ACHICA ?

PS last message I promise. When I said the rug was the wrong colours, I only meant it didn't work for me when I saw it in the flesh, not that they'd sent the wrong item.

PS I've ordered from them before and it's worked out well - bought a PURE radio which was faulty. They replaced it immediately, and that was around Xmas time. Unfortunately I also bought a kooky chandelier which I hated when it went up and by then it was too late to return so I had to flog it on ebay and made a loss. Perils of the internet.

I had to make the effort, sign up to Mumsnet, and post this comment, as I just had such fantastic service from Achica I'm actually quite speechless. Yes, I know it sounds like I work for them, but I really don"t! I'm an actress, I don't have children - sorry mums - but I AM currently filming an ep of Call the Midwife where my fictional daughter is pregnant. I could tell you the plot, but I'd have to kill you!
I ordered a rug, it arrived this avo, within the delivery time, but it's the wrong colours. No delivery note. I looked on their website and thought I'd have to schlepp it to the PO and pay for a return, whereupon I was in high dudgeon. I whacked off quite a bolshie email to them, went onto your website via Google (while looking for a phone number for them) and was reading in horror, whereupon got a phone call from them within 5 minutes of posting my email to them, even before i could finish reading all the tales of woe (sorry about those), and they are picking the item up first thing tomorrow, with a helpful text to say what time. Now if I have to wait a while for a refund I shall not mind. I must say 'Bravo Achica!'.
I shall now enjoy a ramble around your site, which of course I have heard of. I should do a smiley face, but I think that's pushing it a bit for a first post!
B

I have a phone number for them if anybody is interested

We have used Made too and again found them great. I think we have been lucky

I am not that organised to keep a tally of how many orders I have made but did a search of my account as I just couldn't understand why people had experienced so much trouble. Agreed there is not a voice at the end of the phone but if you e-mail them, they do respond pretty quickly and have always been extremely helpful. I certainly don't work for Achica but work in a lovely shop that sells a lot of the makes that Achica feature on their web-site for a fraction of the price. I only order items that I am familiar with, but have really never ever had a problem. I also search on line to check their prices are competitive and on the whole they seem to be but you do have to add in the cost of the postage. All the staff in the shop use them and are really pleased with their services.

We have been well and truly 'done' by Achica. We waited for some 7 weeks or more for the product to arrive, and finally when it did arrive it was incomplete. DO NOT TOUCH THEM!! The offers may look enticing, but they can't back it up with service and always fob it off onto their 'traders'. We are still waiting for them to resolve the issue, needless to say they've gone quiet on us. We will be taking them to small claims should they not sort out the mess by next week. More stress then it's worth, but I'm damned if they're taking us for a ride.

I'm not a new poster and I've used Achica several times with no problem at all. I like that they often have children's clothes and toys that are a bit different, but I do agree that sometimes the delivery times and costs are a bit excessive, you need to shop around to make sure you're actually getting a bargain.

I've never ordered big items of furniture though, the biggest I ordered was a rug that wasn't the colour I expected, but I had no problem sending it back via DPD and my refund was processed pretty quickly.

It's not John Lewis,but I don't think it's as bad as some of the posts above would have you believe.

Oh dear I am getting a VERY bad feeling about a large order I placed with Achica for an outdoor dining set - very large sum of money and a seasonal thing that I won't need in a few weeks time. Failed to deliver on time due to a faulty part so courier returned to manufacturer, still waiting for replacement to be made and getting no joy from courier or ACHICA. I would NEVER purchase form these people again, and completely agree, the professional looking site is SO misleading and is in no way backed up by their customer service. If anyone does have any luck tracking down a phone number please let me know!

I am currently still waiting for an item which was stated as delivery between 17-23 July and like previous comments have mentioned am finding it hard to communicate with them, surely by now these well established sites can be more accurate and informative to customers. I would have to want something from Achica desperately before I ordered again and these usually can be found on other less glamorous sights cheaper and delivered quicker. Achica prays on those who think they are getting a superior item and service as their web site is conducive to this. So my advice is don't be fooled by this posh site and look on the sites used by us commoners for better service.

Also ordered a few things from Achica (mainly when I was off on maternity leave). Only had one issue - item not delivered as part of larger order and no note saying it was being delivered later. Contacted them and arrived 3 days later...then another one arrived 2 days after that! Contacted them again so apologised, courier uplifted second one and I received a voucher for £5 for my "honesty". That Christmas received some chocolates even though I hadn't ordered for several months.

Not affiliated whatsoever with the company btw

Now..Secretsales...that's a whole different ball game!!!

I ordered from Achica, yes order took a while but they were such great deals I was prepared to wait. Items were lovely. So overall felt it was excellent company.

Well my book cases have finally arrived but I am now worried that they won't have instructions after reading the PP. the boxes are too heavy to lift alone so I will have to wait for a man to assist...

I ordered a duvet cover from achica in may. I heard nothing from them and emailed them. I to a reply saying they were unable to fill the order and I wold be refunded in full within 4-6 working days that was about three weeks ago and I have still or been refunded. I emailed them again and have had nothing back from them. DON'T ORDER ANYTHING FROM ACHICA THEY ARE COMPLETELY UNTRUSTWORTHY AND HAVE NOT REFUNDED ME MY PAYMENT. Does anyone know of a contact telephone number for this company? It was my first and definitely my last order with achica!

Don't touch them with a bargepole -Read this and be warned

I have a had a very bad experience from Achica.

I have ordered a bookcase, a TV "dream" stand and a side table.

Overall, the furnitures arrived late as Achica said they wanted to check that everything was in order. The furnitures arrived without instructions. I have asked Achica for the instructions but no-one at seem to be able to provide me with them and no-one seems to bother (they only reply with pre-filled email).
Therefore, I have hired a professional company to assemble the furniture (Zeenish Construction) as I did not feel able to do it myself (although I am a IKEA regular) and they were able to assemble neither the bookcase not the TV stand.

Side Table

• Arrived broken in 2 pieces, they told they could not replace it but they will pick it up and reimburse me. They did pick it up but still waiting to be reimbursed!

Bookcase:

• no instructions
• panels are not mirror image of each others
• backing shelves don't fit into the slot
• screw are missing (40 at least)
• there is a slot where there should not be as it is supposed to be where the doors go
• no marking for door hinges
• 3 extra shelves that do not belong to the bookcase

TV Dream Stand

• more than 30 pieces with no instructions, we did not even try to assemble it given the disaster of the bookcase

I do hope they will pack and pick up the furnitures and reimburse me fully including the professional company. I will keep you posted. As you can imagine all of this has taken a lot of my time and money!

Regards,
Alice

Achica sounds like it doesn't understand customer service; I'll be avoiding at all cost.

Tobebeiside is very right it what she says.

To be fair to Achica, and indeed their suppliers, furniture - even good quality stuff - has an uncanny habit of getting damaged in transit. There are a number of couriers who are either quite frankly, shit or plain extortionate. The problem is not about being badly packaged; to a certain extent there is a limit to how you can package furniture in a way that it doesn't get damaged when its thrown about a van rather than properly handled...

Thats the main problem with ordering furniture online full stop. A lot of these companies do not hold stock and only order individual items themselves when they get an order in. If you order goods in bulk to your store rather than single items direct to home they tend to fair better on their couriers as they leave the wholesaler in a state where it simply can't be thrown around.

FWIW, if you are looking for the customer service, order from somewhere that has stock on the floor, and has their own local home delivery service rather uses a courier. The goods are far more likely to get to you quicker (as the shop will probably hold a level of stock themselves) and they'll have a driver who isn't under ridiculous amounts of pressure to do so many drops in the course of a day and actually gives a toss about the level of service they are giving.

Naturally this is probably going to cost you a few quid.

This thread is hilaire. I will also never be ordering from Achica. I like it when actual companies post on here when they see they're being discussed - I swooned when the actual Alex Monroe posted on S and B! But I hate hate hate it when companies do this. Boots No7 keep doing it too. Red Direct are also crap - loads of MNers including me ordered stuff and it never arrived. Similar business model to Achica I think.

Tobebeiside Thankyou, that is ever so interesting [thumbs up]

Hello. This is my first ever post! I thought I might be able to shed some light on the very conflicting opinions on Achica. My husband is an artist that has done 2 sales on Achica, so I know how the order fulfilment process works. Achica the company don't hold any stock itself. When the sale ends the individual retailer is sent a sales list, and they package the items and send them to a distribution warehouse. Before the sale takes place you sign a very strict and precise agreement about delivery times and quality of packaging. However if the retailer doesn't stick to this, Achica and the customer are very much at their mercy. If they have packaged something badly it could be broken or faulty inside the packaging, without Achica noticing. Likewise, if they are very slow to send the order, that will knock on to the customer. Having read their extensive small print I can say that they really do have very exacting standards for customer service and quality control, but as they don't actually have the stock themselves, when problem arise they may be complicated and lengthy to resolve. Bottom line, much like Amazon, the behaviour of individual merchants will mean people have very different experiences of the company.

I was a bit scared to post as from two years of lurking i know sometimes people get accused of being 'suspicious', but I really am just a mum trying to be helpful!

They have given me a £15 voucher to apologise for the delay in my order. Still no bookcase though, but nice all the same.

Just wanted to say that my post singing Achica's praises was genuine (yeah, call me a sad person as its one of the few things I've posted on lol). As for the competitiveness of their pricing, I ALWAYS compare their prices before buying and they're 99.9% of the time cheaper, often substantially so. That's partly why it's so addictive and probably why you get slightly evangelical posts praising them! I could send you a list of all my purchases (anyone want to see it?) though I feel a bit embarrassed. Is there such thing as Achicaholics Anonymous? Didn't buy anything this morning though :)

Was that each or ouch giraffes?

:o

Ouch ouch not bloody each ffs