I bought a lantern from force 4. I never received it but my card was charged. Force 4 ignore my emails. Has anyone else had this problem? Are Force 4 operating a scam?

I recently purchased some items from Force 4 There was a problem with the first delivery which took about 3 weeks but it turned out that parcel force had an incorrect address
after the package was returned to force 4 it was re sent and I did get it quite quickly considering I live in Northern Ireland
I suggest you use telephone enquires

Force 4 have been operating in mail order for over 20 years and have built a reputation for service and honesty.We also operate 3 chandleries in the South West.
We value all our customers, and have many yachtsmen ordering from us on a regular basis, and we like to get feedback should anything go wrong. Many of our customers say how much they enjoy our personal touch over the telephone, and of course occasionally items can go astray or be damaged in transit, and we find that problems are so much easier to sort out over the phone. Emails can simply disappear into goodness know where, or be deleted by ISP anti-spam software or whatever.
By coincidence, both these comments come from Ireland, where we have occasionally experienced problems with deliveries with Parcelforce. As a result, we changed our carriers to Business Post only 2 weeks ago and this seems to be working fine to date. We did this precisely because a few parcels had gone astray, and this is exactly what happened in Mr Graves' case. We had heard from Mr Graves at the end of March and replied, but have been awaiting further confirmation that the parcel really had disappeared. Having received confirmation by email from Mr Graves today, we have refunded him accordingly, and expressed our sincere apologies.
Obviously, we were very disappointed that the parcel had been lost, and that one of our customers should have been put to this trouble.

I have just read the above and to say the least I am shocked. Mr Radford speaks of his firms reputation for honesty and then utterly distorts the truth about this simple matter. There is not enough space to give the full details here but I have posted below the email I received today from Force4:

Dear Peter,

I cannot apologise enough. I passed your “case” on to accounts for a refund to be issued several weeks ago, and assumed that all would be resolved; the refund made and confirmation sent to you. I make no excuses for our failure, it was simply a breakdown in our system, due to human error. I have spoken to my manager, and we will issue the refund for the lamp today, plus your delivery cost. £31.95 + £9.95, Total £41.90

I hope that this gives closure to a very unsatisfactory episode.

Regards

So,they were not waiting for confirmation from me. No emails have gone missing. Why try and blame me? This is shocking.

Peter, I don't think they are blaming you, though I do understand your sense of frustration with delays, broken down communications etc. Sorry you have not had a good experience with Force 4, but it does seem that is the exception rather than the rule, and you have received an apology and a full refund.
I find when ordering by mail order or online it is always best to go for the telephone helpline if there is any hold-up.
Only last week I had a query about something which had appeared on my credit card bill but not been delivered, and the girl in the call centre promised to investigate and call back. She did: just five minutes later, with an acceptable explanation. I went from being a disgruntled customer to a happy one at a stroke!
Better luck in future and happy sailing
Cathy

Well I once did get a bit worried by Force 4-but as this was instantly resolved with a phone call clearly problem does lie with e mails-and just having given a customer of mine a hard time and then found their e mail hidden in a spam box!
But please please note Force 4 if you are reading this (unlike the e mail I sent to you re.this)that adding an extra £12 to postage for the Highlands for small items because you use Parcel Force-who are as far as I am concerned a bunch of---looses our custom-particularly when even the big items arrive at our door delivered by the local Postie on behalf of Parcel Force-items up to 20kg being delivered for max.£12 no surcharge by Royal Mail Parcels
Phil

I returned a faulty VHF/DSC Tutor and Force Four gave only a 50% refund.Four telephone calls were made and each time they promised to look into it. Then three letters were sent all of which were ignored.

Still, they lose more than me now as I spend between £2000-£3000 each year on mail order and they of course wont get a penny of it!!

I can only speak as I find. Force 4 have always been excellent with me. I had cause to return some software which was out of date (Yacht Master) for which used the old charts. They agreed a full refund, even when my wife forgot to post the item back, some weeks/months had passed before it was sent back. Still got a full refund and apology. Force 4 are definately one of my preferred suppliers but it does sound as if Mr Radford was referring to a different matter and had his wires crossed!

Dave H