maplin.co.uk

Ordered a DVR CCTV Recorder bundle last year from their Newcastle upon tyne branch, to be honest, the attitude of the staff in the store was poor to begin with (should have seen that as a bad omen!), tried to order the above product and was told that we couldn't as it was discontinued, then as we were walking away the manager caught us up and said that there were some at the headoffice in stock and he could reserve one and get it sent to our home. We agreed to do this and paid for the system (plus postage I might add!) and waited (the delivery time was quoted as 2-3 working days, so waited, and waited, and waited until 2 weeks later I rang their headoffice only to be told to be patient and wait another week which we duly did. Two weeks later I decided to ring up again and complain, however, as i picked up the phone the postman delivered a letter with a maplin logo on to I opened that instead. I was puzzled at what was inside, a very thin slip of paper about A5 size with unreadable writing on it, the only recognisable words were "Hull" and "credit". I got the customer services number to find out what the hell this thing was and was put through to a very stroppy sounding woman with a broad yorkshitre accent, she told me (in a manner that make me feel look stupid) that it was a credit note for the "out of stock" items I had ordered. I was dumbfounded because not only was the postage charge I have paid not included, but the value was £10 short of what I had paid for the item in store. I told here this and after alot of huffing and puffing she agree to give me all my money back in the form of another credit slip!!! I then got angry (sort of!) and told her that I no longer wanted to shop at maplin and wanted CASH back so I could spent my money at a proper shop. She said she couldnt do that and that I would have to accept a credit note only, I demanded to speak to a manager who said that I would have to write a letter (believe it or not!) to their headoffice, requesting the money go back on the card I used to pay for the (non existing) goods with!!! I did this under duress and told them that in no uncertain terms that I wasnt happy at all with the situation, they sounded like they couldn't give a toss and hurried me off the phone.... Two weeks later I eventually got my money back (curiously, 5p short but I couldn't be bothered to argue!) . I wrote a letter to their headoffice outlining my concerns but received no response.... RUBBISH COMPANY, TYPICALLY BRITISH....