DFS - Never buy from them!!!!

paragp

We ordered our sofa's during their "Double Discount" sale at the begining of Jan. We were told it would be about 8 weeks for delivery. Within about 5 weeks had call from DFS saying sofa's were ready for delivery. We thouht excellent!!!. They delivered the sofas and that's when the problems started. We had ordered a 3 seater, 2 x seaters and a 1 seater. One of the 2 seaters was with the scatter back cushions and the rest were formal back cushions.

On delivery we noticed the single seater was ripped on one of the back corners. The black under cloths for most of the sofa's were ripped/damaged in one way or the other. The sofa's had wood trims at the front which were damaged and one of them was completely the wring colour. Mentioned this to the deivery guys and they said not to worry, to ring the store and they will sort it it all out. That evenging we checked the sofa's properly and noticed that the formal back cushions on all the sofa's were smaller(in width) than the sofa's, eg. on the 3 seater there was a gap of almost 5-6 inches between the back cushion.

So the next day I rang the DFS store to let them know of all the issues with our sofa. The person on the other end of the phone seemed very uninterested with the actual issues and just said they will send someone to inspect the sofas. This person came and made notes of the damage to the sofas and said all that can be repaired/replaced. However he said there was no problem with the cushions as they need time to "settle" and the gap would disappear over time. There is now way we were going to except that, how someone be expected to pay nearly £2000 for sofa's and expect not to use them properly straight away.

So when I mentioned this to the store manager he said that they will send a senior upholsterer to check this out and also at the same time fix/replace the other bits. The senior upholsterer turns up but only with half the parts for the replacement stating "the other person had ordered the wrong parts". As for the issue with the cushions, he agreed they did not look right but will now have to get the manager to come and have a look them.

Manager and senior upholstere turn up for the inspection and this time the we are told the cushions are as per spec and over time they will settle. I said to him that this should have been explained to us when we were ordering the sofas. Also that the pictures they had of the sofa's (formal back) were perfect, they did not show this gap at all. BTW they only had the scatter back cushions on display, NOW I KNOW WHY!!!! To the the manager says well the cushions are "dressed up" for the pictures!!! Talk about dodgy selling tactics.

We have now said that we do not want the sofa's and they need to take then back to which the manager readily agreed, however he did try to persuade us to choose something else from the store. I WILL NOT BE DOING THIS.

ONE THING IS FOR SURE WE WILL NEVER BUY FROM DFS AGAIN AND WOULD NEVER RECOMMEND ANYONE ELSE TO DO SO EITHER!!!

The problem is when they take away the sofa's we won't have anything to sit on as we got rid of the old ones when we got these new ones thinking all the issues will be resolved. What can we do, can say that we will keep these sofa's until we find and new set ?


any ideas???

alzamabar

Hi, never buy a sofa from DFS!! I bought two sofas (three bed seat and two seat) on the 1st January when everything was on SALE. Got a good price, loan interest free for 2 years, the sofas looked great. I also wondered if the two sofas could get through my door, and asked to the shop assistant: do these sofas come in one piece or de-assembled? The answer was that they came in one piece, but not to loose the sale, the vendor also told me: 'However we do have an offer that for free we could come to your place, take all measurements and only if our people will say that the sofas can actually be delivered the contract will be binding otherwise it'll be void.'. Fine I thought. A couple of weeks later these two guys from DFS came to my place, took all measures and told me: 'Yeah, it can be delivered'. Two weeks ago I received a call from DFS that informed me that actually the sofas were ready for delivery. I was given only one option: it's either on Monday or on Monday (please note that the call arrived on Friday afternoon!). Ok, I took a day off work and on Monday other two guys from DFS came to deliver the sofas. Guess what? The three seat couldn't get through. I then complained, called DFS and asked my money back, at which point a clerk told me that there has been an error, that the people who delivered didn't know that apparently the armchair could be taken off and that they would eventually call me back to arrange a new delivery. Friday last week I didn't hear from anyone so I decided to make the first move. I was then told that they would be delivering on Tuesday (today). Fine I thought, finally I'll get my sofas. So I took another day off; this morning I waited and waited and when at 10am I didn't hear from anyone I made the first move again. I was then told that the delivery was for today and that I was first on the list. I waited and waited...At 11 I made a second call asking why the only sofas I could see were the ones visible through my neighbours windows and if they were sure the delivery was for today. I was told that yes, the delivery was for today and that probably the two drivers were stuck in the traffic and that if I didn't hear from anyone by noon I should have called back so that they could chase the drivers up. At 12.30 I called back, this time talking to a different person, who in few words told me: 'Apologies, but it looks like there has been an error in our systems...Actually to take that armchair off it requires a very highly skilled person and I'm sorry but it's not going to be today'. At which point I threatened to ask my money back and to sue them. The person was then apologetic and asked if instead of going down that path maybe we could come to an agreement where they would organize a special delivery on a Saturday and give me some allowance for all the trouble I went through. Fine I thought! Although the service is the worse I experienced so far at least the fellows recognize their mistakes and are ready to pay for them. I naturally accepted, agreeing on this person to call me back with an offer. This afternoon I received a phone call from a manager at DFS who in few words said:

'I'm really sorry for what happened, we usually don't do this bad. Do you think that taking off the bed mechanism from the three seat sofa would solve the problem?'. I mean you are a manager at DFS and you ask ME such quesion? Luck wanted that when the two guys tried to deliver the sofa the previous Monday they already tried that escamotage, so I knew that it didn't work and I said this to the guy (luckily I probably saved other 3 months of hell for another attempted delivery).

You won't believe this but would you like to know what this manager answered? 'Well Mr Tedone, we understand your situation, and as a sign of good will we would be ready to give you your money back! Alternatively we could invite you to one of our stores to choose something different!'. I mean you are telling me that because you're having a good day and YOU RECOGNIZE YOUR MISTAKE, I can have my money back?? But that's the law which forces you to do that, not yourself. You have to consider yourself lucky if I will not sue you (the law gives us little consumers little power over these things).

In the end I just decided to get my money back and to run in the opposite direction whenever I'll se a DFS shop again!

Marco

barvid

I had a nasty experience with DFS last year when I bought a sofa and explicitly declined payment protection insurance when asked. The salesman proceeded to add it on anyway before telling me my total in MONTHLY repayment figures, i.e. manipulating the figures and disguising the fact that he'd added something. I proceeded to sign the order, which DIDN'T have a tick in the "I want PPI" box. That was added afterwards...! They agreed to cancel it, but my OH works for HFC Bank which runs DFS's finance and kept an eye on the account - they never did. In the end, we did this ourself and the head honcho at DFS sent us a cheque and apologised profusely on the phone, but has anyone else had any experience of DFS (or anyone else) deliberately adding on PPI when you state you don't need it and have signed the order form without it being ticked?

Oh, and the first repayment starts next month - it'll be interesting to see whether they debit just the repayment or the PPI payment too...!

Count_Dante

To the OP you should have waited for the 'super duper double quadruple' discount sale to start, which is due to end sometime in the near eternity.

Seriously, DFS's business model is about building big sheds, buying tat from China to put in the sheds, hiring some spivs to flog tat to the unwary, and putting adverts on telly to convince people that tat is actually really high quality and a bargain.

I don't know why people get taken in.

dangeroussports

Im surprised people buy from them in this day and age. You wouldnt buy a pension from Robert Maxwell so why buy a sofa from DFS?

nej

DFS = Dodgy F*****G Sofas according to a mate of mine who bought one from them...

foxybabe

We must be one of the lucky ones then, we bought a leather 3 and 2 seater from DFS approx a year ago. We didn't buy one in the 'sale' as I have always been wary of the famous dfs sale. I can honestly say that it has been absolutely fine. We had to ring them up about a small issue and the service was really good and the issue was resolved very quickly.

medwaybantam

We bought a 3 and 2 seater from DFS Maidstone last year and had no problems whatsoever. Delivery was within the week originally promised at time of purchase and we have had no reason to have to contact them over any issues.
I will quite happily return and purchase from them again if the need arises.

arnie&caseysma!

DFS have in the past featured on Watchdog regarding their dodgy tactics, never ending sales and their sofas which are handmade in Italy but are actually dusty old things that had been stuck in a shed for months.

Makes me glad I bought locally for the quality and aftersales even though it cost me a bit more.....

Taadaa

We bought two two seater sofas and an arm chair from DFS four years ago when we moved into our flat. Similar story, they said it would fit when we gave them the measurements, but after waiting 8 weeks when they delivered it, it didn't fit. They said it would come apart; if the worst came to the worst; the delivery men said it didn't. So back it went. This was two weeks after moving in and sitting on bean bags.

So back we went to the store, to be told we would have to pick a different design. Another 8 week wait. We were spitting blood at this point, so they sent us two arm chairs to use in the meantime. We specifically asked for one that came apart, and stated that the delivery men would need to do this.

So, 8 weeks came....and went. After 12 weeks, we threaten to cancel, and finally sofas arrive. Delivery men can't get them to fit, so we say, well take them apart, we specifically asked for this, and they say no we weren't told. Back they went again. Another day wasted.

On the third delivery, they try to tell us the same thing, not their job to take them apart; we insist and they called their manager who told them to do it. They ripped all the lining to do it, but got them to fit. This was in September. We moved in May...!

So no we won't ever set foot inside a double discount fanastic sale DFS.

stars_bright

We bought a 2 seater and 3 seater settee from DFA about 16 years ago, we were very happy with the service and they are still going strong now. However I will be wary of them in the future - companies can go downhill.