Long reach of Raw Deal got Douglas’s hedge cut

RAW DEAL exists to fight for people who need a little bit of support, as we all do from time to time.

Douglas Paton has a big problem.

It’s his cypress hedge. It is a wonderfully healthy and bonny thing, but as anyone who has this type of plant will know they tend to grow at a fair rate.

Some Leylandii hedges sprout by up to three feet per year. They take a lot of looking after and sometimes special tools are required.

To keep his hedge in tip-top trim, Douglas, who lives in Glenrothes in Fife, had been using an ordinary trimmer and ladders, but as anyone who has tried this will know, it can be a precarious experience. So he went online to purchase a telescopic cutter from Eckman UK, which specialises in garden tools.

The cutter arrived on June 10 last year but Douglas didn’t need to use it straight away. However, he took it out of its box and assembled it to confirm it was in working order.

It wasn’t until more than two months later, on August 20, that it was to make its debut, but there was a nasty surprise in store.

It worked fine for about 20 minutes but then conked out.

Douglas has a fair amount of tech nous and checked the power supply, fuse and switch, but the trimmer seemed to have entirely given up the ghost.

He contacted Eckman, which suggested he send it back. This cost £10, at Douglas’s expense.

But then everything went quiet.

Despite numerous calls and emails no one seemed to be able to tell Douglas what was wrong with the trimmer, whether it was something he had (or hadn’t) done, a manufacturing fault or if it had sustained some other type of damage.

He was promised many times that someone would phone him back to discuss the matter, but no one ever did.

He was then promised a replacement, but this didn’t arrive.

When he asked for a refund of his £85, the firm insisted that it fully intended to send a replacement – but didn’t have any in stock.

Each time he called, on a customer services number that had to be paid for, Douglas felt he was passed from one department to another, but that no one ever seemed to have any concrete information.

He grew tired of the inactivity (and all the while his fast-growing hedge was becoming more unkempt) so after several months of frustration he wrote to Raw Deal.

We contacted Eckman and trimmed a way through the delays. Soon there was better news for Douglas.

He wrote to us to say: “I got my money back!

“I don’t know what you did or said, but Eckman UK quickly started talking to me after you got involved.

“And I’ve just received a refund of £85. I can’t thank you enough, you are fantastic!”

Douglas has gone back to a normal-sized trimmer, but at least he’s now able to tackle his hedge and has returned it to its previous well-manicured state.

Do you have a problem?

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Briefly outline the problem and how you would like it resolved. Include contact details of the other party and any customer ref/order numbers.

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