Oak Furnitureland dispute

julesannm25

Copy of email sent, they replied saying they are sticking to their £40 refund, plus £50 in store voucher - is this fair? I’m loathe to accept, particularly the in store voucher!

It was agreed you would deliver to me on 29 November 2023. I emailed you on the 28 November enquiring as to when my delivery slot would be as I had received no notification, as assured in my contract. I did not receive a reply.

You failed to deliver to me and I had to wait for 40 minutes to get through, to receive a voice mail back informing me at 3.30pm that my sofa was not loaded onto the delivery van.

I took a day off work at the rate of £175 so suffered consequential loss as a result of your non-delivery breach of contract.

I rearranged a delivery date of 14 December 2023. The delivery men apparently could not fit the sofa through the door to my flat, so left it in the downstairs hall way informing me I would need someone to take part of the door frame out in order to get the sofa into my home.  I arranged for a builder, at a cost of £40 who, singlehandedly, managed to get the sofa in, without having to dismantle my door. This is another failed delivery

On calling to notify you, I was told I could expect a £40 reimbursement for the second failed delivery and a £50 store credit for the no show.  I have completely lost faith in Oak Furnitureland, and seeing as all items have to be delivered, I think you may understand that I do not want to go through the delivery process with you again, so the store credit is of no value to me.

I would like full delivery reimbursement at the cost of £69.99, together with a £70 gesture of goodwill for my loss of earnings, unnecessary hiring of a maintenance man and the time and stress shopping with Oak Furnitureland has cause me.

I am writing to claim £139.99 from you, which I consider to be fair and reasonable.

PHK

You need a bit of help in how to complain effectively but as for how much you'll accept that is up to you. 

You won't get a full days pay even if you take them to court. Compensation is rarely as much as people think. 

Personally, I would take the £40 cash as reimbursement for the builder  ( just hope they didn't damage it getting it in) and simply say that you won't be buying anything else so want cash. 

We can help with how to phrase complaints. 

julesannm25

Haha! I was pleased with my email! But yeah, it didn’t prove effective….They completely missed a delivery though, so is that not breach of contract? I feel the £40 should at least be for that and consequential loss? In their reply, they are largely disregarding the missed delivery and focusing on charging me £29.99 for the subsequent delivery taking it from premium to doorstep. If they have a tech error am I really supposed to lose a days pay and my time?

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Did you use Oakland credit to pay OP? 

julesannm25

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Did you use Oakland credit to pay OP? 

No, I paid by debit card

RefluentBeans

When you say it was in the contract - can you confirm what exactly was written in the contract? Difference between ‘we aim to deliver on Date’ and ‘we will deliver to you on this date’. 

Also what service did you pay for with the delivery? 

pinkshoes

I would be claiming the difference in delivery costs (e.g. doorstep not premium delivery) then the £40 it cost you for a tradesperson that wasn't even needed, as the sofa would have fitted through the doorway if they'd tried.

Did you take a day of holiday or unpaid leave? It's unlikely you'll be able to claim loss of earnings, as you did still get a day off!

julesannm25

RefluentBeans said:

When you say it was in the contract - can you confirm what exactly was written in the contract? Difference between ‘we aim to deliver on Date’ and ‘we will deliver to you on this date’. 

Also what service did you pay for with the delivery? 

I rang them and then received an email confirming they would deliver on 29 November, they never turned up. I paid for premium service, which meant the sofa would be carried into my property and the room of my choice. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

julesannm25 said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Did you use Oakland credit to pay OP? 

No, I paid by debit card

That's a shame, it might have given you a bit more of a position to negotiate from. Not much else I can add really, hope it works out OP  

julesannm25

pinkshoes said:

I would be claiming the difference in delivery costs (e.g. doorstep not premium delivery) then the £40 it cost you for a tradesperson that wasn't even needed, as the sofa would have fitted through the doorway if they'd tried.

Did you take a day of holiday or unpaid leave? It's unlikely you'll be able to claim loss of earnings, as you did still get a day off!

They are offering me £40 to take my delivery from premium ro doorstep and £50 credit for missed delivery. I absolutely do not want to use them again though so dunno what my rights are here? 

I’m self employed and work at a stables so couldn’t WFH 😂 so I lost earnings.

Alderbank

julesannm25 said:

pinkshoes said:

I would be claiming the difference in delivery costs (e.g. doorstep not premium delivery) then the £40 it cost you for a tradesperson that wasn't even needed, as the sofa would have fitted through the doorway if they'd tried.

Did you take a day of holiday or unpaid leave? It's unlikely you'll be able to claim loss of earnings, as you did still get a day off!

They are offering me £40 to take my delivery from premium ro doorstep and £50 credit for missed delivery. I absolutely do not want to use them again though so dunno what my rights are here? 

I’m self employed and work at a stables so couldn’t WFH 😂 so I lost earnings.

You initially asked for full refund of delivery charge of £69.99 so that must have been flexible delivery rather than premium which is priced at £99.99.
You received doorstep delivery (£29.99) so offering you the difference of £40 is in line with their published charges.

The T&Cs which you agreed to include a statement that time is not of the essence regarding delivery.

8.11 Time of delivery is not of the essence. We will not be liable for any loss or damage suffered by You through any reasonable delay due to unforeseen circumstances.

This means that provided the delivery does take place, which it ultimately did, the contract is fulfilled (so long as the time is 'reasonable'). 
When you agreed to buy you could have asked for the contract to be changed so that time was of the essence, but equally they could have refused (and probably would, saying they couldn't absolutely guarantee a time).

They can say that your lost earnings was outside their knowledge and control and was therefore 'too remote'. They wouldn't know that you had not arranged for someone else to be available that day to take delivery, or whether you could mitigate your losses such as by making the time up or sending someone else to the stables, or what you earn. For example if you were an entrepreneur you might have lost a business deal worth a million pounds. Would they owe you £1m?