Refunds not received I-Lad Ironing Board

mag_b_2

Is it worth taking a company to the small claims court for £90 plus time and money spent chasing them for a refund? I bought an I-Lad Ironing Board from a stand at the London Ideal Homes Show in March. No goods arrived I have been chasing them since before Easter for a refund. Even though I have sent Recorded Delivery letters with my card details in, made phone calls and sent emails, I have had nothing and worse they couldn't give a toss. I went to Trading Standards and did all the right things. Another person from the company phoned me last week and said the ironing boards were delayed due to a design flaw so they were waiting on the manufacturers and I could wait or get a refund. So I told my story again and said why can't you give me refund now. Conveniently he was working from home. Company is Ideal Home Products T/A Hygiene Innovations also known as Nine Stars based in Harrow (address on the contract but they don't bother if you write there and no one ever rings back) or Milton Keynes but they don't do anything if you contact them there either. AVOID AVOID AVOID

alanq

From what I have heard successful claims in a court do not automatically result in the claim actually being paid. Unless you are dealing with a large well established organisation there may not be any assets and it may have ceased trading by the time you get to court.

You say that you paid by card. Have you asked the card provider for charge back?

mag_b_2

Yes thanks. I have contacted my card provider as Trading Standards suggested asking for a goodwill gesture. They said they would send some forms to fill in. I just feel aggravated that the company will probably get away with it and wonder how many more people ordered at the show that they are not giving refunds to.

alanq

"We have been making a lot of phone calls over the past few days to people who have placed an order for the i-lad Mini and i-lad Ample. If you are reading this and we haven't yet made contact with you then please read on... As you are aware the i-lad is a new invention and the new models were recently made. We were not happy with the end result and so we have commissioned them to be re-made. We do tend to be perfectionists and of course for a product to be successful it needs to be right! This means that the timescale for delivery to the end user (you) is delayed by weeks! We feel very sorry about disappointing everyone but believe if you can hang in there, it will be worth it in the end! The way we see it is that it's better to wait and have a good product then to get it imperfect. We hope you will agree with us on this.
We now expect to receive our stock by the end of May. Once we have it, we will immediately dispatch it to those of you are are so patiently waiting. You ought to receive your i-lad in the first week of June 2014. "


http://www.idealhomeproducts.co.uk/product-reviews-blog/a-message-regarding-the-new-i-lad-models


OK as far as it goes but if the original order said, for example, 28 days for delivery they should be offering money back to those customers that choose not to wait.

Hintza

I might be tempted to give them the benefit of doubt and wait until early June.

mag_b_2

Thanks I have seen the blog about the delay. They agreed to refund me on 17th April a good few weeks before that blog was posted but nothing. I was told delivery would be first week in April and I consider to wait till June for an ironing board an unreasonable amount of time. My Bank sent me a form for maybe getting a refund from them today so I am going down that road. I am considering putting a few negative reviews out in cyberspace. They do not seem to care about customer service and they certainly do not seem to communicate with each other!

mag_b_2

To close this thread. UPDATE
I finally got a refund on 8th May 2014. It has taken many letters, phone calls and emails. I would not recommended this company to anyone.