This review is based on the Stoke on Trent store. Over the years this store has gotten worse and worse. My final and last visit was today for a simple resin dipped capacitor for a speaker network. The staff are beyond useless, they looked at me as if I was talking in a foreign language when I explained to them what this capacitor does in the speaker crossover network yet they sell speakers and DJ gear ! The young lad serving in the end advised me to source online instead. As I walked out of the shop some floor manager asked if I was happy with my purchase. I replied are you kidding me and said that every time I come here you never have the basic components I require yet you advertise as an electronics specialist. He then proceeded to ask what I was looking for and said oh yes we can help you with that for sure and so then passed me onto some other dimwit who spent the next 10 minutes looking in the catalogue only to start serving someone else at the same time !! I was about to walk out in disgust and then he said i'm sorry but we don't do that value capacitor. So this is the end of the line with these clowns for me. Maplin Electronics are simply an electronic toy shop masquerading under an electronic specialist. Stay well clear and don't waste your time with these fools and source online you will actually get what you want that way !

This business fraudulently claims to be an electronics supplier. In reality, they sell expensive rubbish, their catalogue is rubbish, and their staff are cretins. AVOID AT ALL COSTS.

I've heard a lot of stories about maplins high prices and bad products. I've had to take back atleast 50% of the products i have bought from poor quality faults. I know someone who worked there and they have horrible tasks to do. Their job relies on them selling crappy screwdrivers or flashlights at the desk or they get in trouble for it. I felt bad not buying screwdrivers or their obscene price for their catalogue. My friend had no choice to leave because her father died and the boss told her she had to be in work next day no choice as that's in the handbook even writing to the company to complain did not help her. I will never buy from them and I will tell everyone i know not to. Shocking behaviour from the company.

don't ever shop here you will regret it

Four weeks ago I ordered a set of wireless headphones from Maplin online. I had never used Maplin before, but thought I would give them a try as they have also taken over new store premises, some 20 miles from where I live. Delivery of the item was very slow, in fact it took 10 days between ordering and delivery..maybe it was the time of year, what with Christmas coming up and all`. The headphones eventually arrived, and on unpacking them and plugging in the base unit, found it did not work. I phoned Maplin and was told to return the faulty headphones via a Freepost address by taking them to my local post office. I had to obtain a proof of posting, and was told by Maplin Customer Services (very polite), that a set of replacement headphones would be sent when the faulty ones were received. After a further 12 days, I had not received the headphones, so called them. They told me that they were en route somewhere in the postal system. A couple of days later, I received a parcel from Maplin......too light and too small I thought! I opened the padded envelope to reveal......a desktop DALEK ! Very nice I thought, a gift from Maplin to apologise and compensate for their faulty good and slow delivery. NOOOOOO!!!!...on checking the delivery note, I saw that the despatch details were for replacement wireless head phones. Someone, not paying attention, in the Maplin packing department had put the wrong item in the envelope. Shame, I thought, and phoned Maplin Customer Services. Very polite and apologetic, and ready to offer a solution. He said I was to repackage the Dalek, and take it to the post office and send it back Freepost. Then, once Maplins had received and processed the return, they would begin the process of processing the despatch of my missing headphones.....REALLY ! I said to the guy...I have to wait longer? The very polite Maplin guy paused for a second then said that I could take the 40 mile round trip, at my own expense and time, to my nearest Maplin store and hand the Dalek in ! That way, the returns process would be quicker, and I would receive my headphones quicker! After a few very polite words which contradicted polite Maplin guy`s solution, he suggested that he would instigate despatch of the headphones straight away, and that I could return the Dalek freepost next time I was near a post office. All in all, Maplin Customer Service is very polite, if not a little "chancey"...everything else is just rubbish!

I used maplins for the first time 2 weeks and it has to have been the worst experience I have ever encountered with any online company. I ordered a tablet online and was told it would be delivered to Ireland the following Thursday. Nothing arrived and when I followed up I was told by their customer care department that they 'didnt know' where the product was and they 'werent familiar' with how it worked in Ireland. 5 phonecalls later and I still got the same type of replys. None of them had a clue. I was told that it should be with the 'courier' in Ireland and to expect it the following day. It arrived 4 days later and by post not courier!!!! Complete disgrace. I contacted customer care again as I wanted to return the item and the address I was given had no location in it. Just Maplins, Freepost and an Area Code. I questioned the guy I was speaking to and he told me this was correct. I called back an hour later and spoke to someone different, I asked him for the address and he gave me a completely different address. I asked him would it have arrived on the other one and he said no. When I told him I had been given that address by a someome in Customer Care earlier he changed his story and said it would have arrived but would just have taken longer. No apology nothing. Worst company I have ever dealt with and would highly recommend that people stay away from them

had faulty goods from them (their own brand) in it's original packaging with their own logo on it but i had no receipt. they refused me a refund or an exchange. i wasn't happy and quoted that it wasn't fit for purpose as it was damaged and stat rights state that i do not need proof of purchase if item is faulty they said the law didn't matter they needed a receipt! i kicked off and had to shout at the staff to get them to test the item they then exchanged it VERY begrudgingly. would not step foot in any of their stores again ridiculous place with ridiculous policies. if you ever do purchase anything from there keep original packaging staple the receipt to it and print off the entire trading standards manual to keep with the item and some blood pressure meds to take with you when you return the it!!!

Returned an item to my local store which had to be sent to head office. Fair enough but 2 months have passed with 5 costly phone calls to customer service all promising me i would have my money back in 48 hrs max! STILL NOTHING this is ridculous customer service i have no product and no refund!

Over priced, tacky, pushy sales people, unhelpful with returns, patronising customer service, where do I start. I purchased a satellite box with maplin which turned out to be faulty. When I returned it, I was asked to wait. About 10 minutes later the sulky faced manager came out with a how dare you make me work face and gave me a "grilling". The problem was, the remote just wasn't working. It didn't break or wear out, it just never worked. After about 5 patronising questions he agreed reluctantly to give me a replacement remote control. I only shopped there because my technomate satellite packed in and I wasn't in the mood to go 3 days waiting for a box to be delivered from eBay. Needless to say, I found out I'd paid £15 more than I would have paid offline for the satellite box and I wont be back. They made me, a paying customer feel like a crookster. If that's their attitude then I'm more and happy to take my custom to another company which takes their attitude towards customers seriously. What's that old saying "the customer is never wrong". . . Well in Maplin's, they make you feel as if "the customer is never right". Wont be back. Their loss.

9% of all product sold by this company is returned because it does not work. This imformation was given to the workforce by the managing director himself at a meeting a few weeks ago. good look.

I purchased an item in Maplin and it was not working as I expected. The customer service was very poor compared to when I purchased the item. I was made to feel quite small when asking for a refund as the item didn't meet my satisfaction. Shame really as I have purchased a lot from Maplin before this, but I wont be going into the shop again in Norwich town centre. I cannot comment on other stores but if a 28 day no quibble refund is offered it should be just that.

Selling products not in stock. Been waiting for order over a week. Noone let me know it is discontinued. Money refund after few calls. Very bad service. They don't care about customer. Never will shop there again

I purchased an item online and have been sent the wrong item twice. Customer service were polite but failed to apologise for poor service. First time I was sent the wrong outdoor socket, 2nd time I was sent printer ink! have now been told the correct item might turn up in 5 days which is of no use as the electrician is coming tomorrow! I was also told that I have to return the 2 incorrect items via post or to a shop. DO NOT USE MAPLIN AS VERY POOR SERVICE.

I recently ordered a B grade product via maplins website. It arrived quickly, the box had been opened, but I expected this as it was B grade stock. However, after setting it up, it quickly became apparent that it was faulty. I rang maplins head office, customer service to find out if I could return it to my local store. A very helpful lady advised me that I could. This is where the problems started... A sales person at the Doncaster store took it into the back to attemp to test it. When he came back, he said he couldnt test it, because a cable was missing that should have been in the box. I got the distinct impression he was accusing me as having not returned the cable with the item, when infact I used my own HDMI cable to try it at home. He went off again and spoke to who I'm presuming was the manager. On his return he told me that they could not accept the item and that I would have to send it to their head office, even though I argued that I'd already spoke to head office. I made a quick phone call to head office and they again insisted that the store could accept the item. I went back into the store and whilst the sales assistant was dealing with me, the 'presumably' manager hovered round in an ignorant manner, whispering to the sales assistant to make sure he'd checked that everything was in the box, as he obviously knew a cable was missing from before. He was obviously p*ss*d off because he had been proved wrong after showing his minimum wage authority to his sales assistants. Bottom line is...they send out faulty items, with bits missing...don't want to accept returns....acuse you of not returning the missing bits...in an ignorant manner. Some of the sales assistants do try to be helpful, but obviously the ones with a bit of authority don't know how to do their job, and unfortunately it causes customers an inconvenience. Could be store specific and I have shopped there before, but never again.

I bought a Maplins Temerature controlled soldering station for 49 quid and it solders quite well believe it or not. My grumble is that the soldering does not fit properly into the holder and when it does sit in its holder the metal spring comes away from the soldering docking station, so to speak. When this happens,which is very often you have to hold a hot iron in one hand and fix the soldering iron stand with the other hand. The quality of the plastic case is pretty terrible too I can only imagine it is made from recycled condoms. I had to fix my soldering Iron stand with Araldite within the first week of owning it! I also made the mistake of buying some of Maplins solder proof vero board at the same time I bought the collapsable soldering iron. If in future you need some circuit board or a soldering iron try your local car boot fair first or Ebay. I was going to say try your local dump but I am sure it is full of Maplin goodies