Angry with MFI on behalf of elderly friend

Supercali

I have a friend who has had nothing but trouble with MFI with ordering her wardrobes.

She initially ordered 3 wardrobes and 2 bedside cabinets last August and ended up with 4 separate deliveries, various cancellations and non-arrival of deliveries, eventaully getting all the stuff mid February this year!

Anyway, being an elderly lady she had to wait for someone to help her put them up. On opening the last box, they found that the chipboard on a quarter of the door is swollen up but the box is okay (water damage in warehouse?). She has phoned up MFI and they are not very helpful and have also said that this style is now discontinued and they will not be able to replace it :mad:. Also had she been advised that it was going to be discontinued then she would have bought a different style as she wanted more items in the future.

Now my friend is beside herself and is worrying that she has to fork out for 6 new wardobe doors herself! Where does she stand with this?

Also, she told me today that when she got home after ordering the wardrobes, she saw on the invoice that they had charged he £76 for furniture insurance which she didn't want and couldn't afford but didn't go back and complain :rolleyes: I suppose it is too late for her to do anything about it now.

adandem

Does the insurance cover the fault?
I'm not sure if this applies to furniture but there is a law which states that spares have to be available for a certain length of time (5 or 10 years).

The law also states that it's up to MFI to prove the goods were delivered in a satisfactory condition, I think that might be hard given the time factor, although if she didn't receive the door until February she may well have a case.

I think you will need to persevere and stand your ground. MFI will def. try and fob you off.

Cool_Mint

Keep it nice and polite for now; make an appointment to see the manager of the store she bought it from and explain the situation.

If he (or she) doesn't offer to replace the entire set of units or find the doors to fit the discontinued units then it's time to get on to their Head Office; they may be a lot more helpful than the store.

If the manager objects that it is expensive to replace the whole unit (actually they sell them for a hell of a lot more than they pay for them) I would make it very clear that it's not your problem that they sold discontinued stock.

Basically your friend was sold a duff item; the goods were not as described or in an acceptable condition which means that unless she signed an agreement to the contrary she has a right to a full refund or replacement.

If the manager suggests that the water damage was "her fault" you can point out that the box was undamaged and that an elderly lady would not be in the habit of lugging doors around to leave then in the back garden to get soggy; presumably she left them more or less where the delivery men left them.

You're not the first person to get the run around by a DIY store.

klane

Complain to the Furniture Ombudsman - sounds like lousy customer service the whole way through. MFI signed up to this independent service to mediate complaints - it's free.

Info on the FO is on the MFI site here: http://www.mfi.co.uk/mfi/content/qualitas.asp

My friend used to work for them (the FO) and they/he was always great and gave good advice and more often than not, won on behalf of the customer.

misgrace

I cant offer you advice I'm afraid, I would only say what the OP have said, but I just want to say thankyou for taking the time to try and help your elderly neighbour.:T
Keep on fighting on her behalf, as the poor dear has no one else, we should all try and help the elderly from being taken advantage of.

Nile

Hello Supercali

I'll move your thread to 'The (Consumer) Vent' board.

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere(please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

Regards

Nile

Curly_Chick

Hi

I had a total ORDEAL with MFI getting my kitchen units and work tops off them! I had 7 separate deliveries and when calling their customer service average 30 mins BEFORE i could speak to someone who couldn't help or put me on hold again!

I did get what I needed in the end and about 20-25% discount off the total price, the advice I can give from my experience is:

Take note of the problems - date, time, who you spoke to, was tehre notification of a delayed or failed delivery? (there should have been MFI policy!). Note a list of the problems this has caused and any expense this has incurred.

Register the problem with the furniture ombudsman or consumer direct.

I had the best results going into the store and speaking to the manager face to face, I brought a letter to hand deliver covering my complaint which I left with her after I had talked her through the problems.

It did take two trips into the store and at one point I did end up bursting into tears when the delivery man appeared at my door with a small package minus my worktops! He took pity on me and sorted something out at the warehouse and then the manager turned up to get the worktop's up the 4 flights of stairs! Result!

so from all of that, make detailed notes, put it on paper, see someone in person and don't give up, you will have to be persistent as I was fobbed off by lots of people before I got my issues sorted out.

Curly_Chick

PS - sorry forgot this in the last post, MFI have just (last week or week before) been on watch dog for just this kind of problem so there may be a bit of help or advice there!

deanos

adandem wrote: »

I'm not sure if this applies to furniture but there is a law which states that spares have to be available for a certain length of time (5 or 10 years)..

Where is this law ?

Flying_Demon

Hi, I too have had serious problems with furniture orders from MFI. Usual scenario of order placed, missing or damaged parts of the order, months to wait as the item is then out of stock, missed re-deliveries and around six months after the order was placed I eventually get the order completed. I tried the usual route of complaining through MFI's so called Customer Services and wrote many letters and e-mails requesting compensation for the delays and my own lost time waiting in for promised deliveries that never happened. I gave MFI 10 days to respond and as I did not get a response by the deadline I then just sued them through County Court using Money Claim on-line service. I sued them for over £ 1,000 being my lost time, expenses and cost of replacing handles for some of the furniture that were damaged and they stated they could not replace as spare parts. After the claim was issued by the court I recieved an offer for around 50% of the claim but refused this. Within a few days I received a letter and cheque for the full claim amount. MFI seem reluctant to defend such claims in court and I know of another instance where someone else has also sucesfully sued and received the whole amount claimed. So if as I was your fed up with MFI and waiting on calls and replies to letters from Customer Services I'd suggest this as an option. It worked for me with around 75% of my order value ending up being returned to me and a degree of satisfaction that I had made someone in MFI sit up at last! Hope this helps.

darwin-rover

http://www.bbc.co.uk/consumer/tv_and_radio/watchdog/reports/consumer_goods/consumer_20080303.shtml