Another DFS nightmare story!!!!

mattmcd81

Right, i ain't no sucker and i really hate losing! which apparently i would have done had i backed down.

Thought about what happened yesterday, and spoke to the boss (the mrs), and decided to give CA an update, they advised me that my dispute is far from over, despite what Keith says. I phoned dfs and cancelled the upholsterer, and i contacted hitachi capital to confirm that they received my letter, and to ask whether keith was right to say he could process a new agreement at the new price? turns out he can!

Anyway, CA have forwarded my complaint onto trading standards, and hitachi capital are investigating from their end.

So, just letting you all know i'm fighting on. If anybody out there knows what i should expect from trading standards involvement please give me a heads up. Thanks

Matthew.

P.S i feel a bit like rocky in rockyII, down but not beaten!

bovril

mattmcd81 wrote: »

So, just letting you all know i'm fighting on. If anybody out there knows what i should expect from trading standards involvement please give me a heads up. Thanks

Matthew.

Matt, whats the latest, i'm considering getting a biba and read your plight with interest

mattmcd81

The sofa in my opinion, and that of mark(the first upholsterer to view) is that it is of shocking quality! I have never been the type of person to complain, and have never really needed to. However this recent fiasco has changed me totally. i work in an environment where i am constantly acting on the best interests of the people i care for and ensuring that their rights are upheld at all times, so as you can imagine my biggest grievance is being told i have little or no rights!!!!

To answer the above question, nowhere. My complaint is with trading standards (the girl dealing with the complaint s on holiday until monday). If i'm honest i feel as though i'm just going through the motions and will have to face defeat sooner or later. A friend of mine had a similar problem with dfs, her sofa was lopsided and began to sag after only two weeks, she went through the same process and eventually someone came out to 'up spec' the sofa (dfs don't like the word repair as it implies that there is a fault, another word they don't use), within a couple of weeks same again, basically she went to the financial ombudsman and hit a brick wall, hitachi capital said that they had spoken to dfs who claimed that in their opinion the sofa was ok so as far as they were concerned it was case closed. Thats what i'm up against!

This whole thing is starting to effect my whole life it's putting a lot of stress on an already stressed couple of new parents, i sit on the floor for the time being so my already niggly back is now constantly racked with pain!!

I will re-iterate what i've said before, stay away from dfs at all costs, they sell sub standard furniture with a huge mark up, you the consumer pay way more than it costs to make. Also the furniture is not made to specification, the required batch of whatever colour and make of sofa are knocked up by un-skilled workers in china (another word dfs are not fond of is sweatshop!!), the last comment was actually from one of the managers at the branch i'm dealing with, what does that tell you.

rosie-lee

Matt, if as the manager says, most newspapers won't touch DFS complaints with a barge pole for fear of losing advertising revenue - I would suspect that Watchdog would be very interested in this. In particular, as so many other MSEers have experienced, being forced into accepting whatever the upholsterers and sales manager's agree. ground down and accepting whatever to just get the issue over and done with.

Something is very wrong here. I don't for one minute think that if a poster takes the trouble to advise about the sale of goods act, they would do so naively. Also if Trading Standards are in support of you, you must be in the right. Understandably you have higher priorities in your life right now, but, for heavens sake, a man should be able to come home and enjoy lying on his sofa in an evening!

A show like 'don't get done, get Dom' really only sorts individual cases but Watchdog alongside Trading Standards have a chance of changing policy.

Can you lead the revolution Matt, can you be the one, the test case, only joking...
but I have read this thread with great interest. You are not a ranter, your arguments and actions are balanced and thought out so I can only hope that if I suscribe to this thread it will pop up sometime, and it would brighten my day to hear of your refund chq and the removal of the sofa, which lets be honest, you will always be miffed with.

mattmcd81

Thank you very much rosie-lee, i hope so too.

I spoke with a nice lady from trading standards who advised me that she had spoken with Keith (the manager), he wanted to come and see the sofa for himself!! I politely informed her that i didn't want another dfs employee in my house unless they were delivery drivers, i let her know too that this whole thing is causing considerable stress to myself and my fiancee, and as new parents this sofa business is a stress we could do without.

We discussed keith's comments that 'grinning' is an industry term for something they regard as 'normal'! i explained to the lady that in all the research i had done all i could find were a couple of articles about how grinning is considered a 'fault' due to tight stitching along a seam! bear in mind that keiths solution is to have the stiching pulled tight to remove the grinning!!!!!!!!

i left the phone call by saying that i would take the FIRA avenue and commision an independant inspection, this will apparently cost each party £50, and hopefully the upholsterer won't come and patronize me in my own home!

All that said, while i was at work today someone from dfs called the house (coincedence?!), he wanted to know how we could resolve the situation, my fiancee informed him that that would be easy, just come and collect it. He pressed the point that they want a resolution, so will phone back tomorrow. Part of me thinks that TS have been in contact with them and told them that i intend to pass on my complaint to FIRA, and then part of me thinks it's probably just another attempt to bully us into conceding defeat.

jamtart6

I'm so glad that you didn't give up the fight - keep going - they want you to give in. Can I just point out that the only upholsterers that have viewed your suite and "passed" it are DFS ones. They are in no way independent. Could you get an independent to check it? I'm positive they would agree with you and you'd definitely win at a small claims court.

mattmcd81

bifold wrote: »

It may be worth asking your next dfs contact if Keith Baker (southern sales director at dfs )would like to appear on Watch dog for the third time?
the first time Dfs was on watch dog their sales went up
the second time it cost them the best part of 60 million in lost sales.
what area are you based Matt?

Interesting point, when i met the manager of the store i bought the thing i mentioned about watchdog he didn't seem bothered, and that a friend of mine who is a media consultant was willing and able to pass on a letter outlining my complaint to various newspapers, to which he replied...
"that would stupid! dfs spend 100million pounds on advertising any paper daft enough to print such a letter would lose revenue, not to mention your friend would lose his job!!"
i'm at my wits end to be honest, but i will fight to the death if needs be.:mad:
i'm based in renfrewshire, scotland.

mattmcd81

Well i haven't heard from the dfs manager since friday now. He called me friday morning to arrange a time to come to my house to see the sofa for himself, i informed him that i was under the impression we would only speak through Trading standards, he rubber eared that one!

He again made the point that dfs want to resolve this, again i told him to come and collect it! you guessed it, rubber eared!! He continued by saying that he has a right to come and see the sofa! I told him, politely of course, that two 'upholsterers' have seen it already, plus i have shown him (keith, store manager) detailed pictures of the faults and he has already made his position clear, so a further inspection (keith is not an upholsterer) would be a waste of his time and more importantly mine! I also informed him of my last conversation with TS which ended with us agreeing that contacting FIRA would be my next step.

In the end he bullied me into agreeing to let him come round at 8pm on friday night!! when i eventually got off the phone with him it dawned on me that i had once again been talked round! i called back later to let him know he needn't bother coming round, as 8pm is a highly unsociable hour considering he is aware i have an 8 month old baby!!!

I managed to get a hold of my TS case holder today, i informed her of the weekends events and i'm beginning to feel a little harrassed, she said that if i invite keith round thats up to me, i told her that she is missing the point, i don't want him at my house. She (nicola) talked me through the process of complaining to FIRA and the need to carry out an independent inspection to which i agreed and we started the ball rolling. I also contacted FIRA myself and asked them questions about the process so i could hear it from the horses mouth, they emailed me an applicaion form which both parties must complete providing as much evidence as possible.

I know i've said it before but this is really getting to both me and my poor fiancee, i truly feel, as does she that keith is being very underhanded by calling out of hours knowing that i can't call TS for advice, then bullying me into letting him come to my house to tell me again that he doesn't see the problems!!! At least the case is moving along i suppose, i would like to thank everyone here who has supported me so far with words of encouragement and offers of advice, you are all so kind, thanks
Matthew

jamtart6

Good luck matthew, just be firm with Keith! Tell him NO! You are no longer interested in what DFS have to say, they have had their chance and this is now going to TS

mattmcd81

I also found this discussion board, the people on here although american, are upholsterers and they have been a great source of insider information

http://get-up-and-go.com/upholstery-forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=266f9f2529cfec90d3e2e283d6a8947e&topic=7099.0