Ebay

I live on this damn site...

eBay... Oh eBay, what is not to love? It is literally a treasure trove of awesome things you have the potential to own.

Apart from the fact that there are millions of others with the potential to steal them from you.

I check this site every day for amazing bargains at prices which can not be achieved anywhere else. I have had a few problems but not with the service itself, merely with some terrible people who frequent it.

I bought a cheap keyboard from 'thepcoutlet'. (Yeah, name and shame because they do not deserve the custom they get.)

It was a keyboard priced at around 8 pounds. Now considering you can get them from places like eBuyer for like £3, I thought it would atleast be slightly decent. (Especially considering it was advertised as brilliant tested quality.)

It arrived, Broken. It came with a selection of red keys to customise the keyboard with and all but 2 of the 8 keys were totally shattered. The letters on the keys were so terribly painted that they were smudged and the whole thing just felt cheap and was made out of awful plastic.

I was pretty annoyed, I messaged the guy simply informing him that it had come broken and was smudged etc. He then proceeded to call me a liar and say that it was of good quality...

Oh! How silly of me, these keys are supposed to be broken/smudged/made of awful material... Oh, hang on. I think he may be an idiot.

After arguing with this guy for a few messages, I then threatened to contact eBay to settle this for us and only then did he say he could send another. Why on earth would I want another?? Also why I would I pay postage to be refunded the total minus it? It wasn't worth the effort to receive 4 pound odd back due to postage costs.

So yeah, this sort of crap can happen, but it's usually 1 in a 100...

Any other broken or shoddy goods have always been happily refunded or replaced with no issue.

Other than that I've had a great share of awesome deals and awesome seller communication too. I Love this site and idiots like the 'pcoutlet' with their god awful customer service and English skills are just a small blight on it's otherwise shining presentation.

A+++

Rich

Reddy found this review useful

Amazon

I love Amazon.

Amazon is always my go to site when I need something... be it something as small and stupid as a 4.5volt battery, it always delivers. I often find the rates here to be better than eBay. And then you have the fantastic addition of all the useful reviews.

Now I'm a guy that will never buy something unless I can see it or read a review on it to get a general idea. This has been a great method for me and I often avoid buying something that's crap or that just doesn't suit my purpose.

Amazon always provides in this regard, even if I have to flick over to the U.S. equivalent. My only con of Amazon, isn't even strictly a problem with the site itself. It's the fools that frequent it. Some reviews you come across are just blatantly not true (As proven when I own the product myself). Others are just provided by people who have no idea what they are even talking about.

I'll give an example, the Akai LPK25 is a 25 note USB MIDI keyboard which has brilliant write ups (And is excellent which I know due to owning one.)

I saw a guy write a review saying basically that this MIDI keyboard was terrible... His reasons? The notes aren't even played with matching volumes.

Uhhh, yeah. If you know anything about MIDI instruments, the first thing should be that they do not provide any sound at all, they merely provide digital information. These keys are sensitive to the velocity in which the keys are pressed.

Yeah, that means that the guy was complaining about his own performance. If the notes were at different levels, its due to the fact that he played them that way. Besides, if you have even a basic knowledge of DAW's you can find and alter the velocity of played notes anyway...

If this guy owns a MIDI keyboard, he should know what the hell they are actually for before writing a bad review! It's like me buying a drumkit and giving it a bad review because it plays out of time!

But yeah, Amazon = awesome. Reviewers... eh, can be awesome?

A+++

Rich.

Paypal

Not sure where I'd be without PayPal...

I absolutely love PayPal...

For those times when you don't trust any other payment method, Or you simply can not be bothered to go and find your bloody debit card and fill in all those annoying details. PayPal is always there.

I use PayPal for eBay, Steam, GOG, Gumtree and Preloved purchases and many many more.

It's just so quick and easy to just type an email and password and press confirm, that and you have all the protection they offer. I think it should be a legal requirement to have a Paypal account as it is so annoying when someone has never heard of it and you have to buy something using some form of ancient technology known as a 'Postal Order'.

I haven't got much to say about this service other than mindless praise as it's done me nothing but good. It's also ridiculously easy to manage and make payments to people when only provided with an e-mail address!

If you haven't already (for some reason) get on it!

Rich.

Michael Lajlev found this review useful

Matt Reed

Awesome Service and Product.

I recently got into Warhammer 40K and can't help but notice that my bank account total has shrunk massively... Yeah it's a pretty pricey hobby.

Considering I don't play, I just enjoy building and painting these, it can be a bit of a pain the ass just to get little odd bits or even troops you want without getting stung.

Then I came across Modelbits.co.uk. At first I didn't trust it, especially considering Google Chrome decided that there was unsecure content on the website.

Just want to say right off the bat, ignore that warning. It's a false alarm, and I would also like to say that damn am I glad I did trust the site!

I used Paypal to check out so everything was nice and secure as well as lightning fast. And despite ordering a ton of things I wasn't penalised by ridiculous postage charges. (I'm looking at you eBay sellers...)

This is the list of things I bought,

1 x Assault On Black Reach Ork Deffkopta
1 x Blood Angels Death Company Backpack D
1 x Blood Angels Death Company Chainsword Arm - Left
1 x Blood Angels Death Company Chainsword Arm - Right B
1 x Blood Angels Death Company Shoulder Pad
1 x Blood Angels Death Company Shoulder Pad O
1 x Blood Angels Sanguinary Guard Head B
1 x Blood Angels Sanguinary Guard Legs A
1 x Chaos Terminator Trophy Rack B
1 x Space Marine Body Back
1 x Space Marine Bolt Pistol Holster
1 x Space Marine Command Squad Standard Top A
1 x Space Marine Commander Accessory - Cloth and Purity Seals
1 x Space Marine Commander Body Front
2 x Space Marine Purity Seal

That looks like a hefty load and that it would sting you considerably, especially so because you get to choose exactly what you want.

Quite the opposite is true, I paid £12.00 for all of that. £1.50 was postage and it was shipped in a small jiffy bag.

I was rather pleased I managed to create a custom soldier and get an
entire Deffkopta in great condition for a fraction of the price I would have
paid to obtain it any other way. (Single bits on eBay are around £2.50)

So yeah, all in all when the items are in stock, this website is an excellent way to get hold of those bits you've had your eye on.

A+++

Rich.

Sportsdirect

Great Online Store.

I just want to say right off the bat, this is a review of the online store. Not the Sports Direct shops in towns.

I just want to say, I recieve e-mails every day from this company. This may be a problem to some people, but for me I'm okay with it. I'm always on top of my e-mail and check it multiple times a day so it's like a constant update that is easily cleared if irrelevant to me.

So my experiences with Sports direct I will say have been overall Good.

However not without flaws. When I order something from Sports direct, it ALWAYS comes the next working day. This is insane. There is a guy who lives in my street that gives me my package the day after I buy it. Even if I buy it in the night. It's crazy. So this is a massive plus I would highly rate this company for.

Over a holiday of two weeks I noticed that oddly, all of my jeans no longer fit my leg length comfortably. Sports direct were on call and 4 pairs of jeans the next day that fit perfectly really made me come to love this company.

However the flaws I mentioned earlier I won't hesitate to mention.

I've ordered 2 pairs of shoes from Sports Direct. Don't get me wrong the delivery was great, the size and style were correct. There wasn't a problem.

Except for the fact that there were some minor marks on the shoes, they were canvas style converse shoes and there was an orange highlighter type scrawl on one of them. (Barely noticeable but certainly wouldn't pass Quality checks.)

Also the second black pair had a white mark I could not scrub off on one of the sides. Very much in the fashion of the prior.

Now this doesn't bother me so much but I just wanted to let those know that it might. My shoes get wrecked anyways so I'm cool with them not being 100% as it hurts less when they get that first scuff or stain on them!

All in all, I'd definately reccomend the online services of Sports Direct. Especially cause I can pay by PayPal too! :)

DPD UK

The best customer service I have ever dealt with.

Just wanted to change this...

It is crazy how one small error can totally throw things off and cause a terrible chain of events. It happened in my case with DPD however, the issue has been rectified by them and I have to hand it to them, They have the best customer service I have ever dealt with.

I posted an angry review as I was terribly annoyed at not receiving my package when I had taken a day off and forced my self awake despite a really hard day prior. I do not deny that there was an issue, however to blame the company as a whole was a foolish mistake. There was one mistake In particular from one individual that really set me off, but in all honesty the absolutely flawless help I have received from other members of the team greatly out weighs the single con I had.

I had a very useful lady help me over the phone at customer services, she resolved the issue instantly, I had brilliant support from another lady in the customer service department who e-mailed me everything I needed and fast! Also Bobby of DPD on this very site ensuring everything was as it should be and also checking up on all the past reviews on here (which really impressed me!) And last but certainly not least, Alex the site manager of Birmingham depot who personally delivered my parcel today at 10AM.

He called me to apologise for what had happened and arrange a date that was good for me to have the parcel shipped, now if this isn't incredible customer service, I really don't know what is!

He arrived this morning not only with sincere apologies but also with a gift bag full of some awesome stuff that I am extremely grateful for. (Including a hand written letter of apology!)

I do legitimately feel bad for the things I wrote as it did reflect the whole company when seriously it was just down to one mistake by one guy.

This company really does have some excellent people and I would gladly recommend them and use them again as a delivery service.

Thanks again, DPD and I apologise my self for the misunderstanding!

Rich.

29 March 2012

Reply from DPD UK

2nd EDIT: Hi Rich, really glad that all was resolved in the end and delighted we were able to help you out. Enjoy your goodies! Bobby.

EDIT: Hi Rich, our site manager just called you and left a message, with a view to delivering your parcel to you personally. Thanks, Bobby.

Hi Rich,
Thanks for sharing your feedback and apologies for any inconvenience caused.
Was everything okay with the delivery in the end?
Kind regards,
Bobby, DPD.