Quick to take money, very little communication and slow to provide product
Update: 5/4/21
After posting my initial review of myareadesign.com on Trust Pilot, the company got in touch to say that, miraculously, they had managed to organise a quick delivery of my Barazza hob from their factory in Italy to the UK.
Indeed the hob did arrive very soon after their notification, and it was expertly packed and boxed with a wood frame to protect the contents, which we were very impressed with.
Let me respond, however, to their reply of my original review and put a few things straight.
We ordered the hob on 28 February and received confirmation that our payment had been received by them on the same day. In the same email, myareadesign.com stated that "Delivery (was) expected in 4/8 working days after shipment " and that for items indicated as "available" on their website (which this product was), that "Shipment (was) expected in 2 working days after the online order."
That meant that the hob should have been with us by 12 March at the latest.
Although we heard nothing more from them, the order tracking details on our myareadesign.com account indicated that we would receive the hob on 18 March. OK, another week from when we expected the hob. That was fine - I had ordered installation for the following week. However, when that day came and went with no other notification, I phoned them on 22nd March. And it was when I experienced their apathetic response.
The person I spoke to (Mary?) stated that there had been delays at the Barazza factory. But Myareadesign.com had not bothered to communicate this to us and couldn't care less that we had anticipated installation based on the out-of-date advice they had provided us with, telling me that the product "would come, when it comes"!
It was only when I reviewed them negatively on Trust Pilot that they seemed to have an extraordinary change of heart, and suddenly the product was immediately available. It would be shipped the next day, they said.
My main concern, therefore, was that it took a bad review to see some progress on delivery. But I would rather not be out-of-pocket by cancelling my hob installers 24 hours before installation, and I would rather not spend an hour on the phone myareadesign.com in Italy from the UK trying to plead my case.
At the time the additional costs we incurred because of the delay (and also because we still had to pay additional import duty as well) meant that the reduced cost of the hob was almost lost. I am adding a couple of additional stars to reflect the great quality of the packaging and the fact that the hob design is so aesthetically pleasing. Barazza is a step beyond what so many other appliance manufacturers have on the market today.
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We ordered an expensive Barazza gas hob from My Area Design nearly a month ago, because they had been given such great reviews on Trust Pilot.
However, we have had literally NOTHING in terms of contact from them about our order. We logged onto their website, but there is only a note that we get there is an "anticipated" shipping date of 18th March - five days ago.
I had to phone Italy to find out that there had "been delays" with our item and that it would be "shipping in a few days". But they had not called me or emailed me and we have a half-finished kitchen with no hob and we cannot even get our worktops fitted until the hob is in place, so we have incurred delays and costs because the product has not been sent.
The person I spoke to was unsympathetic, wouldn't speak to the logistics team for us and had the nerve to tell me "thank you so much for trusting us"! Like I have a choice, now that you have my money and I have nothing in return!
Even more upsetting is that I have to pay a penalty for making our contractors wait around to install a product that hasn't even left Italy!
I wouldn't mind about the delays so much if they had bothered to communicate the delays to me. I had to waste my time and money to get this information from them. The customer support person I spoke to couldn't care less about our problems.
I feel as if we have just been conned out of over £1,000 by a scam artist because of the experience.
I am so upset with the service from My Area Design, would NEVER recommend and NEVER use this company again.
23 March 2021
Unprompted review