ordered this, but personally I would expect a warning sign to be big enough for people to see it. It has 4 screw holes, but they only send 2 screws, thankfully I didn't need them because it's being mounted on a metal gate.
To potential buyers, make sure you check the sizes before you order.

The phone is immaculate, in fact it doesn't look as though it's ever been used. I can't find a single blemish and even though it's smaller than my previous phone, I love it. It's not the first time I've bought a phone from Back Market and it won't be the last. The delivery was very quick and the phone was well packaged. It included a usb charging cable, but no actual charger. Not an issue, as I have others. No manual, but I've had Samsungs for years, so also not an issue. Altogether I'm very happy with my purchase, especially for the price.

In the past I've struggled to get through to the English Speaking Helpine, but this time the response was fairly quick. I'm staying in a friend's gite and there's no internet and the mobile signal is awful. The advisor was very patient and very helpful. After struggling for a while she asked if I could go to somewhere where I could get a better signal as she needed my bank details. I was going into town anyway and she rang me back while I was there. We managed to complete the transaction without any more difficulties.

Ce n'est pas la première fois que je fais appel à Espares et j'ai toujours été très satisfait de leurs produits. Cette fois-ci n'a pas fait exception, mais pour une raison inconnue, le livreur a déposé le colis à l'intérieur du portail. Il était intact et n'était pas fragile. Je ne m'attends pas à ce qu'ils sonnent à la porte, mais pourquoi ne l'a-t-il pas mis dans la boîte aux lettres ?

The UK end of the delivery was fine. Communication was good and I was informed when it reached France. I received an email from La Poste saying I had to pay import duty. I paid it online on Saturday, yet when it arrived on the Wednesday, they wanted me to pay it again. Thankfully I had a receipt, so the driver took a photo of it.

My dog chewed a corner off the back seat cushion cover of my leather sofa. I live in France, but the sofa was a very expensive sofa, which was made in the UK. I was given this sofa for free, so there was no way I could afford send it back to the manufacturer for repair. When I searched online, Trent Upholsteries came up with good reviews, so I sent them photos of my cushion cover and asked if there was anything they could do with it.
As it's not a standard rectangular shape, they asked me to send in the opposite cushion cover as a template, which I did.
I now have both my cushion covers back and I can't even begin to describe the standard of the workmanship. It's every bit as good as the original manufacturer and the colour match is perfect. I can't recommend them highly enough. The communication was excellent, the workmanship is superb and the price was a pleasant surprise and amazing value for money.

I'm now living in France and I brought my Rangemaster kettle, toaster and cooker with me from the UK. Whilst the water here is safe to drink, it has a tendency to taint the flavour of tea and I'm very much a tea drinker. To avoid the tainting, I have to use bottled water, which has a high calcium content. Despite regularly descaling my kettle, my filter has disintegrated. When I contacted the Aga Cookshop, where I purchased my kettle and toaster, Michelle was extremely helpful and is forwarding 2 replacement filters to me, free of charge. It wasn't necessary that they replaced it for free, as I was happy to pay all the costs. Having said that, I'm very grateful to Michelle and am looking forward to having a cup of tea without having bits of calcium floating in it again.🙂

Je viens de découvrir Autodoc, mais je suis très impressionné. J'ai commandé quelques pièces pour mon fourgon Berlingo. C'étaient des pièces de marque à des prix intéressants et je suis extrêmement satisfait de la qualité. De plus, j'ai récemment dû commander un lève-vitre, mais pour économiser, j'ai décidé de l'installer moi-même. Autodoc propose une vidéo expliquant comment l'installer, ce qui était formidable, car j'aurais eu du mal sans. J'ai réussi à le faire moi-même et cela m'a pris environ une heure et demie, avec plusieurs pauses pour regarder la vidéo. La livraison est rapide, même si les cartons étaient endommagés à l'arrivée, mais c'est peut-être dû au coursier.

I've never bought their pet foods, so I can't comment on those, but I did purchase flea and tick treatments for my dogs and cats. Frankly I wish I'd spent the money on something better. The smell is really strong for about 24 hours, but they never stopped scratching and I've seen fleas on one of my cats and one of my dogs, since using this. Total waste of money.

J'ai acheté quelques articles chez e spares au Royaume-Uni, mais j'ai été surpris de les trouver en France et encore plus surpris d'apprendre qu'ils faisaient partie de Screwfix. J'ai commandé de nouveaux tuyaux et accessoires pour mon Henry ; ils sont parfaits et à un prix avantageux.

I ordered a 5ltr tub of paint, which was on offer at an amazing price.
I won't be using it just yet, so I can't give a review on the paint, but I have no complaints about Bricoflor. Communication was excellent, although delivery could have been quicker, that's not their fault.
It was well packaged, in a box which stopped the paint from moving about, therefore it arrived in perfect condition.

Bon produit à un prix avantageux. Livraison rapide et bien emballé.

Booking was easy and straightforward. The price is good. Havent used it yet, so I cant comment on the service. No issues so far.

This paint is lovely. I bought quite a lot, to take to France when I moved. I bought it in January 2022, without realising it has a recommended shelf life of 6 months. I knew I wouldn't be using it anytime soon, so I rang for advice. The lady I spoke to was lovely and advised me of the best storage conditions, to keep the paint in good condition, but said if I had any problems with the paint, to get in touch.
I moved to France in June 2022 and brought the unopened paint with me. Sadly, storage is limited here and because its so hot, most of my storage places are also hot. I did what I could to keep it cool and hoped for the best.
It's now February 2023 and for the past few days I've been using the first of my paint. I've been pleasantly surprised. I expected separation and a gloopy, unusable mess. No such thing. I used a tin of Dark Holly Green Matt 06 and Dark Holly Green Eggshell 06. After extensive stirring, the matt had a couple of lumps, but nothing major. The coverage is great. It was going on a white, rough plastered wall and it covered well in 2 coats.
The eggshell had some colour splitting, but with frequent stirring, the colour came out consistently good and this was covering dark red. Also covered in 2 coats. After spending about £500 on this paint and then discovering I might end up with something that had become useless, I'm thrilled with the outcome. I have lots of work to do before I'll be in a position to use the rest of the paint, but I'm more optimistic now that it'll be ok.
Other points of note;
No horrible smell
Love the plastic caps, particularly the ones with the ring pull.
If there are any negatives.....it can be quite messy pouring out of the tin. Remember to wipe the neck before putting the lid back on.

Sadly I can only give this 4 stars. The product is excellent. The delivery was prompt and the customer service team are very helpful, but perhaps not as well trained as they need to be. Maybe something was lost in translation.
The reason I've only given this 4 stars, is largely because of the manual. If you've used a table saw previously, you will probably be fine, but I hadn't and the manual wasn't always helpful.
Whilst trying to raise the riving knife, I needed to locate 'screw 28' using diagram C1. After contacting customer service, I eventually managed to assure her that there were no missing parts, but I couldn't locate screw 28.
I sent her a photo of the alleged location and she drew a circle around what she thought it was. It wasn't a screw, it was a bolt, but she said she would confirm with her colleague and get back to me. She didn't. The next day I attempted to loosen the bolt, in the hope that she was right. I contacted customer service to confirm, as I didnt want to do any damage. Again, they thought I was looking for a missing part. I gave up trying to explain.
I persevered and eventually managed to raise the riving knife. It wouldn't come up to the required height of 110mm, but
eventually, I realised that I needed to raise the saw blade to get the riving knife to the right height. The instructions for raising the blade, were 2 stages later, but you can't raise the riving knife, whilst the saw blade is lowered. It should probably have taken a couple of hours, for a complete novice to assemble this, but the instructions, although they appeared to have great detail, were misleading. As a result, it took about 4 hours over 2 days, whilst waiting for customer services to get back to me.

Delivery was prompt and the products are good quality, with excellent pricing. ****Update****
I've been using the Garlic, Olive and Hawthorn capsules for approximately one month now. Before I started taking these my blood pressure was around 145/95. The systolic varied, but the diastolic seemed impossible to reduce. Even when the systolic came down to around 130, the diastolic never went below high 80's. I'm taking 5mg of Amlodopine, but I didn't want to take anymore prescribed medication, because its a slippery slope. In the last week my blood pressure has seen a significant improvement and today its down to 123/77. I'm absolutely ecstatic! This has more than exceeded all my expectations and I dont feel as though I'm living under a cloud anymore. Thank you Onatera. You might just have saved my life.

Prompt delivery and the plants were very well packed. They were advertised as 30-40cm and I'm happy to say that they were definitely taller than I had expected. They had obviously been watered before delivery and although some of the leaves were brown, they have recovered really well. They're currently still in pots, but are thriving and have new leaf growth. They were cheaper than most of the other online sites, for the same size plant. Impressed all round and I wouldn't hesitate to buy from them again.

I purchased a Makita Chain Saw kit. It was the best price online and it was delivered earlier than promised.
If I have any criticism, it was that the website stated that it came complete with a charger and a 13AH battery. I was surprised at this, because it seemed excessively high. When it arrived, it was a 3AH battery. This is fine for me, but some people might not be happy about that.

I recently purchased a chariot de jardin from Tectake. I was intending to buy a wheelbarrow, but it occurred to me that as I get older, it might be difficult to negotiate a wheelbarrow full of wood, so I decided on a cart instead. I searched quite a few products before deciding on the Tectake 350kg and with most of the products, build quality seemed to be the biggest issue. Some cheaper models were also too small and despite some negative comments on the Tectake, overall it had the most favourable reviews. I was not disappointed. Delivery was free and prompt, many of the others charged for delivery.
I love this cart!
The instructions are a little vague in parts and I would advise any purchasers to read the first 3 diagrams before you start, orherwise it's all too easy to start at the wrong end, as I did. Overall it took me 2 hours to assemble it, but I didn't rush and I had mistakes to correct, so if youre technically minded you could probably do it in an hour.
One of the end panels was a little bit warped, but once its erected its not an issue. I found the whole process really enjoyable and I'm thrilled with the end result. I'm more than happy with the build quality and it handled well over my very bumpy garden. The cover is much better quality than I anticipated. I expected it to be plastic, but its actually canvas with a plastic lining. I'm sure that this little cart will last many years to come and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.