Evesham Does Ultra-Portable LCD TV April 11, 2007

This little tv represents excellent value for moneybut you must hope that you do not need the assistance of Evesham customer services.
The day I received my tv I was appalled at the picture quality - no amount of adjustment of brightness, contrast, etc, etc brought the picture to an acceptable quality.
I had already got a neat little 7" Evesham tv and the picture quality on that really is superb - I therefore saw no reason why that of the 9.2" so be so much below par.
Given the reviews on this site and others I suspected that the particular tv that I had received had a fault that was particular to it and not to other 9.2 tvs.
I e-mailed Evesham technical support on the same day as I had received the tv - in the e-mail I explained that I had tried all that I could think of in order to get a decent picture on the set and that the picture on my old Evesham was still far superior - I also attached pics of the two sets operating and to anyone with a genuine interest in righting wrongs it was obvious that the picture on the new tv was inferior by a large margin.
Evesham's representative e-mailed back to say that the picture appeared fine to him and that I should try altering the brightness control!!! - something that I had stated had been done numerous times!!!!
To cut a very long story short, numerous e-mails were sent to and fro between Evesham and myself and basically it all boiled down to one thing - they were right, I was wrong - never was there any indication from Evesham that they would consider that my particular set may have had an isolated problem. A number that is needed in order to return an item would not be given to me - I understand that if an item is returned without the said number, Evesham will refuse delivery.
After they had succeeded in building up my levels of frustration, blood pressure and anger they, very reluctantly, agreed to arrange for it to be returned by Business Post and a day was arranged - the tv was securely wrapped, addressed and awaited collection - I stayed at home for the whole of the arranged collection day and, yes, you've guessed it - no collection!!
I contacted Evesham who e-mailed to say that the courier had said that the package was not collected because it was 'Not Ready' - an out-and-out lie!!!
A second and third arranged collections fell by the wayside with another 'Not Ready' and a 'Premises Closed'- I live in a normal semi bungalow in the suburbs - NOT in the middle of nowhere.
I decided, rather than waste yet more of my valuable time, to take the package to my local Business Link depot and they took receipt of it.
Whilst there I took the opportunity to make enquiries regarding the mis-information that they had been providing to Evesham - they were quite blase and said that if the roundsman/woman didn't have the time to complete their round then they virtually put in whatever they liked and that some situations couldn't be covered other than by putting in 'Not Ready' or similar!!! - give me strength!!!!
I e-mailed Evesham and told them that the package was on its way and also I told them about their couriers lack of professionalism - they were not interested - no apology for my wasted time or outrage at behaviour of the courier.
I few days later I received a 'phone call from Evesham saying that they had tried the returned tv against others and found it to be functioning properly - with the set out of my hands, how could I say otherwise - suffice it to say that when it left me many friends and family had agreed that the picture was sub-standard and that of my previous Evesham portable lcd tv was far superior.
I asked the chap that called where, with him saying that it was okay and me saying that that wasn't the case, we could go next - his less than helpful suggestion was that he would return it to me and I could sell it on eBay or suchlike.
I saw red and told him that, given that I had drawn Evesham's attention to the faulty picture on the very day that I had received the set and within the seven day deadline, I was entitled to a full refund.
He then told me that I had received the tv on a certain day and had not e-mailed Evesham until a day outside the seven day deadline!!!
Seeing a deeper shade of red I reiterated what I had told him earlier and, with that, he said that he would go off and try to locate the e-mail I said that I had sent.
Upon his return, with no apology for having got his facts wrong, he had obviously seen the said mail and he told me that he would arrange a full refund - a customer services rep would contact me within a few days to obtain my card details - no call has been received but the money has been returned to my account.
Since then I have written to the Evesham CEO and to the Customer Services Manager to see what they have to say about this whole sorry episode - today I received a reply from Evesham Customer Services - it is full of apologies for the service I have received and says, "... this has faklen well below the standards that not only our customers rightfully expect but that which we set ourselves" - much of the letter appears to have been 'copied' and 'pasted' from a standard set of answers - some paragraphs are word for word the same as those contained within the e-mails I previously received from Evesham - no feeling, just hollow words.
I have a Relisys tv/monitor that I purchased from Evesham - I also have a Creative cd/radio from Evesham - the little 7" lcd tv from Evesham - all are great products and were bought at a good price.
Would I buy further items from Evesham? - NO!!! -
this has been my first experience of their customer services and I have enough respect for myself as not to want to subject myself to that ordeal again - maybe, if there were to be a 'next time' I would receive customer care that is second to none? - there again, maybe not!! - why would I want to take the chance when there are so many retailers out there wanting part me from my money - my money!! - my choice!!!
If you decide to buy then hopefully you will be as impressed with the picture quality as previous reviewers - however, should you get what I consider to be a faulty item then expect a great deal of hassle from Evesham Customer Services.
-------------------------------------------------

Now only £49.99 so an absolute bargain! great in a car hopeless Ariel! otherwise works really well.