James Young

Being elderly and physically disabled I am used to being ignored but the Manager of the Blackpool Office together with Dame Debbie the Chief Executive have gone above and beyond in the most shameful way.

I visited the Blackpool Office and was seen by a really kind and lovely lady called Alex. I had problems paying money into my Nationwide Credit Card account as the payments were going to my Nationwide Debit Card account instead. Alex was very helpful and sorted out the problem for me. By chance at the time in the branch was an IT executive who said it was the first time he had seen this issue. However so kind, patient and helpful was Alex that I wrote a letter praising her to the branch manager and delivered it by hand.

In addition I thought this exceptional helpfulness and kindness was worthy of it being brought to the attention of Nationwide's Chief Executive Dame Debbie Crosby. I sent a letter by First Class post and via Recorded Delivery to her addressed personally. The letter was received against a Nationwide's staff member's signature on 4th March last. To date Dame Debbie, her office and the local branch manager have all shown me abject discourtesy by not replying.

Clearly this behaviour shows exactly what the Nationwide hierarchy and management structure think of not only their staff but also their customers.

Excellent all round. I am sorry I cannot remember your name but I spoke to you at 10.49am Mon 2nd February regarding part number 234643 for a Baxi Brazilia gas fire. Without prompting you kindly offered to go to your warehouse to check the measurement of the part I required and returned with the information I needed. About 2pm that day I ordered two items online and received them at home less than 24 hours later.

The service and courtesy from the young man at UK-Spares was exceptional and the delivery was incredibly fast. Although the cost of the items and postage was marginally more expensive than other companies the reason I chose UK-Spares over them was because they provided a phone number to speak to a human being rather than just an email address for enquiries.

Highly recommended. Thank you.

Bupa dental 'care' is a misnomer! If you are disabled keep clear of their premises in Victoria Road Cleveleys as you are unwelcome. Their are usually several places to park within their grounds but they keep one access shuttered to stop customers entering and the 'exit' is marked as such so you cannot drive in. What angers me most of all is that their is one clearly marked disabled space for parking next to which in the adjoining window someone has placed a 'staff only' sign. When this was a private practice owned by the Stanage's there was a 100% welcoming attitude.

Poor people not welcome!

My elderly neighbour struggles with the cost of living and once she has put aside money for the necessities of life like heating she is left with very little.

Yesterday she had £3.97 left and went to Cleveleys Aldi to get a small loaf and some milk. As always rather than queue she went to the self service till clearly marked as taking cash and card but when she got there the tills would not accept cash. The young male assistant told her they were not taking cash anymore and the old lady left without her milk and bread and had to go to a local shop that does take cash. Appalling way to treat those customers less fortunate in life.

I was with my old phone provider for 15 years but after constant problems with being unable to make and receive calls and access the Internet I moved to Vodafone.

For the past 2 years I could not have been happier. Vodafone have been brilliant. The lady in the Blackpool shop did the transfer for me. The monthly price is perfect for me and what I need as a 70 year old. I've recommended them over and over again.

Over this past Xmas and New Year they have let me
down unfortunately. Every day I am receiving SMS text messages saying I have won £500 or £900 and just need to 'click here'. Alternatively they want me to sign up for various betting or gambling sites via an alphanumeric code. I may be elderly but not naive. I have never even been in a betting shop ever and I would not waste my pension on betting. All Vodafone suggest is to forward all these texts to them which I do but they say they cannot block them as they originate from a name not a number. Every time I get a message notification I dread to look. It is making my life a misery. In today's hi-tech world surely something can be done.

Based on other comments and Evri responses which are clearly an automated standard reply I know nothing will be achieved but I will have a record of my comment should it be required.

I have received a message to say that an item I ordered online has been delivered to my home today. I have not received the item however. Fortunately I have 7 CCTV cameras covering my property and these clearly show the Evri driver putting the item by my front door and then some moments later picking it up again and putting it back in his van. There may of course be a genuine reason for this but the fact that the seller of the item believes I have received it is erroneous.

I had not used this company before but was attracted by the low price of the items I was looking for namely Pedigree Dentastix. Sometimes a company will offer a low price because there is a very short sell-by date so I telephoned Vetshop asking them to check the product sell-by date. The person I spoke to said they would have to check with their warehouse but would contact me with an answer. Within the hour I received an email from Nella confirming the date to be more than a year hence namely June 2026 so I immediately ordered a years supply. The product arrived on my doorstep less than 24 hours later. Very impressed with the service by phone and email fron Nella and the incredible speed of delivery.

A middle of the road review - neither delighted nor totally against! I am the wrong side of 70 years old and disabled bodily - not mentally! I wanted a PAYG SIM card for emergency use only should I need help outdoors. Asda was the cheapest 'no contract' deal. Strangely the info pack states the phone SIM is only 2G and trying to get Internet access is non existent so I could not seek help from friends via Social Media. The call cost is expensive at 30p per minute but it's the same price for just a 10 second call as everything is rounded up. The other major issue is top-up. I have a top-up card linked to the phone and prefer to pay cash at a counter. I tried two Post Offices but neither could accept the card either by 'swiping' the card or manually inputting its number. One of the Post Offices suggested there was a dispute between the Post Office Counters and Asda about refusal to pay commission charges although obviously I do not know whether this suggestion by a member of staff at the Post Office has any credence. However I then tried four local shops including W H Smith's the newsagents and Bargain Booze which offer mobile top-ups and none of them accepted Asda top-up cards. The card itself must be OK as I made the long return journey to my nearest Asda store and it was accepted immediately.

Update 20 August 2024 I have received your request for further information and replied accordingly with the phone number requested.

I have given a 5 star review because what was good was exceptionally good but ...... Over a period of weeks I visited the Blackpool Squires Gate Retail Park store looking for something on two occasions. On one occasion there was just one member of staff visible and on the second just two. Neither was helpful. The best one could offer was that the item was not in stock but they MAY be able to order the item for me but it would take at least a week to arrive. I was then on the verge of buying from elsewhere when an Internet search gave the Halfords online website as a choice for the item i wanted. The Halfords online price of £50 offered a £5 promotional discount with free delivery. I ordered this item at 4.20pm on Tuesday 30th July and DHL courier's delivered it at 10.25am Wedenesday 31st. Between these times I received three update emails. One said order received, the second said order dispatched and the third confirmed it would be delivered within a one hour time slot by DHL and so it was. The item is perfect.

So hence the title above. The store experience was very poor on two occasions but the online experience from ordering to delivery just 18 hours later was truly exceptional. Why can an item be sent to my home with free postage in just 18 hours when lacklustre staff suggest at least a week's delivery to a store I then have to travel a few miles to?

Well done Halfords online!

Unfortunately my high hopes based on reviews here were not met. The advert I saw online specifically claimed they specialise in gutter cleaning services in Cleveleys (where I wanted the job doing) with over 20 years experience and gave a specific phone number for a job in Cleveleys. When I rang the number, based on changes of ringtone, it diverted twice and then a young male answered. He asked the postcode which I gave him phonetically and he had no idea where this address was. It was clear that this was not as implied a Cleveleys based company otherwise he would have recognised the first three alpha/numeric code as his own. Despite repeating the address the man asked further where abouts (in the country) the area was so I specifically queried the company base location and he said it was Manchester. I said this was not why I had called to deal with a non-local company and politely said 'Goodbye' and he just put the phone down. My elderly friend (for whom the work is needed) and I are both very disappointed .

UPDATE 22/05/2024
I have received communication from Ben's Gutters demanding my phone number and that I alter my 'star' rating from 1 upwards by using the somewhat fatuous argument that I did not experience their 'service'. Although Trustpilot shows several comments where reviewers claim they are subsequently pestered by Ben's Gutters I have provided the phone number as I am able to block them should they become offensive or harassing and with previous police advice about harassment I could also go down that route too. In respect of them requiring me to change my rating I say that 'service' received from any company starts from the moment they answer a call or contact. Although others give higher ratings my review is honest and based on my personal experience with them and as can be seen from other 1 star comments I am not alone in my disappointment with this company.

The comments here says it all. The fact this company do not respond to comments surely means you should avoid at all costs. An elderly friend wanted to order from Easylife but knowing she would not be at home asked if she could use her name but my address for delivery. We live in different areas with a different postcode. I agreed. On planet earth there is only one reference to my friends name and my address and that is with Easylife. Yet within days begging letters started from various charities asking for money. Other catalogues dropped through the door too. Each was addressed to my friends name at my address so the only source for this must have been Easylife. Avoid like the plague!

Easylife use Evri to deliver. Nightmare. Would never order from Easylife again until they change courier company. Ref H0105A0022592252.

Purchased new Yale house alarm 3rd Jan 2024 and fitting instructions/features sparse to say the least. The leaflet said to go on line and download the 'Advanced Manual' from the Yale website for further info but no such manual was available. I emailed the company and within just 4 working hours a reply from a person called Klemen with the manual attached was received. So what was a disappointing start turned out well. Customer Service excellent hence 5 stars but the manual should be in the box or at least accessible from the website.

Hopefully this complaint will reach Karen as she appears to get things done quickly. I was offered an Introductory Bonus of 3000 Nectar points plus 4 points per £1 spent for a new Viking account opened between 27/11/23 and 10/12/23. I had to link my Nectar card and make a purchase over £59 exc VAT. I complied with this by opening a new account and making a purchase of £115.83 ex VAT on 01/12/23 and linked my Nectar card as required. My invoice number was 3438969. The 3000 points and 464 points were not added to my Nectar card. However proving that my Nectar card had been properly linked I discovered that Viking had added just 232 points on 05/12/23. This was the basic non-introductory number of points. I am therefore owed some 3,232 Nectar points. I look forward to an early resolution to this matter please. Yours faithfully.

EDIT 27 Dec 2023. As hoped/expected Karen telephoned me within 24 hours of this review and promised to ensure the matter was dealt with to my satisfaction. Thanks.

As a new customer my first order was overcharged. I tried ringing customer services and it appears to be an Asian call centre and unfortunately I could not understand the Asian lady's accent so rang off. I rang back and again it was a different Asian lady who both had difficulty understanding me as much as I did her. Both ladies were pleasant enough but the inability for both of us to communicate with each other was a problem. For some reason the second lady wanted to know if I had bought any stamps? Why I don't know as it made no sense. Whether I will actually get the overcharge refunded to my account is a moot point but I did tell the lady that once the ordered goods had arrived I would be closing my account. This is not the way to treat any customer let along a brand new one.

UPDATE 6th December 2023
After posting the above review and written response from Karen at Viking, Karen telephoned me this morning and dealt with the overcharge and credited this amount back to my account. Karen was courteous and pleasant and we had no communication problem!

Further, shortly after the call two young men arrived with my order of a 4 drawer filing cabinet. I am elderly and disabled and they were the epitome of kindness and courtesy towards me. They were real gentlemen and I hope my comment can be passed on to them with my grateful thanks.

My original contact with Viking Customer Services was very poor but the response from Karen and especially the two young men referred to above warrants an upgrade frome 1 star to 5 stars.

After one purchase constantly bombarded with emails and demand for feedback to trustpilot. Well you got your wish!

FURTHER to response below I DID tell them twice to stop pestering me by opting out of emails which they acknowledged then still sent a further email demanding a Trustpilot review.

Generally very happy with them in terms of price and cover provided although I have not yet experienced their service in the event of a claim. As I have not had a claim with anybody in the past 30 odd years that is true of any insurance policy company! At the moment my issue is regarding renewal. I received notice of renewal and price with their automatic renewal system which was perfectly OK and I left them to it. However instead of taking the renewal from my account on the date they stated, they actually took it some days before. This could have put me in a difficult situation at my bank had I not by chance looked at my online account that day.

UPDATE 18/02/23 Now received warning from Trustpilot that this truthful review may be removed unless I engage in correspondence.

When Richard and Jennifer Stanage had their dental surgery in Victoria Road Cleveleys it was the best of the best. Extremely professional in everything they did and equally friendly and courteous to all. Their dental colleagues and reception staff were the same. Nothing was too much trouble. Now that BUPA have taken over it has all changed. My partner and her friend who were both registered with Richard have not been able to get anyone to answer the telephone since November last year. The usual 'your call is important to us' then left on hold for so long a recorded machine message eventually kicks in asking you to leave a message. In the days before BUPA this never happened. Your call was always pleasantly answered by a human being.

According to their website Reed Wellbeing is part of the same Reed Group (as shown here founded by Sir Alec Reed and now run by his son James). Reed Wellbeing would do well to ensure that when contact is made asking for details of their Data Protection Officer to raise issues about their possession of personal medical information that such information is to hand and readily provided. For staff to say they don't know is not acceptable.

Brilliant courteous and helpful service. I wanted a control knob for my gas fire. There are two available and one has a spindle almost twice the length of the other so it is easy to order the wrong one. I spoke to Rob Lane at UK Spares early on Tuesday afternoon (17/01/23), gave him the GC No. and possible part number and asked if dimensions were available on his screen. He said they weren't but as the part was in stock he would be happy to go and get one for me and measure it which he did. This alone was a fine example of exceptional service. The part was the correct one so I ordered two of them and they arrived overnight by 11am this morning Wednesday (18/01/23) courtesy of DHL courier. Highly recommended all round. Many thanks Rob.