Should be zero stars if available. Ordered track ballast on 10/06/24, but nothing was heard, several follow-up emails, and still nothing. Now appear to have ceased trading (I wonder why...). I was... See more
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I ordered three packets of Pola Glue in April and paid by Credit card. Nothing has ever been sent and no refund offered. I have sent numerous e-mails asking what is happening but get no reply. I woul... See more
The governor is clearly passionate about his company...and when I explained his website was difficult he explained his enormous, and ever increasing stock made an ongoing challenge to his ongoing... See more
Company replied
Despite being out of stock with the supplier, my order was fulfilled in reasonable time, especially as it came from mainland Europe. If there’s something I would have liked is some feedback regarding... See more
Company replied
Company details
Written by the company
Welcome to House of Hobbies. We are a small business selling model railway, scale model and RC kits plus all the accessories, paints and tools you need to create your miniature worlds. We stock all of the normal UK brands and try to specialize in the European and US brands too so if you after something for your model railroad or a new addition to your fleet of kits then please do come inside and take a look. **We hit a huge growth patch late in 2023 which caused issues with our service levels and we are working hard to implement changes to prevent them happening again. Better to be honest and own the mistake than hide away** Please do look at our reviews both good and bad and remember that less than 5% of happy customers actually leave reviews but we certainly do make mistakes and naturally get flagged on here for them. I guess we are saying look at the bigger picture and remember that none of us get up of a morning actively wanting to upset our customers. Thanks and welcome to the family. Martin
Contact info
Unit F, Platts Lane Industrial Estate, L40 7TP, Ormskirk, United Kingdom
- 01704643513
- sales@houseofhobbies.co.uk
- houseofhobbies.co.uk
2.6
Poor
625 reviews
No history of asking for reviews
This company hasn't invited their customers, so reviews may not be representative
How this company uses Trustpilot
See how their reviews and ratings are sourced, scored, and moderated.
Thanks Martin very much on your…
Thanks Martin very much on your discount voucher but I would really love an update on my order WEB24857-946 that I have already paid for. Kind regards Dave
June 7, 2024
Unprompted review
Quick to take payment then no delivery
Having placed an order on the 16th of May I awaited dispatch, and then nothing, goods still shown as pending, you carn't phone to chase it up due to staff shortages so their web page states, so email, what's the point if they go un-responded to. So unless I can get a refund from my card provider, which I have set the wheels in motion for, then I am out of pocket to the tune of 120 quid.
If this is the UK's best model shop I would hate to come across the worst one.
Update
Bank refund paid into my account, but it's temporary, allowing for House of Hobbies to lodge a dispute if they wish, but as goods are still pending dispatch, I doubt it.
June 7, 2024
Unprompted review
Poor service
Placed order on 23rd May had an acknowledgement email but no communication since. Sent 2 emails, no response, phoned several times but can't get through. Don't use this company terrible service, may not be in business but still taking your money.
May 23, 2024
Unprompted review
Placed an order May 10th
Placed an order May 10th, Monies extracted from my a/c May 13th, Since then, nothing. No response from numerous emails and the phone no. is continually responding with the same negative message. Am I another customer who has been scammed, and having to resort to trying to retrieve my money through my bank?
June 4, 2024
Unprompted review
Wish I’d seen these reviews before…
Wish I’d seen these reviews before using House of Hobbies ! 6 Dapol signals ordered 7th May, money cleared my bank 8th May (very quick doing that !) then nothing. No response to an e-mail asking about my order !
June 3, 2024
Unprompted review
My case mirrors all the other similar…
My case mirrors all the other similar cases, 30 + days and no goods and no responses. The service is very poor, in fact non-existent, and that’s a great pity, as the core of any business success is good customer service, competitive price and reputation. I will raise a claim on my credit card in due course, and source the items elsewhere.
Date of experience: 02 May 2024
May 2, 2024
Unprompted review
Shockingly poor service
Order placed in April still not dispatched and unable to get a reply to messages. Yet this morning the website still lets you order! Received a generic email dated 14 May 2024 saying that you had taken to much on, had illness and staffing issues and you are busy packing orders, or they are in the hand of the Royal Mail. Still no sign of it. I have used this shop before without any issues, so happily used again, but what a mistake!
I also find it concerning that only positive comments on here get a reply from the owner, and with no sign of either my order or a refund I am left with the option of contacting Trading Standards/Action Fraud, as basically you have my money buy refuse to either refund it or fulfil the order.
I am deeply sorry for the situation that your failure to conduct your business has put both yourself and your valued customers in, but I do sincerely hope that your business can come back from this and wish you well for the future.
April 26, 2024
Unprompted review
This is an interesting review.
This is an interesting review.
I am appreciative of the products I have received.
A rating of 5.
Like many others have said, the service to get the products is abysmal. A rating of 2.
So I spoke with the owner Martin.
He was very honest and up-front about where he was letting his customers and his business down. I outlined the following to him....
Customer Service is reactionary. It is what you need to spend money on because your customers have a problem or they are unhappy. And it’s the customers who aren’t happy who will utilise most of that resource through complaints etc.
Customer experience is proactive. It’s about understanding what their journey and experience of interacting with you is like. The closer you get to creating an optimal customer experience, the less you’ll need to spend on traditional customer service.
I believe that within 12 months Martin will have House of Hobbies humming, and 1 and 2 star ratings will be a distant memory.
Let's all watch this space and see what transpires.
May 31, 2024
Unprompted review
My case mirrors all the other similar…
My case mirrors all the other similar cases, 15 days and no goods and no responses. The service is very poor, in fact non-existent, and that’s a great pity, as the core of any business success is good customer service, competitive price and reputation. I will raise a claim on my credit card in due course, and source the items elsewhere.
May 31, 2024
Unprompted review
After 4 weeks and 2 days I applied to…
After 4 weeks and 2 days I applied to my bank to get a refund to my Credit Card for the order placed with this company for £20.28. Trustpilot ask you for fair constructive feedback so...(1) you need to be fair to people who place orders and pay you!! (2) you need to be able to communicate with people, if you cannot do this because you are totally on your own you need to employ "A" someone to answer the PHONE, "B" the same person answering the phone replying to E,MAILS at some point in the day "C" you need a different attitude to your customers, it`s no wonder that TOP COMPANIES that sell the items that you appear to sell and what we want are well on the ball, this was my first order with you.....and the last. I cannot understand you get some good feedback and lots of negative as well, how can you be so inconsistent!!!!!!!!.
May 30, 2024
Unprompted review
Placed my order April 24 and nothing…
Placed my order April 24 and nothing has arrived. Emails not answered and phone just rings with meassage saying a message can't be left.
May 28, 2024
Unprompted review
Despite numerous e-mails (and heartfelt…
Despite numerous e-mails (and heartfelt apologies in reply to my Trustpilot 1 star review previously), I still not have received my order of 27th March, despite the money being taken immediately. I appreciate that there may have been staffing difficulties and illnesses but, if he wants to see better reviews, it would be helpful if he could deal with the older orders first!
March 27, 2024
Unprompted review
First time I’ve dealt with House of…
First time I’ve dealt with House of Hobbies and will be the last. Order placed over a month ago and still no goods. Emailed several times and finally received a long winded “heartfelt” reply but I’m not sure how heartfelt as my subsequent emails have been ignored. Shocking service
May 25, 2024
Unprompted review
Reply from House of hobbies
Apologies for the poor service that you have received. We have been hit with some terrible issues meaning staff shortages plus I have been very ill myself. As a result, the orders have been delayed and due to the sheer volume of calls and emails they have not been dealt with. A response does only take a few minutes but when it’s 200 responses a day that is a lot of minutes and everything just feels worse.
I do understand the frustration of any customer not being able to get through and can only be thankful that only a small percentage of our customers have resorted to negative reviews which don’t help the situation at all.
The error is certainly ours and we are almost over the hill and back to normal so I would urge any potential customer reading this to look at the positive reviews and remember that I never wake up actively wanting to upset customers and ruin my business, but hard times can affect all of us.
Anyone that can empathise with situation and is happy to remove their review after reading this would also have my utmost respect and appreciation as moving forward the damage left on here only causes harm and we are striving to be one of the few model shops left offering a good service.
I have never had such a poor service…
I have never had such a poor service from a company, quick to brake your money and acknowledge your order then nothing. Seeing as the business is closed two days a week ( wednesday and Sundays) there is no excuse for not responding to customers. If you are truly that short staffed and are that busy then there is no excuse for not hiring more staff. I have now cancelled my order and requested a full refund. Hopefully they will honour my request, we shall see!! I would not recommend anyone buying anything from this business, my club members certainly will not do business with them .
May 20, 2024
Unprompted review
Reply from House of hobbies
Apologies for the poor service that you have received. We have been hit with some terrible issues meaning staff shortages plus I have been very ill myself. As a result, the order have been delayed and due to the sheer volume of calls and emails they have not been dealt with. A response does only take a few minutes but when it’s 200 responses a day that is a lot of minutes and everything just feels worse.
I do understand the frustration of any customer not being able to get through and can only be thankful that only a small percentage of our customers have resorted to negative reviews which don’t help the situation at all.
The error is certainly ours and we are almost over the hill and back to normal so I would urge any potential customer reding this to look at the positive reviews and remember that I never wake up actively wanting to upset customers and ruin my business, but hard times can affect all of us.
Anyone that can empathise with situation and is happy to remove their review after reading this would also have my utmost respect and appreciation as moving forward the damage left on here only causes harm and we are striving to be one of the few model shops left offering a good service.
Do not trust this company.
Do not trust this company or the favourable reviews. They did not fulfill my order and do not communicate with customers. It is a scam.
April 8, 2024
Unprompted review
Reply from House of hobbies
Apologies for the poor service that you have received. We have been hit with some terrible issues meaning staff shortages plus I have been very ill myself. As a result, the order have been delayed and due to the sheer volume of calls and emails they have not been dealt with. A response does only take a few minutes but when it’s 200 responses a day that is a lot of minutes and everything just feels worse.
I do understand the frustration of any customer not being able to get through and can only be thankful that only a small percentage of our customers have resorted to negative reviews which don’t help the situation at all.
The error is certainly ours and we are almost over the hill and back to normal so I would urge any potential customer reding this to look at the positive reviews and remember that I never wake up actively wanting to upset customers and ruin my business, but hard times can affect all of us.
Anyone that can empathise with situation and is happy to remove their review after reading this would also have my utmost respect and appreciation as moving forward the damage left on here only causes harm and we are striving to be one of the few model shops left offering a good service.
Do not order from this company unless you want poor service
Ordered a kit from this company on the 24/4/24 was told that dispatch /delivery would take 7-14 days have heard nothing from them since they confirmed order have tried to phone no answer and you cannot leave a message have emailed still no reply they take your money but after that you hear nothing I have now asked the bank to get my money back customer service at this company is total rubbish do not buy from them wish I had read reviews before ordering buyer beware
April 24, 2024
Reply from House of hobbies
Apologies for the poor service that you have received. We have been hit with some terrible issues meaning staff shortages plus I have been very ill myself. As a result, the order have been delayed and due to the sheer volume of calls and emails they have not been dealt with. A response does only take a few minutes but when it’s 200 responses a day that is a lot of minutes and everything just feels worse.
I do understand the frustration of any customer not being able to get through and can only be thankful that only a small percentage of our customers have resorted to negative reviews which don’t help the situation at all.
The error is certainly ours and we are almost over the hill and back to normal so I would urge any potential customer reding this to look at the positive reviews and remember that I never wake up actively wanting to upset customers and ruin my business, but hard times can affect all of us.
Anyone that can empathise with situation and is happy to remove their review after reading this would also have my utmost respect and appreciation as moving forward the damage left on here only causes harm and we are striving to be one of the few model shops left offering a good service.
This item has still not been received
This item has still not been received. The payment has gone from my bank.
There is no reply to my phone calls or email.
So not a good experience and would appreciate either goods or return of my money.
Thank you.
April 19, 2024
Reply from House of hobbies
Apologies for the poor service that you have received. We have been hit with some terrible issues meaning staff shortages plus I have been very ill myself. As a result, the order have been delayed and due to the sheer volume of calls and emails they have not been dealt with. A response does only take a few minutes but when it’s 200 responses a day that is a lot of minutes and everything just feels worse.
I do understand the frustration of any customer not being able to get through and can only be thankful that only a small percentage of our customers have resorted to negative reviews which don’t help the situation at all.
The error is certainly ours and we are almost over the hill and back to normal so I would urge any potential customer reding this to look at the positive reviews and remember that I never wake up actively wanting to upset customers and ruin my business, but hard times can affect all of us.
Anyone that can empathise with situation and is happy to remove their review after reading this would also have my utmost respect and appreciation as moving forward the damage left on here only causes harm and we are striving to be one of the few model shops left offering a good service.
Never sent item. Impossible to contact. AVOID!
Ordered an item that was listed as available. I never got any notification of it being dispatched. Nothing arrived. If you telephone they just play a recorded message that they can't take your call and you can't leave a message either and emails go un-answered. It appears they just ignore communication from customers, despite having taken my money.
Had to get a refund from my credit card company and ordered instead from Germany. It cost more in postage but arrived in 3 days. I cannot possibly recommend you buy anything from House of Hobbies.
March 4, 2024
Unprompted review
Reply from House of hobbies
Apologies for the poor service that you have received. We have been hit with some terrible issues meaning staff shortages plus I have been very ill myself. As a result, the orders have been delayed and due to the sheer volume of calls and emails they have not been dealt with. A response does only take a few minutes but when it’s 200 responses a day that is a lot of minutes and everything just feels worse.
I do understand the frustration of any customer not being able to get through and can only be thankful that only a small percentage of our customers have resorted to negative reviews which don’t help the situation at all.
The error is certainly ours and we are almost over the hill and back to normal so I would urge any potential customer reding this to look at the positive reviews and remember that I never wake up actively wanting to upset customers and ruin my business, but hard times can affect all of us.
Anyone that can empathise with situation and is happy to remove their review after reading this would also have my utmost respect and appreciation as moving forward the damage left on here only causes harm and we are striving to be one of the few model shops left offering a good service.
Not received my order still,paid on the…
Not received my order still,paid on the 20/4/24
Emailed them and had no reply still😡
April 20, 2024
Reply from House of hobbies
Apologies for the poor service that you have received. We have been hit with some terrible issues meaning staff shortages plus I have been very ill myself. As a result, the orders have been delayed and due to the sheer volume of calls and emails they have not been dealt with. A response does only take a few minutes but when it’s 200 responses a day that is a lot of minutes and everything just feels worse.
I do understand the frustration of any customer not being able to get through and can only be thankful that only a small percentage of our customers have resorted to negative reviews which don’t help the situation at all.
The error is certainly ours and we are almost over the hill and back to normal so I would urge any potential customer reding this to look at the positive reviews and remember that I never wake up actively wanting to upset customers and ruin my business, but hard times can affect all of us.
Anyone that can empathise with situation and is happy to remove their review after reading this would also have my utmost respect and appreciation as moving forward the damage left on here only causes harm and we are striving to be one of the few model shops left offering a good service.
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