Patrick F.

I always believed a family business would be more trustworthy, accountable and reliable than say a multi national and worthy of support, until my dealings with Haddon & James.

Unfortunately some families who set up a Company, start with the best intentions, but then with changes in management or direction, turn out at best, to be either highly incompetent, or at worse, have little or no interest or intention of providing an honest reliable service, treating their customers who have trusted them with their hard earned money, with utter contempt.

Companies like Haddon & James should not be allowed to continue to advertise the same goods month and month for alleged sale by auction, which they are already failing to supply to many existing and very unhappy customers, failing to refund them due to their breach of contract, and the goods they are allegedly selling, they do not physically have available for sale and delivery, yet they reel in more and more customers regardless.

This Company is not to be trusted, reviews show they will tell untruths as to the reasons why goods are not delivered, contracts are broken and refunds are not made immediately.

All they are interested in is reeling you in with an elaborate illusion, based on peoples belief they may be getting a bargain, which actually doesn't exist, making customers believe they actually have goods to sell, where the truth is they don't, the actual auction idea is a scam.

With regards to their regular garden furniture "Auctions" they hold and are still advertising, they do not have the furniture in their possession, they have to order the goods in, it isn't an auction in the sense of a true auction, in so far as the goods are there, you bid, buy and they are delivered.

The furniture in this case is purported to be supplied by a company called The Chelsea Garden Company, however, the furniture according to Haddon & James isn't even in this country, it would appear to be ordered after you pay for it, and the problem then becomes very murky as according to many other unhappy customers it generally doesn't turn up and the excuses begin of Covid, Brexit, Customs, Suppliers, etc, etc & then you begin the merry-go-round of trying to get refunded, which last's months or never stops, meanwhile Haddon & James continues to operate with your cash in their accounts and make empty promises of refunds in 6-7-8 weeks and more, and advertising more sales of the same furniture you bought and they failed to deliver?

Sometimes it is good to check Companies House, it is free to do, and see who is, or was the Director of Companies such as Haddon & James, I also checked to see who is the Director of the alleged garden furniture company, The Chelsea Garden Company who's furniture Haddon & James was and still is allegedly "Auctioning" or selling

Both Companies have the same Registered Address and the same Director James Turner-Small, which makes you wonder was this auction actually an auction in what a layman would expect, or was it purely a company selling furniture under the guise of an auction, setting their own prices etc, yet neither possibly owing or having any furniture in their possession as it has to be ordered from foreign suppliers, and any delivery dates seemingly uncertain?

The sole purpose appears to be to take your money and move on to the next fool who believes the hype and bling, and unfortunately I count myself in those vast numbers, I wish I had read the reviews?

I have not seen evidence of anything worthy of calling customer service, they continually fail to answer any form of communication, and if they do respond, just fob you off with excuse after excuse. Their latest ploy is to remove their customer service email address and replace it with an alleged customer portal where you are supposed to raise tickets to ask the only questions I imagine they continually get asked, and fail to answer.

"Where are my goods I bought from you in good faith"
"Where is my money"
"Why have you still not refunded my money months and months after you said you would"

Do not deal with this Company as you will see in the reviews such as those on this site, Trustpilot and others, that they will habitual tell untruths, make false statements or not respond to emails or phone calls. You will gather by the reviews about this company, that they either appear to have total and utter contempt in their dealing with their customers, or are totally incompetent.

I have started down the legal route for return of my money, and am in touch with media to hopefully highlight the disgraceful dealings of this company.

I have been told in approx 7 weeks I will be refunded the money I paid in May, I was told in May, my furniture would be here in July and that also never appeared, so why will my refund ever materialise?

Mine and other customers money is bank rolling their business, the problem I have in them refusing to honour an immediate refund, is will they still be in business in 2-3-4-12 months to actually repay my money?

I shall also be making a complaint through Companies House which more people should do, just google the words "UK Complain about a limited company" and find out how to complain about a company, that in their words:

Is committing fraud or running scams
Sold you a faulty product or service
Owes you money
Files late or fraudulent documents
Is evading tax
Is causing harm to its suppliers or customers

I am sure your complaint comes under one of this headings, I know mine does.

Royal Fail must be the largest failing company in the UK, they sell a product called Tracked 48, but do not honour the name, their excuse for not delivering yet after 7 days is "It is an aim, not a guarantee" and when they don't know if the parcel has been lost/delivered wrongly or where it is, the Tracked part you pay for security, means absolutely nothing. Try and find a customer service person who gives a damn? They read robotic scripts and haven't a care or a clue. A total disgrace