Just spent a lot of money on the Northcote Storage System from the Great Little Trading Company. We were hoping to finally get all the STUFF in order. I had to put the order through twice since I'd missed the box the enter a code for a 15% discount. Although I called to give the code over the phone I was told I had to cancel the whole order, wait until the next day and re-order.
This done, the boxes arrived and my husband is putting the shelving units together. The lists of contents do no correspond the what is actually in any of the boxes. The instructions are nonsense and out of date (eg telling you where to insert non-existent dowling rods). Both of us have assembled flat pack furniture for years. He has made shelving units himself. We are Ikea experts and made our own kitchen with the Ikea system. When DH called to complain about the obvious lack of quality control the customer 'service' man said 'We can't help it if the instructions are too difficult for you'. Charming attitude. DH is a fast worker with this kind of thing and entirely capable - more than most.
The manager whom we were promised twice would call us back, has never called. The system is poor quality with thin easily chipped veneers. This is despite the unbelievable amount of polystyrene packaging.
We no longer live near an Ikea - we are quite remote - so we are persevering with the whole thing but it will clearly take a lot longer than usual.
I have ordered from GLTC before and might buy other products but I cannot recommend this storage system to anyone and think the level of customer service is the worst I have come across. Does Mumsnet still have any influence over this company since we are clearly not important enough as individual customers who have just given the company over a thousand pounds of savings.