ACHICA ?

[phoebus]

As ACHICA is a Mumsnet Partner - (and I have nothing but the highest esteem for you, Mumsnet!) - I foolishly trusted them, as they seemed to have lots of great stuff for sale on their site, so I signed up as a 'member' a few weeks ago. - Wish I hadn't now!! - Of my 2 orders, things have gone badly wrong in both cases:

• First order (small) took forever to arrive, and then, when it did, one item was smashed. Lo and behold, I discovered that they have got NO PHONE LINE on which you can ring them to discuss any problems!! - the only way to 'communicate' with them, is laboriously and indirectly, via an 'online helpdesk' and it takes them at least 2 days to get back to you via email. OK, well I did this, and eventually I got a reply promising to send me a replacement. Which never came. So a subsequent laborious 2nd email from me a couple of weeks later, got another slow, emailed reply to say, oh we haven't got that item after all, so now we'll give you a refund. (But they'd never bothered to let me know that! I'd had to chase them up for that info) . And that refund has still not arrived, after a few weeks.
  

• Second order (much larger, around £500) I thought better of the next day, so I emailed the so-called 'Helpdesk' to cancel it a few hours later, as I was well within my rights, and their given timescale, to do this. Received a reply to say that was fine, they had 'cancelled it and had refunded my credit card in full'. This was two weeks ago. My credit card statement arrived today, and - guess what - it shows the full amount which they HAVE TAKEN, despite their promise not to. I've rung my card provider who assure me that I have not had this refund. Once again, search as I might, I cannot find any phone number for Achica Customer Care or complaints etc! The lack of this vital channel should have warned me at the outset.
  

Anyone else been taken for a ride by ACHICA? Are they just extremely incompetent, or actually a load of crooks?

[Paulawilkie1]

Terrible experience with ACHICA!placed order last Friday and in my haste I forgot to add the Black Friday discount code! It was a big order so I requested to cancel then reordered using the code as it was worth over £100 to me. I've now contacted ACHICA 5 times via their site- as it appears that's the only way to get in touch! I've heard nothing ... no confirmation of order(s), no confirmation of cancellation, no confirmation of my refund, no confirmation of delivery date and definately no apology for the terrible customer service!. My email seems to be working ok as they are happy to keep bombarding me with new deals! I'm not sure where to go with this now as it's a lot of money and just before Christmas too! Any advice on how to get in touch with ACHICA would be very welcome! please take care if you are planning on buying from this company!

[IamMel]

Ordered some pasta bowls from Achica on 24th September 17 and am still waiting for delivery. I keep. There is no help line phone number and I get the same response to the 3 emails I have sent via their site.
“They are extremely busy and hope my issue has now been resolved but if not religious an email! “
I think this is an appalling way to treat customers. I am not impressed in the slightest. Having read the experiences of others I would
NOT TOUCH THEM WITH A BARGE POLE!

[florabenn]

Thanks, you are right of course hindsight is great!
Interestingly Achica have responded after I posted but only to say that they will now take a further 3 days to investigate further. I could go and buy a replacement and have it delivered in that time!

[InsomniacAnonymous]

It's a good idea to check sites out on Trust Pilot before ordering uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.achica.com

[florabenn]

Achica - Any clues what to do, I was advised that my double bed mattress would arrive last Friday, text message confirmed this and it was due between 2 and 6pm that day I took time off work and was pleased with the communication. However took time off work and stayed in all afternoon and disposed of my old mattress in the morning in preparation. Sadly no delivery, I have text x 4 and response " response has been received and will be picked up by our team shortly" this was received from "Worldstores", I also emailed x 3 and still no response at all. I just need to know when it will arrive or can I have my money back fed up of not having a mattress to sleep on. Don't think I am being that unreasonable!!! As others have mentioned there is no customer service number to contact and the email response time stated 72 hours which is now well overdue. Frustrating or what

[HoneyDragon]

They threaten to sue whenever this post is bumped. They are low lives.

[Suzannebluegrey1]

Surely Achica is the most awful company on the planet! First of all they dangle the carrot of lovely looking merchandise, you place your order and then wait a lifetime for the item to arrive, or not as is usually the case for me. The latest frustration is that I ordered a mirror, then I happened to see one in the flesh and decided it was nowhere near as gorgeous as the Achica photos seemed to show, so I cancelled my order. Lo and behold a few days later the unwanted mirror was delivered! Since then I have spent three separate days at home waiting for Achica's arranged couriers to collect the unwanted mirror. The only information they will give you is collection between 8am and 8pm. No contact numbers, it takes days for them to respond. I'm still stuck with the blasted thing and they still have my money! All in all, my overall recommendation would be, DO NOT TOUCH THIS ORGANISATION WITH A VERY VERY LONG BARGEPOLE! Rant over, thank you for listening, I feel a bit better now :)

[W1ley]

Having been a customer for many years but only ordering small items I ordered a sofa in October 2016 to be delivered the first week of December. We removed our sofa in preparation however the sofa has still not been delivered 4 months later!! I have received text messages at 5pm telling me it will be delivered the next day and been forced to take annual leave only to get another message the next day saying it won't be delivered! I had an impromptu delivery on a day I happened to be working from home only to discover after the delivery men had left that it was a chaise longue and not my sofa!! This is still sitting in my sitting room as they can't be bothered to come and collect it!

The customer service staff are useless and rude. There is no communication to their customers and they constantly lie about when my order will be delivered. If you try to escalate the issue they have no escalation processes

Achica are happy to take your money but not deliver the goods. They do not understand how important it is to value their customers.

Please do not give them any of your money as they will rip you off.

You have bee warned!

[Hellefrog]

Hi Mums Net
Really like the website, but one of your trusted partners is not to be trusted. They seem to trade by supplying part of an order and then leaving the other part in the air. Towels estimated to be delivered before the end of Nov have had a revised delivery date 3 times!
As part of the order arrived it leaves the customer reliant somewhat on the completion.
Seems I am not an isolated incident, so you might want to look at this.
Thanks

[Haggisfish]

Damn-why didn't I read this before ordering?! Hope it might have changed...

[Mitford41]

I returned two bedside cabinets on the 20th June as I was told they were unable to replace a damaged cabinet, (but then told later they could after they realsied that the order was nearing £1,500). I only received a credit for one cabinet, after repeated requestes to have the other £299 credited we are still waiting. We have been told absolute rubbish as to why i t has been delayed, also, that it has been approved for payment. We are nearing just handing this to our legal people and also claim compensation. ACHICA are renowned for holding on to your cash after feading similar reviews. Our advice to potential customers of ACHICA is quite clear. DO NOT BUY ANYTHING FROM THIS SUPPLIER, VERY POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE AND 2nd CLASS GOODS.

[Footloose21]

Bad experience with Achica. I ordered a personalised print in March but by middle of May still not arrived, despite money going out of my bank straight away. Queried status of order on May 22nd (no helpline with anyone to talk to of course) & had reply to say that item no longer available. I wonder how long it would have taken Achica to inform me of this? Bear in mind that they already had my money and presumably were getting interest on it. More worryingly, the print that I wanted was back on their website again. How could this be when I was told that it was not available? Are they running a scam?
Money (no interest of course) is meant to be going back into my account within next 5-7 days, fingers crossed.

[Utterlynatterly]

Similar experience. Ordered a coffee table. Took over 3 months to arrive (and then only because I chased after the due date had passed). Table arrived damaged. That was 10 days ago. The first delivery company who came to collect said they would not collect as it was 2 parcels (instead of the1 Achica told them) and was too heavy. I have been waiting over a week for another delivery company to get in touch. Just received a letter from them saying they had been trying to contact me but could not (I must have had my phone switched off for the last week;)). So frustrating. I have had to take a half day off work to wait for the first failed collection. New courier company telling me they cannot commit to am or pm so have to take another day off. Will not use again. They have almost £400 of my money since February and don't seem in a rush to give it back.

[Batfink73]

Google IDLEROSE/achica address and telephone number comes up - Hanover place!
Don't take no for an answer with achica their customer service is appalling

[joasmum]

Been having terrible trouble with Achica today. To be fair, deliveries arrived within the window stated on order but tracking has been a nightmare. Two rugs I ordered were pretty poor and not as described. Discovered the lack of a real service centre. All the same they arranged a collection and promised to credit but nothing's happened, no contact from courier as promised and no sign of when it will. I used the ruth@achica email below and got a bounceback from worldstores. I'd guess they're part of that group. If only I'd known before. Previous experience with worldstores was dire to say the least! Never again ... again!!!

[Batfink73]

Hi to all still looking for an ACHICA phone number here it is - please pass on
0203 0088310

Rubbish company, rubbish customer service - shop elsewhere

[Mandel]

I felt I should add to the thread about Achica as it is 2015 and the last review was a few years ago.
Unfortunately nothing has changed. Nothing has improved!
I have been using Achica on and definitely off for a few years and decided to give them another shot this year. How stupid of me.
As previous comments state, the deliveries are never on time and there is no telephone line.
When I commented on the latter in my email correspondence to them, their excuse was that it would mean unacceptable waiting times to be answered and then help itself would take time meaning others would be left hanging on for even longer. PATHETIC! I commented that having dealt with other online shopping sites, that should Achica actually bother to correctly train or even employ staff, then this would not be the case.
I am still awaiting items from my order and no doubt there will be some excuse given as to why I will not be receiving the goods as promised on time. Bare in mind the order is placed weeks in advance.
There is still no communication should the delivery be delayed and getting in touch with customer services via the email system is slow and painful as responses can take days
My advise-- STAY AWAY. FAR AWAY. Do Not be tempted by any offers as they are not always such great offers and the honesty and efficiency of this company is dubious

[JoLSmith]

WHAT A CON!

Ordered a runnner and a pillow about 8 weeks ago! It still hadn't arrived so I chased. I was told twice it would be delivered within 3 days and guess what - it never arrived. I complained today and have been told the package is lost and I will get a refund!! NOT GOOD ENOUGH! ACHICA have failed to deliver on several occasions now and I've had enough. I've asked this to be escalated asap as I want those items!

Bloody waste of all my time having to chase and with a 4 month year old baby I don't need the stress of it all. SORT it out Achica!

[silvertabby]

I would like to add that I too am having a nightmare with ACHICA, and have decided to post this. I ordered, bought and paid for a large luxury Garden Gazebo on March 29th 2015. I only ordered from Achica because I found out that they would deliver this item to my holiday-home which is in France, and it seemed that they were going to be very helpful in this. But since then I have had very variable response to all my contacts - they have NO geographical address, and worse still, they have NO telephone number. I am desperate to get in contact with Achica, because this Gazebo is going to be taken in by my kind neighbour in France, as I am not there at present, yet I cannot get Achica to give me a Despatch Date or the Tracking Number. I cannot ask my kindly French neighbour to sit in waiting day-after-day, when we don't know whether the Gazebo has even been despatched. I am finding the terribly long waits after each online contact of mine totally unacceptable. One has to use their "message" system, and eventually someone responds - but this takes DAYS! But I cannot get them to confirm a Despatch Date, nor a Tracking Number. I have now (as of yesterday, May 8th) informed Achica that I wish to cancel my Order and I have demanded a complete refund - but again, I have had NO response from Achica. I shall now contact my Credit Card company, and see if they can suggest anything to help. I also intend to contact my local Trading Standards people - maybe they can suggest a remedy. All in all - a very bad mistake to attempt to buy from Achica. If I had realised before I bought that they have no genuine contact details (i.e. phone number/address) then I would have steered well clear - sadly, I realised this far too late.

[Finnimp1]

I agree with you. I've just had to return some towels that were not the colour I expected and the quality was poor and I've had to pay £17 for the privilege of returning them. Never again.

[barb1234]

Have had loads of probs with order of nearly £300 placed in October 2014 and despite numerous emails and subsequent phone calls it is still not sorted yet! I have, however, found a phone number you can ring, it is not customer services but they do pass on your message to them and the response time is quicker than email. Head office number is 0203 0088310.

[Deborahjhough03]

I placed myfirst order on the 9th March ...no email confirmation so I contacted their customer service ,,,oh your order was declined but we took money in error , it's with our accounts may contact your PayPal to get it into your account at their convenience ....what on earth !!!

[jacquih01]

I have ordered some items from ACHICA this October 2014 but when I didn't receive them, I started emailing. They said that Yodel can not deliver to my house as there is no access. However I live on a quiet suburban road with loads of parking and no gates etc, so this is a mystery to me. In fact I have since taken in a package for my next door neighbour from Yodel?! I have explained this time and time again with Achica who have said that I can have a full refund - However, I have explained countless times that I do not want a refund but just my order (xmas presents). This has been ignored each time - their emails always end with 'if there's anything else I can help you with......'. They have also thrown in a voucher off, which makes no sense if I place another order and use this voucher if they simply can't deliver to me!