Bought a Bed - Can I chargeback?

wombar

Hi All,

I was hoping for some advice as I'm about to get into an argument with Dreams (the bed people).

On the 28th April I went in and ordered a bed + frame for £500. The salesman told me 2-3 weeks delivery and I stressed at the time it had to be no longer than that because my current mattress is literally falling apart (i.e. the springs are actually poking out and they're pretty sharp). He said that was no problem.

I got a message on the telephone (I was out at the time) today that the bed would be at least another 2 weeks as they were having trouble sourcing the frame. Apparently they didn't sound very sure that 2 weeks would be do-able, so I want to get this sorted.

I'm going to call them tomorrow and see what options they have because I'm not getting into waiting around for 6 months while they sort themselves out. I paid the full amount on my credit card (yep, I should have paid a deposit but wasn't thinking at the time), is a chargeback an option on the grounds that they will have broken the delivery date (if they don't deliver within the next week or so)?

If they can offer another frame for the same money, that is fine, but I just want to have an idea of whether I can threaten them with a chargeback if they start getting snotty with me. I'm not out to cause trouble (;)) but the salesmen was quite happy to take my money, probably knowing full well that they would never be able to deliver in the requested time frame.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

dmg24

The CC company will only really step in when the retailer has refused to act, and only then if they are in breach of contract.

Does your contract state a guaranteed delivery date, or just an estimate?

wombar

Unfortunately, the contract says "usually within 28 days" so strictly speaking there's no written date. However, I was very adamant with the salesman that I needed this bed quickly which he assured me was no problem.

I've just read through the contract and it turns out the salesmen should have stated "time of the essence" on the order, of course doing so means that they would have been liable to pay compensation past a set date :mad:

The trouble is, they're now saying "around the 6th June" and I can just see that getting extended again closer to the time so I want to get it sorted asap. Apparently they have the mattress, but it's the frame that is the problem.

My plan is to get them to deliver the mattress free of charge and the frame separately (again for free) once it comes in as I could really do with getting rid of my current mattress.

One lesson I've learnt from this, never pay the full amount up front:D

dmg24

wombar wrote: »

One lesson I've learnt from this, never pay the full amount up front:D

... and to use a more reputable retailer!

wombar

Well, at this point, the ball is very much in their court to sort this out amicably. If they don't I'll be sure to leave plenty of negative posts/reports about the web detailing any shabby customer service.

I was recommended them by family members who bought from them without any problems, next time I'll do my own research

Tim_Deegan

The first mistake you made was going to Dreams.

The second mistake you made was believing anything the sales rep told you. Some of them will tell you anything to get a sale.

Contact your cc company and ask them.

If that fails contact trading standards, as many ofthe big chain stores actually break trading laws with their own terms and conditions.

Crabman

Hi wombar, I've moved this 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].

wombar

Thanks Crabman, I wasn't 100% sure where to post this question.

I've spoken to Dreams today and they agreed to a split delivery (at no extra charge) so the matress "should" be coming next week and the frame about 10 days after which I can live with.

In the future, whenever I'm buying something like this, I will ask for a copy of the contract and 30 minutes or so to read through it before commencing with the order so I know about any extra clauses that they've hidden in there.

I'll keep you updated as to whether they stick to the delivery date they have promised me.

Starb

I had a similar problem a couple of years ago and after a few well worded phone calls they gave me another brand new bed frame and mattress until mine could be sourced. When my bed was eventually delivered, weeks late, they collected the "loan " bed.

Tim_Deegan

Some of you seem to be missing the point.......you shouldn't have to put up with this sort of shoddy service. If people just roll over and accept it then they will continue to treat people like this. They don't care about word of mouth because they have a massive advertising budget, and for each person who has been told about a horror story there will be a 1000 who haven't heard, and will be taken in by the bull s### in their adverts.

So stand up to them and insist on a refund. The more people that do, then the less they will do this to people.

wombar

Hi All,

Thought I'd update this thread with a conclusion. First of all, the bed arrived on Friday including the frame and everything seems to be in working order.

However, they rang on the Saturday before to ask if they could deliver the whole lot rather than just the matress on Friday. This wasn't a major deal, but it meant re-arranging my week a little. I must admit I had visions of them calling to cancel on the day, but to be fair they delivered on Friday early in the morning with plenty of communication on the day.

However, if I had to do it again, I'll go to a local independant who would hopefully offer a better level of customer service. If the salesman had been honest (that's probably a misnomer) with me at the point of sale, I wouldn't have minded. But he obviously wanted his commission and didn't care about me as the customer.

Luckily, everything turned out okay for me, but I don't think I'd go back having read through the contract terms and conditions. I didn't think there was much point cancelling as the mattress was actually in, just the frame that was missing. If I had cancelled and gone somewhere else, it would have been another 3 week wait and I needed that mattress fairly quickly.