Harveys the furniture store poor quality

Simia

Are other people having any issues with Harveys, quality?


Here is my story. First new items of furniture ever and.....


The sofa then sat in the conservatory for a month wrapped up as three separate window companies failed to remove the front-room window. I spoke to Harvey's who said that we have accepted the purchase and so they would not take the sofa away. I also mentioned that I had been advised by the sales person that it would come in two-parts and your agent laughed and said that it does; the cushions and the base. I was bemused by this statement. I enquired about this again on a subsequent occasion and was advised “it does madam, the feet and the couch”. After trying on numerous occasions to contact the manager; he was either out, busy, away for lunch, or with a client, I mentioned these two contrary and unhelpful statements to him and he suggested that I must have been mistaken as the sales team would not have said this since the couch comes as it is. He also stated that; because I had bought from the shop, I had seen the product, therefore, I knew it did not come in two-parts. After a few weeks we were advised that the sofa could go back if we paid for the return and we would be provided with credit towards another sofa as the sofa was now classed as a seconds. It is worth mentioning that the window frame did get damaged during the multiple removal attempts.

Harvey’s did send out a firm to dismantle the sofa by removing an arm to get it through. This company advised that the sofa arm could not be dismantled as the arms were stapled and glued and not screwed.
Finally, a fourth window firm did manage to remove the window and the sofa was put in place in the front-room. This was now the end of October.

Before one-month of in-situ use, one of the sofa arms had caved-in on the top left hand side.

The arm design is made up of three widely-spaced supporting strips of wood with a cardboard span covering. When we discovered this, we realised that the sofa was not fit-for-purpose. As soon as one leaned with an elbow on to the arm the unsupported parts caved in and tore. By this point we had only been using the sofa for a few weeks. I tried to contact the store on a number of occasions and finally, in December, after having not received any call back I went to the store from which the couch was purchased. I explained the situation to your sales agent, who initially, did not believe what had happened. He stated that I must be mistaken because the sofa arm would not be made out of cardboard, “Don’t be silly love”. To convince your agent, I asked that he sat on the same model couch on display in that store; I explained that “if you apply pressure with an elbow on the arm in order to get-up or to move on the couch the cardboard would pop and cave in”. With a smug grin, he applied pressure with his elbow to the arm of the couch and sure-enough the cardboard popped and a hole was formed on the arm in the same way as ours had developed through light use. The sales-man was suddenly very sheepish. I asked to speak to the manager, he refused. He just said “don't tell anyone about this”. I was ushered out of the shop quickly. I still wanted to speak to the manager, but was advised that he was not present. The agent informed me that they said they did not deal with these enquiries in store and that I should report it to Harvey's customer services. I called customer services, they said that they would send an engineer out to look at the damage and repair it.

On a subsequent call, the manager did state that it was bought as seen and that I had known what the arms were like when I purchased it.

I called customer services to book the engineer. The engineer's visit had to be an office-hours appointment and as I work during these on weekdays I had to book a weekend appointment. The engineer was booked up on weekends a considerable way in advance so the appointment was booked for the 23rd of January, a long wait but this was the first available.

When the engineer arrived he inspected the couch and stated that it was not fit-for-purpose and that he would not be repairing it as it was likely that the same issue would occur soon on the other arm The engineer took a few photos to show the problem and we signed to say the engineer had called but no repair was made. We were told that we would hear from the store.

We waited to hear from Harvey’s. After about a week I called the Harvey’s store in Solihull and asked for the manger, again he was not there, my call was not returned.

I called Harvey's customer services, to be told their notes showed that we had refused a repair. I explained that this was not the case and that the engineer did not suggest that a repair was appropriate considering the design of the couch. They said that they would fax the Harvey’s Solihull store.

We waited. After another few weeks I tried to contact the store again, call not returned.

I called customer services, they said they did send their fax and that they would fax again and the store would call.

We waited. After another few weeks, I did receive a missed called from the Solihull branch. I returned the call. I have returned the call every so often until now, the beginning of June.

I have been told on more than one occasion that my calls have been retuned, and messages have been left on the answering-machine. I have no answering- machine and my phone indicates when I have had missed calls, there were none.

We have been very careful with the sofa as soon as the first issue had occurred on the left arm in November. This is far from ideal as we wish to have a sofa for normal use, not to be tentative with. The other (right) arm has since also caved in. We expected the sofa to last a few years, not days before any issues occurred. The couch is now very soft on the seats also and the wooden frame can be felt at the back and through the arms. Due to the design a draft is felt around your lower back when the seat sinks down below the back cushions. The couch is of poor design and construction and not long lasting.
On June 3rd 2011 I contacted Harvey’s customer services yet again to discuss these issues; the agent advised me that I had refused a repair to the couch three times, I had not refused the repair I was waiting for Harvey’s to contact me regarding alternative solutions. During this conversation I was advised what a repair entails, this was something not previously disclosed. It was confirmed that the engineer’s report did state that there is a manufacturers fault with the couch. Then I was advised that a repair would bring the couch back to manufacturer’s specification. Since this is a design fault and so the manufacturer’s specification is sub-standard, how would the repair be of any benefit since a recurrence of the issue is inevitable. I was advised that this is all that customer services can offer me and if I am not happy with this solution that I should contact the store from which the couch was purchased. During the call there was a “computer problem” and so your customer services could not book an appointment to send an engineer to assess the failure of the other arm of the sofa and so I await contact from Homeserve to book an engineer for an appraisal.

I enquired whether any other Paloma sofas had been reported as having these design flaws and I was advised that the agent did not have this information available or could not access it. When I suggested that I knew of two couches of the same design that have developed the same fault the customer services agent stated that this is only two out of all that have been manufactured.

After 9 months I am left with a sofa that is unfit for purpose, why would any reputable company believe it to be acceptable for a customer to receive a product that developed a fault within three weeks of use? And why would a customer who purchased a brand new sofa in good faith want to accept a repair on a product that has been stated to have a manufacturing fault?

redmini

Out of curiosity how much did it cost to remove the window frame? x