DFS Rip Off

Shelley3774

Sorry to bump this thread up again but I was just wondering where I stand with this. Last year we were lucky enough to have a corner suite bought for us by my Gran which was paid for in cash. On seeing it my Mum then said she would like to buy us the 3 seater to match - on ordering the 3 seater they arranged finance on it but I was paying cash on delivery. However my Mum did give us the monies but unfortunately due to an unexpected large bill we had to use the monies to pay this off. I have now received a letter from Hitachi finance saying our first payment is in March at £170. I was under the impression that it was on 4 yrs interest free however it appears the salesman opted for the 6 mths. I know I read and signed the agreement but at the time I intended to pay cash.
Do you think I will be able to change the agreement to a longer period now or is it too late?

annaperchard

Hi,
In Dec 2003 I took out 4 yrs free cred on 2 sofa's no payment for the 1st year.
The total was £1500, they showed up 2mths later which was a pain as I had to start paying for them Dec 2004.
The warranty had stated I could claim for repairs and clean as they were white, but I tried and couldn't.
My payments were 36 x £72 and I never missed 1 but it didn't take me long to realise I had been over charged by £1092!!
£340 had gone on insurance should I have lost my job- which I did and wasn't able to claim for so that was a huge waste I cancelled the last 2 payments to save £20, and the other wopping £752 by all accounts went on extended warranty another massive loss as I hadn't even been able to use it!!! I did not ask for that and I was not told about it when at the show room by the cocky sales man.
I sent emails, I made calls and the response I got was pretty awful they denied all knowledge of it and were very rude.making it clear they would do nothing about any of it because they insist they did nothing wrong.
The total cost for my sofas worth £1500 was infact £2252 so much for a great deal and interest free credit. Never again

Darren_Coventry

heather_p03 wrote: »

We called in to DFS last Tuesday, 25 March. We live about 70 miles from the nearest store and specifically asked the salesman Scott if they delivered to our town.
'Our boys are up there all the time' was the reply.

My husband, our 2 sons and I all agreed on a 3 seater leather sofa and power chair so we went ahead and ordered the products along with a 5 year leather care plan at £128 extra.
We chose a 36 month 0% finance plan with no deposit. The delivery charge is printed on the form at £25.
On the journey home we had a call from Scott to say that he had made a mistake. Delivery was actually £75 but the care plan was £118 so in effect we owed them £40. He said that we would be able to pay the driver the balance or pay over the phone prior to delivery.

There is nothing on the form to indicate that delivery charges change according to distance so are DFS allowed to do this? Are we obliged to pay them the difference as it is not in writing?
If we have a call-out for the care plan, will we get charged extra mileage?

I would appreciate any comments if this is happening to others.

Our sofa and chair will be delivered in 13 weeks' time!

Hi, this is on the DFS website under their T&C's

"A small charge of £39 is made for our delivery and installation service for deliveries made in mainland UK and Northern Ireland, within a 50 mile radius of any DFS store. If you wish your order to be delivered outside the 50 mile radius we will be happy to provide you with a personal delivery quotation. e.g. Republic of Ireland, Channel Islands, etc."..... So, they are technically right about the extra delivery cost,

On the back of the paperwork the Terms and Conditions are usually printed. If so, you are deemed to have seen, read, understood and accepted them by you signing the contract of sale.
If you were not shown the T&C's or informed where the T&C's were before you signed the contract OR as the salesperson made an error, you could try to argue that you were mis-informed about the extra delivery cost prior to you signing the Contract and that if you had of known about the extra cost, it may have made a difference as to whether you had of placed the order but it's a bit of a long shot... If you go back into the store and try, if they say no, you could ask to speak to the manager and try him/her.

I would go in and be very calm and pleasant to start with, if you are not getting anywhere, then try this:

The salesperson wrote the delivery cost on the paperwork as part of the contract and that is what you signed, you could try arguing that the mistake was theirs and the contract states the first delivery charge so by increasing the charge is a breach of the contract, you could tell them you feel you have a right to cancel the contract (not that you do o know, but they don't know that!). Then tell them that you won't cancel the contract, but you feel you should only have to pay the delivery charge that you were told about and that forms part of the contract.
You could try making out that you think you could cancel the contract as your Statutory Rights under the Sale of Goods Act 1979 as amended by the Sale and Supply of Goods Act 1994. It might make them think you know the law lol

There is nothing in there about costs of call-out charges that I can see.
One last thing. When you go in, if you think of the negotiation as a sea-saw (stay with me here lol). At the start, you are both equal. By asking them to honour the lower delivery cost and also that you feel legally you have the right to cancel the contract, then you go higher (winning) and they go lower (losing) but if you say that you won't cancel, if they won't insist on the higher delivery cost, then you remain high but they also rise high as they are not losing a sale... Hence the saying a win win situation. It's a psychological thing.

Sorry for the essay! I used to work for a Citizens Advice Bureau and this is all I can remember. Apologies for any errors, I've wrote this on my iPhone and at gone 3am
Hope this helps. Let us know how you get on :-)

chalkie99

Darren_Coventry wrote: »

Hope this helps. Let us know how you get on :-)

That post is three years old.

I should think it might be sorted by now and the sofa will be scrap

CHR15

How on earth do people manage to drag up such old posts ?

Does the forum default to oldest first for newcomers?

geoffky

why do people shop at this place! the horror stories are all over the tinternet and they seem the brighthouse of sofa shops...just go to a normal shop were the credit cost is not put in the price upfront.

Culex

Darren_Coventry wrote: »

sea-saw

Have you ever tried sawing up lumps of the sea?

kev.s

geoffky wrote: »

why do people shop at this place! the horror stories are all over the tinternet and they seem the brighthouse of sofa shops...just go to a normal shop were the credit cost is not put in the price upfront.

got to agree there, after all the horror stories people should learn...

CHR15 wrote: »

How on earth do people manage to drag up such old posts ?

Does the forum default to oldest first for newcomers?

does it really matter how old they are if they get the info they need

chris1804

dont go to dfs they sell cheap !!!!, i had some trouble with them , with the help of the people on here i won the case

prettylittlesally

Have a look at business . scotsman . com
Awww the small profit DFS are making makes you weep doesn’t it?!?!?!

DFS sales man greeted me “hello, is this your first time to DFS?” “Yes!” I replied. He then sat me down on a sofa, he explained how DFS slave to manufacture great quality furniture. He said there was great slavings on this sofa…oops…I think he meant savings! It is made in china, hand made in China actually. Real pleather, I can buy millionaire priced baby wipes for it, warranty it for something which will unlikely happen. Anything that is likely to happen, won’t be under warranty…sounds fair right? :eek:

I decided DFS wasn’t the place to get my new suite, so thanked the sales man who was beginning to beg and tried to get up off the sofa which was slowly sinking in to the floor. After kicking him in the nuts and freeing myself from the stranglehold he had on me, 'seems like drastic measures to get a sale' I ran from the store and bought a sofa from Argos. Phew!

I survived! :A