My wife received a fashion catalogue from Afibel Ltd last November promising a luxury coat allegedly worth approx. £80 in return for an order over a certain minimal value. The ordered goods arrived after an extended interval and only after several premium-rate progress enquiry phone calls. However since then we have been fobbed off and downright lied to as to when the coat might be coming. First we had to wait for a claim form (which never came), then we had to write a letter to say we never received the form, then we had to wait for the end of the promotion (31st January), now we are told that they have no idea when the coat will come as it will be despatched by their French parent company. In the meantime we have had a series of catalogues of the Damart / Readers Digest type - each offering a ludicrously expensive free gift in return for a very small order. The most incredible of these came yesterday, offering a Singer Sewing Machine worth £179.99 in return for a modest order. My wife has today posted a letter given them a 14 day ultimatum to deliver the coat, with failure to do so resulting in the seeking of Trading Standards and Media assistance. Have any other forum members had similar problems with this company?

I ordered a pair of Ladies Lt. Grey Norvel trousers among a 3 item order with 'Gift of grey wool skin coat' 6th Dec. 2013 which arrived soon after, other items fine but Norvel trousers were in packing labelled Lt. Grey but trousers inside were Beige I emailed the Support section immediately also including my landline number but no reply, I also phoned their Expensive 0871 number and informed that I was returning this item, which cost Me £2.60 post and because I was returning on 19th Dec and wanting to avoid Xmas parcels for Exchange of item I re-ordered (big mistake - I hadn't secretly marked Return Item) When I received Item Re-ordered it was exactly same. When I sent back the 2nd time on 5th Jan 2014 I marked the item pack on the incorrect label and taped onto the pack complete set of papers including copies of both Emails and sent another complete set separately regarding non-arrival of 'Wool Skin Coat' It then cost me over £9 in calls to 0871 to get the Return Items Credited on the Personal Account which they started without my consent and more phone calls to get the Faulty Item Return postage eventually shown on Account as Misc. Discount all the time adding Service Charges because I would not pay the order in full before the Returns were credited. Since Dec.2013 I have been asking for the Account to be sorted out which only Supervisor can do. I have paid £14.99 which is the cost and p & p on correct items, the Account now is only showing amount of Service Charges on the Account while they were doing nothing about my Complaint which I am not going to pay. Since Fri. 13th June by EU and Our Government Law All Retailers have to provide a 'basic' phone number ( 01/02/03) all of which are included and cost the same in all types of Telephony incl. Mobiles which Afibel have not done and the 3 calls from Fri.13th June will be costing THEM £4.95 which I will be claiming. I was told on the last call on 24th June that a Supervisor would call me, but as nothing has happened since my first Return and they are still putting Service charges on the Account each month. I am now going to send to their actual address Afibel, Columbia House, 1 Apollo Rise, Southwood Business Park, Farnborough, GU14 0GT not their P.O Box 341 Farnborough, GU14 0ZQ (which is probably a shed) a Letter of Account in Dispute by Signed for Mail. which will stop the Account dead until they contact me. I will also be reporting them to Consumer Advice and Citizens Advice Bureau. I have also found that they have got a 'True Certificate' award which I will now try to stop because they are not an Award Certificate worthy Retailer.