claimlane.com Reviews 1

Over three months ago I contacted FFX (Folkstone Fixings) about a faulty tool. I was told to use Claimlane, which is some third-party company to which FFX have offloaded their warranty claims.

I had to provide tons of information, including photos and a video. It's very difficult to make a video of a faulty tool that needs both hands to show the fault, plus my time being taken up to do all this work.

Initially they told me to contact the manufacturer (although my contract is with FFX, not the manufacturer). The manufacturer told me that it needs to be handled by FFX. Eventually Claimlane/FFX collected the faulty tool 'to be sent for repair'. Some weeks later, nothing had happened. I asked for a full refund. After some more time they did process a refund, but it was only for the pre-VAT amount.

I informed them that I was a private customer and not a VAT-registered business and asked for the VAT amount to be refunded as well. They said they'd actioned it and it would be with me soon.

That was over three weeks ago. I have chased them twice since, and they have not responded despite the banner on the site saying they will respond within two working days. So I've wasted hours on this and still have not been refunded correctly.

The last time I had a problem with a tool (which happens rarely), I simply emailed FFX, described the fault, they agreed it was faulty, sent a replacement and picked up the faulty one. Just as it should be.

Claimlane has obviously been sold to FFX as a 'one stop solution' for them to not have to deal with their customers directly, which may be better for FFX but not for their customers. I have been an FFX customer for decades now but will now consider other suppliers who actually communicate directly with their customers if things go wrong.

So, how much are we talking about here? Is it some expensive power tool costing hundreds of pounds? No, just a simple extension pole mass-produced in China which has a stock fault as mentioned on many forums and cost about £40.