To hope that Pixmania and Columbus Insurance are never used by a MNer again

[Mummywhereisyourwillie]

and that this thread appears in the Daily Mail?

I cannot tell you how much of my life I have wasted on the 'phone to these people, e-mailing them and gradually turning grey over them.

Ordered camera for holiday from Pixmania - called them two days before holiday and they had forgotten they didn't have it in stock (despite website suggesting otherwise) and forgotten to e-mail me to tell me that they hadn't got it in stock. Cancelled order as about to go on holiday. They forgot to cancel order properly and dispatched memory card that came with camera. Had to return -but they forgot to send me voucher for postage so I had to pay for postage to France despite it being their mistake. Now they have forgotten to refund both camera and card some weeks later despite their website promising refund within 4 days. .

Don't even get me started on Columbus Insurance.

No real point to this post and don't expect anyone to reply - just wanted Mumsnetters to recall this post when they are about to use them.

[AholaLoadOfTrouble]

Tell me about the insurance. I'm just about to renew ours.

[GrimmaTheNome]

Yup, this is one thread the DM can have

[famishedass]

I just used pixmania no problem whatsoever

sorry

I never ever buy insurance for anything though unless it's a legal requirement or medical insurance for America. Anything else a complete waste of money. They just find any excuse not to pay out IMO.

[PinkTulips]

pixmania are bastards

I bought a camera xmas 2008, in may it refused to turn on so as it was still guaranteed we emailed them (had paid for the special warranty thingy), they told us to send it to them for repair. We sent it and after not hearing from them for 2 months despite emailing constantly they replied and told us that as we'd smashed the screen they wouldn't fix it as it wasn't covered under the warranty and we'd have to pay 30euros to have the camera sent back

The camera had no smashed screen, it simply wouldn't turn on when you pressed the button but they accused us of lying You can bet your ass they refurbished it and sold it for 75% on ebay!

Absolute bastards and no matter how cheap something is on their site i'd never order from them again.

[PinkTulips]

• in may 2008 (whoops)

[PinkTulips]

sigh... xmas 2007, in may 2008

if i've done it wrong again i give up... you ge the idea!

[PinkTulips]

Have you checked ebay? Think i saw some sim free phones on there a while back.

whereabouts in Ireland are you btw?

[PinkTulips]

you do know you can get codes to put into any phone you buy that unlock it for meteor sims right?

a friend gave me his phone, twas vodaphone and he just went into a phone shop and asked and they gave him a code that i had to enter when i put in my sim and it unlocked it no bother

[stleger]

I have also had problems with returning an external memory to pixmania when it ceased to function! After two months and a few emails they said I had to send the manual. So I did. Then after another month and some more emails they replaced it. If their repair/replace/refund service was as good as their original order, I'd have happily used them again.

[Mummywhereisyourwillie]

Oh they were rubbish with holiday insurance Aloadoftrouble. Closed the week-end we were due to travel with sick children despite it being peak season and there being a swine flu pandemic, so weren't sure if we had a legit reason to cancel or not.

Then trying to claim for curtailment of holiday because next child was ill I was passed from pillar to post for hours and hours. Rubbish rubbish service by the bunch of people who seem to be totally incapable of listening and thinking in a straight line.

[PinkTulips]

maryz... vodphone do cheap phones with no cameras. Could you switch her to vodaphone? You could keep her number the same

[Mummywhereisyourwillie]

I think they are probably set up better for people who go abroad and need to come home - rather than UK holidays.

[MuffinToptheMule]

I used Colombus this holiday but luckily we didn't need to use it.

[Aitchiswaitingforalegalopinion]

i loathe pixmania. bought a camera from them, it came but was a forrin plug etc. they said oh yes didn't we mention that? nope. they said they'd send a converter plug, i said no thanks i'll have my cash. i sent my camera, they sent the plug regardless and i had to send it back too. all this took MONTHS to sort out cos they don't answer emails and it took a lot of prodding from me to get the money into my account.

[Fimbo]

I had the same probs as Maryz trying to register with Pixmania. Gave up in the end.

[Mummywhereisyourwillie]

Aitchiswaiting - I can't even find an e-mail address on their site to contact them. The customer services guy was moody and stroppy with me last time because I wasn't sweetness and light at having wasted so much of my time. Hope it was sorted in the end.

[Aitchiswaitingforalegalopinion]

it was yonks ago, eventually got my money back, but it was a long time and if i'd forgotten to chase it i know i'd have had nothing.

we really shoudl do a name and shame thread for internet shopping sites.

[Mummywhereisyourwillie]

MaryZ - don't do it - seriously. Spent so long on the phone this morning trying to get through and they seem to have an answer message on continuous loop (press one for x, and two for y, so you press one of those, hold for 10 mins and then get back to original message). I wonder if they are going bust.

[Mummywhereisyourwillie]

Just wanted to add, that I have eventally got through to Pixmania, but only by pretending when choosing my options on their telephone system that I wanted to purchase an item.

After many calls and much stress, I have finally been refunded ... only to find that they have failed to refund the postage costs of £10.30 for the fast delivery I paid for. Just wanted to bump this really.