I recently purchased a Samsung fridge freezer from Appliances Online - a company I’d not used before. Their prices were cheap and they offered good extra services (recycling, installation, specific slots for delivery, etc).

I was delighted therefore to receive a phone call from them beforehand to discuss the delivery and make sure I was happy with the service. They even chatted about the particular product that I’d bought. All of this was then spoilt by them attempting to sell me an extended warranty – it was as if the entire call and general niceties were simply building up to this. A friend of mine also bought from this company and had the same call – however, he got a much harder sell and it left him regretting purchasing from them.

In my case, though, it has a happier outcome. When the fridge freezer arrived a part was broken. I rang Appliances Online and they were very apologetic, transferring me to Samsung to arrange for the part to be swapped out. They then continued calling me at regular intervals to check if the part had arrived and my problem was resolved – this service more than made up for the warranty sell at the beginning.

Samsung, however, should hang their head in shame. After very precise instructions on what part was broken they sent the wrong out as a replacement. After then speaking to them again they, once more, sent the wrong part. Each time it took weeks between talking to them and the eventual delivery of the incorrect part. It was only after the third call to Samsung that they managed to ship the correct item to me – now, many weeks after my initial delivery.

The first couple of times I spoke to them I did so via Appliances Online. The third call, however, I made directly. Not that it was easy – they make it very difficult to find an appropriate number for their customer services. When I finally did get the right part it was Appliances Online who rang to check it was okay – I never heard from Samsung.

Samsung has a reputation for poor customer service and this certainly didn’t do them any favours.

So, hats off to Appliances Online. They’d retain custom more however if they cut out that warranty call, no matter how much money they may make from it.

Well, I’ve visited more pound shops and am loaded up with more tech products – expect to see the reviews soon. I’m bursting with USB hubs but are particularly enjoying a USB powered LED light!

Meantime, I’ve contacted all 3 retailers – PoundWorld, Poundland and 99p Stores. Sadly, none of them have responded and don’t appear to be interested in assisting with this. That’s a shame as, so far, I’ve discovered some real gems. Having said that, I’ve also unearthed some dishonest advertising!

I’ll also be updating some of my past reviews of pound products to reflect changes and similar products I’ve seen elsewhere – look out for that!

Today I go to order some curtains (don’t ask) from Next online. All goes well until the point where I need to sign in or set up an account.

I choose the latter but am told that I already have an account with them. A quick search of my email (I save everything!) confirms this – I bought from them 4 years ago.

As I don’t have a record of them in my password manager I attempt to sign in with my “usual” password (we all have one). At this point I’m told that I never set up a password and must sign in with my customer number. I would do but I don’t know what it is – it’s not on any of the emails that they sent me 4 years previous. There’s no “Forgotten your customer number” option so I resort to their Help section. There is a “what to do if you don’t know your customer number” entry and it duely informs me that I need to request it via their online form – clicking on this takes me into their Customer Service section and an online email form. Except you can’t contact them unless you have your customer number. I kid you not.

So, I ring them using the number they provide on the same page. They want to know my customer number, so I explain that’s what I’m rining aboout. They take all my details and then inform me that they’re going to put me through to customer services. So who did I ring? I used the number they provided in their Customer Services section of the website.

I’m transferred and explain, again, what I’m after. The only way theyll give me my customer number is by emailing it to me. In 1-2 days. Great. No, don’t worry Next I wasn’t bothered about ordering anything from you anytime soon.

Whilst I jhave them on the phone I explain the problems I’ve been having but they don’t seem overly interested. I got a limp-wristed apology and a rather condescending answer back of “next time put your delivery invoice to one side as that’s got the customer number on it”. Yes, because keeping 4 year receipts is something most of us will do.

Needless to say I’m unimpressed. If anything now goes wrong with my order now I’ll be writing to them – as it currently stands they’ll just get this notable mention. No wonder I only order from them every 4 years