They have a sale on. The sale items can’t be posted - you have to find which store has them in stock and collect from there. The Maplin website says that the Reading store has just 2 of item A and just 1 of item B so I order these online last night and pay for them. I get an automatic e-mail back saying thanks and promising me another e-mail when the items are ready.
I expect the store staff to find my items first thing this morning and set them aside so I can collect today. 11:00 comes and goes. I check the website and it’s still showing that they have the items in stock (this is bad news - I’ve bought them, so the stock level should have been updated). I call Maplin customer service and wait in the queue. Eventually Denise answers, confirms my order and says yes, it should be OK to collect now. I’ve been here before, so I ask for the store’s direct line number so I can confirm that they have the items.
I call the store. The guy who answers says the order has not come through to them. I ask if he has the items in the store. He takes the first reference number and says no, they have none. He suggests I call customer service.
I join the customer service queue again. Music for a long time, then ringtone, then the phone’s picked up, then the phone’s cut off. I join the customer service queue again. Music for a long time, then ringtone, then the phone’s picked up. Michaela asks me how I am. I say fine and start to explain my problem. Michaela asks if I’m still there. Then the phone’s cut off.
I call the store and speak to the same guy. I suggest that since he told me very promptly that they didn’t have my items in stock he got that information from the computer. I would expect the computer to say ‘No stock’ because I’ve bought the items. Could he please walk down the shop and see if there are 2 of item A hanging on the peg. He replies immediately that he hasn’t seen my order and that there are none of item A in stock. He says I have to talk to customer service. I say I can’t get through to them. He says he will call customer service. Can I call him back at 12:15.
Thank goodness I didn’t waste my morning travelling to Reading. Pity I wasted it on the phone instead.
Rumour is that Maplin are going down the pan. It’s bloody obvious why.
This is why I long-ago stopped using them - their DGAF game is Strong. Plus pretty much everything they sell is absolute tat. May as well buy it direct from China via thiefbay…
I really only use them if I’m in a rush (Reading, Newbury and Oxford are close-ish). One of the items is down from £34.99 to £13.99. The other is a compact, basic but functional stereo pre-amp kit for £3 for which my radiogram customer has a need - too cheap to refuse really.
Yes. I always try to call the shop before going, unless I happen to be going past anyway or the website says they have 20 in stock. Their fuses can be very handy but the problem is they don’t identify the manufacturer so you can’t check the I2t blowing threshold. The more I learn about fuses, the more I realise that this number is nearly as important as the current rating.
Jesus, idiots on Facebook market. Agreed to buy a sound bar from someone who lives basically just around the corner. I say when I can go, and he says fine. Then he’s out, and now he’s gone totally dark. He’s marked it sold - is that to me? If not, wouldn’t a simple message to say so be a useful courtesy?
I confess I’m struggling to understand this. On the one hand Hunt is saying he’s sorry for a situation which is “absolutely not what I want”. On the other there was an NHS manager on the Today programme this morning explaining that this isn’t a crisis because after last year’s experience (crisis ?) they put plans in place to manage the situation and if something is planned for then it can’t be a crisis (actually we could argue about that, but never mind).
What it boils down to is that the left hand of the NHS is planning for an eventuality which the right hand absolutely doesn’t want. Is this what they call ‘competition’ within the NHS ?
Having plans is one thing, not funding them to actually succeed is quite another. Hunt is culpable for another difficult winter and unstable/ unsafe services.
The ‘new’ publicly funded Mersey bridge near that complete shite hole Runcorn. So, we pay for it and now you have to pay £2 each way, you can fuck right off. And only the people who live near the North side get free passes, how does that work, there are two ends to the fucking bridge you wankers.
In what way is apologising acceptable? It was entirely predictable, and under his control. He’s basically said that he’s incompetent, but that seems fine nowadays.