DFS SCAMS

redmike123

Hi, We bought a fairly cheap 2 seater sofa from DFS about 6 years ago. The covers have been washed 4 or 5 times and although a little faded, always fit right back on and all the zips still work.

Our sofa is still very comfortable. We bought it in early December 2000 with a guaranteed Christmas delivery, and lo and behold it was delivered as per the guarantee.

From my experience I am happy to say that I am very pleased with the service I got from DFS them and would probably buy from them again.

Madjock

Don't let dangeroussports upset you, that's the reward he's after.

If it makes anyone feel better, we bought a suite some years ago from dfs on the 6 months interest free then went bankrupt after making the first payment of £65 on the £1300 balance.

The suite weren't bad for £65, but when we bought a new suite last year we went to a local dealer and got a catalogue return leather sofa and chair for £325. The reason for the return? A scuff mark on one of the arms of the sofa and the lining had been ripped under the sofa. Some stitching of the lining and a throw on the arm of the sofa, and bob's your uncle.

I would never ever go to a national chain again for large furniture.

scooterpig

I'm curious because our sofas are six years old and seem to be wearing well. They're cream fabric and have only been cleaned once, though I'm thinking about getting them done again soon. The seat cushions on the big one have got a bit flat so I'm going to replace the foam to see if that brings them back to life.

I was feeling peeved that they'd gone flat 'so quickly', but reading these posts it looks like they're doing well! I have this vague feeling a sofa should reasonably be expected to last ten years - is this right?

Dave_Brooker

scooterpig wrote: »

I'm curious because our sofas are six years old and seem to be wearing well. They're cream fabric and have only been cleaned once, though I'm thinking about getting them done again soon. The seat cushions on the big one have got a bit flat so I'm going to replace the foam to see if that brings them back to life.

I was feeling peeved that they'd gone flat 'so quickly', but reading these posts it looks like they're doing well! I have this vague feeling a sofa should reasonably be expected to last ten years - is this right?

We've got 2 DFS sofas that arrived on time and after 6 years are still going strong.

codger

We went to our local DFS at one of its sale times and were impressed with the apparent quality of the furniture and the courtesy and consideration shown by DFS sales staff.

There was an order now, pay us back interest-free in a thousand years' time (or something) offer but we told the salesperson we didn't want that: obviously, the interest on the loan (because that's what all those offers are: disguised loans) would have to be paid by somebody, and as that somebody was bound to be us, that meant the cost was already factored into the sales price.

So we'd want a one-third reduction for cash. The salesperson responded by saying it would be possible to waive payment protection if we were really, really sure.

Er, no. We don't want the loan / the offer. We have cash. The salesperson said, but the offer is interest free, so why d'you keep mentioning interest?

We said, well, last time we looked, the Bank Rate hadn't hit 0%. So as long as that's the case, there'll never be anything in the UK that's truly interest free.

The salesperson said it might be possible to reduce by 10%. Nope: whatever the rate of interest built into the showroom price, sale or not, it's going to be more than 10%.

The salesperson said, well you're probably better off going somewhere else. But if you can match this sale price offer, this quality of furniture, and these interest free terms, I'd be very, very surprised.

We haven't bothered going back to DFS to surprise anyone. We're more than happy with the furniture we've bought from a family firm established in our locality for more than 50 years. It has but two sales a year -- January, and July. Does not offer no interest, or any other kind of interest, finance. And deals only with major brand-name suppliers (mainly, British.)

Why anyone should buy furniture whose manufacturing origin isn't known from national companies with no longterm local provenance is a mystery -- unless such a company can be screwed down to a deal that makes financial sense (with DFS's sale price / interest-free / delayed payment offer, we'd reckon between 25% and 33% of the suite's price was allocated to loan servicing.)

We couldn't screw down DFS, so fair enough. And whilst we can't speak for the relative quality of the DFS unbranded offering compared with the branded furniture we've now acquired, we've still paid out less anyway -- and, judging from posts elsewhere in this thread, may possibly have acquired something of incalculable longterm value: peace of mind!

* PS: why do companies still perpetuate the interest-free myth? Consumers don't need to have a degree in economics to see there's no such thing -- just compare the prices of identical products on the Littlewoods web site and the Littlewoods Direct website. The former offers interest free financing. The latter doesn't. . .

TBeckett100

codger wrote: »

We went to our local DFS at one of its sale times and were impressed with the apparent quality of the furniture and the courtesy and consideration shown by DFS sales staff.

There was an order now, pay us back interest-free in a thousand years' time (or something) offer but we told the salesperson we didn't want that: obviously, the interest on the loan (because that's what all those offers are: disguised loans) would have to be paid by somebody, and as that somebody was bound to be us, that meant the cost was already factored into the sales price.

So we'd want a one-third reduction for cash. The salesperson responded by saying it would be possible to waive payment protection if we were really, really sure.

Er, no. We don't want the loan / the offer. We have cash. The salesperson said, but the offer is interest free, so why d'you keep mentioning interest?

We said, well, last time we looked, the Bank Rate hadn't hit 0%. So as long as that's the case, there'll never be anything in the UK that's truly interest free.

The salesperson said it might be possible to reduce by 10%. Nope: whatever the rate of interest built into the showroom price, sale or not, it's going to be more than 10%.

The salesperson said, well you're probably better off going somewhere else. But if you can match this sale price offer, this quality of furniture, and these interest free terms, I'd be very, very surprised.

We haven't bothered going back to DFS to surprise anyone. We're more than happy with the furniture we've bought from a family firm established in our locality for more than 50 years. It has but two sales a year -- January, and July. Does not offer no interest, or any other kind of interest, finance. And deals only with major brand-name suppliers (mainly, British.)

Why anyone should buy furniture whose manufacturing origin isn't known from national companies with no longterm local provenance is a mystery -- unless such a company can be screwed down to a deal that makes financial sense (with DFS's sale price / interest-free / delayed payment offer, we'd reckon between 25% and 33% of the suite's price was allocated to loan servicing.)

We couldn't screw down DFS, so fair enough. And whilst we can't speak for the relative quality of the DFS unbranded offering compared with the branded furniture we've now acquired, we've still paid out less anyway -- and, judging from posts elsewhere in this thread, may possibly have acquired something of incalculable longterm value: peace of mind!

* PS: why do companies still perpetuate the interest-free myth? Consumers don't need to have a degree in economics to see there's no such thing -- just compare the prices of identical products on the Littlewoods web site and the Littlewoods Direct website. The former offers interest free financing. The latter doesn't. . .

the interest free thing is to stagger payments into DFS for the future years trading books.

furndire

When you get interest free at any of these stores, you are getting a sofa at a greatly inflated price, to get your interest free, so the sofa you pay 2 grand for is probably worth about £500 quid on a good day.

Legally, they can't reduce the price for cash, as then the suite can't be interest free.

codger

furndire wrote: »

When you get interest free at any of these stores, you are getting a sofa at a greatly inflated price, to get your interest free, so the sofa you pay 2 grand for is probably worth about £500 quid on a good day.

Worse than even we thought, then, if 75% of a sale price is for retail overhead and mark-up.

But the "true" value of new furniture must be almost impossible to identify.

woofwoofwoof

This thread has been running for almost FOUR years!!! That's longer than my last sofa lasted!

trisontana

The present DFS sale ends soon, to be replaced by another one on Tuesday !