Day in the Life of Bob - Buying a New Bed

bobwilson

I ordered a nice new bed frame from www.bedworld.net :j and just thought I'd share this little story..

I ordered a nice "hard wood" 150cm wide king size bed. The delivery men turn up:

Me: "Thanks a lot. Can you deliver to my flat?"
Grumpy man's voice: "Not Insured to go upstairs."
[man drops box and storms off back to van to get the other box]
Man: "Sign HERE."
Me: "Thanks. If it's ok, as the box is damaged, Bed World said I should write it on the note."
[I write 'damaged box' on the receipt]
Man: "YEAH."
[grabs paper out of my hand, gets in van and drives off]

So, I struggled upstairs with my new bed and 20 mins later carefully got it into my flat.

I open the box and get all the pieces out, to find the bed isn't "hard wood" as advertised, but a soft sawdust mixture with laminate glued on top. A few pieces were damaged during delivery and the laminate was peeling away with flaking sawdust underneath. 30 mins later, I discovered the size of the bed frame isn't european standard 150cm, it's 155cm instead, so this would leave a 5cm (2.5cm either side) gap showing the slats underneath.

I wondered why they would sell a bed frame the wrong size. No 155cm mattress exists..

I called up and spoke to a lovely lady on the phone:

me: "Oh hello, I just ordered a bed online and had it delivered.."
deep lady's northern voice [with attitude!]: "WHATS WRONG WITH THEN."
me: "it's damaged, it's not hardwood, and it's the wrong size."
lady: "SEND US A PHOTO."
me: "um.... right. ok"
lady: "ANYTHING ELSE?"
me: "Can I return it?"
lady: "SEND US A PHOTO AND WE'LL LOOK AT IT."
me: "But I can return it within 7 days for a refund, can't I?"
lady: "EMAIL A PHOTO AND WE'LL LOOK AT IT AND LET YOU KNOW."
me: "But there is a distance selling regulations 7 days refund, isn't there?"
lady: "HMM... WELL.... ONLY IF YOU DON'T BUILD IT."
me: "thanks for your help. I'll just re-package and return it. "
lady: "YOU CAN'T DO THAT IF YOU'VE BUILT IT!"
me: "Ok. Thank you"
lady: "ANYTHING ELSE?"
me: "No, thank you for your help"
lady: [hangs up]

As much as I love dealing with pleasant staff, rather than spend half a day re-packaging a £220 bed frame and trying to arrange a return, waiting at home for collection, and then finding another bed to buy, I'd be better off spending that day earning.

I guess I'll just keep the bed and leave it behind when I buy my own place one day. Sometimes it's easier to just roll with it in life...

Still, nice to know companies are still getting it all spot on! :rotfl: It's good to have one's patience tried once in a while, it tests the soul...

macman

Since it's clearly not as described and unfit for purpose, reject it in writing by recorded delivery within 7 days. If they won't play ball then get your credit card company to do a chargeback.

gerdo

We all expect everything to be cheap these days, the problem is that with that, you get cheap quality and cheap service.

The people you dealt with are probably on minimum wage, you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.

Dont let them away with it, demand your money back.

bobwilson

gerdo wrote: »

We all expect everything to be cheap these days, the problem is that with that, you get cheap quality and cheap service.

I don't know, that's why I didn't buy a bed frame from argos for £69.99 but got something for £220 instead. I wouldn't call that peanuts

Don't have time to cause a fuss, if I did I'd be spending my whole life taking things back and never working.. although that sounds like fun! Will just buy something else when I eventually buy a place.

macman

Perhaps MSE is not the right forum for you with that approach...the item is broken and mis-described. Why let them get away with it? Do a chargeback and then the collection and repacking is up to them to sort out, if they want it back.

fluffpot

Oh dear - they don't get a very glowing report here either - not even 2 out of 5!

http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews91230.html

bobwilson

macman wrote: »

Perhaps MSE is not the right forum for you with that approach...the item is broken and mis-described. Why let them get away with it? Do a chargeback and then the collection and repacking is up to them to sort out, if they want it back.

No No, it's not an approach, I promise you! I agree! For years I used to stand my ground, but at the end of the day, in this case I'll lose more money by missing work, and we all know the company won't pay compensation.. and if I fight for it, I'll lose even more time and money. I can't remember the last time I had dealings with a company who gave us a good customer service or product. I can't keep sending things back, I'd never breathe or eat. I will never get anything done in life. If they paid compensation for my time, then that's a different story.. but we both know what the answer to that would be ! Sometimes, there is nothing left to do but laugh :rotfl:

macman

Rejection letter by rec del: 15 minutes. Do a chargeback..15 minutes. Then the ball is in their court.
Unless of course you can earn £440 an hour...

Nile

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere (please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com"]forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

vuvuzela

I wonder how long it will take for the first 1-post wonder to turn up praising bedworld.net ?
That level of service is terrible.

bobwilson

macman wrote: »

Rejection letter by rec del: 15 minutes. Do a chargeback..15 minutes. Then the ball is in their court.

ha! In reality, it takes longer. Rejection letter plus printing = 15 mins, going to post office and waiting in queue to get recorded delivery stamp and coming back = 1.5 hours (post office is 20 min walk each way, queues are at least 30mins here, buying parcel tape on the way = 10 mins). chargeback = upto 30mins call to bank waiting on hold etc, up to a week to wait to receive forms in post. 15 mins = fill out forms + locate exact transaction information to put on forms, 15 mins to lock up and walk to postbox and back, 3 hours to take bed apart and repackage bits into broken boxes with parcel tape, seal, and 20 mins to carefullly carry it downstairs, 10 mins to persuade landlord to let me store it in hallway until collection happens, plus 1 whole day waiting in for collection to happen. Total time spent: easily half a day, plus an extra day waiting for collection. That doesn't include all potential delays..

Last week I was kept on hold for 30 mins to speak to someone for 10 seconds. It happens all the time..

We don't live next door to a small postoffice here. There's always a long queue.

macman wrote: »

Unless of course you can earn £440 an hour...

hehe almost but not quite