My other half just picked up some stuff from www.silverjewellerysonlineshops.co.uk as gifts. Their web site states that they’re genuine, and they’re not. All knock-offs and not at knock-off prices. The stuff we received was a) partially incorrect and b) crap. Damaged, badly made and obviously sub-standard.
There is no indication of where they are located – it turns out when the stuff arrived that it’s China. They also took more off Gillian’s debt card that they were authorised to do so.
Correspondence with them (via a Yahoo email address…) has resulted in them claiming that it’s “not worth” refunding as the postage charges would be so high to return it. They offered £10 (of a £70+ transaction). Then £13. Now £18. It’s like haggling.
Unsure if trading standards will touch it, but the web site takes GBP payments and is a .co.uk domain so I think I’ll be making a complaint to their registrar. A quick search on MoneySavingExpert.com popped up a story about “Operation Papworth” a couple of years ago where 1,219 similar Asia-based sites were taken offline.
We’re looking at talking to the bank and using something called Chargeback – further details on the Which? web site.
Please PLEASE share and repost elsewhere. If they won’t refund our relatively small amount after defrauding us, then perhaps some negative advertising will cost them more.
www.silverjewellerysonlineshops.co.uk – you are thieves, fraudsters, liars and scum. I hope you die a severely unpleasant death, that lingers for many hours until you are begging to be put out of your misery.
UPDATE
I contacted the four jewellery manufacturers for whom the frauds list themselves as authorised resellers. Tiffany & Co have already replied and were very grateful for the heads up, and the additional details I gave them about the domain registration. Apparently the domain is owned by a lady in Belfast, according to the whois data. I reckon this is a crock as well, frankly.
The domain registrar did have a look, but said there was nothing wrong with the site that they could see which is fair enough. On the front it looks genuine, it’s after the purchase has gone through that you find out they’re scammers. I’ve forwarded them the correspondence we exchanged with the thieving ******** afterwards.
Also, our bank have said they’ll issue a Chargeback against the transaction which means we get a full refund from the thieves’ bank account.
So as a result of trying to screw us over, they’ve lost not only a sale minus a small overhead but the entire sale, plus postage, plus the shoddy goods they sent out. In addition, there’s every chance their domain will be taken off them as well.
Do not mess with my other half. I will hunt you down…
FURTHER UPDATE
From their domain registrar:
Hello,
Thank you for your response. We have asked the owner of the domain to remove all the infringing content from their website within the next 24hrs, failure in doing so will result in suspension of his domain. We would also request you to file a complaint against this domain with your local cyber crime department.
I’m writing this up a couple of days later, simply as I’ve not had the time since the big event.
Niamh Ann Purdie is our daughter and she was born at 14:50 on July 25th 2012, weighing in at an eye-watering 10lb 7.5oz (4.7kg approx). She is absolutely perfect in every little detail. Here is her story. Or at least some bits of it which seem relevant. Or funny.
First up, she almost wasn’t called Niamh. After rattling names around, and exchanging blows on more than one occasion we had settled on Eilidh. Unfortunately, some utter munter happened to ask Gillian what she was going to name our little bundle of joy. As any proud mother probably would, Gillian told her. A few weeks later, aforementioned bint appeared with hew new baby girl: Eilidh Ann.
She stole our baby’s name that we’d spent weeks arguing over. Worse, there was every chance that Littler Miss would be in this girl’s class at primary school in a few years. So back to the drawing board.
Niamh had been a backup name anyway, and Gillian did give me final decision as she’d named the previous two nippers. After some soul-searching, I decided to forever hate the evil woman and go with Niamh. Actually, I prefer it for several reasons:
It means “bright” or “radiant”. I like that
It’s the name of an Irish goddess
It has its own provenance, i.e. it’s not a different version of another name. Look up Iain and you’re redirected to John. Look up Eilidh and you’re redirected to Helen.
Niamh was the warrior queen of Sláine mac Roth from the 2000AD strip, a queen not content to sit back and simper but instead was up front with her husband, protecting her children and cutting down swathes of the enemy with whatever weapon she had to hand. I like the idea of this in a daughter.
So, Niamh it was to be. Although I really wanted the old Irish spelling (Niaá¹), I was over-ruled on the basis that people wouldn’t be able to get that last character on a keyboard. Pff.
Just for interest, names bandied around and discarded included pretty much all of the small handful from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Trillian, Tricia, Random, Fenchurch, Eccentrica…) and a fair few female scientists (Marie, Grace, Ada). Oh, and SkullKrusher – the name I used to refer to her during her 9 month, 3 day tenure in Gillian’s belly.
Ann has family significance. One of my grannies has already had a few children named after her on that side of the family. My maternal grandmother hasn’t and I’d always had Ann in mind for a girl. As luck would have it, it’s also my mother-in-law’s name so that helped it find favour.
In the run-in to the due date of July 22nd, we’d had conflicting information from scans and proddings. Little Miss was quite a sizeable baby and Little Mister noticeably bigger. First impressions were that this one would be smaller. And then not. Maybe 8 1/2lbs. Yeah, well. Those three extra days were obviously serious construction time.
After a little false start a day or two ahead of time, little baby SkullKrusher decided to start making serious motions around breakfast time on July 25th. Without too much of a rush, we grabbed what we needed and sneaked out without the kids seeing us just in case it was another false alarm. By midday we were in a little cubicle at the Southern General, Gillian wrapped in straps which monitored her contractions which were definitely getting stronger and more frequent. Around 13:00 they moved us to the ward to while away the time until she was ready.
Well, great. No telly, my mobile battery low and Gillian and I twiddling thumbs. Not to mention peckish. I took her order for a sandwich and wandered over to the car to get her purse – the canteen in the hospital doesn’t take plastic.
My thinking was “drop sandwich with Gillian, go to McD’s wander back, kick heels, stare at walls…”
This didn’t happen.
By the time I got back upstairs, Gillian was gripping the bedsheets like she’d float into orbit otherwise and informed me through fetchingly clenched teeth that they were about to move her to the labour ward. Bloody hell. SkullKrusher wasn’t messing about.
Sandwich unopened and uneaten, we were whisked downstairs and into a nice little room with a very uncomfortable looking bed and very comfortably professional staff. They settled Gillian down and I floated around near the head end courtesy of strict instructions given by Gillian. I’d been warned by her mother that she’d likely call me lots of nasty names, demand that the baby goes into reverse at some point and – once she got into the gas & air – would start spouting utter bollocks.
I had also been told not to hold her hand or rub her shoulders etc. I know she just doesn’t like this kind of thing when she’s ill at the best of times. The idea of having my future wife’s fingerprints permanently embedded in the back of my hand also dissuaded me from reaching out… to begin with.
There will now follow very little grizzle or gore, I promise. The next few paragraphs are pretty much what I remember in a very rushed and very short period of time.
After a brief examination, where everything seemed to be going fine, the attending midwife (I assume it’s a midwife? I didn’t ask) was calling for some assistance when Gillian let out a belter of a primal scream. The midwife looked around. “Are you feeling the urge to push?”
Gillian managed to growl something that sounded like a “yes” and was instructed to just go with it and push when she next felt the need. As I’d been doing, I proffered her my hand. Unwitting and just instinctive, despite previous instruction and the fact that I kind of rely on working non-broken digits to earn a  living. This time she grabbed it, for which I am very glad.
Birthing isn’t easy. It’s painful. I can’t begin to comprehend how much. Despite the upcoming end result, watching the woman you love and have chosen to spend your life with in such pain without being able to so much as offer her physical comfort is not a pleasant sensation. The relief I felt when she grasped my wrist was huge. Partly as it made me feel that I was finally helping in some small way and partly as she was far less likely to snap those bones that the skinnier ones in my fingers.
The midwife had just about got her gloves on when the head made an appearance.
Now hang on. I’ve seen births on telly – real and dramatised – and this doesn’t happen. There’s supposed to be hours of screaming, groaning, swearing, threats, cajoling, pushing, panting, breaths, tears… Nah, bugger that. That’s inefficient. Gillian’s far better than that.
Push two got the head out.
A couple more breaths, a howl that told me either “here we go” or “my army and I are about to pour over the hill and lay waste to your puny township” and push three resulted in the single most amazing, wonderful, tear-inducing, memorable, fantastic, staggering (etc., etc.) moment of my entire life.
The birth of Niamh Ann.
Gillian was only concerned that the baby was OK, obviously. All she could say was “is she OK? I can’t hear her crying.” She was. I could hear her gurgling as the midwife and other staff cleaned her up and began to wrap her. The first little cry stopped Gillian dead and the first actual tears I’d seen sprang from Gillian’s eyes.
I’d been bubbling since I saw the head. And grinning like a loon at the same time. A very strange combination, but there simply is no equivalent event or chance to experience such emotions. Hell, I’m welling up just remembering it all.
With very short order, the slimy, red, scrunched, screaming little bundle was handed to mummy.
I have never in my life seen something so beautiful.
I’m not generally an emotional person. I don’t form bonds easily. I’m actually quite a loner. But in that moment right there, I knew there was no way anyone would ever be able to harm this little bundle of squodge while there is breath in my body.
She’s just wonderful. Healthy, strong and worth all the nights’ sleep lost due to mummy’s snoring.
Welcome to the world Niamh. Mummy and I love you so much that words fail even a verbose potty-mouth like your daddy.
P.S. I ate the sandwich while we moved up to the maternity ward.
After sending my original missive (Dear @ cineworld…) on June 20th, I waited the three working days I was told by the automated email for a response. I then chased them and was told they’d not received it and could I mail them it again? I did. Five days later I chased it again. Apparently they didn’t get it. I sent it again. Over 2 weeks later and finally I have a response.
Do note that Gillian has already cancelled her card and I am trying to cancel mine. Perhaps I should have rung them like she did, but the terms and conditions clearly state that they only accept cancellations in writing by post or email… and then don’t furnish you with the details to contact them via either! The main reason for cancellation is impending babyhood, in fairness.
Their response follows. My comments inserted and will be in my reply back:
Thank you for contacting Cineworld.
I would like to apologise if you feel that there is a lack of 2D films at Cineworld Glasgow Parkhead and Renfrew Street. I can advise that we do aim to screen as many 2D versions of our 3D films as possible. We do also rely on the film distributors in providing us with enough 2D prints of their 3d films in order for us to distribute them to as many of our cinemas as possible.
This doesn’t explain the single, solitary 2D performance of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter at Parkhead, being shown at 13:30 each day. The cinema obviously had a print of the film which could have been shown more than once per day. They chose to show it only once, and at a time completely inconvenient to anyone with a job!
Our Film Buying department do also analyse the popularity of the performances that are screened on a weekly basis. Depending on the box office success of the performances, adjustments do have to be made. We are however always happy to receive customer feedback with regards to any aspect of the service we are providing to our customers.
I would expect nothing less. However, let’s take the situation above which prompted me to contact you in the first place. I would guess that there were very few bums on seats for this 13:30 performance, which in turn is going to make the 2D performances seem somewhat unpopular. After all, far more people paid to see the 3D ones. Is there any chance this was because they were on at a far more convenient time?
My background is science. You cannot get good, sensible, comparable results without comparing closely-related data. When designing an experiment you change as few variables as possible between runs. In this case, for instance, your variable should only be whether the performance is 2D or 3D. You should otherwise be comparing screenings at the same time of day, on the same day of the week, and at the same distance away from pay-day. Any data collected about the “popularity” of AL:VH in 2D at Parkhead that week  is therefore useless or, worse, wildly inaccurate.
All customer comments are taken on board and if there are any changes that can be made as a result of this, every effort will be made to do so. In light of your comments, I have passed on your feedback to the Film Buying department in our continuing efforts to collate customer feedback.
Thanks for that. It is appreciated.
I would also like to apologise if you feel that the lack of advance booking with your Unlimited card is not suitable. I can advise that your unlimited card is like your credit card, personalised for each individual. It is vitally important staff issue tickets to the correct customer, and the photo on the card helps us identify customers. As with any service, there are terms and conditions members need to adhere to.
The condition, which you refer to, has always been part of your Unlimited contract. Please see condition 7.4 under ‘Unlimited terms of use’ at the back of your contract.
This condition has been set in place to reduce card misuse/fraud. Too often customers have given their tickets/cards to other customers to use. So to reduce this from happening, we can only issue tickets over the counter to the cardholder. This process has been put in place to safe guard our customers and make sure only they benefit from the subscription paid to us.
[The solution I mentioned was for Unlimited cardholders to be able to book online, but perhaps have their account linked to a debit card. If they didn’t pick up their tickets, then they’d be charged for them. This would help prevent people just booking seats which paying customers may want, and then not turning up for screenings. I specified that they could collect them at automated ticket machines as existing pre-bookers can do using their credit/debit cards]
You’ve made a very fair point as regards the fraudulent use of the cards. May I suggest, therefore, that I adjust my initial proposal slightly? The Unlimited card is still linked to a bank, debit or credit card so that the tickets must be paid for if they are not collected. However, the card holder must collect them directly from the box office rather than using an automated machine. This is, in fact, what I do with tickets I’ve pre-booked for the kids at Parkhead anyway.
This way, you’re covering yourselves from people bulk-booking tickets online and not using them. You’re enabling cardholders to pre-book so they can actually go as a family/friend group with non-cardholders. You’re preventing the risk of fraud or card misuse. As a bonus, at cinemas like Parkhead where tickets and concessions are sold at the same counter, you’re not missing out on the chance to up-sell food and drink.
OK, so we have to queue to get the tickets – but at least we know we’re going to be able to get them.
I can also advise that our toilets are checked and cleaned at regular intervals by our staff members. However, we do not have the resources to assign a member of staff to each toilet for an entire shift, so we do rely on the public being courteous to fellow customers by cleaning up after themselves and flushing toilets etc.
Of this, I have no doubt. The facilities in the cinemas are generally of a very high standard. The issue with Parkhead’s toilet isn’t down to someone not flushing, it’s been there for months and I fear it’s something that’s leaked and soaked in somewhere. I’m no plumber, though!
As a gesture of good will, I would like to offer you two complimentary Unlimited retail vouchers which are valid for either 1x Regular Popcorn, 1x Regular Dispensed Soft Drink, 1x Regular Hotdog, 1x Regular Nachos or 1x Regular Coffee for you to use during a future visit to Cineworld. This is with a view to having a much more pleasurable experience. If you would like to accept this offer, please reply to this email with your full postal address and we will have your vouchers sent out to you as soon as possible.
We appreciate the gesture and our address follows. However, do please note that my partner has already cancelled her card (although it still has a couple of weeks’ use left) and I am trying to cancel mine although – again – I’ve had no email response back in the stated time. I mailed on the 9th of July using the contact form on the website as no direct email address can be found on your website. The reference I received back was SA44322X.
I will likely give them a call today, but I do note that the Terms & Conditions clearly state that cancellation can only be done in writing, either by email or post. I only hope I haven’t missed a direct debit date as a result of this delay and will have the card for an extra month. Please be aware that we are primarily cancelling as my other half is due to give birth very imminently and it will be difficult for both of us to go out together for a couple of months.
I would like to thank you for taking the time to contact us with your feedback regarding your recent visits to Cineworld Glasgow Parkhead and Renfrew Street. We do appreciate all customer comments we do receive as this gives us the opportunity to improve the level of service we provide to our customers.
Kind regards
On the whole, a fair response but one which misses the point on a couple of issues. We’ll take the vouchers, but I’m not sure if we’ll get to use them around the baby arriving. We will miss our cinema trips, but it’s a) going to be hard round the new arrival and b) was getting frustrating seeing performances advertised that we couldn’t attend. It’s especially annoying when such things have been ongoing for years, people have complained and yet nothing has been done.
I took out an Amazon credit card via MBNA some months ago. They offered an interest-free balance transfer (subject to the usual small fee) which I made use of. In addition, they run a points system which builds up towards Amazon vouchers based on the amount you spend.
All fine and hunky-dory.
However, I noticed that I was being charged a small amount of interest each month despite paying off all purchases I made on the card as soon as I made them. Three pounds one month, £1.23 the next… that kind of thing.
I rang and the chap on the phone apologised, said he couldn’t work out why this was happening and refunded the money.
Over the next three months, it continued so I rang again. Once more, I checked my purchase/payment procedure with them, clarified the position as regards the outstanding transferred balance, the chap apologised, refunded and all was fine.
Surprise. Three months on and I had another three charges on there – £1.00, £1.21 and £1.00. I’ve just called them *again* to sort it, but this time I’ve been informed differently.
Because I’m making purchases, I have to clear the *entire balance* each month – not just the purchases – otherwise I incur interest. This seems to be the case even if I buy something then immediately go online and make a debit card payment onto the card before it’s appeared on any statement.
However, if I don’t use the card – which is where MBNA make their money! – then I don’t incur interest. This doesn’t make sense to me, as it’s using the card for purchases which nets the issuer a fee from the retailer. With the current scheme they’re encouraging me *not* to use the thing!
In addition, the card promises “up to 50-ish” (sorry, can’t recall the actual amount) of days interest-free on purchases. This obviously isn’t the case as I’m being charged interest on purchases which I’m paying off – at the most – a couple of days after I make them.
Obviously, the solution is to pay off the entire transferred balance first and then start using the card as normal but that’s just not how it was sold to me, nor explained by the first two people on the phone.
At least I know where the charges have been coming from at last, and they have all been refunded to date – though I’m aware there will be *another* pound on next month’s that I’ll have to ring up and contest.
So keep your eyes open, folks, and check those statements!
After a disappointing evening and some wasted time trying to see a film, I want to make some feelings clear with Cineworld that are hard to fit into a tweet. They’re good at replying to them – whoever monitors their Twitter feed does a good job – but too many things are bothering myself and Gillian these days.
First up, we’re heartily sick of 3D films. We don’t want to see them, they’re a rubbish novelty that exists only to rake in money for cinemas showing them. I have it from various sources that the prints for films cost the same for a cinema to obtain regardless of whether it’s a 2D or 3D print. The same projector is used. So why is there a surcharge to watch the film in 3D? As far as I can tell, the only expense lies with the film-maker who’s decided to shell out thousands to turn a perfectly good film into a blurry, dull, migraine-inducing mess.
3D film technology should have been kicked in the head until it started to go cross-eyed and drool, dragged into the forest and left to die slowly of exposure.
It’s not the fact that you have to pay extra, per se. Assuming a film gets a 2D showing you can at least opt to go and watch that instead of being ripped off £1.50 plus extra for the eyewear if you’ve not already got some. Well, you can… sort of.
The 2D versions very much come second fiddle as far as both number of performances and actual performance times are concerned. To whit, the issue we had this evening.
Our preferred cinema is the Cineworld at Parkhead. It’s got free parking right by the door, is easy to get to while avoiding most traffic and the staff are lovely. OK, so it’s a little poky compared to the Renfrew Street behemoth but it’s far more convenient. The parking, right now, is quite important as Gillian’s 8 months pregnant and we have two other kids. Plus, parking in Glasgow before 6pm is bloody expensive.
Thing is, Parkhead only have one showing a day of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. And it’s at 13:30. Therefore, we can’t see it. Conversely, there are four screenings (three on Thursday) of the 3D version. This is incredibly annoying. We’re essentially being told that, despite paying a monthly fee for an Unlimited Card each, we don’t have the freedom to choose which films we want to see.
I mentioned this on Twitter and they recommended going to Renfrew Street who had a showing at 6pm. Initially we thought “nah”, but relented and drove through. After battling through traffic and forking out for parking, we made it to the cinema to find that the 2D showing had sold out.
What a waste of time and money.
And it brings me to my second major point: not being able to pre-book using an Unlimited Card. More than once I’ve been in the queue, listening to someone who’s arrived with their friends or children and can’t get in to see a film. The others had pre-booked online, the Unlimited holder couldn’t and the showing has sold out.
I have “discussed” this over Twitter, as have others, with Cineworld and I can understand their one over-riding concern: people booking tickets online and then not showing up, thus depriving other paying customers of seats. I absolutely agree, this is something that shouldn’t be allowed to happen.
So I suggest the following. Allow Unlimited holders to book online. Give them the same restrictions as are already in place (although this actually varies from cinema to cinema) in that they can’t book another ticket until the showing for the one they’ve reserved is finished. In addition, if they do not collect their ticket, they get a “strike”. Each card-holder gets one free strike per month. The second time they fail to collect a pre-booked ticket in a one-month period, they lose the ability to pre-book for 3 months.
The one strike seems fair. Sometimes things just happen – the bus doesn’t come, the kids start to projectile vomit just as you’re leaving the house, whatever. But it should stop people being frivolous.
Alternatively, if a pre-booked ticket isn’t taken then the card-holder is charged for it at the standard rate, a debit/credit card being required to make the booking but not being charged otherwise.
Surely the technology is pretty much in place to manage this?
I just feel like a second-class customer despite forking out a reasonable sum each month of guaranteed income for Cineworld.
As things stand, Gillian’s likely to cancel her Unlimited card when baby SkullKrusher arrives. I was going to keep mine, but I’m thinking more and more about just cancelling it. I love going to the cinema, especially for big action films. But it’s reaching the point where it’s inconvenient finding a showing that we can guarantee seeing and which isn’t in 3D.
With the advent of the likes of NetFlix etc., we could be paying a lot less just to watch them on the telly at home when it actually suits us – and for less each month. Sure, it’s not the same, but it’s cheaper and less stressful.
Don’t get me wrong. On the whole we like Cineworld, the staff, the experience. We just feel we’re getting a raw deal right now and we’re, frankly, pissed off at the time wasted this evening compounded by the two issues highlighted above.
So there you have my points:
1) Give some respect to those of us who don’t want to watch 3D films.
2) Let Unlimited holders pre-book
3) Find out what’s making that awful stale piss smell in the gents’ loo at Parkhead (and has been for months) and sort it out. Please. It’s minging.
Just thought I’d throw that last one in there while I’m on a roll.
