A total shambles from start to (it's still ongoing)
1. Hedge trimmer had a missing blade returned it immediately. Clearly zero inspection was done prior to hiring it out. It was also some cheaper Italian make... a Active Evolution ST25, which is about half the price of a decent Stihl Trimmer.
2. As soon as I got the cover off the blade I noticed this and called the Gateshead Branch I got it from. An Australian sounding guy said he would check with maintenance if anything could be done. but there was no other trimmer to hire out. He did not call me back and was not on the front desk when I returned the trimmer.
3. I paid £234.87 (£100 of which was supposed to be a refundable deposit) the full £234.87 has debited my card, and so far all I have is a pending refund for £72.98 which hasn't actually credited my card. There was another two refunds for random amounts that had shown pending a day ago, they just dropped off and didn't credit the card, no sign of them. So maybe this £72.98 will also disappear and not credit my card.
4. And where is the other £161.89?
5. The staff at the branch didn't seem to think it was their responsibility to check the trimmer was fit to be hired out, blaming it on the fitters whatever that means. When I said that's ridiculous that you don't even check a basic thing like the blades on equipment you hire out, they argued with me about their processes, like their internal processes mean the slightest thing to me... As a customer, I couldn't care less what your flawed internal processes are, I turn up to collect equipment I've paid above market rate to hire, I expect an above average service, not a totally unfit for purpose service where the equipment was dangerous with a missing blade.
6. Calling customer.. service be prepared to wait in excess of 20 minutes to get through, and for the line to be bad with a promised call back that didn't happen (Guys name was Scott 30/06/25). Even the way they answer the phone is amateur. Today I got... "You're through to HSS" and that's it nothing else... not Good afternoon you're speaking to (first name) at HSS, how can I help you?
Just... "You're through to HSS"
I called today, the guy I spoke to agreed I was due a refund of £234.87 He said he was about to process the refund, but had to check with his supervisor before he pushed the button.
He went off for about 5 minutes or so...
He came back to me and said I will get the full refund, but as it's different departments dealing with it, it will go through as separate amounts in the next 5 working days.
This on it's own is totally illogical from a customers perspective..
I placed one order and paid one amount, I should not be getting separate refunds from separate departments. 2 of which didn't even go through, they sat as pending, then simply disappeared.
Needless to say, I don't believe I will get this refund, hence the Trustpilot review, I've already reviewed the Gateshead branch on google, I'll be looking for the contact details of whoever the CEO is, and I'll be initiating a dispute with my credit card provider, as I have zero confidence I will get the refund I'm entitled to.
From start to finish this has been an absolute shambles. My instinct tells me this company probably won't last much longer. This is a company who's staff couldn't care less.
Looking at it's financials, it's net income was £4.24 million on it's last report... This reflects a significant 79.31% decline from the previous year's net income of £20.48 million.
I think I'll start shorting this companies stock, I'll get my £234.87 back one way or another.
