Jim

I booked a Fiat 500 because it was the only size of car that would fit the very tight parking space at our Airbnb.
On arrival, the staff were extremely friendly and helpful, but repeatedly tried to sell me a €20-per-day "upgrade" to a Peugeot 208. They told me the Fiat 500 wasn't suitable for Madeira's hills, that they received more complaints about the Fiat 500 than any other car, and that we'd struggle to fit our luggage in it.
They also asked whether it was our first time on Madeira before making these claims. Given the sequence of events, it certainly felt like they were assessing whether I had enough experience of the island to challenge what we were being told.
The crucial fact they didn't tell me was that my booked Fiat 500 was simply unavailable.
What makes this even more concerning is that I already knew when I made my booking that the Peugeot 208 was cheaper than the Fiat 500. Yet I was being asked to pay an additional €20 per day to take the cheaper car.
Madeira Rent's own terms state that when a booked vehicle is unavailable, an equivalent or higher-category replacement is provided at no additional cost.
I complained to Madeira Rent in writing and they completely ignored me.
I've since found numerous other reviews describing very similar experiences involving customers being told that their booked cars were unsuitable and being encouraged to pay for an upgrade. Combined with Madeira Rent's complete failure to respond to my complaint, this makes it difficult to believe this was simply the actions of one rogue employee. It certainly gives the impression of a company-wide sales practice rather than an isolated incident.
The staff's friendliness made the experience particularly deceptive. What initially sounded like helpful advice now looks, in my view, like a carefully presented attempt to persuade an unfamiliar customer to pay extra for a cheaper vehicle that they should have been provided with anyway.
If you rent from Madeira Rent, be very careful about any "upgrade" you're offered. Ask explicitly whether your booked vehicle is actually unavailable and why you are being charged for the replacement.

Had a solid roof fitted to a conservatory about a month ago - wanted some hot weather before leaving a review.

Ours was a large conservatory (4m x 5m) and it has transformed the room - it has been transformed from un-useable to one of the coolest room in the house. Previously when it was 26 degrees outside, the conservatory would hover around 40 degrees. Now its around 28 degrees.

Delighted with the finish and service from TWS. A couple of very minor snags that were sorted out in a very timely fashion. I also loved how un-pushy their salesmen was.

It has been a costly investment, but probably the best money we will ever spend on the house - thanks to everyone at TWS.

I feel really let down my HomeTree.

I took out an expensive Landlord policy. A problem with the heating occurred last year that took a few weeks and numerous engineer calls to identify the problem. I ended up buying the tenant oil filled radiators for their house as they were so long without heating. I gave HomeTreee leeway because of the time of year and the COVID situation.

However the hot water packed up just after Christmas. I reported the problem on the 28th December and writing today on 24th January Hometree still haven't fixed it - 4 weeks without hot water.

Engineers don't come when scheduled and they don't have the parts when they do. Getting through to HomeTree on the phone is impossible.

I have finally given up and despite having paid for the annual subscription and the £60 excess for the job, I have just paid an independent engineer to rectify the problem - which he has done within 12 hours of calling him.

In my case when RMG took over Churwell Village in Leeds, they sent their invoice to different address than I had provided for billing. They called in the debt collectors who added their own charges to the debt accrued and had no trouble sending their demands to my correct billing address.

But my biggest gripe is value for money... each house on that estate (over 100) are paying an annual fee of over £100. And all RMG do for their 100K+ is mow a bit of lawn cut some bushes.

Proof of their inflated fees came when I sold the house and they charged me £400 to provide a pre sales management pack that contained virtually nothing bespoke to my house. It cannot have taken them more than an hour to prepare the pack and without it I couldn't sell the house.

Thankfully I have sold up and will no longer have to deal with these rip off merchants.

On time, professional and friendly...

Today marks the 2 month anniversary of Borderlinx receiving my package in their US hub. Where it still remains to this day.

Their customer service is virtually non existent. It consists of a messenger service that takes nearly an hour to get through to and then you deal with Syed and his scripted replies. The support claim to escalate issues and nothing happens - no communication, no action.

I have been told that my parcel has been shipped 3 separate occasions. Yet it remains in the US Hub warehouse. They are now charging me 5$ a day for storing the package that they claim has been sent.

I really don't know if this is very poor customer service or a complete scam. Their tactic appears to be - make it very difficult to raise a complaint - then ignore it. I presume they hope I will juts give up and go away?

Please, please, please - do not use this company.

The case number that they have requested in their reply is 201764540.

Potential customers please do look carefully at their reply. Yes it is polite but note that they have conveniently asked for the case ID but gave me no way to send it them - no email - no phone number. I have never been given a way to contact someone to resolve this apart from their on-line message service (to Syed) who can't actually do anything except make a note of the issue.

I have added the case ID here but I don't expect to hear back from them.

1 Dropped in on a Sunday to look at an S Class. No dealer avail. No issue with that but i was advised to "try again later". I would have expected them to make an appointment for later and not just expect me to try my luck later.
2 Key fob not unlocking car. They replaced battery. I explained that the car locked so unlikely to battery. But they assured me it worked. It didnt. Took it back a second time and repeat of process. They came across as irratated when I asked them to double check as the battery had already been changed. They assured me it worked. It didnt.

3 Booked car in for 2nd year service. Car lease from mbfs due to end so arranged to leave with them after the service. Dropped the car òff only to be told it was no longer possible to leave it with them. They didnt want to be liable for any damage they might cause! The car was only going to be with them for 3 days! Manager dealt with it through receptionist and didnt show his face. I had to call mbfs on my own mobile in the dealership to sort it out as they offered zero assistance. I was literally passing my mobile over to the receptionist to speak to mbfs as the dealership wouldn't make the call. Great customer service.

One issue... i probably dont complain... but a pattern of being treated cr*p...

Bought a pair of Sennheiser IE8 headphones. They have a distribution site in the UK but delivery took nearly 2 weeks suggesting they are shipped in from China.

The headphones are fakes. Cosmetically very good fakes with just a few give aways but they sound like the typical free pair of headphones that you get with a mobile phone.

Look on the website - no contact address, no phone number, no UK company reg number.

I did find a mobile number for them but this goes straight to a voicemail.

Emails are not answered.

The returns form on the website is not responded to.

Avoid.

Bought a pair of Sennheiser IE8 headphones. They have a distribution site in the UK but delivery took nearly 2 weeks suggesting they are shipped in from China.

The headphones are fakes. Cosmetically very good fakes with just a few give aways but they sound like the typical free pair of headphones that you get with a mobile phone.

Look on the website - no contact address, no phone number, no UK company reg number.

I did find a mobile number for them but this goes straight to a voicemail.

Emails are not answered.

The returns form on the website is not responded to.

The company trades under a variety of names - the parent company appears to be Yarkata.com.

Avoid.

I must have tried up to 10 replacements GU10 replacements.... the first generation of low energy GU10's I found were based around mini fluorescent tubes. The light from these was excellent but they took a long time to warm up and within a couple of years they had all stopped working. I started to experiment with LED's - these didn't need anytime to warm up but the light was really cold and clinical. I tried a number of brands over the years each claiming to provide warm light - and all disappointed. And despite lifespans rated for tens of thousands of hours I have had to replace a lot of failed bulbs. Last year I came across Well Lit. They are not the most expensive bulbs on the market - but far from the cheapest. So I started with just 3. They are worth every penny. For the very first time I have light quality that is very very hard to distinguish from a Halogen. It is too early to comment on reliability but a year later and all is good. I have recently bought 3 more - I will be replacing all of existing bulbs with Well Lites as and when they fail. 10/10 from me...