I placed two orders with Horizons Music (HM), 27 & 29 Jan 2024, for a total of three records. The first was for the Alternative Futures EP by Suburban Architecture. The second order was two Source Direct tracks, Stars and Snake Style 2, the former listed as pre-order and the latter as in stock. Alternative Futures was also listed as in stock and HM took money for all 3 records plus postage (totalling nearly 50 quid for both orders). Seeing as Stars was pre-order, I was not expecting to receive both Source Direct records until Stars was released and assumed they would be sent together late March, but what about Alternative Futures which I had not received? I emailed to enquire and they said they were chasing it up with distributors. I thought this was a bit suspect but I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt. HM then emailed to say they were unable to get hold of it but, and I quote, ‘we have access to limited copies of’ and offered other releases by Suburban Architecture as replacement. I was annoyed at first and part of me felt I could see a scam here, I.e., list records as in stock, then spin some nonsense that you can’t get it and offer ‘credit notes’ in the hope the customer will settle for something you actually do have in stock (which could end up being any old crap). Again, I thought I would give them the benefit of the doubt and took it on trust that they had the other titles, as stated, in stock and said I would settle for the Solar Winds EP instead. Again, no word so I emailed re: dispatch. No reply so I emailed again and got the same evasive spin of ‘not in stock blah, blah.’ Now I was not only annoyed but HM had lost my confidence as a customer and so I cancelled both orders, as I began to suspect they would wind up not having either Source Direct records either. At first, he was defensive saying ‘when did I ever offer you Solar Winds EP?’ to which I responded with a cut n paste of him quoted verbatim that they had it in stock. In other words, Neil Monteiro was consciously lying to a customer in order to keep their money. I am aware of my rights as a consumer, one of which is the right to cancel an order and get a full refund when no goods have been received. He sent emails confirming cancellation of both orders and that I would be refunded within 14 working days. Again, I corrected him that the law is ‘within 14 days’ not ‘14 working days.’ He confirmed this would be the case. However, upon reading the many negative reviews a week later (and no refund as yet), I am now concerned that Horizons Music is a form of online theft. For certain, it’s clear that Neil is operating outside of the law in terms of consumer rights and I would advise anyone thinking of buying from Horizons Music to avoid. I would advise all the others who, like me, have most likely been scammed to report him to HMRC and Trading Standards in the first instance. The justice system takes a dim view of fraudsters and if enough people submit complaints, then he will have to be investigated and, in all likelihood shut down, possibly even face legal consequences. Some of us may never see our money refunded, but at least we can stop Neil Monteiro from ripping off other people in future. I would also advise anyone ripped off by him to print copies of transactions and talk to your bank to see if you can get a chargeback due to fraud. Neil has until 12 March to credit my account. It remains to be seen whether he will honour this. Regardless, there’s something really off about taking people’s money for items you know you do not have then adopt petulant delay tactics when it comes to refunding them. None of the more reputable stores (Redeye, Intense, Juno etc.) operate in this way. If he doesn’t return my money, then he can rest assured I will be taking further action and I would recommend all other unhappy customers on here (and elsewhere) to do the same. Zero stars for Horizons Music.