Aidan McGuire

My daughter has outgrown her panda kids pillow which lasted well and so we purchased the adult size - which arrived quickly, well packaged and she loves it. They arrive smelling a little 'chemically', but a day without a cover on seems to remove the smell.

Brought 8 containers of paint, but then decided to get 10 and accidently ordered 18! Called Wickes customer services and it was quickly amended. When the paint arrived (delivered by DPD) a couple of the containers had spilt - though they were well packaged. Wickes again promptly refunded these. I'd happily order again from Wickes, but probably avoid mail order paint from anywhere!

Such a good price for a tank even the person installing it said they couldn’t undercut it with a trade price. Fast delivery and helpful customer services.

I've advertised three jobs recently on checkatrade. In two of the three no-one responded and in the third a good contractor came who I was happy with. Overall it probably would have been easier just googling for local contractors.

Nathan turned up on time, diagnosed and fixed the oven and explained what he did. He then left the area clean and tidy. Thanks!

Brought two fleeces - the zip broke on one. Returning was a bit of an admin hell with reasons, photos, returns etc, but it was refunded and they paid postage. I'd give customer services 2 stars, but the fleece that remains 5 stars.

Brought two kids pillows, one loved it the other didn't get on with it. The pillow we kept has stayed bouncy and is great, the return and refund for the other was straightforward. Happy with both! Thanks.

One of the few suppliers of Polmos cherry vodka. It’s 40% rather than the others 20% and much tastier. Well packaged and delivered. Thanks

We have been a few times and went to the Christmas lights, fair and had an afternoon tea. Not cheap, but good value. If you’re going for the market only you may be disappointed, but the grounds, light trail and food was worthwhile

I had windows and my fascia and soffits replaced by Fascia Division and Window Division. From quote to cleanup they were great. Competitive costs, no pressure selling, clear on what needed doing and the fitters who turned up were polite, clean, hardworking and did an excellent job. I’d used other window fitters in a previous house and they rushed to do a quick job, not the case here! Everything looks great.

Halfords Autocentre Newbury. I always use Halfords Autocentre for my MOTs, they're friendly, quick and honest. They've never tried to make work for themselves, but do raise issues to consider (tyre wear etc). I will happily keep going back

I can't see how they have earned one star. I'm writing this sitting in an unheated house with 2 primary school children and a thermometer reading 10 degrees! I contacted Octopus for a quote on 25 July. I paid a deposit on 20 August for a formal quote and the soonest they could do was the 5th September. The technician who did the heat loss calculation told us they would suggest a Cosy6, but to push for a Cosy9 as we were on the cusp. After a back and forth and delay due to the lead design engineer being away I was told it would have to be a Cosy6 on 29 September with an install in Mid November. I noticed that they had missed one room off the heat loss calculation and decided that the kitchen would just be unheated. I raised this on 30 September and they re-did the heat loss on, confirming that I needed the Cosy 9. A new contract was sent on 21 October, which I signed. I then was moved from the salesman to a 'tech specialist' for the install. The contract required me to clear the space for the heatpump before installation so I paid £600 to remove my existing oil tank and 900 litres of oil and then had the area landscaped ready for the heatpump. I then received an email on 3 November from my DNO stating they were quoting for me. I raised this to Ollie at Octopus that no-one had raised any payment to the DNO and he informed me that I may need three-phase at a cost of £1,500-15,000 on top of the heatpump! I asked him to make it clear that I would rather remove the electric shower than pay for three phase. Ollie didn't respond and nothing happened, so on 11th October I phoned Ollie and there was no answer. I phoned Octopus Energy Services and they promised to leave a message for him to call back. On the 13th I called the DNO and they explained that Octopus has requested three phase due to the current load and they had sent the quote a week earlier to Ollie anyway. They suggested I go back to Octopus regarding the electric shower and ask them to remove it from the estimate. I phoned and tried a number of options on Octopus's telephone line and four times I was told I was speaking to the wrong person - the most obvious option of a new heatpump install was disconnected as soon as you chose the option. Eventually I ranted to a kind person in technical support for already installed heatpumps and they raised the issue internally, raised a complaint for me and got my new tech specialist to call me (Ollie had moved department within Octopus and didn't bother passing anything on obviously). Kay came back on 14th and asked me to complete a new load requirement survey. I did on the same day and Kay came back on 18th November stating 'it appears the initial figure was simply due to a combination of human error and some incorrect data being pulled through on our side. I sincerely apologise for this oversight' and promising a response on 19th November. Today (the 20th) I emailed and asked for an update. I've made it clear throughout that I have two young children and no heating at all. I am now looking at getting a new oil tank and my existing boiler fixed. I have about 60 emails with Octopus. Please try someone else as they neither care nor do anything.

UPDATE: I have cancelled my order (10/1/26). I was due an install on the 16th December, but that didn't go ahead. Octopus sent an 'expert' around on 18 December to confirm the work and I was told it would be simple and quick. Following a grim Christmas in a cold house I've emailed to ask what is happening and had no response at all. I just cancelled and got an out of office from 'my Tech Specialist'. My young children, wife and I have endured a freezing winter, two oil radiators have kept the house at 8-12 degrees at a cost of about £15 a day! Rather than start afresh with a competent company, I'm reverting to heating oil (my village doesn't have gas).

UPDATE 21/1/2026: Having cancelled, I've had no response in a week, other than a auto-reply stating that there would be delays due to the volume of new orders! Great.

UPDATE 12/02/2026: Whilst Octopus has accepted their failures, I have been left about £4,500 out of pocket. Octopus are offering a final offer of £300 which they believe is a fair payment. So I will take it up with HIES, the ombusdman.

Having been advised to buy three bottles of Ovex by our GP due to a recurrent infestation, and that the side effects of any are very minor I placed an order with Pharmica. They took a day to question the order to which I replied and refused to send more than two bottles at a time- delaying treatment and costing more. Refund of course will take longer than payment! Very disappointed.

Newbury branch. Having ordered tyres online, I was phoned to say they were going to be a little late so agreed a new time for fitting. I then was phoned again to say they were even later and agreed another new date and time for fitting. I turned up today - two weeks after the initial date for fitting to be told 'who did you speak to?' Of course I don't make records. I was then told they could fit me in an hour later. However this is my lunch break from work and is a 25 minute drive away so I couldn't just wait. Totally unapologetic about it being their fault and to be honest they didn't give a hoot. I wouldn't trust them - ask for confirmation of your booking by email/text!

Update: 31/10/24 - I've not had any response to my complaint via email.

Had a tyre fitted to a loose wheel booked through Asda tyres at Protyre Abingdon - they didn't put the valve cap back on or the centre cap. I therefore booked another tyre with them to make the 1hr return journey worthwhile. I arrived and they denied there was a booking and then accepted there was one and said they'd fit the tyre but it's be at least a few hours wait. Asda tyres said they log every message/call and there was none from Protyre. I'll avoid from now on!

Contacted Snows Kia in Newbury due to my e-Niro having a number of braking fault lights come up. The service department seemed willing to do anything to avoid booking my car in. The dealership said they'd be unable to diagnose for a number of weeks. I obviously still needed to have the car fixed so agreed. They then suggested that if it wasn't a warranty fault I'd have to pay the diagnostic fee and did I still want to go ahead - obviously I did want the brakes to work in my 2 year old car. They then asked whether I'd had an accident and damaged the front sensor, I assured them not, but they seemed disbelieving. Finally they said that if it was a forward facing sensor it'd need calibrating, which they wouldn't be able to do. I ended up travelling further to the supplying dealer who diagnosed a faulty brake fluid level sensor. I was intending on using Snows for all my servicing - but I certainly won't be considering them now.

Awful service, trying to deliver an item to my work where there is some building work going on. I’ve contacted them 3 times with very clear instructions on how to find the building but honestly it looks like they are not even bothering to try to deliver - one attempt was at 5am if you believe that! Never had a good experience with Yodel and would avoid wherever possible. God knows if I’ll ever see the parcel and what state it will be in…

I realise they're the cheap end of the market and you get what you pay for. However, I didn't realise they would be so slow and unresponsive. They acted for both sides in the purchase of a vacant house with no mortgage selling to a first time buyer. In the two and a half months it took from start to finish people across the road advertised, sold, moved and the new owners started renovations. Few documents were uploaded (I never saw any of the 'other sides' letters, was never sent the enquiries themselves, the fixture and fittings form response and even had to upload the searches I did when buying the house 12 years earlier to prove the location of the sewers). They place importance on the 'initial call' which I waited for, but they didn't make, then when I tried to contact them I could never get through to my conveyancer (I did in the end by calling every 45 minutes for about 4 hours so I could ensure exchange would occur).
Whilst you save money with PPL, the cost in additional council tax and utilities for a empty house meant it would have been better and cheaper to use actual solicitors as opposed to conveyancers. Please learn from my experience and avoid this company.

Having tried to sell my house through disinterested traditional estate agents with few viewings, Strike were a breath of fresh air. They were great at communicating, everything was done on time and importantly saved me thousands!
Unfortunately, the conveyancers they recommend (Premier Property Lawyers) really let them down as they're the opposite, slow and unfriendly. My sale was of an empty house to a first time buyer - with both parties using the same conveyancers - it couldn't have been more straightforward.

Simple and quick quote, easy to use website and the cheapest available.
Downgraded today from 5 stars as they have ignored my note that I can't take delivery on Monday and haven't responded to any of my messages.
AM 28/03/23