DFS Battle

FERGIE81

I purchased a new White leather sofa from DFS last year (August) which was delivered in October after a 8 week wait. The sofa was gorgeous and i was delighted with it.

One nite in January i sat on the sofa with my new red pjs and to my horror it turned one of the cushions a pink tinge. Absolutly gutted i called DFS the next morning, where i explained the situation and was releived it was covered by the insurance i took out when purchasing the sofa. I called the insuarance company to explain the situation and they forwarded a claim form to me. As soon as this arrived i filled it in imediantly and returned it. The followin week i got a called from DFS explaining the Service manager would be out to repair my sofa, but not till the 24th Feb (which was 3 weeks away) i agreed and awaited his arrival.

In the evening of the 23rd i got a call from the service manager to say he would be with me the following morning between 10 and 12, which was great. On the mornin of the 24th the srevice manager arrived at 10am. He came in with a tool box full of tricks. I showed him the cushion which was slightly pink and he got to work. Firstly he Sprayed this awful lacquer on the cushion which didnt seem to make any difference whats so ever, except fill my house with horrible fumes. Secondly he went back out to his car got a generator type machine which was attached to a paint spray gun, attached a pot of white paint to the bottom and started sprayin my sofa with it... once he sprayed a bit he then took out what looked like a hairdryer and dried the part he just sprayed. this went on and on for 2 and a half hours. when i came to inspect the finished results, to my absolute horror he had sprayed the sofa with so much paint it didnt feel like leather any longer, it was hard and stiff and felt like it would crack if you sat on it, ALSO the black pipping around the sofa was now white too..... i explained this wasnt acceptable and he went back out to his car and returned with a pot of black paint and a sponge and tried to touch up the black piping. The more he was tryin to fix his mess the worse it was turning out. a 5 year old child would have made a better job. Therefor i explained i was not accepting the way he repaired my sofa as i had saved up nearly £2000 to buy this sofa outright, and he laughed in my face!! In the end he said he would organised for my sofa to be re clothed, only the 3 bottom cushions and the 3 back cushions. no word of the chair he spray painted too, so i demanded i wanted that reclothed too. He agreeded then left my house in a rage with a sample of the leather.

The next day i went to the shop as i felt the service i got was unaccepable (especially being 7 months pregnant). Where the store manager was very nice, re asuured me the parts were ordered and apologised for the way i was treated. He asked for me to email him pics of the repair which i done, and i left the shop feeling a lot better about this situations.

2 weeks have passed and on wed 7th march i contacted the insurance comp to see how my claim was coming on, to find out they were still waitin to hear from dfs called dfs and they were still waiting to hear from the insurance company. Eventually on fri 9th march a lady called from the insurnace sayin that the parts have just been ordered and can take 6-8 weeks to arrive bearing in mind my baby is now due in 8 week i was not amused.

Just returned from the DFS store today (10th) where i spoke to the same manager i spoke to 2 weeks ago, you would swear it was a totally differnt guy! He was not willing to help in the slightest. I asked for a refund or a replacement, and he refused!! I explained it wasnt practical for them to take my sofa away in 6-8 weeks as my baby would be here and it would be so inconveint. I waas willing to pay extra for a different sofa but he didnt want to know, so i left sayin a was goin to get adice on this matter!

Please can somone give me advice on what i should do. I saved up for ages to get this sofa as i hate bein in debt to companies, the sofa was only 3 month old when i stupidly and acidently turned it pink. Now it has ended up bein in worse condition due to the stupid service manager. Please can someone HELLLP

daveyjp

Unfortunately it is built for a price (which is a lot less than the 2k you paid, which is probably why the guy laughed, he will know how much it is probably worth) and will always take colour. Painting is a quick fix, it comes off after a while.

I'd go for a full refund but it will be a battle.

FERGIE81

daveyjp wrote: »

Unfortunately it is built for a price (which is a lot less than the 2k you paid, which is probably why the guy laughed, he will know how much it is probably worth) and will always take colour. Painting is a quick fix, it comes off after a while.

I'd go for a full refund but it will be a battle.

Can you advise me how to get a full refund?? Pleasse

squeaky

Have a browse... dfs threads here on Consumer Rights

pimento

Isn't your dispute with the insurance company and not DFS? I have to say, you're a brave woman having a white sofa.

SmallL

I think unhappy is quite the understatement 'CustomerserviceDFS'

bod1467

One post newbie, purporting to be from DFS yet posting without MSE permission.

So ... would YOU trust that number to be correct?

http://m.dfs.co.uk/terms-and-conditions/leather-protection/complaints-procedure/

SayNoTo0870 does not have a geographic number for the 0870 320 0333 number. However searching for DFS yields 01302 330365 as the HQ number.

PS - post reported.

Edit: And it is now gone.

Intasun32

FERGIE81 wrote: »

Can you advise me how to get a full refund?? Pleasse

@Fergie81,

As someone who has had dealings with DFS I know exactly how they are treating you!

I hope that you are going to tell me that you used your credit card to pay for suite or used the DFS interest free credit. I hope you did not use cash or a debit card. The reason I ask is if use paid by the first two methods then you can contact either the card company or finance company and make a chargeback claim under section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act. I think you have a very good case.

If you paid cash or debit card then I advise you to contact Consumer Direct, they are very helpful and will put on the right track.

If you have not done so already, write a letter, sent recorded delivery, to the DFS HQ. Tell them what has happened and ask for a replacement or refund.

I hope you have success but dont give in to them they are b@st@rds to deal with.

Good luck

:beer:

unholyangel

pimento wrote: »

Isn't your dispute with the insurance company and not DFS? I have to say, you're a brave woman having a white sofa.

Especially with a child on the way. White is not advisable for anyone thinking about having kids. If it starts out white, guaranteed it will end up multi coloured with what they get up to For that reason, cloth sofas arent really a good idea either. Easy wipe surfaces are great.

Tbh i thought this was a common well known problem with light coloured leather sofas? I've known several people with them and whenever wearing jeans, they had to put a throw or towel under them else their jeans would stain the leather.

gabby66

As pimento has said the dispute is with the insurers and not the retailer, there is nothing inherently wrong with the product.

If insurance was taken through DFS at the point of sale I'm assuming you will have documentation. Find out who the underwriters are, unless DFS do it "in house" your battle is not with them in my opinion.

Another consideration is the service man who made such a mess of restoring the sofa, was he working for DFS, the insurer or a sub contractor providing a service on behalf of the insurance company ?

It could be there are 4 parties involved in the dispute yourself, DFS, an insurance company and an independent service provider.

FERGIE81

unholyangel wrote: »

Especially with a child on the way. White is not advisable for anyone thinking about having kids. If it starts out white, guaranteed it will end up multi coloured with what they get up to For that reason, cloth sofas arent really a good idea either. Easy wipe surfaces are great.

Tbh i thought this was a common well known problem with light coloured leather sofas? I've known several people with them and whenever wearing jeans, they had to put a throw or towel under them else their jeans would stain the leather.

Thanks for your reply, the sofa was actually purchased before I knew I was pregnant! My issue isn't with the sofa changing colour it's with the service managers repair job, and also the service from the manager at des!