Retail Complaints

Aldi is a leading global discount supermarket chain with over 9,000 stores in over 18 countries.

Ann Summers is a British multinational retailer company specialising in sex toys and lingerie, with over 140 high street stores in the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands and Spain. In 2000, Ann Summers acquired the Knickerbox brand, a label with an emphasis on more comfortable and feminine underwear, while the Ann Summers-labelled products tend to be more sexual in style. The chain had an annual turnover of £117.3 million in 2007-2008.

Argos is a British catalogue retailer operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and a subsidiary of Sainsbury's. The company trades both through physical stores and online, with over 750 stores and 800 million website visits a year, making it one of the largest high street retailers online in the United Kingdom.

Argos was established in 1973, by Richard Tompkins, the founder of the Green Shield Stamps scheme, who re-branded the existing Green Shield Stamps catalogue shops as Argos, before opening new Argos branded stores later in the year. BAT Industries purchased the company in 1979, and in 1990, it was listed on the London Stock Exchange, where it became a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

On the 2nd September 2016, Sainsbury's had completed the acquisition of Home Retail Group, which makes Sainsburys one of the largest retailers in the UK. The newly formed business will be known as Sainsburys Argos and will be run by a separate chief executive to Mike Coupe (CEO of J Sainsbury Plc).

 

ASDA Stores Limited

Asda Stores Limited is a British supermarket retailer, headquartered in Leeds, West Yorkshire. The company became a subsidiary of the American retail corporate giant Walmart after a £6.7 billion takeover in July 1999, and was the second-largest supermarket chain in Britain between 2003 and 2014, by market share.

Besides its core supermarket retail format, the company also offers a number of other products, including financial services and a mobile phone company using the existing network of EE. Asda's marketing promotions are usually based solely on price, and like its parent company, Walmart, Asda promotes itself under the slogan "Save Money. Live Better".

Boots UK Limited, trading as Boots, is a pharmacy chain in the United Kingdom and Ireland, with outlets in most high streets, shopping centres and airport terminals.

Britax Excelsior Ltd

It began making automotive safety equipment and accessories in 1938, and to import car and motorcycle accessories. During the 1970s, Britax began making childcare safety products, primarily child safety seats and strollers.

Co-Operative Group Food Limited

The Co-operative Food, also known as Co-op Food, is a brand devised for the food retail business of the consumer co-operative movement in the United Kingdom. When looking at food retail, the brand is commonly understood to represent one food retail business, though this is not true as it is used by over 15 different co-operative societies which operate over 4,000 outlets.

Dixons Carphone PLC

Currys is a British electrical retailer operating in the UK and Ireland and is owned by Dixons Retail plc. It specialises in selling home electronics and household appliances, with 295 superstores and 73 high street stores.

Debenhams Retail plc

Debenhams plc is a multinational retail chain operating under a department store format in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark, with franchise stores in other countries. The company was founded in the eighteenth century as a single store in London and has now grown to 172 locations across the UK, Ireland and Denmark. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

Dixons Carphone PLC

Dixons Carphone plc is a multinational electrical and telecommunications retailer and services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It was formed on 7 August 2014 by the merger of Dixons Retail and Carphone Warehouse Group. It operates under a number of brands across the United Kingdom, Ireland and mainland Europe. These include Currys, PC World and Carphone Warehouse in the United Kingdom; Elkjøp in the Nordic countries and Kotsovolos in Greece.

Dorothy Perkins is a women’s fashion retailer based in the United Kingdom. Primarily aimed at 25–35 year old women, Dorothy Perkins sells both its own range of clothes and branded fashion goods.

Fisher-Price is an American company that produces toys for infants and children, headquartered in East Aurora, New York. Fisher-Price has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Mattel since 1993.

H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB is a Swedish multinational retail-clothing company, known for its fast-fashion clothing for men, women, teenagers and children.

HMV Retail Ltd

HMV Retail Ltd, formerly HMV Group plc, is a British entertainment retailing company operating in the United Kingdom. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE Fledgling Index. The first HMV branded store was opened by the Gramophone Company on Oxford Street in 1921, and the HMV name was also used for television and radio sets manufactured from the 1930s onwards. The retail side of the business began to expand in the 1960s, and in 1998 was divested from EMI, the successor to the Gramophone Company, to form what would become HMV Group. The Chief Executive Officer prior to administration was Trevor Moore; he replaced Simon Fox on 3 September 2012.

Holland & Barrett is a chain of health food shops with over 700 stores in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, South Africa, Singapore and Malta. The company also has stores in The Netherlands, where they trade as "De Tuinen".

Iceland is a British supermarket chain operating in the UK and Ireland. Iceland's primary product lines are frozen foods, including prepared meals and vegetables.

JD Sports Fashion plc

JD Sports Fashion plc, more commonly known as just JD, is a sports-fashion retail company based in Bury, Greater Manchester, England with shops throughout the United Kingdom and with four in Ireland. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a former constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

John Lewis is a chain of upmarket department stores operating throughout Great Britain. The chain is owned by the John Lewis Partnership, which was created alongside the first store in the mid-1800s. The first John Lewis store was opened in 1864 in Oxford Street, London.

John Lewis PLC

The John Lewis Partnership is an employee-owned UK company which operates John Lewis department stores, Waitrose supermarkets, its banking and financial services, and other retail-related activities.

Knowhow is a provider after-sales product support and cover for Currys, Currys Digital, PC World, in the UK.

Lidl is a German global discount supermarket chain, based in Neckarsulm, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, that operates over 10,000 stores across Europe. It belongs to the holding company Schwarz Gruppe, which also owns the store chains Handelshof and hypermarket Kaufland.

Lidl is the chief competitor of the similar German discount chain Aldi. The company was founded in 1930 by a member of the Schwarz family, and has since established itself in over 20 countries throughout Europe.

Marks and Spencer plc is a major British multinational retailer headquartered in the City of Westminster, London, with 703 stores in the United Kingdom and 361 stores spread across more than 40 countries. It specialises in the selling of clothing and luxury food products. M&S was founded in 1884 by Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer in Leeds.

Miss Selfridge is a nationwide UK high street store which began as the young fashion section of Selfridges department store in London in 1966. Miss Selfridge got its name when Charles Clore, the owner of Selfridges at the time, saw a window display in the Bonwit Teller store in New York which showed "Miss Bonwit" dresses aimed specifically at teenagers. He later launched it throughout his Lewis's & Selfridges stores throughout the UK

Wm Morrison Supermarkets plc is the fourth largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, headquartered in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The company is usually referred to and is branded as Morrisons, and it is part of the FTSE 100 Index of companies. Morrisons's market share as of August 2013 was 11.3%, making it the smallest of the "Big Four" supermarkets, behind Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury's, but ahead of the fifth place Co-operative Group, which had a share of 4.4%.

Mothercare PLC

Mothercare plc is a British retailer which specialises in products for expectant mothers and in general merchandise for children up to 8 years old. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE SmallCap Index.

In 1982, it merged with Habitat to form Habitat Mothercare plc. In 1986, Habitat Mothercare plc merged with British Home Stores, to form Storehouse plc. In January 1996, it bought Children's World from Boots, and re-branded all of their superstores Mothercare World stores. In 2000, the BHS stores were sold to Philip Green, and Storehouse reverted to the Mothercare brand.

Ocado Retail Limited

Ocado is a British online supermarket. In contrast to its main competitors, the company has no chain of stores and does all home deliveries from its warehouses. Ocado has been voted the best online supermarket in the UK by Which? readers every year since 2010. The company was floated on the London Stock Exchange on 21 July 2010 and is currently a member of the FTSE 250 Index.

Ocado was founded in April 2000 by Jonathan Faiman, Jason Gissing and Tim Steiner, former merchant bankers with Goldman Sachs. Ocado was launched in January 2000 as a concept and started trading as a business in partnership with Waitrose in January 2002. When the company first started, Faiman, Gissing and Steiner ran every part of the business themselves.

Pampers is a brand of baby products marketed by Procter & Gamble. Pampers was at one time only used as a name for a disposable diaper.

Dixons Carphone PLC

PC World is one of the United Kingdom's largest retail chains of mass-market computers superstores. Established in November 1991, it became part of Dixons Retail in February 1993 and then part of Dixons Carphone after the merger of Dixons retail and Carphone Warehouse in 2014. Many of its physical stores in the United Kingdom now trade under the combined Currys PC World brand, and as PC City in Italy.

Poundland Limited

Poundland is a British variety store chain, listed on the London Stock Exchange, that sells most items in its stores for £1. Established in April 1990 by Dave Dodd and Stephen Smith, Poundland stock about 3,000 home and kitchenware, gift, healthcare and other products, across 16 categories many of which are brand name and clearance products. Like many of its rivals, Poundland operates a constantly rotating product line with all products priced £1. Although price-point retailing was invented in the United States during the 1870s, the chain claims to have introduced this concept to Europe and is the largest single-price discount retailer in Europe. The retailer claims that their Croydon store is the busiest single-priced discount outlet in the world, generating more than £9 million in revenue per year with 30,000 customers a week

Poundstretcher Limited

Poundstretcher (previously styled as £-stretcher or ...instore) is a chain of discount stores operating in the United Kingdom. It is based in Deighton, Huddersfield.

In September 2009, Poundstretcher's new branding was revealed. A new logo and slogan was created, entitled; "Poundstretcher: Look What's New Instore!" and; "Welcome To The Original Value Store".

Poundworld Retail Limited

Poundworld is a British single price variety store that sells most of its items for £1. The chain was founded in 1974 by Yorkshire-based father and son team Chris Edwards Sr. and Chris Edwards Jr.

In contrast to many high-street retailers, Poundworld maintained strong sales and growth during the global recession that started in 2007.

As of 2014, Poundworld's product range consisted of over 5,000 items including groceries, health and beauty, toiletries, cleaning products and pet care, some of them known brands; it had over 6,000 employees and about 240 stores in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland; and it was planning to open 150 new stores within three years.

River Island is a London-headquartered high street fashion brand, which operates in a number of worldwide markets. Set up in 1948 by Bernard Lewis and his brothers in London, it is to this day still a private company owned by the Lewis family.

Sainsbury's is the second largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, with a 16.9% share of the UK supermarket sector.  Founded in 1869, by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company became the largest grocery retailer in 1922, was an early adopter of self-service retailing in the UK, and had its heyday during the 1980s.

Spar (UK) Limited

Spar, trademarked as SPAR, is a Dutch multinational retail chain and franchise brand with approximately 12,500 stores in 35 countries worldwide. It was founded in 1932 by Adriaan van Well. Through its affiliate organisations, Spar operates through most European countries, parts of Africa, Asia and Oceania. Its headquarters are in Amsterdam.

Superdrug Stores PLC

Superdrug Stores PLC is Britain's second largest beauty and health retailer behind Boots. Superdrug – part of the A.S. Watson Group which in turn is part of the Hong Kong conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa – is a UK-based company with over 700 stores, which since 2006, includes Ireland. The company has two large Distribution Centres, one in Pontefract and one in Dunstable. Both Distribution Centres serve Superdrug, Savers, and The Perfume Shop. The chain employs over 12,000 people. Every store sells perfume, and over 220 stores include pharmacies with pharmacy consultation rooms. Additionally 19 stores contain nurse clinics offering health checks to many people every day.

 

Tesco PLC

Tesco PLC is a British multinational grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, England, United Kingdom. It is the second-largest retailer in the world measured by profits. and third-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues. It has stores in 14 countries across Asia, Europe and North America and is the grocery market leader in the UK, Malaysia, the Republic of Ireland and Thailand.

The Body Shop International PLC, known as The Body Shop, has 2,400 stores in 61 countries. The company, which has its headquarters in Littlehampton, West Sussex, England, was founded in 1976 by Anita Roddick and is now part of the L'Oréal corporate group.

Carphone Warehouse is a British mobile phone retailer, with over 2,400 stores across Europe. It trades as Carphone Warehouse in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and as Phone House elsewhere.

The company has been a subsidiary of Dixons Carphone since 7 August 2014, which was formed by the merger of its former parent Carphone Warehouse Group with Dixons Retail.

Co-operative Group Limited

The Co-operative Group is a British consumer cooperative with a diverse range of retail businesses. It is co-operatively run and owned by its members. It is the largest organisation of this type in the UK, with over 7 million members, who have a say in how the business is run and how its social goals are achieved. The group comprises a family of businesses, including: Food, Financial Services, Pharmacy, Funeralcare, Legal Services and Online Electricals. The organisation is widely called "The Co-op", particularly the food and banking divisions.

Topshop is a British multinational retailer which specializes in fashion clothing, shoes, make-up and accessories. It has around 440 shops across 37 countries and online operations in a number of its markets. Its current CEO is Katie Foster and it is part of the Arcadia Group, which is controlled by Sir Philip Green and owns a number of other retail outlets including Burton, Dorothy Perkins and Miss Selfridge.

Waitrose is an upmarket chain of British supermarkets, forming the food retail division of Britain's largest employee-owned retailer, the John Lewis Partnership. Its head office is in Bracknell, Berkshire, England. As of October 2013, Waitrose has 300 branches across the United Kingdom, including 30 "little Waitrose" convenience stores, and a 4.9% share of the market, making it the sixth-largest grocery retailer in the UK.

Waterstones, formerly Waterstone's, is a British book retailer that operates 288 stores and employs around 4,500 staff in the UK and Europe as of January 2012. Established in 1982 by Tim Waterstone, after whom the company was named, the bookseller expanded rapidly until being sold in 1993 to W H Smith. Bought again in 1998 by EMI, Advent International and Waterstone, the company was taken under the umbrella of HMV Group, which merged the Dillons, and in 2006, the Ottakar's brands into the company. Following several poor sets of results for the group, HMV put the chain up for sale and in May 2011, it was announced that A&NN Capital Fund Management, owned by Russian billionaire Alexander Mamut, had bought the chain and appointed James Daunt as managing director.

WHSmith plc is a British retailer, best known for its chain of high street, railway station, airport, hospital and motorway service station shops selling books, stationery, magazines, newspapers and entertainment products. Its headquarters are in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. Smith's is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. It has been innovative over the course of its history, being the first chain store company in the world and was responsible for the creation of the ISBN book catalogue system.

Wickes Building Supplies Limited

Wickes is a do-it-yourself retailer based in the United Kingdom and owned by Travis Perkins, with more than 200 stores throughout the country. It focuses on supplies and materials for homeowners and the building trade. Also targeting the kitchen and bathroom market, in which it has extensive ranges from budget take away kitchens and bathrooms, to more bespoke professionally designed kitchens and bathrooms.

Founded in 1930 as Wilkinson Cash Stores by James Kemsey Wilkinson, the company has remained largely in the hands of the founding family. When chairman Tony Wilkinson, the son of the founder, retired as Chairman after 45 years in 2005, he was replaced by his niece, Karin Swann, and his daughter, Lisa Wilkinson.

The Wilko product range concentrates on household essentials, including homewares, textiles, DIY, cleaning products, health and beauty lines, stationery, confectionery, pet products and kitchen and bathroom goods. A large proportion of the range is made up of own-label products sold under the Wilko brand, although like other retailers Wilko has started to use private label brands.