James Freeman

Repeated emails saying I need to verify my new rescue dog as the profile could be non compliant. . The website is DIRE - takes ages - like 10 minutes or never to load. So I telephoned them only to think I’d called a scammer - very pigeon English strong foreign accent guy asked for a payment. So I said I’m calling to get your website working - he put me through to another guy - similar accent, not as strong and we at least could communicate. He sent me the details of my pet which were correct. Then 3 days later I have another email entitled “ Your pet's microchip could be non-compliant”. This is a scam company now. Praying upon vulnerable new owners to sign up to a subscription for a dire website. It’s like they have forgotten this is about canine safety and owner - and suddenly they have a CEO and an FD with a balance sheet to fill.

Absolute joke.

I took time for a thorough understanding of what they do. Lots of fancy slides but at the end of the day they get your portfolio to manage. They get paid their cut regardless of how the portfolio performs. This just doesn’t sit well with me. They can share the pain and share the gain. But that’s not the deal. They also keep calling - highly trained sales people. Lucky I can handle them :-)

Ordered top of the range solid wood oak flooring. Upon Opening though the solid wood is a different product to the sample they sent prior. Spoke to Lemar and he was really fast to arrange collection and redelivery of the correct floor.

Issues can happen - we are all human but the measure of a good company is how they resolve the issues / I’m happy to recommend Floor Street

The website said very unambiguously that if I ordered before 5:30 the battery would come next day. It didn’t. I called and got a guy full of excuses.

After sales service from the customer service team in Leeds was first class ! Josh was the chap I was in email contact with and happy with the outcome. Nice to see a UK based business giving great service.

Bought a battery with 5 year warranty in 2024. It’s failed in late 2025. Called customer services who booked me in to National Tyres 11.30 today (apparently part of Halfrauds). Arrived and they were not expecting me. Said they cannot help as it’s a Halfrauds battery (!). Asked me to drive to the retail store in Lancaster. Did that, despite the battery being Halfords supplied with a Halfords logo and a 2024 date stamp they turned me away. Apparently I need a receipt. Having looked in to that though legally it’s a proof of purchase I need which can even be packaging etc & given the battery is a Halfords model number and date is verifiable that should be enough. So I wasted 1.5h and then called customer services again three times. They asked me to email - however when I did there was an auto reply saying the email is no longer in use. What a shower - I’ve used them for over 50 years but no longer. Sad to see a trusted brand going to the dogs.

I’ve had no end of issues with Octopus. Currently we have a fault with meters - they fit 2 smart meters and from day 1 the gas meter didn’t come online. They’ve been back twice but still no fix. And now the remote display device is no longer connected to the meters. This debacle has been going on for 4 months.

In addition (!) I’m the nephew of the property occupant, that being my elderly and disabled aunt. We called and got me connected to the account. The next time I tried to contact Octopus by email they (a lady called Summer) swore blind I wasn’t authorised!. I’d call and be told I was authorised and then by email this awkward person would say “you’re not”. In order to fix this I had to send a request for a copy of the call recording - even then they said they would send it - which they did by email - but the link didn’t work ! They said they would post me a copy on a memory stick but it never came. Hopeless. After all this I called again and raised a complaint. I requested compensation and this is seemed put me in touch with someone UK based who seemed more able to sort things out. I’ve had to chase for the compensation and the issues are STILL NOT FIXED but this person is someone who seems more able and at least I’m dealing with someone who doesn’t keep maintaining I’m not authorised. I’ve also had an offer of compensation after my requests. So whilst the problems remain, at least Octopus have taken it on the chin, somewhat.

They also have been taking direct debits several times a month. Even after they said they would fix it to just one payment per month they still took more.

My overall feeling is they bang on all the time in their marketing materials about “5 star customer service”. This is quite simply not true. I’ve had bad experiences with no less than 4 accounts and had compensation for each for hopeless service. Let that tell the story.

**As of 16 Oct the saga continues. A person has posted a reply but I’ve had no contact from them other than to say we are investigating. I’m still awaiting the data requested in JUNE! And today we are reporting the matter to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) since the latest deadline we set has not been complied. I feel 4 months is long enough. Honestly Octopus are without doubt the worst utility company - honestly they are totally hopeless.

Ordered parts from Morecambe Branch, advised parts would be in by 4pm, upon arrival parts not there. Drove half an hour. Asked for alternative part but told it was more expensive. Took alternative under
Protest and promised a refund for original - which didn’t happen. Called 3 times. Twice they hung up. Third time the guy said “I’ve just picked up the call, I’m in another branch. I will email them”. Dire customer service.
It transpired that the van was in traffic and had aborted the delivery. Surely it’s not rocket science for staff, at that point to have contacted me to say sorry parts are not coming.

Another order and another wrong part. The returns process is a big faff and that’s not the main point - I order parts as I needed them and it left me having to waste my time in the return, chasing the refund after a week and then buying the right parts elsewhere. More trouble than it’s worth.

Having had issues with the call centre and no shows for appointments for 2 days for an underground water leak I’d just like to give 5* to Luke Travis for job number 13874271 . He’d been previously and I had his number so I called him / he really took ownership and arranged for him personally to come in a Sunday. Severn Trent you do have issues by the way ! but to solve them you need more people like Luke who go the mile and the extra mile. Thanks to Luke and fingers crossed from hereon.

They emailed to ask me for this review. So far so good mostly but the smart meter for gas is not working as yet so can’t give 5* - they said they would check again 13 Dec and if still not working would raise a job to get it fixed.

Good prices, products and next day delivery

Had a phone sim which didn’t get internet at my home and many places (eg regularly unusable with google maps) and eventually after saying there was a fault with the transmitter (over months!) Three agreed to terminate the contract. Also tried a hub which just didn’t work. As agreed returned it and Three still billed me and threatened IN WRITING to send bailiffs and to ruin my credit score. Had letters and texts but when I called the people there said ignore it it’s a standard letter. Eventually after really pushing and threatening Ofcom they admitted an error and said that despite me returning the hardware in THEIR envelope that the receiving Three team hadn’t updated the system saying they had - this led to me being charged - unbelievable. Luckily I’d photographed me returning it and also had the tracking to prove they had it. Friendly people in the phone but hopeless service both from the devices and then the people. Avoid three - easily UK’s worst network.

PS still waiting for them to call me back to confirm it’s all fixed and they promised a credit too which again I’m yet to see.

Driver attended my daughter and had quite an attitude with her - she said she had broken down in a main road but had pulled into a safer place - he said “I will be the judge of that” and my daughter recalls he said something like “if it’s not safe you’ll have to call the police” - no need for a sh1tty attitude with a young girl is there. He spoke to me when he got to the vehicle via the phone and was ok. - first he went (or was sent) to a place 10 miles away. Second he refused the tow the car home (20 minutes away) saying he could fit a new injector at £640 as he had one on the van. This is an easy job (I know as I’m a mechanic) and a brand new one is £316 (I just bought 3 more, sealed and brand new) so how do RAC get away with exploiting a situation like that? Is it right that you refuse to tow if you have a part like that?

Support was good but it took 3 days of trying to eventually get through on the phone when I sold the car. They couldn’t cover the replacement vehicle which was a VW Caddy so their online service wouldn’t handle the change and crashed so hence why I had to call. On one occasion of holding for ages I was just cut off. The service was good, the price was good and eventually the person I spoke to was very efficient and no cancellation fee for the cancelled policy was helpful - she said because we can’t cover your replacement vehicle we won’t charge you a fee.

TV fault - three failed collections wasting me time off work and rude call centre staff. Absolutely hopeless service. Eventually I drove to the store and respectfully demanded they deal with it which they did after commenting “our call centre is in Africa and the staff are very badly trained and if they can’t deal with an issue they just hang up - they do it to us too!” Sadly a British brand ruined by accountants and cost cutting.

These guys were supposed to be getting me a quote for a ground source heat pump, after submitting my personal details all they did was send (presumably actually sell) my details to another intermediary company, to this date I have received no contact from any ground source heating installer. I’m now being spammed my a mix of other people. I’ve reported this as a GDPR breach and I’d request that greenmatch now provide me with a subject access request (SAR). Under GDPR regulations I hereby request a copy of personal data, and other supplementary information, to be specific a list of the organisations my data has been shared with and any emails that exist that include my name or details. I formally request that my details are removed from Greenmatch and from any other person or business they have sent my details to. You must provide:

1 confirmation that you are processing my personal data
2 a copy of that data
3 details of how that data is collected, used and disposed of

Used the mobile service, the guy was the same chap who last came and nice chap - full marks.

These guys give great value, good deals using the offer codes, fast availability / good stock levels and good after sales service. I just had my fingers burnt using another supplier to save a couple of quid however regretting it! Well done Euro Car Parts !

Ordered a clutch master cylinder for a Toyota Hiace and it was delivered quickly. However after a few weeks it began to leak and therefore is faulty. These things do happen. Because the van is in use we sourced a local part and had it fitted, the van drives perfectly again. Upon contacting AUTODOC things started well, slightly odd that I had to complete a warranty form (never been asked from my usual supplier) and required to give lots of information however I didn’t mind so I completed it. I am now on an email ping pong with various people at their generic “info” email address. First Jack, then Eric, now Lisa. Each time the person, whilst polite come back with additional questions and after I answer them there are then more. It gives the impression that autodoc make warrany claims painful so that people give up. Including asking me to repeat again what’s on the warranty form (sent 3 times now). I’m writing to let others know of this experience I have, “all that glitters is not gold”.

Update, from the get-go I completed all necessary forms. I’ve now had further duplicate questions for data already submitted from a fourth member of AUTODOC. This is either deliberate obstructive practice or incompetence. I wanted to add this in the light of the response from the company. Very, very poor. Stick with Euro Car Parts - very few problems there and when there is one, the odd issue is to be expected ,there is never any drama. Saved a couple of quid one time with AUTODOC, now in a world of regret. I’ll get over it but buyer beware!