Great Little Trading Company? Crap more like...

[Shamster]

I've started a new thread just to see who has had bad experiences with this horror of a company? They owe me £145.00 from an original order of £249.00. They refunded half and I'm now being told the other half will come by cheque; er postal strike anyone?

The blunders have been coming thick and fast and their service is awful. I wonder if they're in trouble and that's why they are holding onto my money.I've made atleast 30 odd calls, almost all at my expense, spoken to just about everyone in the company, all of whom are very nice and basically unable to help due to protocol and rules.

Maybe I'm unlucky, but I wish I'd never clapped eyes on their sodding catalogue. Just to finish my rant, while you are left on hold waiting for soembody to pick up the phone, thay make you listen to Noddy, The Mister Men and Roobarb and Custard...Lovely.

[Firawla]

never used them myself but have heard similar, i think there is a thread about them in the products area with all complaints

[nigglewiggle]

I ordered some things before christmas last year with 20% off. It turned out that their website couldn't calculate 20% correctly and I was being over-charged. After several very confusing phone calls I decided that they thought everyone would be as bad at maths as they were and the whole thing was a con. I did eventually get the money back though.

I can't believe they apparently win awards! I hope you get your cheque soon.

[Shamster]

I can't either! How do they win awards? I want to talk to the people and give them the real picture. It's such a shame as their stuff is lovely but service is everything...

[llaregguBOO]

They took ages to send me one item then when they did they sent two, which annoyingly I then had to return.

[MintyCane]

BTW you know those big world maps they sell - you can get them on Amazon for a fiver. Just thought it was worth a mention with xmas coming up.

[Shamster]

Ahhh, well they've changed that policy now. They will pick up wrong orders and damaged deliverys, which is something. This farce has been going on for well over 4 weeks now. They delivered an item that was damaged and I refused to pay a courier up front to send it back to them.

[TheCrackFox]

Thanks Minty DS1 would love a giant map. Off to look at Amazon now.

I ordered a play table from GLTC and it arrived on time. I thought their service was quite good.

[MintyCane]

map I got one for dd and the solar system one - they are great.

[Indith]

Well you know my rant Shamster, mostly sorted now but still waiting on the refund for the return I paid for!

[Padraigin]

I too am having a miserable experience with the Great Little Trading Company. Dreadful service. Half the order didn't arrive and took countless phone calls and e mails to get sorted. They told me they have a backlog of 400 e mails - hard to believe for an internet company! I ended up posting a lost in transit form because they admitted they probably wouldn't process it by e mail.
The part of the order that did arrive had the wrong components. Several million phone calls later they've agreed to give me a refund when the goods are returned. I have to guarantee to wait in all day from 9-5. This saga has been going on for over a month. I don't trust them.
This is the most expensive toy storage solution on the market and one would expect better service. Avoid this company like the plague. They outsource their customer services to a call centre and don't give a monkeys. The sales agents are polite but ineffectual. When I told them they are gettting negative publicity on the net their attitude was basically that it's only the few hundred(!) moaners who complain while the satisfied customers say nothing.
Don't be pulled in by the glossy brochure. Their guarantee of service is not worth the paper it's written on. They nearly went under a few years ago because of similar problems.

[MrsMills]

Yes I had a problem with them last year.

I ordered something and paid for them to gift wrap it and have it sent direct to my friend for her daughters birthday.

They didn't giftwrap and sent the full invoice to her too!

A scant apology was all I received. Have not used them since, but I'm now having similar problems with The White Company.

[fatsatsuma]

Another dissatisfied customer here.

I ordered dd's main Christmas present from them in mid-November. The item was in stock on the website, payment went through etc.

When it hadn't arrived a week later I phoned up to ask where it was. 'Oh, you should have got an email' they said, 'It's out of stock til 17th December'. Needless to say I had had no email.

I asked if they could guarantee that it would arrive in time for Christmas, as I had ordered it nice and early for that very reason. 'No' they said. 'When it's in stock we will send it to you.'

If I had known all that I would never have ordered it. The person on the phone wasn't the slightest bit apologetic, or very surprised that I had never had the email. Rubbish service.

[undercoverelephant]

Bought one of their (not cheap) cabin beds with accompanying "furniture." Never again. Totally flimsy useless tat.

[dilemma456]

Message withdrawn

[ten10]

I am surprised to hear everybody's bad experiences, I have ordered a number of things from them and never had a problem, in fact they have always delivered very promptly, and have applied the correct discount is necessary, I suppose I have been very lucky

[Runoutofideas]

I ordered some toys from them last Christmas and they all arrived with no problems. Have had no need to use their customer services, so therefore can't really comment on that side of things.

[undercoverelephant]

Well just to clarify I never had a problem with their customer service, just the product. The bed we bought came with a chest, bookcase and desk, all of which were poorly finished and partly made out of that lightweight plywood stuff. The drawers on the chest won't stay shut and it's difficult to pull the desk out from under the bed without bashing it on the slats on the underside of the bed.
The catalogue makes it all look lovely and robust. Perhaps the toys and accessories are OK, but I wouldn't buy funiture from them again.

[stealthsquiggle]

Personally I have come to view GLTC as a good catalogue/website to use for ideas, which you then source elsewhere more cheaply and with better customer service (there are a few others in the same category )

For furniture, I would recommend ASpace - slightly more expensive on the face of it but with frequent 20% off offers which bring it down to GLTC prices and the quality/service is far better - DS bed is good as new 4 years on, DD has a lovely chest of drawers, and a friend has 'seconds' bunk beds from them where you need a magnifying glass to spot the flaw which had made them seconds.

[Cistus]

my experience with them is lovely catalogue, rubbish service. I would never use them again

[Onlyaphase]

I've used them for a couple of years now, and so does my MIL - neither of us have ever had any problems with the service or the products themselves. Unlike last year when ordering from Urchin who then went into administration and kept MIL's money!

Having said that, we have mainly ordered toys from them and smaller things like beanbags etc. Can't comment on the furniture side of their offerings

[GrimmaTheNome]

I used to use GLTC quite a lot when DD was younger, and MIL ordered things for her from it too. Don't remember any problems, but it was mostly smaller items, not furniture.

[carocaro]

I've ordered twice, both late and both over charged. Not touching them again.

[FiveGoMadInDorset]

Would second stealthsquiggles ressommendation of Aspace, have been very happy, they are in constant contact with you.

[Spectroscopy]

I have had an expensive wooden toy arrive from them broken (well part was). Looked lovely in the catalogue but in reality is as cheaply made. Heavy, so much to much hassle to send back so we kept it.

The catalogue is lovely, but as other have mentioned a quick google often finds the same items cheaper elsewhere...

I don't bother with it anymore either.