Choice

I have been a Choice customer for around 8 years now and I would of said that their service was satisfactory. I have never used any other catalogue so I don’t have anything to compare it to but I was happy enough, I’d place an order, it came on time then I’d receive a statement and I’d pay it. Simple. Good enough for me. That was until about a year ago…

~~~~~~~~~~~WHAT THEY OFFER~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

- Home shopping delivered ...
...service anyway to be sure. Choice did eventually agree to let me have my order.

Example 3). This week I have received my latest statement only to find that although they have let me have my order, they have charged me a £15 administration fee for late payment. Again I have spoke to them about this but with no suscess.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~RECOMMEND A FRIEND~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Recommend a friend is exactly that. You ... more

I have been a Choice customer for around 8 years now and I would of said that their service was satisfactory. I have never used any other catalogue so I don’t have anything to compare it to but I was happy enough, I’d place an order, it came on time then I’d receive a statement and I’d pay it. Simple. Good enough for me. That was until about a year ago…

~~~~~~~~~~~WHAT THEY OFFER~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

- Home shopping delivered free to your door
- 14 day approval
- Free returns
- Extended service plan
- Furniture protection
- Shopping insurance
- Home contents insurance
- Pet insurance
- Car insurance
- Personal Loans £1,000 to £25,000
- RAC breakdown cover
- Next day flowers online

Sounds great hey! Well after you have read this you might not think so…

~~~~~~~~~~~~THE CATALOGUE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The catalogue is free. Just ring them up on the free phone number 0800 0922 622 and order one. Once you have an account set up with them. You’ll receive 4 seasonal catalogues a year. It is a very thick book, with plenty of choice, from clothes to household goods, top brand names and lower priced items, however it is virtually the same as all the other catalogues as they mostly are all the same company. Littlewoods, Freemans, apart from the offers and I few products they are all standard.

~~~~~~~~~~~INTEREST RATES~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-20 weeks interest-free items up to £60 - 0 % APR
-1 year interest-free items over £60 - 0 % APR
-2 years interest-free on selected upholstory and divans ) % APR
Spread cost over 2 years on all items costing £100 or more or over 3 years on items over £199 (29.9 % APR)
- Spread cost over 5 years on selected electricals,upholstory and divans (19.9 APR)

~~~~~~~~~HOW TO PAY

-At the post office ( 50p administration charge)
- At paypoint ( 50p Administration charge)
- By Direct debit
-Home banking
-Website
-By phone (Automated service 0844 811 8504)
-By post

~~~~~~~~~~~~ORDERING GOODS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For ordering goods you use the same free phone number, they answer quickly, ask you your account number and postcode and then take you order. It gets quite annoying whilst ordering as after every product you order they’ll tell you about an offer which is ‘related’ to the product. Well ‘related’ is total rubbish, for instance I ordered a pair of jeans and a top and they offered me a set of hypo-allergic pillows for £10.99, can’t quite see the link myself. Every time they offer me these products I always tell them, “No thanks, I like to see the products I’m ordering” or “I do not want to hear the offers” but they still babble on about them anyway and your call can get quite lengthy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~WEBSITE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They also have a website www.choice.co.uk which you can order your shopping from. The web catalogue is very easy to use. You can set up an account this way. You can track your orders and you can either search for items either by brand, style (smart casual/ urban casual) or you can search by keywords (jeans/kettles).

~~~~~~~~~~THE DELIVERY~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Standard 2-day delivery is free. You can pay an extra £2.95 for a next day delivery or a specified day delivery but in my experience this is a waste of time. I have tried the specified day several times and it has not come on the correct day and I have been charged for it and it takes a hell of a lot of nagging to customer service to get the fee removed. The standard 2 day delivery isn’t as good as that either. Quite often I find that my items are out of stock and can take ages to come. Also larger items tend to come straight from the supplier so that can take around 3 weeks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~OFFERS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They change the offers from month to month, such as ‘buy now pay in 6 or 12months interest free’ or free gift with orders over £50. They sound great but be careful, they do not always stick to their word.

So far I have never received my free gift due to my order being out stock or my free gift being out of stock. Several times both My mother and I have both placed orders with the ‘buy now pay later’ offers but they have not honoured that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CUSTOMER SERVICE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now I could go on forever about customer service. I swear in the past year they have all been sent on course on how to ignore your customer and deny any knowledge of any errors that they have made! You call enquiry line on 0870 1515 500 which is chargeable at 8p per minute from BT lines but varies on other networks. You are usually kept in a queue for about 20 minutes before speaking to a representative.

Example1). I had placed an order on a buy now pay 6mths later code. Now if it wasn’t bad enough that I had to wait 3mths for my Nintendo DS as they were constantly out of stock, I then found the items had been added straight a way to my statement and my minimum payment had shot up. I phoned enquiry line and after 20 minutes of waiting in the queue, I spoke to a lady who just said I must have got the code wrong. This couldn’t have been true else the previous advisor would have told me it was wrong when I originally placed the order but she told me I had to pay now unless I could provide the letter that stated it. I hadn’t got that I had thrown it away ages ago so there was nothing I could do.
Example 2). My monthly statements started turning up late. First I received it on 4th April asking me to pay it by the 5th, well I paid it as soon as I received it but I pay it through the bank which takes so many days so it was paid late. The second month it came 2 days after it was due. I spoke to my friend who I had recommended and she had had the same problem, hers had come a week late. Well when it came to placing an order I was refused because of these late payments. When I phoned to discuss this I was dismissed by the representative who told me it must be my local postal services fault. I did not believe this to be true as none of my other bills had come late but I decided to check with the postal service anyway to be sure. Choice did eventually agree to let me have my order.

Example 3). This week I have received my latest statement only to find that although they have let me have my order, they have charged me a £15 administration fee for late payment. Again I have spoke to them about this but with no suscess.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~RECOMMEND A FRIEND~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Recommend a friend is exactly that. You recommend someone to the catalogue by filling out a form. When your friend receives a catalogue they place an order (usually orders over £150) and they will get a free gift and a discount and you will get £25 per person once they have made their first payment.

In my experience it rarely goes that smoothly. First I recommended a friend but when she placed an order they had no record of me recommending them. Although they got a discount I did not receive my money. Still I decided to recommend my mother and another friend. My mother was promised a free dinner service and a 20% discount. Although she got her discount she did not receive her gift. After many phone calls to them and getting fobbed off saying it was on it’s way to her they finally told her they was out of stock and she wouldn’t get an alternative gift. My friend made an order of clothes amounting to £170 but a few of the goods were later to be out of stock which brought her under the £150 mark so she did not receive her offers and I did not get my money.

~~~~~~~~~~~INSURANCES AND COVER~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As I have not had much success with shopping with them, I have not tried any of the insurances. You can contact them for a Car insurance quote on 08705 134 305. You speak to them about pet insurance from £6.89 a month for up to £5,000 of vets fees. This is on 0870 242 0224. You buy home contents insurance on 0845 677 1234 – over 52wks £14,000 - £1.62wk (Total 83.99), £18,000 - £ 2.08 (Total £107.99), £24,000 - £2.77 wk (Total £143.95).
You can pay extra for cover on Merchandise against theft and accidental damage with free replacement if they can’t repair it. I have never used these services either so cannot comment on them.

~~~~~~~~~~OVERALL OPINION~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I would of said they were a good shopping service but they have just lately gone down hill. I won’t be recommending them to anyone else until they improve that’s for sure. As for myself I have given them this last chance. I have paid my late payment administration fee and left it at that. This time I have received my goods on time which is a rarity. My only fear is they will try and not honour the buy now pay july 2008 code which I have put . If this happens I will not be able to afford this payment now on top of what i owe them. In the event of this happening again I have kept the letter with the code for my own security. Overall I can only rate at a poor 3/10.

I hope this is of help to any future shoppers, thanks for reading! 

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