Steve Pratt

WHAT A TOTAL WASTE OF TIME.
Having splashed out on business class flights to New Zealand, we acquired quite a lot of air miles (Despite not being credited for the HK to Auckland, as, apparently, I was not on that flight, despite having boarding pass, seat selection, and being o subsequent flight!!!
Anyway, what to do with them, nothing long distance planned, so simplest was to exchange for Amazon gift card, went through the process, 'order confirmed', great. Week went by, no comms, so checked 'order status' - this showed 'no order for that number', contacted (Contractor, not M&M) to be told 'cancelled by M&M'!! Messaged M&M, no response, so tried re-ordering card, EXACTLY THE SAME THING HAPPENED. Cannot believe how bad these guys are.......................

Having bought a Triumph with +060" bores, bit smoky, thought I'd treat it to new barrels/pistons, came across here. Listing was 'new barrels, ready to fit with new std pistons' Perfect. E-mailed to check that 9:1 pistons could be supplied, had a response 'yes'. Placed order, e-mailed to confirm I wanted 9:1, no reply, sent reply to order acknowledgement, requesting 9:1, no reply. Waited, finally got 'dispatched, next day courier', 3 days later received. NO PISTONS. I believe the listing was deceptive, yes, it is ready to fit, IF YOU ALREADY HAVE PISTONS, how many people are in that position?
They had 3 opportunities to point out that they were separate, chose not to, if they had, would have bought elsewhere.
To add to the dissatisfaction, listing says 'free p&p over £250', I ordered barrels at £395, got charged £10, THIS HAS NOW BEEN REFUNDED, which helps.
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
Update, listing has now been amended, clearly stating 'no pistons', helps you, not me, they have offered to refund postage IF I amend/remove this. I WILL amend, if I receive refund, but will always share experience. I managed to source NOS pistons for £68, elsewhere, having to wait, again.

APC excellent, as ever, wish the same could be said about SENDER (Marked dispatched 2 days earlier) - only critique, driver handed parcel to 72 year old female, who nearly dropped (Fragile) >10Kg box..........
Be perfect if he'd just placed on ground.

Having installed a heat pump, I thought the 'heat pump tariff' was worth a look.....
I made note of our daily consumption, at start, 11.00, 16.00 end (Tariff is reduced rate 11-16). Mycalculation showed a saving, switched, all good.
When tariff kicked in, I continued monitoring/calculating, and DID show savings of ~ £1.30/day, HOWEVER, SP's website has a daily record of my account, showing Kwh and £££'s, THIS showed an INCREASE in my daily charge (Obviously, they show no calculation to support). Studying closely, I had a 'Eureka moment', noticed 'times are based on GMT' in small print (We are currently on BST), quick google produced '11-16.00 all year', only one thing to do, ring SP, simple.......
'Hi, is the heat pump tariff GMT?'
'Yes'
'So it's 12.00-17.00 now?'
'No, it's 11.00-16.00'
'How? If it's GMT, that's 12-16.00'
'No, it's 11.00-16.00'
'So it's NOT GMT?'
'It IS GMT'
'That isn't possible, we're on BST'
'I don't understand time stuff'
'Good god, can you ask someone, please'
'Yes, please hold'
40 minutes on hold before I gave up.........
E-mailed question, no response.
Still trying to understand how they/I differed, I started playing with numbers, amazed to find that total Kwh*PEAK rate+ daily s/c= THEIR calculated daily cost, seems split tariffs are beyond their capability.
Of course, this still doesn't resolve BST/GMT question, guess I'll never know.
I can only assume that SP saved a bit of money by outsourcing software development to a local pre-school class computer project.
MAYBE poor feedback here will prompt a response, think it's my last hope.

Having used Hertz before (Never again, thank you....) I needed 2 cars, North & South island. 1st one, Auckland, was a fairly high mileage (94k Km) but immaculate, valeted, drove like a dream. Hadn't realised Apex were ~ 1Km away, but mini bus was efficient and friendly (Both ways). Initial pick up was swift, as was the return process.
South island even better, same pick up efficiency, SUPERB Rav4, even had sat nav. Really enjoying the trip (Still on it)

I can (Kinda) forgive the extended delivery time, with conflicting, confusing comms, what I find utterly UNFORGIVABLE is listing a bike (Lapierre 7.6) as '2023', listing correct spec, delivering a 2022, 'old spec' machine, completely ignoring e-mail pointing this out. DISGUSTING. I thought I was dealing with a reputable dealer, seems not to be the case. Bike is fine, but, when the time comes to sell, I will have to be honest, sell as '2022', why can't they????
OK, how do I contact trading standards.........
WARNING!! Just noticed, bike supplied is set up incorrectly, R/H brake is REAR, L/H FRONT, as in USA, obviously missed in the 'Obligatory PDI'....... Luckily, spotted Before her ladyship went over the bars! Wonder how many times they've been sued??

Seemed simple, tried to buy an e-bike online. After going through card details etc. screen displayed 'error 504, unable to......', checked e-mails, nothing received, so tried again, same result. ho hum.
A little later, looked at my credit card site, horrified to see TWO 'pending' payments to Lapierre. (Still no e-mail). Checked customer service tab, 'Mon to Fri' (It was Saturday, BH weekend), rang credit card, couldn't help.
Filled in contact form to Lapierre, waited til Tuesday to ring (Hoping the credit 'pending' would vanish.
Tuesday morning, credit pending converted to debit, so rang as soon as Lapierre office opened, started to relate story, surprised to hear 'is that steve' from operator (Gemma)!! Understood problem, was about to message me, agreed to cancel both. All resolved very quickly, able to buy elsewhere.

We bought a house with 'cylinder' cooking, on moving in, found cylinders had evaprated....
Popped doen to 'Calor' dealer, was shocked to find there was a £60 deposit on bottles. Thinking it was opportunism, went to a second dealer, told same story, Ripoff!
Anyhoo, needed gas, so forked out £90 for a full bottle - further miffed to be told that only 1/2 deposit is redeemable - Ripoff 2.
When I found that Flogas provide a full bottle for £26 (Delivered to door!) I bought subsequent bottles there.
Having established Flogas was streets ahead, returned bottle to my nearest dealer (With paperwork, stating 'return to authorised dealer') - after 10 mins of staring at this, 'manager' decvided he could not accept, told me to take to original purchasing dealer - ripoff 3.
I now have a 20 mile drive, to (Possibly) retrieve my deposit...........
Avoid, avoid, avoid, you have been warned.
Had an e-mail from Calor, asking what size cylinder (19Kg) - it was a 'no reply' address, so not sure how I'm to respond........
Having seen Calor's web page, printed off the 'simply return to Calor agent' page, looked for nearest (Morrison's, caernarfon), presented said paperwork - Manager said 'we don't do that'...........
I have a feeling I'm stuck with a non-refundable cylinder.
I think the technical name for this is THEFT.
Finally sorted (Many thanks to Caernarfon depot) - lesson to others, ignore Calor's site/instructions, find your nearest calor DEPOT (Not agent selling, they are chocolate fireguards) - take bottle in, all gets done. Calor should have appropriate info, but they don't, so help yourself..........

Initial impressions quite good, day scheduled, night before produces a 2 hour slot, map 'updated every few seconds' to track the van, promise to ring shortly before arrival, would all be perfect, if it happened.........
Received a 10.15-12.15 slot, settled in to wait. Looked at the map, result, van on drop '0' (I'm 6), 100 miles away. At 12.00, van is shown ~ 70 miles away, not moving. 5 mins later, van is 5 miles away, again, not moving. 12.15 passed, no delivery, van still immobile.
e-mailed Panther, to enquire, result was a new slot, promised by 13.07.
At 13.15, my mobile rang twice - couldn't even get it from my pocket, as I did, van pulled up........
Operators were unconcerned about being >1 hr late, said they had a long drive, with deliveries - surely that was taken into account when setting timeslot?
I'm sure there would have been a fuss if I was not there in the slot, seems it's the job of mere customers to hang around till they can be bothered to show. e-mail to Panther to point this out, resulted in 'sometimes we don't achieve guide time (I already knew that.)
If you have the choice, choose someone else, if dealer selects, try to geyt it changed.

We bought a house with 'LPG' hob (No mains) - on moving in, was disappointed that the 4 cylinders had 'vanished'. Needing some, went to local Calor dealer, shocked to find >£60 'deposit' (Of which only 50% is redeemable!) - now I know what happened to the bottles........
Anyhoo, needed gas, so paid up.
Looking for spares, noticed that Flogas only charge deeposit on <11Kg bottles, seemed too good to be true, but decided to try - seems NOT too good to be true, NO DEPOSIT charged, on top of that, cylinder was £3 cheaper than 'local', and is delivered FOC to doorstep. Couldn't fault the service.

Don't be fooled by the low prices, you're buying from real people, with truly excellent service.
Mower arrived next day, perfect condition, plenty of e-mails confirming everything (thanks, James)
11/10, you won't find better........