Consumer helpdesk

Published on 31/07/2012 15:10

Q: I AM writing with reference to the company EasyLife which caused us major problems last year.

In July 2011, we put in a mail order for goods to the value of £65.23 and a cheque. By October, nothing had arrived, so I telephoned and that call was dealt with to my satisfaction.

I was told I would receive a call with 48 hours – nothing, so I called again. I was told no supervisor was available and I would just have to wait. Again nothing happened, so I wrote on 26 November and on 5 January with no response.

As a result of excellent advice from Consumer Direct and telephone intervention from Trading Standards, EasyLife responded within three hours. Our problem was resolved but only because of our persistence After the intervention they refunded our money but their lack of customer response was disgraceful.

MW , Midlothian

A: THE Scotsman contacted EasyLife to give the company the chance to answer MW’s complaint and the first port of contact was a call centre. The call centre supplied the number for the head office.

The Scotsman contacted the head office of EasyLife and explained that we wanted to offer the company the chance to respond to a complaint from one of their customers.

After several days, a person from the head office of EasyLife rang The Scotsman and asked for an explanation of our request. The Scotsman explained the difficulty MW had had and said it was our policy to give the company a right to reply. We e-mailed the text of MW’s letter to the office for consideration. Several days later another person from EasyLife rang and assured us that the company was looking into the complaint in order to find out what had happened in this case. That person promised a reply. We are still waiting.

• If you have a consumer issue that you would like tackling, contact Claire Smith on 0131 620 8511 or e-mail [e-mail].