Woman refunded from Rathwood, Carlow live on national radio despite waiting months

Customers from Rathwood in Carlow, named the second most complained store in the country, were on Liveline recently to share their negative experiences.

The popular Carlow business has been listed among the most complained-about companies in Ireland in 2025, following an investigation into incorrect refunds. 

Ryanair topped the list, with Rathwood in Tullow placing second, and Curry's third.

One woman named Nicola Burke told Kieran Cuddihy on Liveline that she ordered a side board for her dining room and paid €247.60. She paid extra 72 hour dispatch on March 13th 2026.

Nicola said on Liveline, "I contacted them on March 19th to say I've heard nothing and I didn't get a response until the 25th and I got an email to say that the item I selected wasn't in stock, wasn't available so I picked another item and I emailed them the next day and I said can I pick that one instead and then she came back to the next day again to say that one wasn't available either".

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"At that stage I said just give me my money back and since then I have been emailing and phoning and I'm just getting nowhere. The number you ring is a Carlow number but nobody in Carlow answers you. You get through to a helpline from people in the Philippines so I didn't want to keep ringing them back because those poor people, it's totally out of their control".

The woman live on air on Liveline received a confirmation refund to her order for the sideboard.

A man named Carl was also on Liveline to share his negative experience with the business.

Carl said he placed two orders of fire wood timber. "They had a deal last year that if he placed an order and were willing to wait three months you saved about €70 per order

"So I placed two orders, one in May 2025 and it was due for delivery in the October. That was for €350. I placed a second order for August 2025 for delivery in December 2025 for €370.

Carl didn't receive his first order until February of this year. "I've had hundreds of emails to them and like your last speaker I wouldn't be overconfident she is getting her money".

Carl said on Liveline that he received about 20 emails from Rathwood to tell him he would get money refunded but never did.

He is still waiting for the delivery of his second order that he placed in August of last year. He was told that it should come by the end of this month.

"It's very sad that an Irish company are treating people like this," Carl said on Liveline. "If you were buying something far East you would understand. 

"But this is a well-known established company. They are in business a long time. They are still selling online".

On their website, Rathwood have a message to their customers.

It says: "We know we’ve let some customers down, and we’re truly sorry. In 2025, we experienced significant supply chain disruption which caused delays, uncertainty, and frustration for many of our customers.