dfs anti stain protection

peppapig30

i purchased a pretty expensive sofa 3 years ago from dfs, chenile cushion zipped onto a leather base, they sold me a 5 year anti stain protection plan, which they told me ( on several visits to the shop) includes a spray which coats the fabric and makes spills sit on the top to be blotted out with kitchen towel (like scotch guard i was told)
knowing a family was on the way i went with this option
the sofa was £2400 and proctection £152
if the stain does not blot out you have to go through a fairly lengthy claim procedure with guardsman to get it cleaned can take 8 weeks at a time
after a year i had guardsman come out, and have had them a few times now, i have been complaining that fluids never sit in top as i was told they would do
i've been through their official complaints procedure and now been told that my sofa was never sprayed!
i have complained to the local dfs and to head office, all i get is the same response, even if the sofa isnt sprayed you still get the five year cleaning service, but this is not what i was sold! that was supposed to be the back up plan if the stain didnt blot out!
they say my sofa cannot be sprayed because you cant spray the leather, even though the cushions are zipped on, and completely removeable, they just shrugged off this fact, and a different sales person said you cant spray chenile?
all they offer is an apology.

so what do i do? i feel i was mis-sold the policy, in that i was told i was getting something that i didnt.
i wouldnt have purchased that particular sofa if it could not have been sprayed would have chosen a leather or different fabric one,
is this finacial ombudsman or more small claims?
do i claim for the cost of cover or more because i cant protect my sofa?

any ideas would be appreciated

peppapig30

does anyone out there have any similar problems with DFS??

MCGONIS

Hi. That is a a really bad service you have received. So what they are saying is we charge you £150odd pounds to come and clean any marks on your sofa for five years?! But you will wait weeks at a time for it.

I am sure you could find your own supplier to do this more easily and for less.

Also being told it was pre treated with some sort of guard would have gave you a little more reassurance. I would write to the head offices and dependant on their reply, maybe consumer direct is a quick and easy first port of call. It should have been explained on the policy document that certain sofa are NOT treated in any way.

I had a similar experiance with Reid when I purchased a leather sofa and took warranty against scratches/burns etc etc. After six weeks my cat had scratched it. They sent a guy from Regency Warranties who looked at it and then left and after two weeks they wrote saying I had allowed the damage to build up over a period of time and refused the claim as I should report each occurance of damage at the time.

I wrote saying, it is six weeks old, what "period of time" are you on about. Eventually the same person came back, painted something from a brown medicine bottle onto the leather and used a hairdryer to dry the solution. Still stands out like a sore thumb as the solution is a different shade to the leather. I will never purchase any sort of warranty with a sofa now. Just money down the drain from my experience.

Good luck and can you let us know how you get on please.

peppapig30

thanks for reply!
i was thinking there was no one else out there with similar problems :0)
i have already spoken to the main guy at head office and got....nowhere, just an apology....as if thats ok after spending that kind of money on a sofa.. i was reading through all terms and conditions and nowhere does it states anything about spray protection there is no definition about it, nothing at all mentioned, its as if it doesnt exist, so i think they have made an error in not defining it on the back of the invoice, the anti stain protection falls under the financial ombusdman so think i'll go through them....only problem is it takes years!

rl290

Small claim court methinks...

peppapig30

yeh but how much would you claim???
wouldnt have bought the sofa without the protection

wilbert_2

Hello

I had my new sofa delivered from DFS last week and have accidently spilt some water on it- not panicking I followed the instructions the salesman had given me to blot up the spill with kitchen paper and leave to dry, the next day im left with a large stain.

After ringing DFS im advised to contact a helpline number for Stain Guard, who tell me my sofa isnt scotchguarded at all and I have in fact paid £180 for an insurance policy for stain cover. They can send me a claims form to fill in and when they get it back they will send me some organic crystals? to put on the stain to remove it, if this fails I will need to fill in a further form and a service man will come and professionally clean the sofa to remove the stain. But the stain may never go back to being the same colour as the rest of the sofa, as there may be some variation in shade after having it cleaned.

When I bought the sofa I specifially asked the cost to have it Scotchguarded as I have dogs and children and wanted it to be well protected, I queried this several time saying scotchguard each time, the man explained how it worked, the liquid would sit on the top of the sofa and be blotted off leaving no marks, if a stain did not come off to call the store and they would deal with it.

The lady at stain guard helpline advised the sofa would not have been pretreated and what I had paid for was an insurance policy to remove the stains. She advised me to contact the store manager and not to claim yet as I wouldnt be able to then cancel the policy after making a claim. I have been wrongly sold this insurance the lady told me- apparently according to stain guard people they dont use Scotchguard, this is a brand that DFS dont deal with and that my sofa wont have been pretreated with anything at all. My insuruance is to remove the stains.

Now i've got a week old sofa with a large stain, DFS manager has called me back today and was rather rude, apparently his rep would not have reffered to it as Scotchguard, however he himslef then called it Scotchguard and admitted water should not have stained it, but all I can do is claim through the insurance policy I have supposedly bought. I asked for a complaints number and he gave me address to write to. Im so mad, I wish they would just take the sofa back.

I asked specifically for Scotchguarding on both sofas which I thought was what I was paying £160.

Does anyone have advice on what I should do next.

To claim to get the sofa cleaning crystals I need to do this before Thursday as it must be done within 7 days of the stain occuring (even though stain people closed for bank holiday)

Manager at store cant help me. He just keeps telling me it has been pre treated for stains, but insurance company are telling me it wont have been pretreated.

Can someone please help!

peppapig30

hi wilbert
i have claimed on my stain removal many times over the lat 3 years
i have had different parts of the sofa cleaned about 4 times now as water stains it....and it is quite a process to go through
DFS are mis selling these policies all the time then?
if you have a fabric sofa i am told it is spayed automatically in the ware house if you have purchased the policy, but there is nowhere on paper or record to say which sofas have or have not been sprayed...so they can sell this policy and potentially nor spray anyones at all!

i have now contacted finanical ombudsman as i am not happy with DFS response to my complaint

i would contact DFS head office first, you wont get anywhere but it brings the matter to their attention, and then go to finanical ombudsman

i have asked for either a full refund of the policy plus compensation as i never would have bought a £2400 sofa without protection with a family.....so i want some back......or a complete new set of cushions that are sprayed with the stuff they claim to be selling

sorry for the delay in reply let me know what happened/happens

:0)

peppapig30

dfs rang today after receiving letter from financial ombudsman, they have offered me a refund of the policy, which i have said i will think about but likely to decline and this cancels my cover and i am still no better off,
i would have gone for this sofa without any protective spray they seem to be struggling to underdstand this???

katiesymonds

hi all i honestly think we should all get together on this and keep eachother posted we have bought a sofa from dfs and basicly i have had all the same probs as you berfore i go into detail and you tell me if your sofa is all fabric or part fabric and part leather.
Please get in touch
kate

0james0

A combination of children and a dog have ruined my sofa. I'm going to claim about one specific and recent stain, as I expect them to refuse to pay out for a combination of stains, particularly ones built up over time, but it looks like this could be a long a torturous road.

I'll keep my progress updated as things progress.

I paid for "stain protection" which apparently ment my sofa was treated so that the faric would not stain, clearly this hasn't worked, but was my sofa even sprayed at all? I doubt it.