Pixmania.co.uk (Before November 2010) > Reviews (251)

I'll never use Pixmania again. Having used them for several years, in which time I've bought a number of items, it's always been in the knowledge that should something go wrong I might be in with a fight. I was right.

Last August I bought a cheapDVD player as a spare. It went wrong almost immediately. I had to pay to return it to France (from my home in Italy), which cost more than the player itself. During its return to me after repair (they nobly paid for that) it was lost by the courier. I was given a voucher (no money-back option, despite asking) for the original cost of the DVD player.

So, let's imagine I use that voucher to buy the same model of DVD player, to replace the one lost by Pixmania's courier - I will have to pay postage, so effectively paying delivery postage TWICE for one item. I maintained that for my order using this voucher the postage should be free. Communicating by email via their site (no direct email address given), was painfully slow and the replies were often stock and irrelevant. Eventually, I was asked to call customer services and given a number. This turned out to be their 25cent/minute (plus tax) call line, on which the first time I was kept waiting for at least 15 minutes before I put the phone down. The second time an operative sounded very concerned about the situation and promised I would receive an email. It never came.

I decided to cut my losses, use the voucher and forget about arguing about the postage (which, by the way, is not cheap here in Italy - minimum €9.90 - the rates in Britain, for instance, are far better). When I tried to redeem the voucher I received an on-screen message that it was only redeemable against Pixmania products. Further phonecalls, further promises of an explanatory email - nothing.

So, this morning I decided to try it again, thinking that if I could only buy branded Pixmania products I would, just to put an end to this sorry episode. This time I got the message that the code was no longer usable.

I've mailed Pixmania about it, but if and when I eventually get to spend that voucher I will never again use Pixmania. This has been a rip-off, good and proper. Lesson learned. I'd rather pay more and use a local supplier with whom I can deal face-to-face.