The Gift Box, Leeds Review

“We got married in Dec 2009, and set up a list with the...”

Written on: 21/08/2010

We got married in Dec 2009, and set up a list with the gift box after meeting Julia at the Oulton Hall wedding fair. Had no problems with the service until a week before our wedding when the website kept crashing when some guests tried to buy gifts, as the guests hadn't realised the payments hadn't gone through they kept trying and some guests bought the same gift up to 4 times. I realised straight away as I could see what guests had bought, the most embarrassing part was when guests then put cash/cheques in our wedding cards (thinking they still hadn't bought a gift) and then said sorry on the wedding day to us thinking it was their fault for leaving it so late to buy a gift! Julia did not respond to emails the week before our wedding to sort out the refunds and then we went on honeymoon - when we got back I had to ring round guests explaining the problem and getting guests to call for a refund (always having to leaving messages as Julia is never at the phone).



We could almost forgive all that, but 12 weeks came after the list was closed, and it was difficult to get a delivery date! But eventually we were told a delivery would arrive by midday on a Saturday - it did not arrive and we were late going to London for a family christening! 2 days later we picked up our boxes from a local post office. 8 gifts missing and 1 damaged. We assumed all the gifts were in the delivery as we were not told otherwise!! Did she hope we just wouldn't notice?



We also were owed cash for honeymoon experiences, which we were told we would get as a cheque and would have to sign for on delivery of the gifts. It was transferred into our bank directly - why could this not be done straight away after the list was closed? Not 14 weeks later!



Many emails later, and swapping of discontinued gifts (probably because the orders were so late!!), we received another few gifts. Still missing 2 and a damaged gift replacement. I had to let my husband take over the chasing up at this point because I could not deal with this unprofessional woman again!



We then asked for the cash alternative which she said she would happily do - it took 3 weeks but we finally got the final £89 transferred.



I have a mutual friend with Julia, so really thought I could trust her service.



This was more hassle and stress than the 20 months of planning prior to the wedding!! I DO NOT RECOMMEND THE GIFT BOX - PLEASE AVIOD!!!!