I will say, I've got nothing but respect for Precious Little Ones, and if they are as reliable as you all say they are then I've got nothing to worry about! Sorry if this is long, but I'm going to implode if I don't vent all of this out.
My mother, the week she found out I was pregnant, went a little over-zealous and purchased this gorgeous Petite Star Kurvi 4 pram. It's astoundingly good value for money, and I was so happy to have something less to worry about...
...Until I tried to get hold of the compatible car seat.
Found a stockist near me, and was told that they are awaiting a delivery, and I'd be able to walk away with the car seat for £90 at the end of April, and they'd even fit it for me and make sure I was comfortable with taking itin and out of the car. The end of April rolled around, and I was then told (after several phone calls) that the stock has been delayed, and I'd have it by the end of May. Fine, fair enough. Except that I rang them this past Monday, and was then told that not only was it delayed AGAIN, but it would be in stock at the end of July/early August. Bearing in mind that I'm due in early July, this posed a very serious problem for me.
Did some googling on Tuesday, and found it on Amazon for £71.99, with 4 in stock. We were saving so much we decided to fork out the extra £8.99 for Guaranteed-By-1pm Next Day Delivery. Tracked it on Tuesday night, and it was at DPD (Direct Parcel Delivery) Warehouses in Birmingham, waiting to be shipped.
Wednesday - 1pm rolls around: nothing. Rang Amazon, who apologised and refunded the delivery without me even asking. I checked the DPD website, and they claim they haven't received the package yet, so I call DPD (after a full hour of trying to find the direct number for them and a full 27 minutes on hold), and was told that they wouldn't be able to deliver it until today by 12pm because of "poor labelling", and that if I wanted to complain, I would need to go to Amazon, because it was their problem and not mine. Even though apparantly the label was sufficient enough to tell them who it was going to, and what address it was to be shipped to because they confirmed all of the details with me. And obviously a ten-minute solution to a problem requires 18 hours of faffing about and a full 24-delay in delivery.They then refused to put it on afternoon delivery for me, even though at this point I've had to push back a midwife appointment because my partner was out doing exams for university, ergo I had no car, and they claimed that contacting me about the delay wasn't viable because of the amount of packages they deal with, and the amount of mistakes they need to rectify.
12pm rolls around today - still nothing. Fiancé at this point is furious, because I'm getting stressed out over everything, I've had to shift more appointments in order to sit in for the-package-that-never-comes and we're trying to have everything sorted by my 37th week. He rings up and is promptly hung up on. He rings up again, and is NOW told that the package has been lost. It's been "lost" in their Birmingham warehouse since 12AM Wednesday morning - 4 hours after they received it, and 14 hours before they told me about the labelling issue! They then tell him that they can't launch an investigation because it's "Amazon's fault" and we need to contact Amazon to have THEM launch an investigation on our behalf. When asked about a number we can call to complain, they instead give us an e-mail address and tell us that a reply is not 100% assured. Gits.
Ring Amazon, and they tell us that because an investigation could take months, and they can't ship us another one because they haven't got any more in stock, they decide to just give us our money back. They then hang up on us after confirming that the refund will be given.
My mother, who is apoplectic at this point, does some more googling, and stumbles upon Precious Little Ones, who not only have it in stock, but have it as free delivery and we get a free gift of two cartoon sunshades as well. For £76 - a full £5 cheaper than the "cheapest" we could find, and with a free gift worth £7! Brilliant! She ordered it, and it was shipped 9 minutes later. By a company that (thank God) is NOT DPD. And we're expecting it either tomorrow or the day after.
After all the stress, and runarounds, and phone calls, and complaints, and foboffs, and utterly ridiculous policies that we couldn't navigate around, we finally have a reputable company giving us what we ask for. Thank Christ it's over - you have no idea how many tears I shed over this week! And I'm sorry for how longwinded this was, but I was going to snap if I didn't bitch about it.