A Little story about a Freezer from AO.com, a Steam Blender and hand held blender with accessories

Now it is the season for fairy stories, fantasies pantomime and lots of imagination so do bear with the writer's over excessive story telling and over embellishing but the facts of the story are very true.  We all need a bit of pantomime in our lives occasionally - not that I am a drama Queen!

Once upon a time Pattypan and her OH, Gee visited a big electrical outlet called Currys as we needed a specific scart cable and some other consumables to get the best out of some pre-existing equipment in the house.  Pattypan browsed the kitchen equipment whilst Gee dealt with his consumables and then Gee came back to meet her.  Pattypan had been interested in a Hotpoint Steam Blender for  little while and a hand blender and selection of tools and we had initially looked in the Hotpoint shop but by the time we had saved up they did not have any in stock.

Gee noticed that there was a Managers special on the equipment and a lot cheaper than we had budgeted for and so we approached a young lady - we shall call her the good fairy a keen honest girl, keen to please the customer and we asked if we could have one of each.  She looked into the matter with the help of a colleague and were gone quite some while.  We were told by the colleague that everything would be there and so we concluded to pay for the said items it then transpired that they could not locate the tools for the hand blender in the stock room and the lid was missing off the Steam Blender.  The good fairy was very apologetic and reversed the sale for us and bless her she lost commission to boot but she could not have been more customer focused if she had tried.  We felt quite sorry for her as quite clearly her Management Team had abandoned her "The Management"  Boo.  They were not in sight when the young fairy could have done with some support clearly she had done extremely well in an embarrassing situation. What puzzled us though is that if you have a Managers special surely you have all the equipment and acccessories easy to access (even the display model). How on earth do you lose the accessories to a hand blender as they come in a stand? We were not impressed by the company, lack of organisation or the lack of support for its young employee. And came away completely disappointed and the lack of customer care.  We use the store more these days to look at things and then buy elsewhere.  What does get up my nose though is they constantly ask you if you need any help - If I do I normally approach a shop floor member direct - when I am just browsing I find it irritating.

We subsequently bought the Steam Blender at a cheaper price again this time from the Hotpoint shop and I am very chuffed with it.

Pattypan's mummy knowing that her daughter had been without a freezer for over a year offered to play Fairy Godmummy and grant her daughter the surprise present of a freezer.  She told me to shop around and get what I wanted and so Pattypan  spread her wings and went internet hopping and visited ao online and watched several product information videos and checked specs, and got OH to measure up the space available and eventually settled on the Electrolux chest freezer with 400 litre capcacity.

We telephoned and spoke to one of the Team operatives who we shall call Prince Charming, who was very professional clear and direct told us how they operated and that they were keen to know of any problems we encountered with the equipment or with the service.  They asked questions as to whether there were any specific requirements for getting the equipment into the house and whether there would be any specialist equipment required by their Delivery Team, and they listened.

This was despite OH and I having a difference of opinion whilst I was placing the Order Gee kept asking questions (I had a two way conversation going on) about things that had already been dealt with -  and which he thought had not been dealt with and kept interrupting.  So I think we amused Prince Charming as well.  He was brilliant calm and cheerful and attentive throughout.  I felt confident by the end of the conversation that he had taken on board everything we had discussed with him.  We also arranged collection and removal of our old chest freezer.  So well done Prince Charming.

Pattypan had thought that it would be after Christmas before the freezer arrived- it could have been next day delivery but due to prior commitments we elected to have it delivered early on the Saturday morning.  We were kept in the loop by email and text about ETA and by email confirming the order and payment and were told that we would receive the invoice after delivery.

They delivered yesterday within the set parameters and kept us in the loop the Delivery man took the old freezer out and was very careful in making sure that the new machine came into the house without a mark on it.  It was all very quick, clean and professional and we as customers felt that we mattered.  I have followed up with a note on Facebook today and filled in a short questionnaire but the whole team have been fantastic.

I still have not got the Hotpoint hand blender and accessories but that may come as a Christmas present or not.  Depends if Santa's pockets are deep enough!

The moral of this pantomime is don't use Currys use ao.com  The service is second to none.

My new freezer is in situ and so far is working perfectly.  Thank you Fairy Godmummy for the pressie but thank you ao.com for making the whole exercise of buying so comfortable and easy.  I am seriously impressed.

This is not an advertisement for any particular company but an appreciation of poor service from Currys and an excellent snug service from ao.com.  These are my own views based on actual experience.  I would not think twice about using ao.com again.

Pattypan

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