Anna Lorenzo

I’d give Maqio more than 5 stars if I could! I needed a bulk order of individual toys for my son’s birthday party bags and was worried about getting a lot of duplicates since the items are usually picked at random.

I reached out to customer service to see if they could help, and they were brilliant — super quick to reply and very helpful. Even though they couldn't guarantee variety, they went out of their way to notify the warehouse for me.

Not only did my order arrive faster than expected, but they managed to pack the items with zero repeats! I’d never shopped with Maqio before, but after such a positive experience, they are officially my go-to for toys. Highly recommended!

I placed an order on 4th October, when there was a note at the top of their website stating that orders were taking 10 working days to be fulfilled due to a warehouse relocation. Today, 12 working days later, there is still no news about my order and no reply whatsoever to my email.
​Interestingly enough, when I placed my order they had a Halloween promotion going on, and that's basically what I purchased. I had done the maths, and my order would arrive the week before Halloween, allowing me plenty of time to plan activities to entertain my kids during half-term.
​Now I'm left only to wonder if I'll ever get them at all...

EDIT: The order was finally processed & dispatched the day after, but when it arrived two days later, it had someone else's purchase instead of mine. How disappointing! I decided to call them, and was offered a full refund plus a collection of the wrong items. I'd rather have everything that I ordered, but I guess I'll have to find them elsewhere...

I recently ordered a book from World of Books, and overall, my experience with their service was positive. The book arrived promptly and was well-packaged, which I appreciated.

However, I was quite disappointed to find an Oxfam tag still on the book with a price of £2.99. While I understand that sourcing books involves a markup, paying £16.80 for a book they clearly acquired for a fraction of that price feels like a significant rip-off.

It's not just the price difference itself, but the lack of effort to remove the original tag. It makes me question the transparency of their pricing when they're reselling items at such a substantial markup without even bothering to obscure their original cost. While I acknowledge the book's rarity might justify a higher price than its original charity shop value, the nearly six-fold increase felt excessive and, frankly, a bit exploitative.

I would recommend World of Books for their range and delivery, but potential buyers should be aware that their pricing may not always reflect the true sourcing cost and they might want to temper their expectations regarding value for money on certain items.

The purchasing & delivery process was very smooth and quick. The leggings though, disappointed me a bit. At first they looked amazing and fitted well, but after a couple of uses for a reformer class, they don't feel the same. They've lost all the compression and keep falling down while walking and during class. I wonder if I should've got the XS but I checked my measurements before ordering and they fell under the size S, so I can only imagine I got a pair that was a bit off or maybe the fabric isn't the same as their core range (I bought the pine green, which seems to be a new colour). Such a shame as Adanola is a very popular brand with all the teachers & people at the studio I got to, but it didn't really work for me. I'm still giving 4 stars as the fabric feels very soft and I haven't anything to complain about the bra that I bought to match my leggings.

Party Packs offer a great variety of party supplies, very competitive prices and quick dispatch. They also have the best Customer Service I've ever seen: they respond promptly with a solution to any problem or answer to any question. I've been using them for a few years now and can 100% recommend.

Here I come again to complain about the worst insurance service in the world (ha!). Issue logged in on Sep 3rd last year, technician couldn't remove the stain, replacement cover was ordered on Oct 1st. Didn't arrive by the first expected delivery date, I complained, then again it didn't arrive by second expected delivery date. I complained once more, just got a very vague apologetic email and nothing more almost a month ago. They're either very inefficient or are just pretending they're doing something until my policy expires and they'll say "oops, we're sorry but your sofa isn't covered anymore". Shocking experience.

I bet they'll just reply here with something vague once more to sound nice and won't do anything about my claim.

EDIT: Somehow the replacement cover miraculously appeared within hours of my complain here and was finally delivered yesterday. I'm changing my rate but can't go over 3 stars as it took months of chasing to get all sorted.

My order was delivered at the wrong address and, a week after, I still have no solution to this issue. Last communication I had was 5 days ago ("Royal Mail is still investigating what happened") and only because I chased them. First time ordering from them and not a great start.

EDIT: as expected, that's exactly what they did. They say Royal Mail GPS tracker proves that the parcel was delivered (?!) and they consider the case closed, no refund or replacement. Even after sending a collage of a Google Street View screenshot of my door next to the door on Royal Mail's delivery proof - which is more accurate than trusting a GPS system -, their action was to escalate the issue with RM and ask me to wait 7 working days again. It took me a lot of arguing and mentioning Citizens Advice and Customer Act to convince them how absurd the situation was. Actually, it felt more like they're giving up due to my insisting, based on their reply that they'd refund me on a "gesture of goodwill". Even then they only refunded the product cost and added the delivery fee after I responded that they might be really struggling to keep the £3.50 for themselves.

I just can't understand how a company that looks quite big & serious cannot offer an immediate replacement or refund and deal with the delivery company without making the customer wait weeks for a decision. This is the most shocking customer service I ever received and I really hope they iimprove how they deal with similar issues, as I can see from other recent reviews that I'm not the only one being let down by them when something goes wrong with the delivery.

Hello, Boori, can you please be quicker at sorting out your own messes? I'm tired of seeing my kids sleeping on the floor while 80% of their bed is in my living room and 20% in your warehouse.

EDIT: it took complaining on all possible social media channels to get the missing box delivered. Very cheeky from the Australian office to send me an email asking to removed my 1-star review since my order was placed in the UK and sending me the local contact details (which I had already as they're very easy to find in the Internet), when they should be focusing on how poor the UK team operations is. Not buying again and not recommending to any of my Interior Design studio clients.

The bed delivery was delayed by more than 2 weeks, which I was notified about, and now that I finally got it there's a box missing. I've been very patient through the whole process but I can't even start on how frustrating it is to be unable to contact customer services as they don't provide a phone number and have to wait until Monday to get any response from them.

EDIT: after complaining on all possible social media channels, it took one very short apologetic email and nearly one week to have the missing box delivered. The quality of the bed is great and it was very easy to assemble despite the poorly made instructions manual, but the whole purchase and delivery process definitely puts me off from buying them again and recommending to my clients (I have an Interior Design company).

The professional who came to remove our sofa stain was very polite and knowledgeable, he even gave us tips on what to do in the future to avoid having a permanent stain.

It's only missing two stars for two reasons:
1) It took 11 days from the day I logged my claim until someone came to my home to remove the stain.
2) There is still a faint water stain that remains from the cleaning process and there's no way to contact Guardsman about it. I've tried messaging from the portal (not working), tried emailing the contact email left on the receipt (I got a reply saying it was blocked), and also tried calling them but the lines are closed. The only way to do it would be to start a new claim but that's not the case.

I got an invite to review them here and, although I would have loved to rate them higher, I just can't as it's not a five-star service to me. Hopefully someone will read and contact me to get this fixed.

Whistles isn't my usual go-to shop as it isn't my style but I live very close to the Northcote Road branch, saw the 20% off on full-price items sign while walking past it, and decided to have a look. I was very surprised to find a piece of clothing that I actually liked and it fitted perfectly. The shop assistant was also very lovely and helpful. It was a great experience overall and I might be tempted to go there and browse more often.

I placed an order to be delivered to a collection point and got a couple of emails about the process from La Redoute. Unfortunately, their delivery partner didn't keep me updated, so when I decided to look for a tracking number 6 days after my purchase date, I found out that my parcel was being returned to the sender, without any comments on why. When contacting La Redoute via chat I was made aware that the collection point refused my parcel, that I would get a refund in 14 days and that I would be able to place the same order, including discounts, through a phone call. It's so frustrating that simply diverting the parcel to my house isn't an option! And it's even more frustrating that the system should be able to recognize the size of the parcel when placing the order and therefore automatically not offer the collection point option, as they usually refuse large boxes. I'm not sure I'll call back in 2 weeks to place the same order again, especially as it will be very frustrating if I find out they've sold out some of the items. I just feel like I'd rather buy from somewhere else.

Impeccable service from shopping to delivery and returning a product. I will definitely buy more from them from now on.

I don´t think I have ever been happier with a furniture dealer before deciding to enter Sofa Workshop store at Tottenham Court Road. What a great company! From helping us choose the right sofa and fabric for our family (big thanks to Marcos, you are a star!) to receiving the sofa almost two months before than expected (we missed the cut off date for Christimas but the sofa was delivered mid November!), there's nothing to complain about. Store advisor was fantastic, communication from warehouse to book delivery was brilliant and delivery men were the happiest I have seen in my life. To top it all, the sofa is very comfortable and great quality, we are extremely happy with our purchase!

Checking the recent reviews I'm kind of glad to know I'm not the only one being made a fool of.

They rescheduled the collection of a parcel at my home three times. One of those days was my birthday (nice being stuck at home on your birthday, right?!) and I saw their van drive past my house, park a few hundred meters away and drive off.

What a joke of a company!

EDIT: it finally worked on the fifth attempt but only because the poor driver was clueless and had no idea what he was collecting and my husband offered to help loading the van, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to do it on his own.

Brilliant service and great quality. Had a problem with my roof blind and they promptly resolved it. Will definitely buy from them again in the future!

The Steens Retro 4 Over 4 Wide Chest of Drawers is of the WORST quality that I have seen in my entre life. Even the IKEA ones that cost 1/3 of the price are much better quality.

It not only BROKE during assembly - no, it wasn't my fault and I am pretty sure that only 1% of the people who buys it manages to install the two back wooden bars without breaking the side panel - but it's already been chipped in a few places.

The drawers side panels were made double sided instead of making one panel for the left side and other for the right side which means you end up with visible holes everywhere. Such a lazy job!

I wasn't expecting high end but quality is way lower than it should be. For £250 I can find much better quality furniture and I'm regretting buying already as you can see. This piece of furniture belongs in a bin. I hope Ryman can send someone to take this back and refund me.

EDIT: Ryman contacted me, collected the chest of drawers and refunded me. Their customer service is brilliant.

Lovely shoes for babies that barely walk and will be worn mostly on the buggy. For toddlers and kids that run, ride scooters and go to playgrounds, don't waste your money because the shoes will get scuff marks and look awful after the first use.

I've come across Vertbaudet 3 years ago when I was preparing for the birth of my daughter and fell in love with their design and style. Since then I've ordered multiple times not only baby clothes but also nursery decorations, baskets, changing mats, bed linen, toys... and never had any problem with either delivery or refund. Until I was unlucky to have my last order being delivered in the truck that got stuck at the customs because of Brexit.

I was really unfortunate to be in this situation especially because the company didn't deal with it in a proper manner and kept lots of customers waiting for answers and wouldn't even consider a refund, all we had left was to wait for our parcels to arrive. It took 36 working days, more than double of what their website was stating when I placed my order.

On a good note and as a proof that it was really just a problem with that specific truck, a friend of mine that wasn't aware of all the delay placed an order on 16/2 and 8 working days later it reached her home. Phew! I really didn't want to have Vertbaudet crossed off my favourites list and will definitely give it a second chance.

It saddens me to see lots of bad reviews that lowered their score drastically because of their awful way of dealing with this unexpected problem so I decided to give them a good review as I hope they've learned with their mistakes and will be more prepared when something major like this happens again.

Red Velvet cake: best cake EVER!