Maplin, www.maplin.co.uk

I placed an order opting for 3-5 day delivery, which came and went with no delivery. There is no tracking on this free service and only indifference from Maplin staff. They are happy to engage in discussing their understanding of 5 working days and to repeatedly point out that my choice was for this delivery but not to apologise. Maplin staff are indifferent to the fact that people wait in for deliveries and I am still waiting

They offer the most apalling customer service I have ever experienced.

Do I have to award 1 star?

I have used them a few times to buy things I needed in a hurry as one of their shops is only a 15 minutes walk from home... however I would avoid them where possible. The website is very slow and cumbersome, I feel it is quicker to walk to the shop and ask if something is in stock than trying to use their online availability checker: that is, if their search returns anything useful, which isn't always the case. Again it's often easier to find the product on the shelves than using the online search.

If I can wait a few days for a delivery, I definitely prefer to order elsewhere.

Having said that, the staff at the store are always friendly and helpful, so no complaint there.

Only had to return a product once, and they gave me a full refund in minutes. Again, no complaint there - as long as you deal with the staff in person and not online.

I bought a CCTV System on 13th July, it broke on Sunday 8th August, despite our family being under Police protection, MAPLIN would not replace the CCTV system and expected us to be without it for a number of weeks. They collected it by courier on Monday 9th August and promised me a new CCTV system by Wednesday 11th August...It is now Thursday 12th August 2010 and they claim to have only just recieved my item. In the mean time, I have been subject to Violence at my home, Extortion of money by thugs and individuals have been arrested on Conspiricy to Murder, HOWEVER if I had Maplins CCTV system in place this would assist the cas even more. CUSTOMER SERVICES is terrbible, I asked to speak to the MD Mr David Whittle (Maplin MD)...They said i could not speak to him...I had to deal with Customer Services...PLEASE PLEASE DO NOT BUY FROM MAPLIN...THEY HAVE PRODUCTS THAT THEY CANNOT SUPPORT, OFFER AWFUL CUSTOMER SERVICES AND DONT RESPECT THE SAFETY OF THERE CUSTOMERS. THE STORES ARE RUN BY KIDS 16+ AND THEY JUST WANT YOUR MONEY...*****************AVOID***************

This is by far the best 3 channel battery powered helicopter i`ve used (10 different approx) it`s not the cheapest by some margin also not the most expensive, it`s also marketed by the makers Black Horse Toys under their name, it has a powerful Lithium Polymer battery which unlike many others is a breeze to change so you can purchase a spare for £13 and keep flying while the used one is charging, flight time 10-12 mins each charge , the spares back up is very good which i thought would be a must from previous experience with other makes ! but i have been astonished by how tough this chopper is i must have crashed heavily at least two dozen times and no damage ! (only my ego) my Syma alloy shark broke in two places within a weekend so this was a great relief, it`s a good size and pretty accurate copy of a Lama chopper (37 cms nose to tail) . They could do with using a slightly more colourful paint job but no big deal, the remote control box is also very sturdy and easy to use with 8 NiMh re-chargeable batteries (not inc) giving a good strong signal and excellent range with an LED power meter on it, this chopper is about 10-15 pounds more expensive than a Syma of comparable specs (if you shop about) but well worth the extra as it`s proven by still being airworthy long after the Syma had busted, it reaches a good height and very good range and once you get the hang of it landing on the skids is fairly easy, a powered tail rotor is a nice touch with a big flexible skid below it, all in all a great package and good fun for boys of all ages 14+ with very reasonably priced spares i would recommend this chopper to anyone who wants a quality starter 3ch r/c chopper, it`s Tough with a capital T and that will save you a good few pounds in the future and keep it flying long after the oposition have needed repair.

Be very careful buying anything of high value from Maplin. If it's broken or you want to return it for ay other reason you may well have a fight on your hands.

I bought an external hard disk drive from the store on the Strand, London. It was a well-known brand but did not function as expected on my laptop, even though the manufacturer stated it was compatible. Upon returing the item I was given the usual run-around which involved me visiting the store aprpoximately ten times over a six-week period before getting a refund. The tactics used included:

* Refusing to refund the ietm because on the back of the purchase receipt it states that "memory" cannot be returned. I stated that it was storage, not memory but this only resulted in a yes-no-yes-no discussion with the sales assistant.

* Sending the product back to the Maplin service department for a fix. No reponse was forthcoming in the agreed time period so I demanded my money back again.

* An apparent refund to my card which turned out to be untrue. There was no refund.

I finally got the product refunded but it cost me a lot of time.