Consortium Education Reviews 

This company are not anywhere near the standard they need to be to still be trading. I am expecting to have to go through my bank to get my money back. Sad to see that schools are being scammed by them too. My order that was supposed to be delivered on the 29th hasn't been and I've had no communication from them. AVOID.

I made an order that turned out to not be in stock. Only by chasing them did I find this out. As there was not estimated date for a restock I asked for a refund. Its over a month later and I am still chasing. They have my bank details for this but still nothing.
I stupidly made another order (almost £500) and checked the item was in stock - it was.
The dispatch date came and went. Again I chased and was told it is out of stock - the long process of email to get a refund begins. I'm now owed almost £600 and they are ignoring my emails and not refunding me.
when I called the 'helpline' they cut my call off.
If i could give 0 stars I would!! AVOID THIS COMPANY!!!!!!!

Zero stars they advertise orders will be received in 6 days iv been waiting 10 days and had to phone them for them to tell me it hasn't been dispatched... following the reply I still have not had the refund!!

Quite possibly THE worst company I've had to deal with online. They're so bad, Ryanair could bow down them in honour for their customer service. We've had dealings with fraudsters better than this lot..
DO NOT believe anything that is written on their web-site and do not attempt to contact customer service over the telephone as their 'system' (not accusing the staff here) cuts you off. The Customer Service management treat their front facing staff as Cannon Fodder... Buy from GLS Education Supplies instead, 'cos this lot couldn't organise a party in a brewery..
P.S have only given 1 star as I couldn't leave a zero

I can't believe I didn't reading those reviews before placing my order. They make all these fancy claims about free next day delivery on items that are supposedly in stock. So, on May 24th, I went ahead and ordered a few items, expecting them to arrive the next day. But guess what? Today, June 14th, I had to waste my precious time calling them to chase up my order, which was now time-critical. And guess what else? Same old story as the others. The staff member had the audacity to confirm that the items were indeed in stock, but shockingly, not a single one had even been allocated to my damn order, let alone dispatched. And don't even get me started on their email responses. It takes an eternity to hear back from them. This is just beyond awful service.

I wish I had read these reviews before I ordered. They advertise as free next day delivery on items shown as in stock. We ordered 8 items on 30th May, which were shown as in stock. Today, 7th June I had to call them to chase up the order which was by now time critical. The staff member checked the order and stated that the items were indeed in stock, but that no items had even been allocated to the order, let alone dispatched. He couldn't understand why, other than it's likely to be a problem with their computer system that they've had since it upgraded last year. He was unable to give a likely date of dispatch, so am left with no alternative but to cancel the order and try to obtain the items from elsewhere for Friday. No contact from the company either to email that they were having problems with the order. Shockingly bad service.

We, a small Primary school, have been trying to resolve issues with a prices mismatch between PO and invoices for over a year. This is down to the chaos with the Consortium website and deliveries during early 2022, which many customers have experienced. We finally thought we had got somewhere with receiving credit notes, but now have been chased again for payment! You get referred to a 'customer experience' team then never hear from them again or have to start over and over again with different reps and nothing is ever solved. You can't get your previous orders or invoices through the online account. The customer is totally in the dark and left running round in never ending circles. Really disappointing. Can't be trusted to make our usual summer orders this year.

Happy to edit my original scathing review now & be more positive. After my issue eventually reached the Customer Service Manager - I have been happily compensated and leave with a much more positive impression of Consortium.

Consortium definitely have work to do with:
- communicating any delays to customers
- getting ‘in stock’ products shipped promptly (especially if an item has been delayed when it’s available it should be straight out)
- improving communication between warehouse and contact centre so that shipping dates can be given and stuck to (‘sometime next week’ (when already delayed) is NEVER an appropriate response)
- they urgently need to put in place an escalation process - despite numerous requests to speak to a manager - none were ever available and none ever called back (until after I’d left numerous reviews on here and LinkedIn etc)
- contact centre staff or their managers need to own issues and see them through to resolution

Hopefully my meagre order of one item has helped to highlight some of the internal issues to them and they will do better in the future for future customers.

I am very grateful I now have my daughters favourite Baby Sensory toy all wrapped and ready for her 1st birthday - so thankyou.

Consortium used to be our main supplier but for the last year I have wasted many hours trying to sort out invoices for items that we had not received and had cancelled, but yet they are chasing payment and now threatening with debt letters! Numerous emails and telephone calls have been made over the last year and all ignored, with only stock emails sent. One call back was received in November which I was so hopeful would have resolved the issue but yet we are back at square one.

We are a small school and this is totally unnecessary and frustrating. I have asked for their complaints department and yet again ignored.

I recently asked for that member of staff that actually called me back 6 months ago, but now she is 'always busy' to take a call. So many emails, phone calls, time and money wasted and STILL unresolved from March 22- April 23

I would avoid this company.

Edit: the books were cancelled and not received, therefore payment should be void.
There are also credit notes issued for orders that were also cancelled and had never been paid. In November I spoke to Swetha who raised invoices on the orders we had received which we paid and said she would cancel the others which is were problems have arisen again.

Please can I have the email address for the complaints department? I have emailed asking for it well over ten times now, but I am being ignored.

UPDATE: I left a bad review on their website and they have removed it. There are no reviews there since March 22, funny that...

Consortium used to be our go to supplier but for the last year I have wasted hours trying to track down orders and sort out invoices for items that have not been received. Today I have received a Debt Collection notice despite emailing them on 2 Nov, 20 Dec, 6 Jan, 18 Jan and 6 Feb telling them that we have not received these items. I had stopped using them but have tried them a few more times in the last two months but there are still issues with being told on the website that items are in stock but then they are not delivered. Unless you want to waste hours of your time sorting out problems I would avoid.

The invoices that I did not receive the items for are SI0280190 and SI0167553 and I have not received credit notes for these as I have now ordered the items from another supplier

would like to give NO stars
& I agree with all the previous reviewers
AVOID, the customer service is no existant & i am now being told that (after 6 months of queries) that my queries 7 missing items are our of their time frame & it is up to me to prove that i have already asked for replacements or credits - despite always attaching the previous correspondence to new emails
customer service are replying with stock answers and are not taking the time to read through the email trail
I am NOT using them unless absolutely necessary.
Orders arrive with no details on them which is impossible for a very large seconday school, items incorrectly delivered are not collected the list goes on.
Useless when they used to be good

and i just had this - another stock answer
2 minutes ago
I am very sorry to hear of your experience, as requested, please supply further information so that we can investigate and resolve for you ASAP. Kind regards,
Customer Services

Changing computer systems and warehouse at the same time at the busiest time of the school year is a good way of destroying a good business.
Leaving customers with little or no information apart from "we apologise and are working extremely hard to overcome difficulties" weeks later I am sick of hearing this, the lastest statement is
"I apologise for the inconvenience that this has caused, I look forward to hearing from you soon" They should be looking forward to never hearing from us again because they have sorted out this mess.
Openly admitting that a delivery date couldn't be given but goods are in the warehouse but "they are working incredibly hard to get goods out to customers" Taking days to reply to emails. Answering in a generic inconclusive way leaving me none the wiser.
To date I have undelivered items from orders dating back to May, items in the warehouse still waiting to be sent out, unlabeled parcels which I struggled to apply to our orders, invoices for goods not received and no invoices for items we have got.
I'm sorry to say that I think Consortium may well sink after this year and for that I feel very sorry for the people that work there.
I for one will never be placing an order with them again.

An order was placed on 4/07/2022 for supplies for our Preschool. I am still awaiting the order. I have emailed and phoned on many occasions. The only information I can obtain, is that our order is in the warehouse awaiting dispatch. I am always told I will be called back within 48 hours with an order update. Nothing happens. I have tried ringing the customer service team again today. The recorded message tells me their opening hours and then goes on to say they are closed. This is an appalling service.

Horrendous Customer Service
We placed an order with Consortium for a table and chair set for a new classroom. I was told over the phone that we could have delivery on the 2nd September (1st day of term)

Unfortunately, the order arrived 3 weeks ago! In the meantime we managed to furnish the room via a different supplier. The surplus delivery is now sitting in said classroom, but is incredibly conjested and a health and safety issue. Myself and a colleague have spent the last 3 weeks calling and emailing almost daily to arrange for the items to be collected.

I have spoken to multiple customer service advisors who have said they will pass my request onto the relevant team who will respond with in 24/48hrs. 3 weeks on and no reply.

This has been an awful experience.

Having an issue with an order placed in June. I have phoned and emailed constantly but unfortunately cannot speak to anyone who is able to help. I now have been invoice for an item we didn't receive, and have an order arrived which I requested to be cancelled months ago when it was not in stock, which we will now be invoiced for. Explain the issue each time I call, then told my query will be directed to a higher agent who will call me back as they do not have access to the screens to help. Not sure what is the point of customer services who can't do anything! No call received to date. Will not provide me with their complaints procedure. At a loss to know what else to do!

Used to be reliable but they have gone so far down hill. Unfortunately they are one of the council's preferred suppliers so they are supposed to offer discounts, but the prices on my invoices match the website prices, so they are not upholding their promise. I don't know how they won the contract!

I placed a large order in July, still waiting for some of it. No updates on where it is, if it's in stock etc. They have sent a seperate invoice for nearly every single item so it's taken ages to process it all. It is also time consuming chasing all the missing orders.

It took four weeks to get paper towels delivered on another order, leaving the school without for two weeks as they kept saying they were 'out for delivery' when they obviously weren't.

I have complained numerous times and they said they put a message about issues on their website, who is going to see that unless they are ordering?! I continued to order and never saw it anyway.

'Next day delivery' is code for you might get it one day, but we won't tell you when.

UPDATE: I've emailed repeatedly since writing this review and I am still missing items from June and July and I have been charged twice for some of them.

orders turning up that have not been placed by us, nobody calls back, double invoiced for the same items been emailing since May and no response. As a school I have always used Consortium. But never again. Shocking customer service.
I have now told them I am charging them storage costs for the items sent that were not ordered.

I have already sent you emails going back to May. I have had several calls and been promised a call back and i'm still waiting i am not wasting anymore of my time dealing with this. I have a pallet load in the delivery bay of unordered items including a toy for an 18 month old baby!!! We are a senior school. Your storage bill is now in it's 3rd week.

Shocking customer service. No return communication. Calls never returned as promised. Nothing resolved since April. Never use or recomend

We have always used Consortium for our exercise books and put in an order at the end of June. Usually they are an excellent service but when the books didn't arrive at the designated time, I called customer service. They assured me when come the time I needed them (end of August) the order will be sorted. I believe him but said I would change the date to mid August and would call in 2 weeks to check progress. Called again and got the same answer and less confident that the order would be fulfilled in time. I asked there was anything happening with Consortium and she said they were financially sound. I shared my thoughts that I was worried the order wouldn't be here on time at the school for the teachers and could I get a firmer time line on arrival. Same answer - when it closer to the time, the order will be dealt with. Panic stations set in and I called another company to see if they had the stock and do the order. Luckily they did and I called back Consortium to cancel my order. Good thing I did as we would have been up the proverbial creek with an OFSTED inspection so close that you could sniff it and the possibility of no exercise books was going to be unbearable. Reading the reviews, I could see nothing has changed and I was so glad I ordered elsewhere. No apologies or calls to find out what happened to their big order. In my phone calls to Consortium they had explained there were changes to their system and to bear with them as they sorted it out. I was sympathetic as anything like that happening can upset the system momentarily. It was a pity it happened at that particular time period where it was a little more crucial. I hope they've sorted out their problems. I am hesitant to order now if there is a time factor of under 1 month.