IR

Ian Robinson

United Kingdom

Reviews

Review of Beanie Games

Review of Velasca


Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Illegally not offering refunds

I ordered some shoes, and the experience from start to finish has been horrible. They claim 4-6 working day delivery, and I ended up waiting approx 2 weeks. Customer service only responded after 3 attempts and just said “we try to learn from this”.

I liked the style of 2 of the 4, but they felt a bit big, so exchanged them. It took another 2 weeks for the return to be processed and the replacements to arrive, so it’s been a month at this point since the original order. These are then too small (most styles don’t have half sizes). I go to return them, and they are only offering a gift card, even though the new sizes were a new order, and I tried to return them the day after they arrived. This is not in their terms and as far as I can see, is illegal. I have tried to reach out to customer service again, which claim to reply within 24 hours, and after 3 days, have not had a reply. Absolutely awful from a so-called luxury brand. Never again.

1 July 2026
Unprompted review

Reply from Velasca

Hi Ian,

Thank you for taking the time to share your experience. We are truly sorry that the waiting times did not meet your expectations.

We have reviewed your order and can confirm that it was placed on May 28th, during our Velasca Days promotion, a particularly busy period that can occasionally lead to slight delays compared to our usual operations. Your order was handed over to the courier on June 1st and delivered on June 10th. For free shipping, we usually indicate a delivery timeframe of 6–8 business days; in this case, the high volume of orders during the promotion, together with the June 2nd public holiday in Italy**, affected the overall delivery time. We are sorry for the inconvenience this caused.

Regarding your exchange, your return was received at our warehouse on June 10th. As with all returns, we carried out a quality check before shipping the replacement pair, to ensure that the new item sent to you was in perfect condition. The new pair was shipped on June 25th and delivered on June 30th: the process was therefore substantially in line with our expected timelines, with only a one-business-day delay.

We completely understand, however, that when looking at both waiting periods together, the overall experience may not have felt as smooth as we always aim to provide, and we are truly sorry.

Thank you again for your patience and for sharing your feedback. It is extremely valuable to us and helps us improve, especially during periods of higher demand.

Best,
Alessia

Review of Virgin Media


Rated 1 out of 5 stars

No service, no response, lies from agents

Service has been out for my entire street for 36 hours. National outage a few weeks ago.

No one from customer service will actually say when an engineer will come to resolve, and when I ask for a time, it’s been a lie.

Awful. Will move as soon as I can

15 March 2025
Unprompted review

Reply from Virgin Media

We do apologise that you're currently impacted by an area outage and that the estimated fix time has been pushed back. We can assure you that it's not the level of service we aim to provide.

Whilst we do our best to keep any faults and downtime to an absolute minimum, unfortunately sometimes service issues do happen from time-to-time. We'll always aim to have you back up and running ASAP, but, in some instances, this can take longer than we'd like.

You can read about our auto compensation scheme (https://virg.in/autocomp) and if you do wish to discuss this further then please get in touch using one of the following contact methods.

Call: 150 (free of charge) from a Virgin Media landline or 0345 454 1111 from any other phone
WhatsApp: +44 7803 089 684
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/virginmedia
X (fka Twitter): https://twitter.com/virginmedia
Forums: https://virg.in/VMforums

Review of Aviva


Rated 1 out of 5 stars

M&S Insurance - by Aviva - never again

Aviva are just awful. They set out to gaslight you, destroy your mental health, and break you down to the point where you give up and go away. As a company, they should not even be allowed to be in business. They way they treat people is simply appalling.

After 9 months, they have refused large parts of my complaint, and are still yet to complete large parts of the work which was in scope in my kitchen after the water pipe burst.

They are now insisting on further visits to assess work and are only offering dates a month away. They could not care less about the impact this has on people, and the claims handlers I have been speaking to only care about trying to prevent the company paying out. You should all be ashamed to work there.

28 July 2023
Unprompted review

Reply from Aviva

Hi Ian,

Thank you for taking the time to explain what has happened. We can see how this hasn't been a great experience for you. We're sorry to learn of what has happened. If you would like us to look into this and speak with the team for you, please send us a private message on either Facebook or Twitter @AvivaUK. Please include your full name, D.o.B and claim reference number. Also include the reference #43547. We'd be happy to see how we can help.

Thank you.
Aviva Social Team

You can also contact us here 👉 https://www.aviva.co.uk/help-and-support/contact-us/ if you do not wish to use social media.

Review of Destination2


Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Appalling when things go wrong

I booked a hotel in Mauritius for a week with Destination2; after 2 weeks they decided that this was no longer available and tried to get me to change.

The options presented weren’t great, and in the meantime prices had gone up. The company tried to fob me off that these options were “at no extra charge” when they were actually cheaper at the time of booking.

The customer service team treated me and my partner with utter contempt throughout, passing off any of my attempts at compromise as “against their terms and conditions”.

The mettle of a company is proven when things go wrong, and when they went wrong here, I was treated like dirt, with no real effort made to put things right. The company deserves to not be in business. I’d never use them again under any circumstances.

1 March 2024
Unprompted review

Reply from Destination2

Ian we find your comments here do not accurately represent the experience you had. You made your booking and we act as agent only as you are aware. The hotel encountered an overbooking situation which was not within our control. You were first offered 3 suitable alternatives, like-for-like properties matching your existing booking requirements. However, the properties you suggested were significant upgrade and not viable for us to absorb the cost difference. Had you booked any of those initially, you would have been paying far more than your existing holiday cost. We have since provided 8 more quotes to assist with a special occasion request, but again despite your expectation, we cannot absorb these greater costs. In accordance with the terms of the contract with you, we have fulfilled our obligation and do not find that simply by not contributing to costs and your wish for free upgrade our service has been lacking. So we are sorry you feel that it is. In conclusion, and with regret that we cannot provide a personally suitable alternative for you at the price you paid, we are issuing full refund.

Review of CORGI HomePlan


Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Shameful

I had a pipe burst on 28/08, since then I have been constantly fobbed off and mis-advised by customer service, and as a result, the company are unwilling to settle a bill which I was told by an agent that they would.

Their behaviour has been nothing short of shameful, this is a company which is happy to take your money quickly when everything is working, but won’t pay out when things go wrong. I’d avoid them like the plague, as they will leave you with huge plumbing bills, despite their own advice to the contrary. Appalling behaviour made even worse during a cost of living crisis. They are quite happy to affect your mental health by telling you one thing, then another the very next day. It’s basically corporate gaslighting.

Shame on you Corgi and OVO!

28 July 2023
Unprompted review

Reply from CORGI HomePlan

We're really sorry to hear about your experience, Ian.

This is certainly not how we want our customers to feel. It's hard for us to comment without more information, so a member of the team will be in touch to ask for your policy details.

Thanks for your patience!

Review of Utility Warehouse


Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Please Avoid

Even complaining direct to CEO Andrew Lindsay will get you nowhere with this shocking company.

From Day 1, service has been a disaster. We were incorrectly not put on a monthly budget plan; since then, despite paying off the debt (from your own incompetence) you threaten us with payment demands, despite customer services insisting the debt is on hold.

I have spent hours on the phone to the company, wasting huge amounts of my time from the unnecessary stress which they have caused.

Please, I urge you to avoid them like the plague, and move to ANY other energy provider.

23 June 2023
Unprompted review

Reply from Utility Warehouse

Hello Ian,

Thank you for taking the time to leave a review. I'm sorry you've had a disappointing experience.

I can see you've been in touch with the Energy Customer Service team today and a task has been raised to move from the budget plan to monthly in arrears and will be effective from July's bill.

Confirmation has been sent regarding this and also to confirm the account has been protected whilst this is getting resolved.

We'll use your review to make improvements in the service where possible.

Thank you and take care,

Nin

Review of W Hamond Jewellers


Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Ordered a pen in the Black Friday sale……

Ordered a pen in the Black Friday sale… which was supposedly in stock. I’m still waiting 2 months later. I’ve chased the company 5 times, they keep offering up excuses and not delivering. They have not even once taken the time to get in touch with me about an update, nor offered anything in the way of an apology. Shockingly poor.

7 February 2023
Unprompted review

Reply from W Hamond Jewellers

Good morning,

Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I have sent you an email privately. Please give me a call on 01335 453453 once you're read the email and we can talk through the next steps.

Many thanks
Adam

Review of London Accountants


Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Jez has offered invaluable insight

Jez has offered invaluable insight, advice and service to both my own business but also the freehold company for the property I live in.

The advice is rock solid and has been highly advantageous whilst not exposing me or my business to any risk. I'll be using London Accountants for the foreseeable!

20 July 2021
Unprompted review

Reply from London Accountants

Thank you Ian - always a pleasure.

Review of Mercedes-Benz Retail Group - London


Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Awful

Couldn’t keep to an agreed time for an MOT. Car was returned late on the second day. Staff are rude and dismissive. Car was damaged during the service which the Temple Fortune dealership denied. Appalling. Wouldn’t touch them with a bargepole.

30 April 2021
Unprompted review

Reply from Mercedes-Benz Retail Group - London

Dear Mr Robinson, we’re so sorry to hear of your experience. Can you please contact us at mblondon@daimler.com with more information so we can look into this matter and to discuss this further. Many thanks.

Review of Ooshkie


Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Excellent!

Great prices, especially under the reasonably priced membership scheme. I’ve signed up and am looking forward to seeing more brands added. Very friendly customer service too. Will be using Ooshkie again :)

22 March 2021
Unprompted review

Review of The Game Collection


Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Horrendous

Ordered Assassin's Creed Valhalla Gold Edition. Still not arrived after 10 days. Very little contact, no apology.

Contacted them on social media and they have blocked me there - which is frankly shocking behaviour.

Have unfortunately had to escalate to PayPal as it seems like I'll never get my money back or a game any other way. Will never, ever use them again. This could have been resolved easily and amicably but the company chose to react this way, which is unfortunate and irresponsible.

19 November 2020
Unprompted review

Review of SCENT SAMPLES

Review of Subscribe Hearstmags


Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Awful

Awful - ordered a gift box for a subscription. The company apparently sent two but neither arrived. Wouldn't send a third. Christmas present is therefore non-existent on the day. Bunch of crooks!

22 December 2017
Unprompted review

Review of Chaos Cards


Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Quick delivery & well packaged

Chaos cards sent my books quickly, well packaged, and the prices were excellent. I'd be very happy to use them again.

30 August 2016
Unprompted review

Reply from Chaos Cards

Thank you so much, Ian!

Review of Iconic Watches / Ancient and Modern Jewellers Ltd


Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Excellent service

I ordered two watches from Iconic that were in stock - delivered on the day I asked and re-sized as asked for. Great packaging and comms, I'm sure I will be back for a 3rd time at some point!

13 September 2015
Unprompted review