Stuart C

I wanted to transfer my 2 existing licences to my new PC. It needed Magix admin to change my email address to a new one. Logging the request on the website produces a ticket and notice of a 2-5 day turnaround with the warning to the effect of not to register another request as this will put it to the back of the queue. Having no response I put another request in via a support email and received the ticket. 6 weeks later still no response.

We booked a flights, hotels and cruise package for Christmas & New Year at the Destinations Travel Show in Manchester. Usually I do thorough due diligence when making bookings. Yesterday was an exception. Why?
The salesman, Chris, listened patiently and attentively to our poorly formed ideas. Initial suggestions were plausible but nothing special for us. He went into deep think mode and came up with an excellent package (Asia) at a very good price. I refined the package by adding a 2 night stop-over and an additional 2 night stay prior to the cruise in his suggested 5* hotels at only a small increase in price. The result was a wow package and my wife insisted on booking it there and then.
The value that Chris added was his travel knowledge, putting that package together and refining it to meet our needs.
I did my due diligence today. The savings were small at around 3%. However I would not have found the extremely competitive Finnair flights which were about 25% cheaper than my Skyscanner search. This takes the notional savings up to 10% with this package. In addition, being a package it is ATOL protected. After Covid, I now consider that to be very important for long haul trips.

This was our 3rd easyJet holiday and they have represented excellent value for money. I especially value the £60pp deposit coupled with the ability to change holiday if something unexpected happens (up to 28 days before).
This was our 2nd stay at Sandos Atlantic Gardens, Lanzarote, (the first being with Jet2). However it was disappointing as standards at the hotel have slipped since our previous visit 12 months ago.
The first problem was high humidity in the room. (It had been very stormy the day before we arrived but the high humidity persisted.) The second problem was the quality of food in the restaurant which was much lower than our previous visit.
Despite this disappointment, the overall holiday was excellent.

We are delighted with the set of four PerfectFit blinds for our bi-fold patio doors.
Each blind fits within the glass area of a door. The white frames blend in well with the white upvc frames of the doors. They look good and allow the doors to be opened as normal.
We chose the white, perforated slats which are 25mm wide. The perforations keep the illumination level high even when fully closed.
The dining area now looks bigger (by 20 cm x 260 cm) as we no longer have net curtains across the recess.

I am very pleased with the purchase and early delivery of a half grab-bag of golden gravel. The price was also very competitive.

The 7 night all-inclusive holiday to Lanzarote was our first visit to Lanzarote and our first holiday with Jet2 holidays. The flight, the island, the resort, the hotel (and the hire car, booked separately) were all excellent.
The pre-booking advice of the Jet2 booking lady helped us select a good island, resort and hotel.

We wanted a relatively quiet resort. Playa Blanca was excellent being close to the Timanfaya national park and other geologically attractive areas such as Papagayo as well as the ferry to Fuerteventura for an interesting, inexpensive day trip.

The adult-only Sandos Atlantic Gardens with it's bungalow accommodation was excellent - quiet, clean, comfortable, friendly, safe in an excellent location.

Even the aircraft was interesting (to an aviation enthusiast), an RAF owned, AirTanker operated A330 Voyager with an in-flight (aircraft) refuelling capability.

We usually try and visit different places for each holiday. However, this holiday was so good we are likely to pay a repeat visit within the next year.

My wife bought an expensive diamond dress ring from Ernest Jones in Preston. It lost a diamond on the third wearing, an estimated maximum of 10 hours use. The 18 ct yellow gold ring had 11 similar size diamonds, one of which was lost when a claw came off. The estimate of repair was £400, more than 25% of the cost of the ring!
I asked why it was so expensive to replace one of 11 diamonds. The glib response was "the price of diamonds has shot up in the last year".
I took the ring to a reputable, independent jeweller. It was repaired for £130. In addition, it came with assurances that any problem, just return it to us. We will look after you.
(They also noticed that there was no indication on the ring of the gold content - no hallmark nor gold number.)
The lessons:
1. the ring was extremely fragile. The great care my wife took was not sufficient.
2. the repair price was extortionate.
3. the standard of service from EJ Preston was very poor on several counts.
4. EJ Customer Services are pathetic. The response to my complaint was literally a late Friday afternoon (16:29) tick box exercise ignoring all of the issues I raised.
5. Never do business with Ernest Jones. It is not only the Preston branch that is poor.

For me the, the advantage of buying HP products from the HP store is that I am able to see the exact spec and compare it with others on offer e.g. higher / lower specs, latest / older models, optional extras etc. to get the optimum package for my money. During the Christmas sale there were very competitive offers (IMHO better than the main UK retailer).
I was delighted with the purchase - the style, the spec and the price.

We have recently purchased two roller blinds, two day and night blinds, one roman blind and one small venetian blind. All were excellent quality, easy to fit and at a reasonable price.

They were able to supply a difficult to find porch light matching one already installed. They delivered it the next working day.

The experience was good but should have been better if I had been better prepared. I consider the company to be reliable, trustworthy and fair and in that respect they merit 5 stars. I accepted an offer of 75% of the online estimate for my 14 year old, low mileage Qashqai.
The main issue leading to the reduction was the poor paint sensor readings indicating a dull, matt finish. This was my fault as I had run out of time to properly prepare the car and had used available matt wipes to clean the car of recent dust. Had I known the reason before acceptance I would have explained the situation and taken the car away to give it a needed wash, wax and polish. (The interior was excellent with the matt wipes - they were too good.)

I made three purchases of cartons and packing material for an international move. The overall experience was excellent. I found the website easy to use and informative. I found that all the materials met expectations. I was particularly pleased with the 12.5 cm cling film and the 1m wide bubble wrap.
The deliveries were all done by DPD. The first delivery being extremely poor, taking 6 days from order to arrival in Carcassonne. (The website states 90% of standard deliveries to mainland France take 24 - 48 hours.) Fortunately the other two deliveries met the 48 hour target.

A connecting flight to Tokyo HND was late and the baggage missed the flight. The Japanese process at HND is to fill in a "Delayed Baggage Report". They do not fill in a "Property Irregularity Report", nor do they give you a PIR number. The passenger has no control over their process.
Lufthansa again rejected my claim for expenses compensation as I do not have a PIR number. This is despite uploading evidence of the official, detailed "Delayed Baggage Report" and the supporting documentation.
Communicating with LH customer services is appalling. No PIR, "no evidence" therefore no compensation. No wonder LH have a TrustPilot customer satisfaction ratings of 88% 1 star. If they want to know how to improve, start treating customers with respect.

One bad and one awful experience of Lufthansa Customer services on trip from Toulouse to Tokyo via Munich. Misinformation on the aircraft and deserted Customer Service desks at Munich resulted in us very nearly missing the connecting flight. (It departed over one hour late). The baggage did miss the flight but Lufthansa have repeatedly refused to consider the expenses claim as it was a "Delayed Baggage Report" and not a "Property Irregularity Report". We did exactly what was requested. At Haneda on exiting the aircraft, we were advised (along with several other travellers) that the baggage was delayed. We were told to go to special desks set up in the Customs Hall where a very polite Japanese lady filled in a "Delayed Baggage Report". The queue and process took well over 1 hour. The expenses claim was rejected as there was no PIR number. We had no control over what form was used nor the process followed.
The misinformation on the significantly delayed (approx 2 hours) Munich inbound flight was for travellers to about 20 destinations to go to the Customer Services desk for onward travel information. The desks were deserted - presumably all were working from home.
Lufthansa feedback references are FB ID 37573040
and FB ID 37348140

1. If you have not taken the expensive full insurance option, you should carefully inspect the car at pick-up. The car had three would-be chargeable defects which were not on the condition report. They were marked on my paperwork and I was not charged.
2. After driving away it became apparent that the windscreen wipers were dangerously juddery in slight rain. I had to stop using intermittent wipe and apply single wipes every 15-20 seconds for the remainder of the journey.

I used the Holiday Autos rental car supplier reviews to select which supplier to use. The choice (Hertz) was good.

Screen With Envy went into Voluntary Liquidation in November 2022. I am owed £600. The same two directors have now set up another company trading under the same Screen With Envy trading name and using the same website. They have started distributing the same type of emails. I have requested the return of the money owed. I am still awaiting the reply.
My advice to anybody considering buying from these people is Don't. If you do, pay by credit card (they would not accept a credit card when I made my purchase). Do not pay up front - a big mistake. Make sure the item is in stock. If it does not arrive within 30 days claim back on the bank card immediately.
Do not accept 10% reductions for waiting longer for delivery. Do not accept 10% reductions for painting the available colour to the ordered colour. Do not believe you will be called back by management. Be prepared to lose your money.

Screen with Envy have failed to deliver my order and failed to refund my money.
Order for 2 screens was paid in full on the 30-Apr-2022. With still no stock at the end of July, I requested a refund by phone supported by email. And again in August, and in September. Each time call-backs were promised but never made. Email at the start of October has been ignored.
The Screen with Envy playbook is full of unfulfilled promises to kick the can down the road.
In my experience this is a company that does not deserve to be in business (if indeed it still is).

This return trip (TLS-AGP-TLS) was excellent - punctual, no hassle and at a good price. This was the fourth of four booked return trips with Volotea this year. The previous trip in July (TLS-CTA-TLS) was similarly excellent.
However, the second trip in June (TLS-MAD-TLS) was cancelled by Volotea a few days after booking when Volotea cancelled the route for the duration of the summer. Very annoying.
The first trip of the year in April (TLS-DBV-TLS) was very good but also very stressful as Volotea cabin crew were striking on the outbound day. There were a lot of cancellations at short notice.
Volotea now seem to have got over the turbulence and we look forward to travelling with them again next year.

In 2019 we booked and paid for the 3-day ABS package in Johannesburg for August 2020. Then came the Pandemic. The package was rescheduled for 2021 and then again for 2022.
It was with some trepidation that we embarked upon our flight to Africa. Would everything be in place as promised? Would there be any unexpected surprises e.g. additional costs due to inflation, exchange rates etc?
Everything went perfectly well and fully in accordance with the original booking. The pick-up at JNB, the 2 nights accommodation, the breakfasts and evening meals, the full-day guided tour of Johannesburg and the return transfer to JNB for our onward flight.
The quality of the package: timeliness of transfers; quality and service of the accommodation; the meals; and the guided tour were all very good.
We very much appreciate the honesty, integrity and reliability of ABS delivering the booking service over the 3 years and the quality of the provided package.