This Customer Review shares my experiences of an Internet Trading Company called Aqupride, in the hopes that other potential Customers will not fall prey to the same deception.
I wanted to source a specialised Swimming Hat suitable for long hair and came across," Aquapride", a company based in Coulsdon, Surrey, United Kingdom. During October 2012 I duly placed an order for a Volumiser Swimming Hat and sent the remittance via Paypal. Following my online order no confirmatory email for my order and payment was received; however their company website does state that they will not provide any acknowledgement of any online orders. In more than a decade of Internet Trading I had never encountered a situation such as this before, I felt suspicious but decided to proceed with order anyway.
Nine months have now elapsed and they still have not forwarded my goods and have also ignored my requests for a Refund. During this time I have endeavoured to contact them via Telephone, Text Message and Letter by Recorded Delivery.
Additionally, I opened a Dispute Resolution Case with Paypal.
Having left a Voice Messages on the Customer Service answer machine during December 2012, a rather rude Representative called me back to inform me that he intended to dispatch the goods within the next few days, but it would better if I called the Customer Service Help Line to discuss the order. However, when I did telephone the Customer Advice Line it appeared to be permanently manned by an answer machine. Unfortunately, I was never able to speak to anyone and my goods were still not dispatched. Regrettably, I decided not to pursue the Paypal Dispute Case any further because I hoped that my goods would be shipped, as promised, before the date of closure for the case. This transpired to be wrong decision as the goods did not arrive in the intervening days and the case had already closed, so I was unable to recover my funds.
Regrettably, it is very unlikely that Aquapride will ever refund my money or send me the goods. Fortunately, I have only lost a small sum. The situation could have been much worse if I had placed a large or expensive order. Trading Standards were contacted for advice and they concluded that Aquapride were in breech of the Distance Selling Regulations and consequently they are now on a Database of Companies with a history of fraudulent activities and will be monitored for further complaints.