Do not use this website. EVER.

I am going to go off topic for a bit, as I am utterly incensed by the treatment I have received from a reportedly reputable website.

As many of you will know, my all time favourite movie is Stanley’s Kubrick’s “A Clockwork Orange,” and earlier this year I found a stunning original Japanese poster for the movie on www.allmoviereplicas.com

I paid a pretty serious amount of money for the item, and looked forward to its arrival in the UK.

When it arrived however, I discovered that I had in fact been sent the US movie poster. It was twice as large, was folded (whereas the Japanese one was described as being linen backed and flat)… but more than that… it was not what I had ordered.

I contacted the website and was told that the poster I had ordered had been damaged and so they had sent me a different poster, worth almost twice as much, instead. I requested that I be refunded for the poster I had bought, and that I would send them back the one they had sent me as it was not what I had paid for.

They said they would call me back.

I have called and emailed almost every week for the last two months, until today I finally got to speak to somebody again. Their response was incredible.

They said they would not refund me a penny because “you have received a poster from us that is worth more than the one you ordered.”

I countered by saying that was very kind, but it was the same as ordering a Ferrari California and being given a Mercedes SLS. Sure, the Mercedes is worth more and is fabulous in its own right, BUT IT ISN’T WHAT YOU’VE ORDERED.

They could not understand my point, and retorted that it was “the same poster but just in a different language.”

I tried a different anology – “So you’re saying that if you buy your favourite DVD and find its been dubbed into Japanese you’d be happy? Of course you wouldn’t, you’d want your money back.”

Again, this didn’t register.

I am not being difficult, nor am I making a fuss over nothing… or am I?

I bought it on credit card, so hopefully I should be able to get my money back. Allmoviereplicas.com seems to think that any attempt I make to do this would be fraudulent as I have been sent a poster. Again, yes I have been sent a poster, but NOT THE ONE I ORDERED!

I was trying to do a good thing. To get them back the poster so they could send it on to somebody who wanted it. All I wanted was my money back. This was not something they were willing to do.

And the stupid thing is, it goes against their own conditions. Under their “refunds” section on their own website is the line: “If the item is no longer in stock we will issue a 100% refund (shipping charges not included) once the item has been returned to us.”

Again, their response to being quoted their own words was that I had been sent a product and that was that as far as they were concerned. Despite the fact that at the point of discovering my order was damaged and thus not in stock, they should have given a 100% refund, as detailed on their own website.

So, a word of warning…

Do not EVER, and I cannot stress this enough, consider using www.allmoviereplicas.com

They have the single worst customer service I have ever experienced. Their arrogance goes beyond the limits of acceptability. They go against their own rules and regulations regarding refunds and, perhaps most importantly, if you order something from them there is absolutely no guarantee you’ll actually get what you’ve paid for.

Again, I’m sorry for going off topic this once, but I am utterly fuming.

UPDATE: Following the publishing of this article and numerous tweets from my followers on Twitter to AllMovieReplicas, the company has agreed to refund my original outlay.

I wish to thank them for this offer, and to state that it is a shame that such poor customer service could only be rectified and addressed by bringing it into the public domain. I trust that in the future, the company’s service to its customers will not see others frustrated in the manner I have been.

In the wheel tracks of racing gods

Stirling Moss in the Mercedes-Benz 300SLR.
Photo by James Moy c/o www.sutton-images.com

I love this sport. I always have. I love working within it, meeting the men I consider to be my heroes and working alongside some truly gifted and inspirational people.

I never tire of its wonder, nor its ability to surprise, enthral and to leave someone with a childlike grin plastered from ear to ear.

So picture my face, sitting in a taxi in Turkey, on the phone to my SPEED F1 producer Dan Shutte, as he explained a brief outline of an opportunity he’d been contacted about, which he thought I might enjoy.

“Are you sitting down?” he asked.

“I’m in the car mate.”

“OK, you’re not driving are you?”

“No I’m in a taxi, why?”

“So you’re sitting down?”

“Duuude. Tell me.”

“This weekend. How would you like to do the Mille Miglia… in the 1955 Mercedes 300SLR… alongside Mika Hakkinen?”

Silence

“You are kidding me.”

“Straight up. Just got a call from Mercedes. You up for it?”

“Mate, you know that question doesn’t even need an answer. OH. MY. GOD.”

“How much do you love me?”

“More than you’ll ever know.”

The Mille Miglia is one of the world’s classic races. 1000 miles around some of Italy’s most stunning countryside and along its most fearsome roads. No longer the out and out competition it once was, today it exists as something of a classic car rally, but its allure and mystique have not dimmed over time… or so I’ve been told.

Because, you see, you just don’t get to take part in the Mille Miglia. It just doesn’t happen. Ever. Let alone in the car which still holds the record for the fastest speed and win. The car driven by one of my racing heroes Sir Stirling Moss, with legendary journalist Denis Jenkinson alongside him. And you certainly don’t get to step into that car with a two time Formula 1 world champion in the driving seat.

This genuinely is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I cannot stop smiling.

As I sit here now, just hours away from my flight to Verona, where I will be met at the airport by the amazing people from Mercedes who will take me along to Brescia for the start of the event, I already have goosebumps.

My bag is packed. My camera is charged. My heart is racing.

Sometimes I have to pinch myself. This sport, this world, and the wonderful people within it, truly keep on surprising you.