Bensons for Beds

[stevetheman]

We also bought an airflow 5000 mattress from Bensons beds in September 2012, and have had nothing but problems with 2 deep indentations where we lay, measuring 2.5 inch in depth (measured by us) they are still visible when we get back into the bed the next night As i am only 7.11lbs and my husband 11 stone there shouldn't be a problem with our weight. We purchased the bed for comfort and support to my spine( due to myself having had a back operation), this is clearly not the case as I have to sleep in our spare room now on our single bed, because of the big dip from the bed into spine. We contacted customer services 2 weeks ago, they sent out their assessor today who measured the dents with a piece of string and a spirit level, he referred to the care guide which say's there will be some degree of settling.He said the indentations were 2inch deep. We have turned this mattress religiously as per care guide, I just wish we hadn't wasted our money, as I am now waiting for another op on my back and will not be able to use this mattress, looks like the spare room for me yet again. We are now awaiting Bensons reply to the report, but after reading all the other threads I don't hold out much hope.

 

We had an "independent" assessor sent by bensons out to see the bed, Bensons for Beds say its far fair wear and tear that the mattress has collapsed on one edge. The mattress is not even 2 years old we are not happy, will never use the company again. Not sure what we can do next, we paid £499 for it.

[stevetheman]

We had an "independent" assessor sent by bensons out to see the bed, Bensons for Beds say its far fair wear and tear that the mattress has collapsed on one edge. The mattress is not even 2 years old we are not happy, will never use the company again. Not sure what we can do next, we paid £499 for it.

[stevetheman]

I wish I knew about about The Consumer action group before I wasted £499 on a duff mattress from Bensons for Beds.

[DLStott]

I am really sorry you are having these problems. Bensons for Beds know there is a serious problem with these airflow mattresses which are solely provided by Bensons for Beds, If you do a google search you will find hundreds of online complaints about this range of sagging mattresses. I cut and pasted all of them and submitted them to Bensons for beds, who declined to comment but they did give me a voucher for the full cost of a replacment mattress. Needlesstosay I went with a different make Sealy and have been very happy thus far.I approached bensons for beds, contacted Watchdog and the guardian newspaper. I was not going to stop til I got it sorted as £500 is a lot of money. My final action would have been to go to the small claims court. I advise you to go back to Bensons for beds armed with a list of all the complaints online and two guardian newspaper articles which you can find by putting in guardian and bensons for beds into search engine. Let them know you plan to take them to the small claims court to resolve. Good luck.

[Bazooka Boo]

Have a look at SOGA, contact your local trading standards and make a formal complaint to them AND B4B where you bought the mattress, get the store manager to give you the details of his area manager, keep everything in writing, NOT over the phone.

 

Tell ALL your friends and family to NEVER use this outfit, I'd rather hammer nails through some wood and sleep on that than buy from these.

[stevetheman]

Thank you very much.

[Conniff]

That's it exactly, SOGA. It says that goods must be of satisfactory quality and fit for purpose.

[DLStott]

Tried posting all the links but won't let me. I have pages of complaints that might help you and two Guardian articles. Can't post email addresses on here for sure so not sure how I can get them to you. But happy to help where I can

[Jo&Tom]

I thought I'd share my experience so far with Bensons for Beds.

 

Back in 2009 I bought a Reylon 1440 Memory foam mattress and to be honest I've been very happy with it until recently when the side where my partner sleeps collapsed at the edge. We turned it, as we do every 3-4 weeks, but it remained the same. I took the cover off to have it cleaned last week and found a large split in the foam all the way down that side so I emailed photos to the Customer Service center.

 

I called them a few days later and was told to go to the local store and take a look at the replacement option, the Airflow 7000 Plus. My partner and I did that yesterday but felt this mattress was far too soft. When I called them this morning to ask what other replacement options there were I was told they would send out an inspector, due to the age of the mattress and asked questions about our weight, how often the mattress is turned and what the bed base is.

 

My partner and I are both slim and weight around 21 stone combined and we turn the mattress frequently. I'm now waiting for the inspector to come but due to posts on here and the Guardian articles I'm feeling very despondent. I'm also concerned the replacement offered have so far been the Airflow model that seems to have shocking problems and endless complaints.

 

I'm not sure if I can request another type of mattress as a replacement or a refund, as it's 4 years old, if / when we get to that point?

Edited July 19, 2013 by Conniff

[Bazooka Boo]

Well your statutory rights cover you up to six years, but I was always under the impression that a mattress should last for up to 8 to 10 years?

If it has split, then this is clearly a manufacturing fault surely? Have you had a look online whether anyone else has had similar problems with the same mattress?

[stevetheman]

Our mattress was only a year and half, dont hold your breath, spent £500 on it. wont be using Benson for Beds again. Just got fobbed off by their inspector.

[ticketvictim]

Asked for a quote on line for their best deal - got asked to phone next day and would get a good deal 3 for 2 on bedroom furniture. Rang, got deal and placed order. It was a good deal. Next day gets a call - they tell me they mixed up the quotel - they're asking me for more money to cover an item as stated in their (T&C's)

 

I have instantly responded with a Subject Access request informing them they must give me a copy of their internal data if it holds my name address and any other demographics.

 

Not sure if I should just tell them to stick it, but I also read if i cancel there is a 20% cancellation fee.

 

Really don't seem to be the best of the bunch by any stretch.

[Jo&Tom]

Update: Inspector came and repaired the split which seems to be ok so far. I'm happy with this as we like the existing mattress. He did say in his report there was no signs of misuse so if it splits again we will see what our options are.

[Conniff]

Asked for a quote on line for their best deal - got asked to phone next day and would get a good deal 3 for 2 on bedroom furniture. Rang, got deal and placed order. It was a good deal. Next day gets a call - they tell me they mixed up the quotel - they're asking me for more money to cover an item as stated in their (T&C's)

 

I have instantly responded with a Subject Access request informing them they must give me a copy of their internal data if it holds my name address and any other demographics.

 

Not sure if I should just tell them to stick it, but I also read if i cancel there is a 20% cancellation fee.

 

Really don't seem to be the best of the bunch by any stretch.

 

There is no contract if they quoted one price and then decided that wasn't enough. I would put them through the agony of the sar and then tell them to stuff it. I certainly can't see how they can hold you to a penalty charge.

[Bazooka Boo]

Update: Inspector came and repaired the split which seems to be ok so far. I'm happy with this as we like the existing mattress. He did say in his report there was no signs of misuse so if it splits again we will see what our options are.

 

Good as long as you're happy with the outcome.

[Bazooka Boo]

Not sure if I should just tell them to stick it, but I also read if i cancel there is a 20% cancellation fee.

Really don't seem to be the best of the bunch by any stretch.

 

Customer service is not in their remit.

20% cancellation fee, pah! Would love to see them justify that in court, IMO you should cancel the order, tell them to stuff it. Have a read of distance selling regs.

http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/distance-selling-regulations/

[ticketvictim]

I've cancelled it now - I must admit tho, the email they sent me was quite amusing. After they had debited the contracted price from my credit card

 

Good Morning,

 

Thank you for your e-mail.

 

Please see attached for your original e-mail, the response is below which you replied to.

 

On calculation we could group the items you have requested differently meaning you would get more expensive items for free but that would still leave a total to be paid of £101.99.

 

You would receive the following breakdown;

 

304600085 - £329.99

304600088 - £259.99

304600088 – free with 3 for 2

 

304600087 – 279.99

304600093 – 119.99

304600093 – free with 3 for 2

 

Plus delivery is a total of 1088.96, you have already paid £986.97 so this would leave a balance of £101.99.

 

Please note that the previous quote was human error and Bensons reserve the right to withdraw any incorrect offer due to genuine mistakes under the Pricing Practices Guide.

 

and I thought the PPG was for my benefit as a consumer ... nothing more to add really that hasn't been mentioned before about these. If the whole organisation runs off these ethics - guess it won't be long before the new merger has an additional hoarding on the shop livery "Harveys / Bensons for Beds / To let"

[Bazooka Boo]

good vote with your feet take you custom elsewhere, somewhere were they actually appreciate your custom and look after you.

[rv6582]

For the avoidance of doubt this company continues to be the worse company ever

 

 

 

When they delivered my bed (September 2013) the driver caused a massive scratch on my wall – he asked my mum for a cloth to wipe and she said that there was also damaged the plaster work. He then took a photo ofthe damage (which she presumed meant he accepted liability). When I contacted their “customer service” they investigated the matter and basically said the driver knows nothing about it and they don’t accept liability.

 

 

 

How could I be so stupid to trust a company like this?

Edited September 19, 2013 by rv6582
typo

[Bazooka Boo]

Then issue them with a LBA giving them 7 days to rectify the damage they caused, before you submit a small claim to recover the cost of repairing the damage.

[MzGu]

My one thousand pounds Relyon mattress was delivered on Thursday 5th December. After the first night there was deep sinkage in the bed where I had slept. I weigh just under nine stones, so weight isn't the issue. I persevered a couple of nights, then on Monday called "customer service" (laugh!) and was told this is normal and they wouldn't even consider looking at it for six weeks.

 

Another night and by then I was in so much pain I called customer service in tears, my back was unbelievably painful. They agreed to send someone to inspect the mattress a week and a half later. I went to the shop and showed a photo of the mattress, and the lady made a note on my computer record that there was indeed sinkage. The next day I couldn't cope with the pain any more and called again, and spoke so a young guy who agreed it could be replaced as sinkage had been noted by the shop assistant, but it had to be for at least the same amount.

 

Off I went to the store to choose another to find they are nearly all latex (I am allaergic to this) or memory foam, plus the one I had bought which was beyond useless.

 

I asked for my money back and was then given lots of excuses. Be warned, Bensons say a two inch dip where you sleep is perfectly normal and to be expected. after one use. I am making a fuss about nothing apparently. They are the biggest bedding company yada yada.

 

Their beds are rubbish and customer service even worse. They ignore emails sent via their website, and letters sent by regular mail. I am off to John Lewis to buy a mattress, which I tried two days ago and they are much better quality and actually cheaper.

 

Bensons are bandits, selling rubbish and no after sales service at all. One week on and a thousand pounds worse off.

[Bazooka Boo]

Drop a complaint in to your local trading standards and have them look into it.

 

Under SOGA rules if it isn't fit for purpose then they should either replace it for a like for like mattress OR offer you a refund.

It is unfortunate that the only time in which customers realise just how terrible this outfit is, is after they have paid good money for extremely poor products.

 

As you have found, their telephone manner is scripted and well rehearsed after years of poor customer service, so keep it all in writing from now on.

There used to be a B4B rep on here a while back, but true to form, they were as much use as indicators on a submarine!

[MzGu]

Bazooka Boo, I loved your submarine reference. Thanks for the laugh . I have tried email and regular mail, but they simply don't respond. I offered the shop manager A4 sized photos of the sunken mattress to put on display to show how proud he was of his product, but he declined. I wonder why?!

[MzGu]

A quick update. Bensons has ignored three emails I sent via their website, and two by regular mail (including one which was recorded delivery). I have sought advice from CAB and also my daughter's friend who is a lawyer, in contract law. There is no doubt whatsoever I am due a full refund.

 

The FIRA agent came to my house today, and the comments he wrote on the report, of which I have a copy, include (remember the mattress is less than two weeks old):

 

Technician visually inspected mattress and could see one side was dipping. There was roll present when lay on mattress toward the outer edge. Compression test revealed lower levels of support in areas of wear. Settlement measured 3.4cm"

 

I have now ordered a new mattress, but from John Lewis this time. I will keep you posted on what this bunch of bandits (Bensons for Beds) respond with. I will most certainly take this to the small claims court if they do not give me a full refund and take away this heap of rubbish. I am also raising a dispute with visa, as we paid by credit card. The mattress is Relyon conoisseur.

[Conniff]

Your next move then is a letter before action sent by recorded delivery. It matters not if they sign for it or refuse it, the last known address is all that is needed.