Our experience with Britannia was one calamity after the next with god-awful customer service from the exact point they took our money and one of the most stressful experiences of our lives. Seeing other reviews are universally bad we should have done more research and known better, this was Britannia Herts and Bucks.

Had an initial home meeting which at the time seemed fine but turned out to contain a bunch of promises around delivery times and customs procedures, all of which turned out to be wrong and at best ‘misleading’ from an ‘expert’.

• We were shipping to Canada, quoted a time initially of 7-9 weeks “absolute latest”, which then turned out to be 9-11 weeks on the contract. It then took 8 weeks for our goods to even leave the UK (with zero communication), giving the Canadian company 1 week to deliver to us. Obviously didn’t happen

• We were issued a shipping certificate that was not only for the incorrect shipment but wasn’t even for the correct province. Nasty surprise when we first spoke to the Canadian company they use, Tippets, who were ok.

• Tippets didn’t receive any of the paperwork sent, if it was, including passport and visa copies.

• Our delivery finally arrived in 13 weeks and would have been considerably longer had we not begged the Canadian companies to expedite. We had to buy a load of winter clothes to cover the delay, which we already owed.

• We we’re provided nothing in terms of clearing customs other than ‘it’s a seamless door to door service and we take of that for you’. Never once mentioned we could easily clear on arrival and we ended up having to take time off work at our cost to deal with it.

• The delivery company in Calgary ‘forgot’ at least 2 boxes (and counting) of our goods, which have only turned up when we specifically asked for them (and we had to take more time out to pick them up).

• Terrible customer service. We left multiple emails and answer phone messages over the last month in an attempt to resolve these issues, at international expense, but nothing doing. Not a reply, nothing. Not attempt to resolve any issue at any point, no help and a lot of ‘it’s not our problem’. Nothing is their fault.

Currently trying to resolve this with the head office, who are equally ‘it’s not our fault’. Strongest recommendation to avoid and not make the mistake we did. If you have an issue or they make a mess of things you’re on your own.