Sneaky DFS

zeddy_2

I don't beleive this! We were caught out too. I thought, oh we're paying more overall for this sofa than I originally agreed and I rang them up, but they assured me if I paid it off over six months then it'd be interest free.

They clearly are cowboys becuase I remember that the salesman was saying ignore this thing (something on the contract) becuase I've got to tick this, it won't actually mean anything to you though you'll still be interest free.

What jokers, this should be brought up on Watchdog or something so no one else is caught out this way. How would we go about moaning about this? Does anyone know?

Nile

Bump - another thread on DFS started in the 'Discussion' board............this might help the OP.

scorour

snax wrote:

Thanks for the replies.
Have phoned and spoke to salesman and accepted his explanation that my OH was shown the 'laminated card' which he said he had to 'by law'!!, but that the PPI won't affect us as we have taken a deferred period of 1 year - we WILL be paying it all off in the summer [6 months early] - the PPI will only kick in if we wait until the end of the deferred period and then start to make payments as per sales contract.

S.

We purchased a leather sofa etc October 2004, deferred for 12 months then 6 months payments. For me, all sofa places are a rip off so I always just look for what we want for our requirents and then make sure I do not get ripped off more than the price I see. I definately stated I did not want PPI as this is a load of b*lls.

The sofa came (on time!) the paperwork turned up from GEA whom the finance was through, I immediately noticed the payments were £46 more each month than they should have been, totalling £240+ over 6 months. I got straight onto the phone to GEA and explained that I did not ask for or want PPI. To my surprise, they said as the payments had not started, they could cancel it, so they did.

So not sure why you have to pay the sofa of early to get out of the PPI, if you have not started payments, you could call and cancel, at least with GEA anyway.

snax

scorour wrote:

So not sure why you have to pay the sofa of early to get out of the PPI, if you have not started payments, you could call and cancel, at least with GEA anyway.

We always intended to pay off the suite early - my OH has a sharesave scheme through her work that will pay out this summer and we were going to go and buy a suite then - but if payments can be deferred at no extra cost then why not have it now

I'm not sure why my OH let the salesman tick the box, I wasn't wholly paying attention [I was sniffing around looking for an angle to negotiate a discount - miserable bugg*r refused, citing 'sale' prices were the best he could do ]
He probably assured her that it was irrelevant as we were paying it off before the deferred period ended and therefore it didn't matter if it was ticked or not [these people get commissions on this - don't they?]

Phoned the store about the fabric protection treatment and asked the girl who answered how I could tell if the treatment had been applied - 1st answer was that "if we had asked for it then it would have been done".
Again, same question - how do I know?......asked to hold for a minute....she returned to say that the store warehouse where all the applying is carried out have said "that it was definitely done".
Again same question...How do I know?...after a pause [and a sigh!]... third answer was that "as the treatment was designed to mainly protect against spillage/splashes any such should sit on the surface so they can be mopped up with a cloth" ...AAAHA!! - I thought, and politely explained that I had spot tested all the flat surfaces of the suite and that none of them resisted a drop of water at all.
"Ohh" she said - on hold again... then a man comes on the line after a minute and proceeds to explain that the treatment applied is a "polyurethane" based application that is designed to let liquid spills pass through the fabric fibres and therefore prevents staining by not allowing any liquids to "soak in". This also resists steam cleaning 4-5 times before it loses it's effectiveness [by which time the 5 yr guarantee will be up anyway]

He left me his name and position [store manager] so I guess I'll let it rest there.
I dunno if I was told what I wanted to hear by a manager able to think quickly [I gave them half the answer, telling them that I'd spot tested it and I was on hold long enough for them to conspire and think of an answer to fit].

The guarantee is there to fall back on should we need it.

[the guarantee gives a Valspar contact for help - wasn't able to find out much about any tie-up between Valspar and DFS, as far as treating suite fabric instore goes, although it is possible and plausible as "Scotchgard" was withdrawn a while back due to chemical emission levels.]

Regards S.

ps - the manager I spoke with said the product they now use is called "Stainmaster" or something very similar.

scorour

snax wrote:

We always intended to pay off the suite early - my OH has a sharesave scheme through her work that will pay out this summer and we were going to go and buy a suite then - but if payments can be deferred at no extra cost then why not have it now

Totally agree Snax, exactly what we did, but rather than pay one lumper, decided to pay over 6 months interest free (total of furniture was £2000+) ....might aswell take advantage of them, they are happy to take advantage of us

geordielass

Dead pleased I seen this thread.Am planning on buying a suite from DFS cos of the good interest free deals but will now be watching out for those crafty salespeople with their secret ticking.

snax

Dunno if it's usual but we concluded the sale with a salesman, who then passed us on to a female collegue who does all the financial stuff [was 2nd Jan and busy when we were in, so maybe just like that to cope with busy sales period]
If I was going in again with an intention to buy, I think I would be a lot more cautious throughout, ask more questions and get it all explained a lot more.
Point is you need to 1st check the sales agreement closely to see that the salesman hasn't been naughty - difficult to do at the time as you wouldn't be familiar with the forms and the format - usually it's a load of scribbles and numbers with a 'X' or 2 marked for you to sign.
*How many people check the document and ask for an explanation of what the scribbles and numbers mean.....usually you just sign 'cause you don't want to look stoopid 'cause you might just sign it in the wrong place!]
If you are passed onto someone else - you'd need to check their form filling skills as well before signing.
Check everything twice and anything you don't FULLY understand - ask for an explanation ...don't make it easy for them.
As for the PPI, I would say that if you don't want it - be clear AND firm to the point of being rude that it is not nessesary.
Happy shopping
Regards S.

Melchior_2

This happened to me this week. Going through the sales doc's the salesman described the payment protection insurance and I specifically said that I wasn't interested in it. On arrival home I checked the documentation and they had ticked the 'Yes, I agree to PPI' box and added the 12.5% premium on to my future monthly payments. I have since revisited the store and they have re-written the sales document omitting the Payment Protection Insurance.

Nile

Hello Melchior

Welcome to the MSE site.:wave:

Marfor

I just did a google search to be brought to this forum as I have just fell foul to the DFS insurance scam.

I was checking to see why my final payment of 1 year interest free followed by 6 monthy payments added up to more than we agreed. I then found out that I had agreed to PPI which of course I never agree to taking as 95%+ are scams for the selling companies.

I contacted DFS & spoke to someone & they said it was the finance companies problem, then she passed me onto another person who said I would have been aware of this & I reeatedly said I was not as I would not be making this phone call. I asked her if it was optional & would I have been made aware of this & she replied yes. Even if my circimstances change would I have been made fully aware of this & of course she replied yes! I asked her how I would be able to make a complaint & she told me that her manager would call me back. Which of course he did & was very polite but said that he had worked for DFS for 4 years & had never heard of this.(do not think so!) I explained to him but was interuppted a couple of times & I had to say for him to let me finish. He said that I had the bonus of having free PPI for the first year & if I had made my payment on the year end it would have remained free so I only paid for the remaining 6 months.......YES at £41.51 per month not free by any standards.

I am going to send a complaint to DFS head office as I think I was unfairly sold insurance & I saw from an earlier thread to contact watchdog & trading standards, CAB so I will be doing this also.

If you have bought a sofa from DFS check your paperwork before it is too late!:mad:

If you read your paperwork as most of us have done you do not see clearly the PPI part of it. Be very specific if buying a sofa to ask the salesman for no insurance, also what would happen if you do change circumstances. My wife told me when she worked in a high street store that some of the slaes people just tick these boxes with out the consent of the buyer as most people do not check fully what they are signing for SO BEWARE!!