Hi everyone,

My Wife and I purchased a "Frog Pod" Made By Boon Inc. from The Toys R Us store at Westfield Kotara, Newcastle NSW. This product is a Bath toy scoop, drain and storage product that mounts on the bathroom wall and holds all your children’s bath toys and lets them drip dry.

I went to fit the product to the wall last week and I noticed there was a manufacturing flaw in the collection scoop/basket that made it impossible to mount to the bracket. The scoop was incorrectly molded with a bend in it. I tried to bend it into the bracket and noticed a stress fracture occurring along the seam whilst being pushed into place. I then decided I was not going to bother with this product. I was glad I checked the operation of this product before I drilled a hole through my bathroom wall.

I might mention here that I am a structural engineer and quite qualified in determining flaws in products.

My wife and I went back to the store and spoke with the young inexperienced girl at the returns counter who would not refund the item even after showing and explaining what had happened.

This product was taken back to the shop in the original box, unused, with everything in the box. It was obvious that it was not used what so ever.

It is simple Toys R Us, if you sell a defective product you should:

1. Acknowledge the problem.
2. Apologise for wasting my time.
3. Refund the full purchase price of the item.
4. Consider stocking Australian made products.

NGE Member: amayzen

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“RB” of Australasian Relocations came to my home in Sydney along with 5 other removal companies to quote me for a removal back to the UK.

I accepted and paid his quotation.

It should have been a 2 day job, but was done in 1 day, and there were supposed to be 2 vans. The second van never turned up and the packers were not happy.

I had to leave at 5pm and they were still packing goods which were on the drive outside the property.

Some weeks later I had an email from Australasian Relocations to say that there was a lot of extra items and that I owed them another $3,000.

I was outraged and said that as far as I was concerned there was nothing extra and that they had seen everything that needed to be packed.

The shipment arrived in this country (UK) but RB refused to release it until the $3000 was paid.

In the meantime I was being charged storage by the company in this country, EVL. For 2 weeks I asked RB. to provide a list of these so-called extras. Eventually he provided it and it was a total joke. Items were duplicates of original items but listed under a different name. Items were listed that I didn’t possess.

There was a long list of shoes, towels, sheets etc. which should have been included in original list - there was only myself and my son living in a 3 bedroom house how could there possibly be $3000 of extra stuff?

Also listed was a box of firewood, which completely astounded me.

Eventually, after weeks of battling I ended up having to pay the extra amount AND the storage charges which had been incurred. The company in this country who were dealing with AR have said that they will no longer deal with them because they are such a bad company and they have had hundreds of complaints.

When I eventually got my furniture back the first box out was a large heavy box titled “Firewood.” When we unpacked it we were amazed and upset to find that it contained an antique pine desk and a Victorian pine corner cabinet which had literally been ripped apart into pieces and stuffed into this box with no packing whatsoever. The box also contained two leaves off my oak dining table which had been ripped off their struts, leaving the 6" bolts which held them together bent at an angle of 90 degrees.

I had approximately 20 pieces of smashed china, crystal, pictures and every lampshade had been packed so badly they were damaged beyond repair. I had a box of goods that were not mine, and the remains of the packers’ lunch including several empty plastic coke bottles were stuffed into one of my cartons, where they had mouldered for 4 months.

RB wont acknowledge emails or phone calls. He is removing negative feedback off a review site and ‘ve had several other people contact me with similar problems and complaining that their feedback is removed as well.

NGE Member: JAYBEE21

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We built our new house 18 months ago and laid high quality polished wood floors. For this reason we decided to pay for quality appliances so as not to risk damage to them.

The Kleenmaid salesperson assured us that by purchasing Kleenmaid that we were buying a quality premium product and that it was backed by an equally strong service agreement. The salesman explained that the fridge we were purchasing was made in the United States, that it was a sealed unit and made especially to cope with the humid conditions experienced in Queensland, and because of this it would not leak.

Approx one year ago we noticed the floor boards under our fridge were starting to split. After calling out the Kleenmaid servicemen we were again assured that the fridge doors could not possibly leak as they were sealed units and that it was the heat from the fridge that was splitting the floorboards.

On 6 June,2007 our fridge completely stopped working and Kleenmaid sent out a serviceman. He drew our attention to the fact that the doors had indeed been leaking the whole time and was rusted.

Our floors by this stage had split quite a bit and were starting to lift. He also pointed out that the fridge was not made in United States as we had been told but in Mexico and that they had to put a special motor in the door as these fridges were not designed to cope with the Queensland humidity.

We paid $5950 for a fridge that is useless in Queensland condition.

We then waited four weeks for Kleenmaid to get back to us even after repeated phone calls to the service centre. We have now been without a fridge for over 7 weeks. We have written a letter of demand to Kleenmaid to get a refund as the fridge has not met the requirements that we specified when purchasing the product.

We have finally been contacted by Kleenmaid (after 7 weeks using an esky) to say that we have to go through our own insurance company for our floors and that they have no control over what the salesman say when they are selling a product and that it is our word against theirs.

My husband recently went into a Kleenmaid store and the sales staff are still selling the fridge for Queensland conditions and saying that it is made in the United States.

For a company that prides itself on quality products and service I can honestly say that we have found them to be one of the worst companies that we have ever dealt with.

NGE Member: Briley

See Gripe HQ - Top Gripes for Kleenmaid's response

I would like to advise your company of my "customer service" experience today.

At approximately 8am at the Victoria Point Shell garage I was filling the tank of my vehicle when after approx.20 litres of fuel was dispensed the hose became disconnected from the bowser & fuel was pouring down,

I promptly advised the attendents who shut down the bowser,

I went to the cashier to pay as he was unsure of the procedure he approached a woman who the proceded to the bowser to check the amount of $$ due, She advised almost $50 was owing,

I told her I my vehicle does not even hold that much & that I actually had over half a tank of fuel before filling up she reluctantly advised she would accept $25 as payment.

As a gesture of good will & quality customer service I felt complimentary fuel could have been offered. The fuel fumes were so strong in the car my children got headaches & I also now have a pair of fuel smelling leather shoes.

I trust you can investigate this incident & I look forward to a prompt reply from your company.

PS It seems I am not the only person this has happened to. I have heard of other cases where the customer has been showered in the fuel & made to pay for all the lost fuel & not offered any compensation or help with laundering of clothing. Perhaps NGE, you can get a reply from the company.

NGE Member: Nickeldean

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Recently I found Itech World advertising cheap satellite gear on Ebay. I called them and they said I could come down instead of buying through Ebay.

At their shop I found the same salesman from the Mod shop (a shop that had previously sold me an illegal satellite box and refused a refund). As I had a previous dispute with Mod shop, I asked if the mod shop was connected to Itech World. He said no. I have since been informed that this is untrue.

The salesman promised to make up for the mod shop. I asked if he could do the same deal as on eBay. He said yes.

He told me that they would have to change the box from eBay, as it wouldn't suit. They suggested another box. I asked if it needed a module for the legal access card from Optus (this was the problem with Mod Shop, they sold me a system with a hacked software version of a card rather than a real card and cam as I paid them for).

They told me it included a slot for the card. I asked them what the price difference would be, and they said $450. They told me that all boxes were set up by them already.

At home I discovered that the box was not set up. I followed the instructions but it kept resetting. I also found that it did not have a card slot.

I went back to the Itech World and they tried to charge me $40 more for the cam than the price on their site. I asked them to set it up. They found that their instructions were incorrect.

I mentioned that the box seemed to reset itself randomly when you pressed the channel buttons. When I returned home, I set up the box and I had some channels.

The next day all channels worked except GWN. I also found the box reset itself repeatedly, causing a few minutes wait before you could watch TV again. After a while the box stopped completely. I took it back.

They spent some time trying to make it work, but couldn't. They told me it would have to be booked in for his expert technician to fix. He told me the charge would be $40.

I spoke to the manager and he agreed that a fee was not appropriate. The manager rang and told me that they could not fix the box, it was beyond them and he didn't know that model. He said they could factory reset the box and give it back, or they could send it back to the supplier, and I would have to wait 4 weeks.

I told the manager that I wanted a different box. He refused. I asked for my money back. He refused. I have since emailed them with no response.

On reviewing my receipt I have found that they overcharged me for every item they quoted. The differences compared to their site and what they quoted me add up to around $200.

NGE Member: groo

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itechworld's Response:

The company I work for has been listed on your site (itechworld). I want this slander written about it removed ASAP and the person (NGE Member: groo )identified.

Comments being untrue, slander damages the good name of this company, with tens of thousands of happy customers. Itechworld has spent tens of thousands of dollars building a good name.

The longer the slander stays on your web site the more damage it directly causes to itechworld and shareholders. You are now aware of damage being caused by you by having these comments on your site. Damages that can be quantified and recovered.I want these comments removed ASAP and a respond within 24hrs unless you would like this matter to be taken further.

Mark Peterson
Operations Manager
Itechworld Pty Ltd

Supercheap Auto advertised Bosch spark plugs (4 prong type) in their catalogue of 11 July 2007, but one day later 2 stores do not have stock. One store never had stock, and the other had only one set.

It is not as if my car is not a popular model (1996 Ford 6 cylinder), and all other automotive stores (Auto One, Malz, Repco, Coventry) have a large stock base for this model.

As the sales continues until 27 July 2007 this act by Supercheap contravenes the Trade Practices Act.

However this is not the first time that Supercheap have contravened this legislation, as 5 years ago they advertised a street directory at 50% discount, but refused to charge this discount price, so I refused to purchase from them.

Now I will never bother with this company again. Never ever!

NGE Member: Professor

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Leaving Melbourne with Qantas on 15 June the plane was delayed by one hour. This meant that I missed my connecting flight to Amsterdam.

I was put on a different flight which went via London with British Airways. My luggage did not arrive in Amsterdam.

I have completed the Lost baggage questionnaire and Claims form. I then wrote to them. Although it is difficult to get a person on the other end of the line, I have spoken to them over the phone on a number of occasions since.

I still have not heard anything about the location of my luggage.

NGE Member: Zofia

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We bought a printer while they had a promotion to get cash back. We sent all the information requested and we were waiting for our money back.

We thought it was taking longer than it should so decided to call them and they said they received the receipt and the form we filled in but no barcode (which we sent). According to them they sent us an email to let us know about this - an email we never got.

So now they said there is nothing they can do because the promotion is over.

NOT Good Enough! We did everything we were asked to do but didn't receive what they advertised.

I just can't believe the manager of the dept said there is absolutely nothing they can do about it. We spent $500 on their product and they can just turn around and say "oh well bad luck. You don't get your cashback.!”

I am not even that happy with the printer anyway - I wish I could sell it on eBay but I'll probably get $10 for it.

NGE Member: firsttime

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Hi There,

On 6 June 2007, I was contacted by a telemarketing company selling vouchers for Freedom Escapes. They were offering a package deal of 10 vouchers and a "free" MP3 player for $ 189.

I was looking for accommodation in Sydney and Cairns. They rabbled of all the benefits of this deal and at first it sounded as good value and I ended up buying it.

Look at www.freedomescapes.com.au it is posted on their website.

However when I started to investigate what was available through other sources and companies there was absolutely no value in this deal for me. (With or without MP3 player).

I rang them up on Friday 15 June 2007 on 1300 780 811 and requested a refund.

I spoke with manager Ian. He asked if the pack had arrived yet and I said no.

I was advised to wait until pack arrived and then he would take me through and show where the value in this pack was.

I spent a great deal of time on the weekend researching options through other sources without finding value in this deal. So, the pack arrives Monday 18 June with only 7 vouchers instead of 10, and no receipt and no explanation.

I was very disappointed and upset with this conduct. I had at this point made up my mind that I will not deal with this company no matter what.

I phoned Ian on Tuesday and requested a refund; he told me the name of some hotels that in his opinion represented value to me. He also told me that the reason there was no catalogue in the pack was that they have been updating them and the last 3 vouchers are on the way along with a new catalogue.

I insisted on a refund. He said no and hangs up the phone.

Given this experience I will not buy from a telemarketing company again, because they always want to make the sale right then and there.

And, as far as accommodation packages, the value to the customer is not there.

These companies are merely middle men sales people who also have to get paid somehow and at the end of the day just past on the cost to the customer. In this case $189.

If these people provided true value they should have no trouble giving a refund.

This way they certainly have a customer who won't speak highly of them. And I intend to continue to actively pursue a full refund.

NGE Member: Talldane6811

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I incorrectly made a booking on the net on 18 April 07 with Jetstar.

I rang straight away approx 2 mins later and was advised to write in a letter, which i did and received a reply on 26 April 2007 to inform me that they would get back to me in 6 weeks time.

Because the flight was booked for two people and only one was travelling I rang again and spoke to C on 15 May to inform them that by the time the reply comes it would be past the travel date.

I was assured that not to worry however Jetstar would get back to me.

I rang again today 9 weeks later and spoke again to C and was told that he was only a reservation agent and that Jetstar customer relationship office had no fax nor phone number and that eventually Jetstar would get back when NO ONE KNOWS??

PLEASE HELP!

NGE Member: Adenia

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