One star is far too generous. In store has always been ok. The online version is by far the worst retail experience I have ever had the misfortune to deal with.
1st July: I ordered a couple of items for collection at Gloucester. I got an email much later to say the order was cancelled as they were out of stock. The website said otherwise, but at this point, fine, I'll take their word for it.
On the 2nd July: I Ordered the same items for next day delivery.
3rd July: Nothing. No delivery confirmation and definitely no delivery.
3rd & 4th July: Tried to contact them via the website and phone number, no response and no answer. This, it turns out, is pretty common.
5th July: Attempted to get in contact via twitter. I actually got a response 90 minutes later from SP. Got a follow up response to the email of the 4th from the same person. This clearly indicated I wouldn't be getting the items before I went away at the weekend, so I asked for the order to be cancelled by both email and Twitter DM. No response. Again.
Also 5th July: Went to the Gloucester store to find an alternative. Incredibly, they were in stock after all and all this could have been avoided, though I now wish I'd gone somewhere else.
5th to 7th July: Went camping, it was great, thanks.
8th July: Tried again to contact them via the website and enquires email, stating that I'd cancelled the items but had not received a refund and it was still pending on the website. Unsurprisingly, no response. Raised a PayPal dispute as this is starting to feel fishy.
12th July: Gave up waiting, tried twitter again as that's the only way I seem to get a response.
13th July: SP Responds apologising for the frustration saying she's escalated it to the refund department.
15th July: A full ten days after the order was cancelled, I get an email saying it's dispatched, and for some reason they think it's ok to offer me a £53.95 refund for the £164.45 order via the PayPal dispute, as long as I close it first. I reply to the message in the PayPal dispute, but, you've guessed it, no response.
Late on the 15th July: Back to twitter, as that's still the only way I can get a response out of them. I get another DM from SP saying she understands my frustration, but they can't refund it unless I close the PayPal Dispute.
I check if this is true with PayPal support. This is not true. They are now absolutely lying to me. In fact, if they refund the order, the dispute would automatically close.
Left a Trustpilot review, similar to this one.
I also email DHL asking them to not make the delivery.
16th July: Kathy at Go Outdoors requests more info on my Trustpilot review.
I respond, along with my order details. Again. No response, again.
So despite the multiple requests to cancel, they dispatched it anyway on the 15th and it arrived on the 16th after I’d written this list for Kathy.
DHL unfortunately left it with a neighbour, so I couldn't refuse it.
Unbelievably, after all this time and misery, the order is incomplete. Not only that, but the partial refund ties up with the missing item, so it was knowingly dispatched incomplete. At this point I can only assume they’re trying to be terrible. You couldn’t be this bad by accident.
Back to twitter. They send em a returns label as I'm happy to give the item the never should have sent back. I even offer to drop it of at the nearest store, but I'd like my refund please. You're going to love the DM I got [brackets mine]:
"Hi Rich, we have sent the sleeping bag because you ordered it." [over two weeks ago for next day delivery]
"We were unable to cancel the order at the point you requested as it was too far in the process." [I cancelled it on the 5th, you didn't dispatch it until the 15th, how bad is your process?]
"We are well within our rights to request the item you have received back before processing a refund for it." [Are you kidding me? I didn't want it, I told you I didn't want it, you agreed to refund it, why on earth would you still send it, and then start throwing around that you are within your rights to colossally screw up, and charge me for the privilege?]
"We would like to refund you for the item you didn't receive along with the delivery fee but unfortunately as the PayPal dispute is open PayPal will not allow us to process the refund for that. AF" [Refund the whole order, as both I and PayPal have told you, and it will all go away]
If your planned activity ever relies on Go Outdoors, I’d suggest staying inside.