DFS sofa complaint help please

[Sal786]

Hi,

 

 

Would really appreciate help from anyone regarding how to deal with appalling customer service from DFS Store Manager and Sales team.

 

 

I purchased Fashionista Patch Sofas from DFS in July. The main criteria was the height of the sofa due to my mother’s mobility issues. The sofas we chose had back legs with wheels and were not suitable for my mother hence I asked the Sales person (Sales Person) can we replace the back feet only as they have wheels. I was told yes we can do that and I queried would the back feet be of the same height and colour. I was informed yes that would be the case. Sales Person then approached the store manager, who came over for two minutes and had a conversation with Sales Person. We were informed additional feet will arrive with the sofas. The sofas arrived in September however drivers were not given the additional feet hence we were unable to use the sofas, this information was fed back to the store manage and Sales Person, I was not offered any apologies for the inconvenience, I had to call 5 times to arrange delivery of additional feet. We arranged for a service manager to come to our property to fix the new back feet. He arrived today, having looked at the sofa he highlighted the back feet are 1) black, 2) are not the same height as front feet hence he would recommend that we don't fix these today, he promised to ordered the correct feet. Later in the day we were called and informed someone would come over and fix the feet, this time around the feet were black and the plan was to replace all 4 feet and they were not the same height as the original feet. Therefore I asked the gentleman not to fix the feet, I visited the store and spoke to Store Manager, he was quite rude and dismissive.

I called customer service and they highlighted this complaint would be passed onto store manager, this defeat the whole purpose of the complaint as I’m not happy with 1) I was given misleading information at point of Sale, 2) after Sale customer service has been extremely poor, 3)store manager has reached a conclusion without investigating the complaint.

 

 

Many thanks for reading.

[rebel11]

Hi Sal786

 

Welcome to CAG

 

There is a DFS rep on this site, who might be able to deal with this matter.

 

However you could write a Formal Letter of Complaint, mark it as such. Explain what's happened (ordered sofa - told adjustments could be made - reference feet), how they have let you down (wrong feet, wrong information, poor customer service etc.) and what you want them to do (resolve all issues).

 

Send it to:-

 

Mr Ian Filby

Chief Executive

DFS

[email protected]

[Sal786]

Thanks Rebel, you are a life saver.

[rebel11]

Please do let us know what they say.

[Sal786]

I wrote to DFS:

Dear Mr Filby,

I would like to make a formal complaint about my recent experience with DFS. I have been a loyal customer with yourselves for last 15 years.

I purchased (cash purchase) Fashionista Patch Sofas and a coffee table from DFS in July 2014. The main and only criteria was the height of the sofa due to my mother’s mobility issues (she has had both of her knees replaced). The sofa in question has back feet with wheels and were not suitable for my mother hence I enquired about the option of getting the back feet replaced without compromising the height of the sofa. I was informed by the Sales Advisor that :

 

1. Height of the new back feet will be exactly the same (they will be fitted upon delivery)
   
2. Only back feet will be replaced
   
3. The colour of the feet would be exactly the same as original feet to match with the front feet
   

I paid £25 for additional back feet per sofa (3rd set was given free due to increasing the no of units purchased). At no stage during this visit or any other subsequent visits we were physically shown what the additional feet would look like. During this visit I had bought my mother to the store to ensure sofa meets her needs and this point was explained in detail to Sales Advisor.

The sofas were delivered on 5th September however additional feet were not given to the driver hence they were unable to fix the sofa therefore my parents ( both in their 60s with serious health issues) were left with equipment which was not fit for purpose as it did not meet their health needs. I called the store and spoke to Store Manager to highlight the situation regarding delivery of additional back feet during this conversation at no stage an apology was offered for the inconvenience which has been caused. I had to call further 4 times to arrange the delivery of additional back feet and request for someone to come out and fix the sofas. Due to my work commitments we agreed someone would visit the property on 10th October to fix the sofas and table. A member of DFS team visited the property on 10th October at approximately 12:30. He looked at the sofas/table and highlighted:

 

1. He would not be able to fix the table hence arranged for someone to visit the property next week
   
2. The back feet he was given were not the right height or colour. Therefore he recommended that he would order new set of back feet. Otherwise back feet will be shorter than front ones
   

An hour later my father received a call and it was highlighted to him someone from DFS will visit the property shortly to fix the sofas. Upon arrival DFS employee informs my father that all four feet will be replaced, and they are shorter than the original feet as well as being different in colour (original feet were brown). Bearing in mind these sofas were purchased purely due to being the right height we requested that feet are not replaced as we will be visiting the store to see the Store Manager.

I visited the store and may I say I have never received such an appalling customer service in my entire life. I found Store Manager to be extremely rude, dismissive and completely lacking basic customer service skills. I tried explaining the situation to him and his response was I was there when you purchased the additional feet, you were shown the feet and you were fully aware of the height. I pointed out to him he was called over by Sal for some advice and he was with us for approximately couple of mins and during this time he spoke to ****. I also informed him we were not shown the feet because we would not have purchased the sofas in that case. Mr **** stated “ well ***** made no mistake”, I responded to that and stated I’m not here to find out who is to blame, I would just like you to deliver what was promised at point of sale and was informed nothing else can be done.

Following this frustrating experience I called Customer Service and the Customer Service Representative informed me complaint would be passed onto Store Manager for investigation. I queried how can Store Manager objectively investigate the complaint when part of it, is about his behaviour. I was informed that is the process and the outcome depends on Store Manager's discretion. All in all this was not a pleasant experience either.

As a last resort I tired couple of online forums and as result was given your details. I was also asked to try and speak to a DFS representative via a chat forum. I spoke to a lady called ***** in a live chat department and may I say what a great customer service from her, she listened, was patient and polite. Most importantly she promised to have a look into this without being defensive. Please convey my gratitude to her for handling this matter very well.

However due to Store Manager’s involvement I have no faith that this will be resolved hence I’ve decided to write to yourself. I would be really grateful if you would look into this. Ideally I’m looking for:

1) Provide feet which are same height/ colour as the original feet

2) If colour can’t be the same as a minimum the height needs to be exactly the same as original feet

3) If above can’t be done I would like to return the goods as I was not given accurate information at point of sale

I look forwards to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely

[Sal786]

Following this I received a call from a General Manager who informed me because a store manager was involved during the sale hence they can't take my word for it, had it only been a sales advisor it would have been a different case. I was also informed they can only refund me the cost of sofa feet however I would have to keep the sofas. I'm now in the process of touching base with Trading Standards. I would never buy recommend that anyone makes a purchase from DFS.

[rebel11]

Hi Sal786

 

Are your mother's knees likely to improve after the replacement or is she likely to struggle long term?

 

Were the store manager and sales advisor both there when you explained about your mothers knees and her mobility issue?

 

It could be that DFS are in breach of the Equality Act 2010.

 

http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/sites/default/files/documents/EqualityAct/service_providers_business.pdf

 

How did you pay for the sofa's?

 

Would you have purchased the sofa's if they had not agreed to provide the requested feet?

[DFS customer service]

Hi there Sal786, We are very sorry to hear about the issues that you have been experiencing with your furniture. We would certainly welcome the opportunity to assist you in this matter. If you could possibly give us a call in head office on 01302 330365. Kind regards Lauren Head Office Customer Service Tel: 01302 330365

[Sal786]

Hi Rebal111,

 

 

My mother is very unlikely to recover form her condition thus the whole house has been designed around her needs i.e. bedroom on the ground floor etc. Unfortunately we made a full cash payment. Under no circumstances we would have purchased the sofas if the height would have been compromised. However DFS version of the story includes following " store manager was fully involved in the sale when we visited the store and we were shown the feet" which is not the case at all. Store manager was called over by sales advisor for couple of minutes and he had a conversation with him. At a later stage we changed the quantity of the items via phone which was dealt with by the store manager.

[Sal786]

Hi Lauren,

 

 

Many thanks for getting back to me.

 

 

I have called yourself on 01302 330365 and was informed someone would get back to me by 1730 today. Is there any way I could speak to you directly?

 

 

Regards

 

 

Salma

[Sal786]

I waited until 1730 to receive the call from DFS and another promise which is not delivered...............surprise surprise!!! Makes one wonder does DFS has a strategy to retain their customers!!!!

[rebel11]

Lets see if they call tomorrow, then you need to write another letter.

 

I waited until 1730 to receive the call from DFS and another promise which is not delivered...............surprise surprise!!! Makes one wonder does DFS has a strategy to retain their customers!!!!

[C.Foames]

DFS are just useless, we've had problems ongoing with them since we stupidly made an order with them. I've written numerous letters to them of which only a handful have been answered. Make sure you record agreements made on the phone in an email as they have a habit of back tracking and fobbing you off.

 

Let me know if you would like some other emails to c/c in (i cant post them in here at the moment) if not if you google DFS emails a fair few come up! Good Luck!

 

 

With us they miss-sold a sofa to us, eventually delivered something that wasn't what we ordered, after numerous no shows and days off waiting in for them to come and rectify still nothing.

Their customer service staff were rude and useless - I can honestly say from experience they are unethical and it is like they have conmen in stores who trap you into a service and then don't deliver. I wouldn't mind but they are in breech of the Sales of Goods Act but do not seem to care as they are so big a few customers complain that in the grand scheme of things we mean nothing to them. We were lucky (well i was on their case everyday with calls and emails) that they agreed to collect the miss-sold (and miss-shaped after 1month - it didn't wear well) after a month. But having said that they collected the sofa 29 days ago and are still charging us which sent us overdrawn. Its been 7days and still no refund let alone a refund for the initial payment made. Honestly DFS have to be the worst company i have ever had the misfortune of dealing with. Hoping ill get my refund soon.

 

Thankfully we have since been to Cargo Home Store - their customer service has been impeccable! And we got a better deal! We've ordered a sofa on recommendation from friends who have had theirs for 2years and still looks great. The one we ordered from DFS looked about 2years old after less than a month that we have it!

[Sal786]

Hi C.Foames,

 

 

Many thanks for responding to me. Yes it would be great if you would post the emails?

 

 

I don't think I would ever go to DFS or recommend anyone.

 

 

Regards

 

 

Salma

[Sal786]

Another letter to DFS:

 

 

Dear Mr Filby,

Further to my letter dated 10 October 2014 I received a call from your General Manager on 15th October and he highlighted:

1. The only option available for me is to get a refund for the back feet,
   
2. If only a Sales Advisor was involved in the sale then my version of the event would have been taken seriously however due a Store Manager also being involved in the sale, DFS don’t agree with my version of the events. I tried to highlight that Store Manager was called over by the Sales Advisor for couple of minutes, he was not fully involved in the sale. Also I spoke to him over the phone to change the quantity of the order. At no stage I was shown the back feet in store, in fact I was informed by the Sales Advisor that back feet would be of same height and colour.
   
3. I was categorically told there are no other options available, DFS can’t provide same height back legs and neither can they refund the cost of sofa
   
4. I also informed the General Manager that a member of your team was booked in to fix the table on 14th October and we did not receive the visit. I was offered no apologies and merely told “oh we’ll make arrangements”
   
5. I highlighted I don’t accept the outcome of this investigation and we also agreed that DFS decision will be sent to me in writing in next couple of days. I have not received the letter yet.
   

On 20th October a member of your team called Lauren (on Consumer Action Group Forum) requested me to call DFS on 01302 330365, so that she can assist with matter which of course I did. However was told someone will call me back by 1730 on 20th October, unfortunately I did not hear back.

As a Customer Experience processional I’m lost for words how to describe overall DFS customer experience. I’m sure you would agree with me that getting customer is the easy part the difficult avenue is to retain them and in today’s days & age word of mouth marketing plays a key part.

I now have completely lost faith in DFS and would urge you to:

1. Send me your decision in writing so that I can liaise with Fair Trading Office and pursue this legally as appropriate
   
2. I would also request that under no circumstances I’m contacted by the store team however I’m happy to receive calls from your Customer Service team.
   

Yours Sincerely

[rebel11]

Hi Sal786

 

How did you pay for the Sofa?

[Sal786]

Hi Rebel11,

 

 

Unfortunately it was a debit card payment and was made in full. How we regret that decision.

 

 

Regards

 

 

Salma

[rebel11]

Hi Sal786

 

If it was a Visa Debit Card, contact your card provider, ask to carry out a Chargeback. Explain what's happened, as you have here, explain that the retailer has had the opportunity to resolve the matter but refuses to do so. Explain that they were ordered with your mother's disability in mind.

 

Chargeback's are time sensitive, you have 120 days, so call the card provider today, but amend the following template, send it Recorded Delivery.

 

So your calling them to give them details, following up with template and all correspondence with DFS.

 

http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/problem/how-do-i-use-chargeback

 

http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/action/letter-to-make-a-chargeback-claim-

 

 

Hi Rebel11,

 

 

Unfortunately it was a debit card payment and was made in full. How we regret that decision.

 

 

Regards

 

 

Salma

[citizenB]

I know this thread is nearly 2 years old, but if the OP is still around, it would be very helpful if you could let us know how you got on with your complaint