BHS - Sofa, No returns policy.

timPgoodwin · 20 April 2016 at 2:55PM

Hi there, wondering if anyone has dealt with BHS in the past,

Me and my partner ordered a corner sofa from BHS (first week of February), we chose a fabric and whether we wanted it to be a left hand or right hand corner sofa but in our minds was standard stock, nothing custom built etc. (it was the exact model of couch in the store we ordered from).

We were asked to pick a delivery slot for last Wednesday 13th April, for some unknown reason they couldn't deliver that day and on a whim changed the delivery date to Sunday 17th April - After id taken a day off work for the Wednesday delivery.

On the Sunday, the couch arrived. I showed the delivery men that it needed to be taken upstairs and they looked at my standard door and said 'can't do it'

Apparently when the couch was broken into its 2 pieces for delivery, one of the pieces was too big for my the stairway door.

My issue is, at no point when we purchased the couch were we informed of the dimensions of it's pieces when being delivered - Or asked to measure the door width for it's dimensions.

I was forced to make the choice there and then whether to accept the delivery and be liable for the couch or send it back.

I rang BHS today to be told that I have two options, pay £45 for redelivery and keep the sofa, or let them take it back permanently and pay 20% of its cost (on top of the 10% we paid in store to purchase in the first place).

I contest that the Sofa is standard, not bespoke or made to measure based on customer specifications. This lack of returns policy is not made explicitly clear in their ordering process in my opinion and now I am stuck as their customer services team don't seem to be helping.... Can anyone help?

TheCyclingProgrammer · 20 April 2016 at 3:10PM

A quick look at the BHS furniture website indicates:

"Products that are not specified as 7 day or 7 day express are made to order products"

This is quite clear on their returns policy page here:
http://www.bhsfurniture.co.uk/mall/infopageviewer.cfm/bhsstore/returns

It also specifies that there is a 20% surcharge if you choose to return.

Did your sofa fit into either of the above categories?

If not, then I think your only recourse is that they did not make it clear the dimensions on their product page. Generally I'd say the onus is on the customer to make sure that the sofa will fit through their doors. Again, from the BHS terms and conditions that you would have almost certainly agreed to on ordering:

When ordering furniture, please carefully and accurately measure the access routes to the room where you require the item to be taken, including the doorways, landings and hallways of your property then compare them against the packed product dimensions specified to ensure we can gain access to deliver the product. Please also carefully and accurately measure to ensure that the product will fit comfortably in the room/space where you intend to keep it. Finally, please make sure there is suitable access for our large delivery lorry to safely reach the delivery address and wait for the duration of the delivery, as fees apply for re-delivery if there is not suitable access at the time of delivery (see Repeat delivery for details).

Source: http://www.bhsfurniture.co.uk/mall/Infopageviewer.cfm/bhsstore/termsandconditions

A quick look on their website shows that they do seem to indicate the sofa dimensions and whether or not it is fully assembled. Likewise their corner sofas indicate how many parts and the dimensions of each.

I'm afraid this is looking like a failure on your part to correctly ensure the sofa will fit in your house so the 20% surcharge is likely to be the best you're going to get. Chalk this one up to experience.

timPgoodwin · 20 April 2016 at 3:29PM

Thank you, my issue is, that at no point did the saleswoman show us any T&C's or make it clear of either the dimension of the couch so we could measure against it, or of the penalties if we decided to cancel or if the couch didn't fit to the upstairs.

We made it clear to the saleswoman that we has just completed on a house but had not moved into (we were moving in the next day). So it was clear we didn't have the exact dimension of the doorway, but she didn't mention any repercussions of the item not fitting.

We never imagined we would be liable for 20% of the cost of the couch if it didn't fit, if that was stated then we wouldn't have risked the purchase OR we would have been adamant on knowing how the couch broke down for delivery and what the dimensions would be. The door to our stairway is a standard one and is no smaller than the average front door.

It's annoying to that they failed to deliver on the specified date after I took time off work but yet we are penalised for it not fitting.

TheCyclingProgrammer · 20 April 2016 at 4:49PM

Could you clarify - did you order it online or in-store?

If your ordered online then I don't think you have a leg to stand on.

If you ordered it in-store then I think you need to go back and take this up with the store manager as I agree that the terms should have been made very clear to you when you ordered.

Bear in mind though that you generally have fewer rights when bought in-store than online so you may not have much recourse.

timPgoodwin · 20 April 2016 at 5:07PM

We ordered in store, the product had no dimensions stated on it. Were never explicitly told about the cancellation penalties or the fact that it was counted as a 'made to order' item and therefore would be unreturnable.

phill99 · 20 April 2016 at 5:27PM

So what you are suggesting is that at no point do you think you should take responsibility for checking to see if a piece of furniture can actually fit through your doors?

You're saying that it is someone elses fault?

timPgoodwin · 20 April 2016 at 5:45PM

We were never told that the couch would be broken down into two pieces that couldn't fit through a standard sized door - We were never given the information of the dimensions of the couch to measure against and therefore presumed (like our last sofa delivery) that it would fit through a standard sized door. Nor were we told that if it didn't fit then we would have to pay 20%!!! of the couch's cost.

The two pieces that came to our house for delivery wouldn't fit through 99% of household doors. We presumed when we saw the couch that it would break down into 3 or 4 smaller pieces and that is the reason the saleswoman never forewarned us - How would we know the size of the couches relative pieces when broken down for delivery?

We measured the couch as it was in the store before purchasing in comparison to the room we wanted it in and that was fine and its width was ok for the door in question, however the packaged piece that arrived on the delivery day was a completely different sizing that we would only have known of it told when making the purchase, or if told of at a later date by the delivery company.

My main issue is with the sum to have it returned, 20% is astonishing - The couch was £1000 and therefor we have to pay £200 (plus the initial 10% paid) for an item that took 8 weeks to be delivered and wasn't delivered on the date booked which meant me incurring lost wages for no reason.

glentoran99 · 20 April 2016 at 5:48PM

Simple take out your front window and put it in that way

timPgoodwin · 20 April 2016 at 5:52PM

I wish, the sofa is going to our upstairs living room so can't just take the window(s) out. Seriously the pieces they brought it in wouldn't fit in the house if we took the roof off and rented a crane ....

tonyh66 · 20 April 2016 at 5:59PM

If it doesn't fit through a standard size door, I wonder who is buying them as 99% of properties have a standard size door?

timPgoodwin · 20 April 2016 at 6:03PM

My argument exactly, we never feared the couch couldn't be delivered as our house is a good size and none of the doors are abnormally small or not standard sizing. I looked and even if I had have taken the door and the frame off it wouldn't have got through.