DFS nightmare

dubdev

Hi there

I put in an order with DFS.ie on the 4th of June 2016 for a divan bed base, headboard and mattress. I received a phone call from DFS Blanchardstown a fortnight ago, seven weeks after I placed the order, asking if I could receive the bed in two separate deliveries, as the mattress had not yet arrived to DFS. I stated that I couldn't as I live in an apartment and did not have the space to store our existing bed and the base and headboard of the new bed. The customer service agent acknowledged this and told me that she would schedule delivery for the 29th of July as the mattress was due before then, but if it was delayed, I would be notified.

When DFS arrived on the 29th, lo and behold that there was no mattress, but a divan base and two headboards, even though I only ordered one. The delivery driver had no explanation as to where the mattress was, when it was arriving, why they had packed two headboards, or why DFS had seemingly ignored my request to deliver the complete bed in one go, and failed to notify me about the missing mattress. I had to take a day from my company holidays to take delivery of the bed, and now it appears I need to take another one in the near future.

Reluctantly, I took delivery of the base and one headboard. When we arrived at my apartment, I kindly asked if the delivery men could remove their shoes as we have just installed a new carpet in the bedroom. They declined, quoting health and safety reasons, but insisted they would leave the room tidy. In the end, the carpet was left covered in dirt, with dirt and handprints on the walls which only added insult to injury at this stage.

Having heard nothing from DFS regarding the missing mattress since, and the online order tracker indicating our order was "complete," I called on Saturday to be told that the manufacturer has "shut down" until the 15th of August, so I am unlikely to receive it until towards the end of the month, which is absolutely farcical.

I was never notified that it may take almost 3 months to completely receive my bed, and a bed is obviously unusable without a mattress. Luckily, we had not disposed of our original mattress and we are using that in place of the new one. Had we disposed of it beforehand to free up space, we would be down a bed until the end of the month.

The whole experience buying a bed with DFS has been a disaster. Between the slow delivery time, lack of communication, and disregarding my request to deliver all the bed components together, I could never recommend using the company for beds to a friend.

I went with DFS because we ordered a sofa from them earlier this year and had a completely different experience. We were kept informed of the progress of our order, the company took ownership of our order and delivery was smooth and problem-free. It has been like dealing with two different companies!

I'm wondering where I stand now regarding my consumer rights. Ideally, I'd like them to ship me a mattress of comparable quality/design this week, as I've gotten rid of my old bedframe so I can't just go back to using that.
Any advice would be appreciated.

skinny90

I'd start contacting their head office for a start. Email or write to them. Explain that you have lost your trust with them and would like a refund. See how they react.

teatreeshamble

Was out in DFS Blanch today. Holy god was it a terrible experience. Horrible shopping experience compared to the likes of EZLiving(3 doors down from them). Would avoid dealing with them at all costs. Any company that fills their staff with a bunch of rude,lazy part timers with a dickish attitude doesn't deserve business. Your best bet is to initiate chargeback on your credit card.

coylemj

teatreeshamble wrote: »

Was out in DFS Blanch today. Holy god was it a terrible experience. Horrible shopping experience ....

Reminds me of the one and only visit I ever paid to Courts (remember them?), I spent about 2 minutes in the place and ran out again. What is it with UK companies flogging couches?

dubdev

I wrote a long complaint to them on the 8th and I was contacted by UK head office shortly after sending the email, apologising for the delay. I was informed that it would be arriving the week beginning the 22nd of August and I would be kept updated as to the whereabouts of the mattress in the meantime.

I have not heard from DFS in two weeks and once again I have had to chase up the progress of this order myself. I called DFS Blanchardstown on Tuesday and was told the mattress would definitely be in this week, so I should expect to be called later that day with an exact delivery day, which never happened.

I called again today, and DFS, to my utter disbelief, still do not know where the mattress is but once again I was assured I would be called later today with an exact date. I am not counting on this happening as you can understand.

I cannot recall having ever experienced such poor customer service with any other company. If I didn't know better, I would assume DFS is actively trying to antagonise me.
It has been 11 weeks since I placed the order and it is still not complete. Furthermore, there has been no attempt made by DFS to offer a remedy, such as an an alternative mattress, a discount as compensation, or any alternative.

I have been in contact with the European Consumer Centre who have advised me that DFS is likely in breach of the Sale of Goods and Services Act 1980 as the bed, without a mattress, is neither fit for its normal purpose, or as described, given that DFS disregarded my instruction to deliver all of my order together, and instead suited themselves and delivered the bed base and headboard only.

At this stage. I have no confidence that DFS will meet their target and deliver the mattress this week.

I have told them that if the mattress is not delivered by tomorrow I will be unable to take delivery of it, and I will want it removed from the order I made originally. If they even attempt to quibble with this request, I will be referring the matter to the Small Claims Court on the basis that the goods I ordered are not as described, and DFS seem incapable of rendering the service I signed a contract for.

In the contract I signed with DFS, it stated that payments are debited one month after delivery is complete. On the DFS webpage, it states that the order is complete as of the 29th of July, but it clearly is not. I have instructed my bank to refuse payment to DFS until a resolution to this has been obtained one way or another.

My advice would be to never go near these cowboys. Go to your local Irish furniture store, I'm sure you'd get a much better service than what I've gotten.

johndoe99

leave a bad review on trustpilot, they wont take long getting back to you.

Kings Inns or bust

Ah DFS Blanch. In my younger days I used to sell computers (funnily enough what got me moved over here was a company working out of blanch in ROI) I was 'trained' in the dark arts of the hard sell. The dusting around the customer to get between them and the door, the remarkably easy technique of playing the family members off against each other etc. etc. In short being a complete see you on a day next week. DFS is about the last retailer out there, even Dixons has laid off this and they invented it at retail, that still does this. I was literally followed around DFS Blanch by a salesperson it was hilarious. I literally started dodging round stuff to see if he's follow the wife didn't know what was going on.

I spent five grand in EZLiving furniture that day between my rental and the new gaffe and got great service to boot. I've never had such a comfortable bed!

While the delivery driver absolutely can't take their shoes off, the one part of your OP that did make me baulk a bit, don't be shy in sticking the damage done to the carpet down on the small claims to the DC registrar. I'd suggest getting it cleaned and including a copy of the receipt. It's within their jurisdiction to deal with minor property damage.

Incidentally DFS didn't even have beds out in Blanch when I was out there, why on earth did you go with that shower, your BS detector must have been going off no? Did you buy on credit? If so you may also have an avenue there.

dubdev

Just an update on this. I was given an offer of a discount if I would take the mattress on the week commencing the 5th of September but it never arrived then so I cancelled yesterday and ordered from beds.ie instead, and they are delivering one this coming Saturday. I should have just gone with them originally.

I would re-iterate that this is easily the worst experience I've ever had with a retailer. A clear pattern of misinformation and outright deception is evident when you speak with them enough times. It appears as if the customer service reps are instructed to say whatever it takes to keep the customer onboard by dangling the carrot of a delivery date in the near future. I was given two delivery dates in July, August and two in September.

On two separate occasions, I dealt with a different rep who said that they were going to "oversee the order personally" and would keep me updated. On both instances, I got a couple of follow up phone calls and then never heard anything more.

While you might be tempted to use them from their extensive advertising campaigns and "interest free" credit, don't.
I don't know how they're allowed call it interest free as the finance is provided by Creation Consumer Finance, who specialise in high APR credit for a variety of retailers such as Argos, usually household things you could buy in cash if you saved for a couple of months. I would imagine that you could probably assume 25% of the price of the furniture you buy in DFS on credit goes to Creation as interest. I know for Argos finance the APR is "typically" 22.9% which is a rip off. Get a credit union loan and buy it with that instead if you need to.

If you check DFS's Facebook page or look up "DFS quality" on YouTube, it's just one long procession of unhappy customers and shoddy products. While I know customers' social media posts usually skew to the negative, the actual nature of the complaints is genuinely shocking, such as sofas collapsing after a couple of days, or lack of filling materials in cushions.


All in all, stick to an Irish furniture provider and you're far less likely to go wrong. I'll definitely never darken DFS's doors again, that's for sure.