"The Pod tracker is an excellent idea, if only it worked. If you look at the website there is a bittersweet story about a guy who lost his pet and why he invented this, so ‘no-one else would ever have to’. Unfortunately this will definitely not be the case if you live in UK - you won't find your pet with this.

I tried it out over many days, and I conclude it is simply not fit for purpose in England. It will only locate your pet when it is out in the open, unhampered by trees, buildings, or even (by the company’s own admission during correspondence with them) cloud cover and this was certainly my experience. Unfortunately, trees and clouds are everywhere in this country!

My dog, bizarrely, actually did lose herself whilst I was using Pod, but despite constantly trying to locate, it just ‘whirred’ for ages and limply returned no result time and again. Luckily she had made her way back to the car, which actually wasn’t under a tree and it wasn’t that cloudy, so don’t know what the problem was there. The 'adventure' recording function didn't work at all either.

In short, if you lose your pet in UK, you are only going to find it again if it manages to stray out somewhere in the open, with no nearby trees or foliage, buildings or clouds. If it manages that, which will be a miracle in itself in England where clouds trees and foliage are pretty much everywhere, it needs to stay still for a long enough time for the Pod to go through its location process, which is quite a while.

I informed the company of my findings and they told me they could see I had ‘located’ successfully many times, and the implication was I was being difficult. I told them of course it had located successfully, it was new and I had been trying it out - but it only worked when I was at home and so was the dog, and also on a walk when the dog was 5 ft away from me in an open space with the sun shining! Every other time it failed.

Finally they agreed to a return - very much sounding as if they were doing me a favour. You are expected to jump through hoops - photograph the item in its original packing before you send it back, so that they can ‘re-sell’ it, use recorded delivery and email them the tracking number. The cost of the return, even though it is the product that is faulty, is not offered. I did ask for it, but didn’t get it - more of which in a moment.

Returning it in the original state wasn’t possible because the strap to hold the Pod to the collar is hell on earth to get through the housing on the pod - you need tweezers and a very strong pull. It is not going to come back off, as you are supposed to pull it tight, therefore I had to cut it. I don’t see that this should be a problem as it’s only cheap rubber. Bear in mind if you do try this out you won’t be able to move it from collar to collar if your pet has an extensive collection.

I duly returned the item and gave the tracking number, and asked for the refund to be processed. I was told this would take two weeks, which is appalling in this day and age with instant money transfer. They certainly take the money pretty quick when you buy it!

Two weeks later I still had not received a refund let alone the aforementioned refund on postage, so I contacted them. I was told it had only been received that day - which was a lie as I could prove by the proof of delivery - it had arrived with them the next day. I was promised I would receive my refund that day, but nothing happened, except for two emails stating there had been a refund, which didn’t show how much they were refunding, and when I checked my credit card statement, they certainly had not.

Yet again I have emailed to ask what is happening and no reply yet. I am completely sick of this company and their attitude to customer service, and my next move will be to ask my credit card company to refund to me and deal with them. "