Harassment Query re sofa company

louisemichelle

Hi,

My parents recently ordered a sofa for their new home that they are moving to in January. The saleman assured them the sofa would not be ready until January as they are currently in rented accomodation.

Last week my dad was taken into hospital after suffering a series of unexplained fits which resulted in him being comatose for a period of time and he is still very unwell - now the sofa company have started phoning my parents' home repeatedly demanding that they take delivery of the sofa now which simply isn't possible and wouldn't have been possible even if my dad wasn't ill.

Given the nature of my dad;s illness my mum explained that she would call them and could they please not repeatedly phone the house when my dad is home alone while she is at work as this is quite distressing for him... but they keep doing it! I moved to Australia a couple of weeks ago so I've only managed to chat to the company in question via Skype and they were to, put it mildly, rude. They said my mum had requested delivery as early as November (which she would never have done as they weren't getting their own house until January) and that they had only called once (not true at all).

What do I do to get them to stop harassing my parents during a time which is already quite upsetting for them? The company are refusing to discuss it any further with me - although I did suggest I could get some sort of power of attorney to allow me to discuss their affairs - but I'm not actually sure how feasible this is? Any ideas?

fluffnutter

How important is a new sofa? In the scheme of things, not really. I assume they have something to sit on. Why not suggest they cancel the order and get a full refund, and then look elsewhere once they've moved, and your father is better?

Alternatively, they could block the number and avoid the company until next month. Or use an answering machine to screen calls. Power of attorney seems overkill for a single issue that will resolve in time, plus it would probably take a long time to sort out.

louisemichelle

You are right - in the big scheme of things it's not really important. Just frustrating. They won't have anything to sit on next month but I'm sure someone can help them out with that! I did broach the subject of cancellation with the sofa company but they didn't sound too happy. And of course they couldn't discuss that with me anyway. I had asked my mum if she would be happy to cancel before I called and she said she wouldn't mind. I just don't know how easily they will let her do that? Do they not normally try to pull some sort of "made to order" thingy (or am I just being a bit pessimistic!).

And I know... power of attorney was overkill but it was just the first thing I could think in my head to get round them refusing to discuss it with me and to be honest, my brain is a bit emotionally frazzled with all that going on back home while I'm all the way over here to function properly! I'll see if I can maybe get my brother to drop them round an old answer phone or something so they can screen the calls. Is blocking the number relatively easy to do?

Thanks again for your advice. Really appreciated.

NeilF3485

I would expect a sofa company to be prepared to discuss the account, and deal with anyone, who the account holder sees fit and authorises.

So I would either get her to call them and give her permission over the phone for them to discuss everything with you, or, get her to send/fax a letter to them confirming it.

They should have no issue with this, I worked at a debt collection agency (where processes/DPA are far more stringent than in the world of furniture (as far as I know)), so can't see this being a problem.

pimento

Just call them and tell them you are her.

arcon5

fluffnutter wrote: »

How important is a new sofa? In the scheme of things, not really. I assume they have something to sit on. Why not suggest they cancel the order and get a full refund, and then look elsewhere once they've moved, and your father is better?

Alternatively, they could block the number and avoid the company until next month. Or use an answering machine to screen calls. Power of attorney seems overkill for a single issue that will resolve in time, plus it would probably take a long time to sort out.

If op is entitled to a refund that is.

Did you order instore op? If so, there are no rights to cancel. If online it's different.

louisemichelle

I would have expected them to have been prepared to discuss it with me with my mum's permission but to be fair to the company they probably just wanted a particularly irate caller off the phone and would have said that just to get me off the line!

They ordered in store as far as I'm aware. I'm going to give my parents a call tomorrow morning here so I guess that's tonight where you guys are and see if there's been any more calls or any progress. I am tempted to just phone and pretend to be my mum but the crackly skype line kind of gives it away and my mum is from the west coast of Scotland and I was brought up in the east of Scotland so we have ever so slightly different accents - might be worth a try though!

Thanks again for all the advice.

The_Pedant

Firstly put it in writing by email, fax or letter.

If they were told the sofa is not available until January at the time of placing the order then I would state that you considered this to be part of the grounds on which the sofa was ordered on (you could elaborate that is due to a move that was already planned prior to ordering).

I would then state that you will be in contact to arrange delivery just prior to <the expected move date> as previously agreed. If you would be happy just for them to cancel the order then I would probably add that 'if the store is unhappy with the arrangements that they way wish to offer to withdraw from the contract and refund and monies paid'?

unholyangel

On top of what is advised directly above this post, it could also be added in that you (or your mother/father rather) withdraw their consent for the company to contact them by telephone. That they are requesting they erase their phone number and only contact them in writing from now on. Stress that they are making this request under the DPA as they are not using that information fairly, or in a way you would reasonably expect them to which is not in compliance with the data protection act.

louisemichelle

Thanks again everyone. Think I'm going to try to put a strongly worded letter/email to them. Any idea where I'm best to direct my complaint to- I'm assuming the compay's HQ as opposed to the local store as the person doing most of the harassing is allegedly the assistant manager! Just off the phone to my mum - they called her at her WORK last week! They were never even given this telephone number as a contact number but may have it from the finance agreement I guess. Can't believe it! My mum says that since then they have not called her but I can't help but think it's only a matter of time. My dad has another brain scan booked in for the 4th of January so this is really the last thing she needs... I just can't believe the depths this company are sinking to!