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I brought a corner group from dfs, there are 5 sections and we only have ever used 2 sections as there is only 2 of us in the house. The sofa is coming up to 19 months old and one of the sections we dont use, whilst cleaning it, i noticed that the arm top was not as firm as the other arm on the part we use. dfs came out and when looked, the wood board on top on the arm frame was split. very strange as this has had no use at all and is clearly unused as the cushions on the 2 seats we use have sunk in and the other 3 seats are still as when delivered. They proposed to glue some cardboard over the split and then glue a split of wood across the cardboard. They say this is an acceptable fix. When i said i dont think so, this must of clearly of been a fault when it was made as we have never used the seat, i was told it could of been but i need to prove it and this was the repair method. My problem is it feels like they are just bodging the arm up and it is not what i paid for as the arm was made with wood and not cardboard. The manager rang and refused to do anything other than this cardboard repair, spoke to customer services at head office who was just rude and told me thats all that would be done and tough if i dont like it. How can they get away with such poor repairs and service. what else can i do about it
In follow up to the previous post above, I had a second visit from the local store manager who now wanted to totally remove the leather cover to repair the arm, would they ever it get it put back the same way. I have since found out from the manager of the stoke store, that the nice Italian leather sofa we brought ( well thats what the sales advisor Jamie Wetton )told us when we order the sofa is infact inported from China and nothing to do with Italy like we were told. How can DFS expect to get away with poor repairs and lying to customers just to get a sale.
Well i have enventually spoken with the area manager of DFS today, Adam Hankingson, Still have not resolved the issue, He claims its acceptable that we can not clean the leather with the leather kit they sold us and that we may of wiped the leather to hard to cause the black marks and the hard circle patterns that happened last time we used them. Never have i had this problem with previous leather sofas i have had and cleaned. On the subject of the faulty arm, they will still do a repair but wont guarentee the work. As they need to remove the entire leather from the sofa, mend the arm and then recover it with the leather. He has refused to cover the work with any guarentee, so if they do not refit the leather proberly, it will be on myself to get it fixed again. How can they get away with this and all he can say is take us to court if you are not happy as the judge will rule in our favour. He also said that you do not use the chair so the leather wont move on it.
The subject of the sales advisor that told us that the sofa was made in italy when actually it was made in china, he basically said that this did not happen and i was lying. Well as i was there and asked this question when i placed the order, i know what was said and as he was not there, how can he say what was said without asking the sales advisor. I said i would go myself and speak with him. When i got to the shop, Adam had rang ahead of me going and told the manager to ring the police if i raised my voice as they did not want a scene in the shop. What does that tell you about them. Jamie Wetton could not recall what he had said despite remembering that we had made a template to get the correct measurements. He sat their quite smuggly and refused to answer the question about why he told me it was made in italy when it was made in china. If you do go to DFS in stoke avoid this sales advisor as he will say anything to get a sale. we would not of paid £3000 for a chines peice of poor quality furniture and would of choosen something else had he of told the truth. I guess the problems will carry on as this is still not resolved. Their customer service is very poor as well as they promise to ring you back and then dont. They seem only too happy to take your money but are not so good when problems arise and how they are sorted out.
me and my partner went into dfs in coventry to buy a leather corner sofa on 18/10/2011 as we live in a flat we took the measurements into the shop with us and after choosing the sofa explained to sal the sales assisant how small the hallway in the flat is and that we wernt sure if the sofa would fit. we gave him the measurments and he assured us the sofa would definatly fit if we ordered it in three parts, so we orderd the sofa for £1,200 and paid £200 in cash deposit we were told we were guarenteed before christmas delivery. we then waited over 8 weeks for our sofa and
on 23/12/2011 we recieved a phonecall saying our sofa was ready to be delivered today and we had to go into the store imediatley and pay the remainding £1000 before they would deliver our sofa although i had not even seen the sofa when it arrived we discovered that the sofa was in two parts not three and did not fit through my front door. i went into the store to explain what had happened and was told sal no longer works in the store and it is our word against his and that we must of ordered it in two parts, all they could offer was to pay an extra £160 for the sofa to be made in three parts and it would take another 12 weeks i explained to the manager thats not good enough i am due to have a baby in 4 weeks and he could see i am heavily pregnant he eventually agreed to a refund which would take 3 days. i paid £1200 in cash and am still waiting for a refund we cannot afford another sofa until dfs refund us our money and i have spent the whole of christmas sitting on laminated flooring i am now 36 weeks pregnant.... went into the store again today to be told by the manager we would be waiting a further ten days for a check to be sent top my address he did not care that me and my partner have no furniture to sit on and we were told to leave the store
I've had my leather 3 piece sofa's for 6yrs and they're still looking pretty good, why I decided to try to re-pad the seat cushions of the 3 seater (which has lost resilience on the front edge due to constant use).
Inside I found the makers paper label stapled to the frame(cheap timber/board but retained it's rigidity)... SoftLine S.P.A ... so assuming it was made in Italy and why it has done well.
I didn't like being pushed into the DFS fabric protection plan, BUT!!, I got the store manager to strike out and sign against a clause restricting it's cover.
I see comments where people compare quality over time but unfortunately we are in a throw-away age where so many people don't want to live with the same household items for years, so they're not built to last.
A good test when choosing .. lift one front corner up to test the solidity of a 3/4 seater (the salesman's face will be a picture lol)
On 9th January 2011 we went to the Parkgate branch of DFS in Rotherham. Having seen a suite on the DFS TV advert. They also had one on the shop floor. It was the Light Brown Oskar large sofa, footstool and chair. Having previously been “stung” by sofa warehouse in Sheffield we decided to ask questions before agreeing to a sale. We were reassured by the sales assistant, (Neil Pilling) that the suite was of the highest quality and we would not have any issues at all with the suite. We arranged to pay by the pay-in-full in 12 months option because if we did have any issues we wouldn’t have lost any money. Again we were re-assured by Neil that we wouldn’t have any problems and that if we did, we could return it. Feeling confident we signed the agreement.
On 25th February 2011 we took delivery and were very happy with the suite.
On 23rd May 2011 my wife was reaching under the sofa for her mobile phone when she cut the back of her wrist on something sharp! On investigation we found it to be a bracing spar underneath which had split and come through the base. The wood used was badly knotted, not the sort of quality you would expect on a £3000 piece of furniture. My wife was heart broken.
I contacted the store and told them that we require the suite collecting as we were told it is of the highest quality and it clearly is not. They said they would send someone to assess the suite. After taking another day off work, the technician came out to look at the fault. He explained that he could fix it, replacing the piece of wood. It would have to be collected and we would be left with a temporary replacement. I told him that is not acceptable as my wife suffers from allergies and having furniture in the house that has probably had pets on it at some stage could cause a severe reaction. I also told him that we didn’t want it fixing as it would be effectively bodged up, that’s not what we signed for!
I complained in writing to the store manager with no response so took advice from the Furniture Ombudsman. They told me to write to the store. I wrote to them, threatening them with legal action citing Faulty Product and Not fit for Purpose causing personal injury.
On 31st August 2011 the suite was eventually replaced with another new one. After taking another day off work for collection/delivery we thought the replacement was a different shade but put it down to lighting conditions at the time. By night time with the room lights on it was obviously a different colour. Instead of Tan, like the one on the TV advert, in the showroom, in the brochure and as previously delivered, it appeared Reddy-Brown!
I again complained to the store so they sent the technician out again to assess it. He came with swatches and insisted that they only do Brown and Red and that ours is a shade of brown I pointed out the Red dye in the folds of the suite and compared them with the swatch. He said we would have to take it up with the manager.
On 18th September 2011 we took the footstool to the store to show the store manager and compare it with the one they had collected. I took photos for evidence. The store manager said he was happy we did because he can see for himself the both suites are clearly Brown. I explained that one was Tan (as was the ones advertised) and one was Reddy Brown. He said “when you order Brown, you get Brown, it could be any shade of Brown”. I told him his manufacturer obviously has no quality control.
On 3rd October 2011 I wrote to head office in Doncaster again threatening legal action citing Not-as-Described, that we will charge for storage until it is collected and a claim for personal injury.
On 7th October 2011 the suite was collected after further phone calls to the customer services dept. The driver refused to give me a receipt to say he had collected the suite. If I hadn’t videoed the collection I would have no evidence to say it had been collected by DFS! All along I have taken pictures and written to DFS as talking to staff has no effect, they also tell lies. We were told by the receptionist at Parkgate that our original suite had gone back to the manufacturer for repair however when we visited the store, it was in the stock room. The store manager explained that it was now fixed so I pointed to the piece of wood stuck out of the bottom! How can you do business with these people, they cannot be trusted.
DFS has cost us dearly in loss of earnings. I also loose my monthly bonus if I take a day off work. My wife has suffered a personal injury which could have been more serious.
DFS customer service is very poor to non-existent. I have had to chase them up almost on a daily basis to get anything done. After contacting my home insurance company, I was advised to take legal action as we have a good case. I also had to tell DFS to notify their credit underwriters, (Creation) that the contract had been cancelled. If I hadn’t, we would have been hit with a £3000 bill in January for a suite we didn’t have!
We are now finally rid of DFS and will never use them again. The experience has affected us to such an extent that we feel compelled to tell everyone about how bad their service and products are.
NEVER EVER BUY A SOFA FROM DFS.
My story begins on June 2nd 2011 when my mother of 82 years old and me went to the DFS store in Exeter and purchased a Taylor Leather Corner Sofa. We were told it would take 11 weeks for delivery, which I found surprising because I assumed they made the sofa in the UK by what their website said and I quote, 'A Proud British Company'. Anyway on the day of delivery, August 10th, the lorry arrived and the driver immediately asked for the remaining payment of £1000. We told him we haven’t even seen the sofa yet but he insisted on payment first, so we had no option but to pay. The sofa was put together and it did look nice. That evening we sat comfortably on it until bed time. I looked at the sofa and noticed the leather had stretched quite considerably, but assumed it would revert back to what it looked like earlier. In the morning the sofa was still stretched and now looked older than the 15 year old sofa I had got rid of to accommodate this one. I asked a neighbour in to get her opinion in case I was overreacting but she too said the sofa looked old and that it should not have stretched like that. The next day I called DFS in Exeter and was told that a Service Manager would visit on August 17th. Before he arrived I discovered that the sofa had not been built in the UK but in China. I also went searching on the internet and discovered hundreds and thousands of complaints from other customers. I then went in search of knowledge as to my consumer rights and that the best thing to do was not to accept any repair and to say that, ‘Due to the fault I am rejecting this sofa and want my money back.’ When the Service Manager arrived he did seem a bit cagey but agreed the leather had stretched a lot in a short period of time. He said he could add more filling but then the leather would stretch again as it takes several months to settle. I then informed him that I was rejecting the sofa and he said he would report back to the store manager at Exeter. In the meantime he advised I put in writing that I was rejecting it and send the letter to the store manager. This I did and sent the letter recorded delivery. Over the next few days the store manager seemed reluctant to accept the problem, but he eventually agreed that the leather had stretched after confirmation from the Service Manager. I was then informed that the sofa would be picked up on August 24th and the money refunded. Yes the sofa was picked up, which has left my 82 year old mother and me sitting on garden furniture for the next couple of months while we order a new one, but it took 16 days before we got our money back.
Looking at all the complaints on this site and many others, I count myself lucky that I got my money back. I would advise anyone to know their consumer rights when complaining and don’t accept a repair. The sofas are made from cheap low quality leather so you have been warned. We paid £1200 for the sofa plus extras but 15 years ago I had paid £500 for two leather sofas from Argos and they lasted me all that time. I would never buy from DFS again.
In reply to cropdog-,there is NO independent furniture assor. Furniture Ombudsman are not 100% independent -they are sponsored by dfs and others-ie dfs pay to be a member !!! I found out the hard way.
I attempted to take this further - I went to my MP,Maria Miller- I asked her to take this to a higher level so that other innocent people would not have to endure what i did.
A complete waste of time,she referred it to "the Minister responsible for trading standards" ,even more waste of time.Seriously, it is appalling how THERE IS NO HELP against this diabolical trader ! And we wonder why humanity has so given up......
Is the root of this , the billionaire Tory Peer, LORD KIRKHAM ,who until recently was the OWNER of DFS.He set it up this way ,and I wonder why he became a billionaire???
Is this another example of greed in our society.......
me and my partner purchased one of the leather corner groups from d f s and had nothing but trouble with it we have had the corner group 2 years and had to have someone out to it three times due to the colour coming out of it it looks awful and cost a lot of money will not go to d f s again i am so disgusted when someone comes out they try to re coulor it which leaves blobs of paint all over it looks awful shame on you d f s by angry customer
On 28th February 2011 my partner and I decides to go to DFS to buy our 1st Sofa for our 1st house together. After a long and exciting scan around the store we finally found a sofa we both liked and decided to seal the deal. With the paper work in hand we left the store excited that in 2 weeks we'd have the keys to our new home and 8 weeks later be sitting on our new luxurious sofa. 1 week had past and i received a call from the Inverness store advising me that the salesman had got my address wrong and asked me to confirm it all. They had confused our old address with the new one and had the sofa going to our previous address so we went up that night to sort out the paper work. The next day i got another phone call telling me the paper work again was wrong and asked if we could return to correct it. so again another 50 mile round trip (100 in total caused by DFS' mistakes) to sort it out. away we wnt happy and thinking all was now ok. The next day i get another phone call asking me to return yet again to sign the paper work they never got me to sign after trip 2, So again i returned now clocking up a grand total of 150 miles and half a tank of petrol at 1.39 per litre soon adds up. when i arrived i asked for some kind of compensation for the trouble caused to which i got the reply. "If we offered compensation to all our customers we would be out of business"
I left the store unhappy to say the least and was more than willing to cancel everything. 11 weeks had passed and i thought to myself my sofa should be here by now/soon so i thought i'd phone the store to get a delivery date. as i reached to pick up the phone i was graced by the rather un-professional tone of a glaswegian woman from DFS informing me that there has been a delay in my sofa and won't be here until the end of May 3 months after placing the order. Rather annoyed about this i asked to speak to a manager. I was told he was busy with a customer just now and was offered a callback. 2 hours had passed... Still no call so i brought it on myself again to call the store and chase things up. When asking to speak to the manager i was told he was still busy with someone and offered another callback. Annoyed with this i asked to speak to the managers manager to which i was told "The managers Manager was on Holiday" so away i went wating again to what seemed to be an eternity of waiting when i eventually got a call from another slightly more professional sounding Glaswegian.
He intorduced himself as Koraye the DFS store manager. when i explained to him the reason why i was wishing to speak to him he was full of empathy and sounded like he actually did care that was until i told him our current seating arrangement consisting of 2 deck chairs and a dinning room chair. He offered me a loan sofa to tide us over till our sofa came as the delay was due to shipping from Italy. When i refused this on the grounds that as i didn't know who had this sofa before me or how it's been treated ie damaged, stained or worse Flea ridden and i wasn't prepared to take this into my house he stated that "comfort obviously isn't important to me" Now i'm sorry but working myself in customer service i'd never dream of saying this to a customer and not to one paying £2000 in their store. after a lomg talk Koraye agreed to compensate me £75 off the total cost of the sofa and 2 free £25 leather care kits for all the trouble i've had. He also agreed to keep me updated regularly on the progress of my order. Trying to keep back the burning rage inside me i told the very helpful manager (and i use helpful in the most sarcastic way possible) i'd think about his kind offer and call him back with a decision on if i'd take the sofa and his offer or cancel the lot.
30 minutes past and i called hi back to say that i'd carry on with my order but if it does not arrive by the 30th May i'd be canceling the lot.
We are now going into week 14 and 1 week from deadline I deciced i'd call the Inverness store since they have neglegted to call me. I spoke to Harry who within 10 seconds filled me with more confidence than i could ever hope for. I asked to speak to Koraye and was told he has a day off tomorrow but will be back tomorrow at 9am (No this is not a typing mistake someone actually said this) He told me the systems were down for the night and can't chase up any orders till tomorrow morning. (Funny this as when i placed the original order it was well after 5.30pm probably more like 6-7pm and it was all done online and in store. Accepting this i ended the call or so our intellectual genius Harry thought. He failed to hang the phone up properly and in the background i hear the words "That was Mr H on the phone for you"
Thank you very much DFS not only have you lost yet another unhappy customer but you've also lost £2000 of our hard earned cash.
I bought a recliner sofa and matching chair, both look old after only 4 months. We have been advised to give them maintenance, which is to plump them very vigorously. This is unacceptable as we were not shown this when purchasing. The model in their showroom was very full and firm, our suite was not like this when it arrived and it certainly has diminished in a very short space of time. The service rep says it is normal and there is nothing wrong with the suite. Well, it is a matter of opinion then, because I don't have one visitor who doesn't comment on how old it looks for a 'new' suite. The service rep is just doing what he is told, but it is nothing short of a disgrace to sell furniture which costs thousands of pounds and yet won't last years, it'll feel too uncomfortable to use past 12 months. I wouldn't recommend DFS at all, not to my worst enemy. I am sending my story to Watchdog and have put a review on 'Mary Portas' I suggest other 'unhappy with DFS furniture' customers do the same. DFS make you feel like you are alone in your views about how bad their furniture is, yet when researching online, you see that you are not alone. They belittle the problems you have with their furniture, yet if you bought a car which didn't run properly you wouldn't drive it would you?!?! Why accept an uncomfortable shabby looking sofa when you purchased sitting on a far better quality version? Don't accept it. MARY PORTAS - send your reviews. WATCHDOG - get this company on there for its bad quality furniture and customer service. Don’t get done, get Dom, another show you can send your stories to, if we don’t get this company in the media to warn potential customers, DFS will never change their tune.
Shopping at DFS is like shopping at Faulty Towers, it is a truly abysmal service and what you end up with is substandard tripe! We were slimed on by the DFS sales man who tried to get more out of us, as one sale is just not enough for these vultures.
Anyway, we received the 'leather' sofa in less than satisfactory condition, it dips in the middle of the seats like it is old. The issues of little filling in the cushions were apparently normal, this is what the service rep said, who must be 20 stone and wouldn't dare sit on our sofa as he could already see it would collapse. The stitching which isn't straight has been explained as hand made. Well a machine has sewn this 100 cow and the only hands involved would have been the one operating the machine...I guess he was either drunk, hung over, or was cross-eyed. It is nothing short of a joke, the alleged 'upholsterer/service manager' tried to re-sew the dodgy stitching again, EVEN HE CAN’T SEW! Oh we are not going to even bother trying to get our money back, we will just chalk it up to experience and the dog will get a new bed … poor animal.. LOL.. DFS should be more like Pleather Lada in the lounge.
-Zero for quality ---zero for service.
I should have trusted the hundreds of reviews out there about this company and it's awful furniture and how different it is to the showroom stuff they advertise and dupe you in to thinking you will get.
I boutgh a 3 seater leather electric recliner from DFS 18 months ago, I live alone and sit on the same side all the time, alas the side I sit on had sank about 2 inches lower that it was when new, I telephoned DFS Carlisle (where I bought it) and they sent a man to look at it, he renewed the padding and it is now back to the way it was when new, he also told me that if/when it did that again just to phone and they will repair it again for as long as the 5 year warranty, I am a heavy built man (20 stone) so I think I got all I could ask for, DFS have treated me well and I am delighted with the service.
dangerous dfs driver in hull!!!! it frightens me that this guy drives his truck around hull while eating from a plastic container with a fork. he needs stopping before he kills someone, he is not in control of this vehicle and iv seen this twice. is this his lunchtime trick. not a very good advert for dfs
Our settee is of a terrible quality, not worth the money we paid. The leather is fading, their are cracks in the pieces of wood which make up the frame. The recliner is good, but that is all that is good about the settee. It arrived scuffed and DFS won't accept responsibility. The leather is fading and they say it isn't, and that it is normal. The seats are sagging and we are no where near as fat as the service manager who says he has a DFS settee and it is perfect. Well, perhaps his is of the quality of the showroom settees, totally different to what most people get I suspect. The constant sale just makes you sick, it isn't a sale, it is just cheap furniture made badly in china. We won't shop at DFS again. It should stand for Distressed Faulty Sofas...utter rubbish. and the staff are rude, they are what you usually come up against in Mc Donald’s, ignorant really.
We have had a few problems with our sofa from the very beginning as I have stated in my past reviews, more problems came to light since those reviews but have now ‘hopefully’ been put right. The insufficient filling has been remedied with extra filling. The Preston general manager ‘John, who was very nice,’ came to look at the problem areas and suggested extra filling…no surprise there! But we wanted to allow DFS to put these issues right and have done from the very beginning when we received the sofa with holes.
The sofa was re-delivered today, packed full of fibres, two bag loads the service engineer said! Well, perhaps a little more filling in the first place would mean these problems don’t occur. The delivery drivers were careful, they put dust sheets down and gave us a clean courtesy sofa whilst the necessary works were being done on our sofa. We feel they did go the extra mile to make sure we are happy with the sofa and we do hope that at long last we can get to enjoy it fully and without compromise.
We have the five year warranty on frame and springs, plus the two year warranty on stitching. As this stitching has been re-sewn since receiving the sofa, we would hope that they would extend that warranty, should we have further problems. The first service engineer who came out to sew the holes said that DFS usually endeavour to sort any problems out long after the warranty period as a good will gesture, and he stated that DFS really do value their customers. I hope this to be true, but hope more that we don’t have any need to find out!!!
What I would say in favour of DFS, because you have to give credit where credit is due, is that DFS have rectified the issue of insufficient fibre filling, which I feel is more than some companies would have done. But it has taken two letters to head office, several phone calls, declining the second service rep coming out a second time so it could be looked at by someone else. I had to wait in several times, week days, so had to juggle work commitments. It has been stressful and I still have reservations about recommending this company as our sofa was not checked before delivery and some of their staff lack the empathy needed when things go wrong for their valued customers.
The only advice I can give is from our personal experience. Write to their head office and list the problems you have with your furniture and what you wish to be done to put things right for you, whether that is for the furniture to be fixed, exchanged, or your money refunded if the furniture is not fit for purpose. Get advice from consumer direct, they will log the issue and advise you on what steps to take and help with letter writing should you need it. We were advised to write to our credit card company as we paid in full, giving copies of all correspondence should the matter go to court. I would imagine the same will apply if you buy the furniture on credit, you will need to send the details to the credit agency. We also took advice from a furniture specialist who could provide a specialist furniture report should we need to press matters.
All in all it has been an unpleasant and stressful few weeks, which I would not wish on anyone. I would suggest to DFS that you need greater quality control, our sofa was presumably made in China, one side did have less filling than the other, there was an issue with insufficient filling and perhaps is in a lot of your furniture judging by the amount or negative reviews out there. Also if furniture is being sent out to the customer unchecked, why is this? The first service rep told us that furniture was being sent out in busy periods unchecked, so it is an issue you should deal with. What added insult to injury was the dismissive response I got from Himan at the Preston store when reporting the holes, these things might happen but some common courtesy wouldn’t be too difficult surely?
Please look in to these issues DFS if you read this, our case is not a one off by any stretch of the imagination. We bought this sofa because it looked and felt great in two of your showrooms, we didn’t ask for a replacement or refund before allowing you to deal with all the issues we had with our sofa, so customers give you the benefit of the doubt, please give the customer the benefit of the doubt and look in to the issues of insufficient fibre filling and furniture going unchecked. Besides a better sales pitch as seen on Mary Portas, I feel these more serious issues will undoubtedly be highlighted soon, if nothing is done on another TV show. Good quality control would help resolve many of the problems you and your customers face.
I realise it might be a difficult balance when trying to produce quality furniture at affordable prices, but like any other large company making large sums of money, there is always room for improvement and customer satisfaction should always be first and foremost.
have just read the complaints on here about sagging cushions,i have just had them out to look at mine which i have had 6 months, i have been told to plump it which i don't mind but not every time i sit on the dam thing. Have been told i can buy some foam to replace it( why is foam not in it to start with). I have now been told that it is fiber inside,i didn't know that, excuse me not not unzipping the cushion in the showroom . I am waiting to see what they are going to do about it ,got to give em a chance then if i not happy will go to trading standards, i am not prepared to let this matter drop
We have now had a second ‘DFS service representative’ out to look at the other problem areas and been given the explanation as to why the back cushions appear to have insufficient filling “ It is a high maintenance sofa with fibre filled cushions which need plumping every day or two to keep their shape”. If this is so, why weren’t we told of this ‘high maintenance’ when viewing it in two stores, or indeed when ordering it?
During this visit the service representative pushed a wire through the stitching on one corner to drag the fibres up to fill the sunken area, it still looks sad on both corners but we are assured sufficient plumping will keep it in shape and the fibres won’t flatten as long as we look after it. We still feel there is insufficient filling, the sofa doesn't look plump no matter how much we “maintain” the top and sides as advised, but judging by the way the second service rep explained DFS fibre filled furniture, it looks like we are supposed to lump it!
Shortly after the second visit from a service rep we received a phone call from DFS customer services and an apology for the condition the sofa was in when we took delivery. As a good will gesture the delivery charge was refunded to us. This is small recompense for our time and troubles really. Although DFS have asked us to contact them directly at customer services should we have any other issues with the sofa, we have sent a second letter of complaint to their head office as we feel the issue needs to be recorded in writing.
There is also the third issue in that of one recliner not reclining out fully, but the explanation is that it is stiff and needs to be reclined several more times before it reclines as well as the other side, something which will hopefully get better with use.
We are bitterly disappointed with the quality of this sofa and if we had known we would be put through this stress and inconvenience we would have shopped elsewhere. We don’t yet know if anything can be done about the badly filled cushions, the leather is creasing quite badly and I cannot see what will remedy this. We again are giving DFS the chance to rectify this for us but we are now feeling so very fed up with it all and wonder if we will ever have the sofa we can enjoy for 15 years?
We are also having problems with our new leather sofa. It was delivered with a hole and some undone stitching. Since these faulty areas of stitching have been sewn, we have also found that the cushion filling is not sufficient. We hope to allow DFS to rectify these issues to our satisfaction but we are of course very unhappy that this can be allowed to happen at all. I would recommend you contact consumer direct for advice, they can help you with letters of complaint. If the issues are not being resolved always send a letter of complaint to the head office via recorded delivery to make sure your problems with the company are addressed. Keep all correspondence and take dated photographs or video the faults. Do not allow DFS to leave you unhappy with your purchase, you deserve better. Watchdog need to receive enough complaints about companies trading badly before they can act, so get your complaint off to them too. We as customers have rights and one of the most basic rights is to receive what we pay for in new and pristine condition, if that is what we are being sold. When we purchase a broken, torn or unfinished item, we have the right to complain and it must be put right. Good luck to everyone else in the same boat.
New Sofa arrived and arm was dirty and scuffed, reported it and DFS guy come to try and clean but ended up completely replacing the arm.
In the meantime the stitching on the cushions have started to come apart after 3 weeks and the cushions are just ridiculous in that there is hardly no foam in the cushions and you have to plump them each time you sit on them. DFS basically dont want to know - they send someone out who must have been on the same training course as the rest of the posts in the forum because they completely deny there is a issue and have told us we bought a high maintenence sofa. We are just at our wits end with DFS. You buy a product from a reputable company and expect a better service bu they just seem so arrogant and unhelpful and unwilling to do anything.
any thoughts on what to do next or are we in the list of unhappy customers?
Will anyone ever stop this company or are we just too small and them too big. We need a retired Lawyer to help us all.
Also can anyone tell me if there is an independant furnisure assor and how would I know they are not linked with this company.
DFS Corner Unit Suite
• Ordered Suite in November 2009 – Delivered February 2010
• Immediately we could see that one part of the suite had stitching that wasn’t straight.
• A sales person who said he was an Assessor came out to see it. And said it was within his tolerances. When asked what were measures of tolerances, he said it was down to his eye. He said there was no problem.
• We went to see the store manager immediately after seeking advice from Consumer Direct. We informed him of our rights but half way through quoting the advice given he put the palm of his hand up to my face and told me to stop as he knew his rights but agreed to come and see it the next day.
• The manager came into our house and agreed it was faulty, he offered to get it recovered. He said he would order new leather and it would be in within ten weeks. When it arrived he would arrange for it to be collected and re-covered.
• After approximately ten weeks they picked up the faulty part and took it away to be re-covered.
• After a few days they told us it had been re-covered and they would be delivering it.
• Due to the fact that we were on holiday we could not inspect this until we returned and our brother-in-law accepted the suite back as agreed with the manager.
• During this time we had been informing Consumer Direct of our actions.
• On return from our holiday we noticed the part had not been re-covered so contacted the manager of the store we insisted it had but he would look in to it.
• Two days later he called us back and said he was very cross with his staff as they had not covered it but tried to stretch it, he agreed once again to collect the faulty part.
• Once again after a few days they arranged delivery of the re-covered section.
• When the delivery people arrived they asked my husband to inspect it on the back of the vehicle as they felt that had not been re-covered and they did not want to carry the part up and down again as they were the original drivers.
• Once again the part had not been covered and was returned to the store where it still sits.
• We were then offered a hundred pounds to accept the faulty suite back, however they now said the section never had a fault and they were only re-covering it as a good will gesture.
• I have been plagued with phone calls to go and see the section again, of which I did and there was no change I took an independent witness to see if their views were the same they also felt that a suite worth nearly £3000 that it was inacceptable to have uneven stitching.
• I have tried everything to resolve this and Consumer Direct passed this case to trading standards who have tried to resolve this matter, but they believe we have tried all reasonable suggestions and DFS will not negotiate and advised us to take this to you.
• The two compromises that were suggested were:
a) That they offer a mutually agreeable amount to be deducted from the suite and we would then accept the faulty section.
b) They take the suite away completely and cancel the contract.
• DFS regional manager contacted me and asked me to accept the faulty section back he would send an engineer for the day who would try to stretch it to our satisfaction and then see what he could offer in a way of compensation after the event.
• We were advised by Trading Standards that this is not an advisable thing to do as DFS have not been honest during the whole of this situation and we could be left with a faulty suite.
• We contacted Santander to see if they could help us however after days of phone calls and speaking to different people each time, they just keep saying that DFS say there is no fault so they are unwilling to help.
• Santander agreed until the matter had been resolved the agreement would be put on hold we have been advised that Santander, under the Sale of Goods act 1979 are equally responsible however due to their partnership with DFS they will not help us as they will only listen to DFS’s side of the story.
• I now am having phone calls daily from Santander harassing me for payment and putting interest and extra payment fees, this is now also affecting my credit rating and is causing me huge amounts of stress, I have recently become very ill resulting in 5 days of sick from work, for the first time in 15 Years of working for my company.
• I have recently received a letter saying Santander are still looking into the matter, yet on the same day I received a call from a different department telling me I am still in arrears.
• I would be more than happy to get this matter concluded amicably, even after all this time.
• DFS have changed from it needing re-covering to now nothing wrong and they only offered to change it as a good will gesture.
Anyone that can give me advise please do so.
On the 13 September 2010 I had 2 two seater sofas and a footstool delivered after a wait of 5/6 weeks. I had been sitting on a deck chair for a good part of that time so I was delighted to have my furniture delivered. But my delight only lasted long enough for the first sofa to be placed in my living room as there was a tear on the front edge of that sofa. The delivery chap phoned in to the Aberdeen store right away to report it and after a couple of weeks or so an upholsterer arrived, took a couple of photos with his mobile phone and said I would need to have the whole side replaced but he didn't know how long it would be but certainly not as long as I waited for initial delivery. It will be 7 weeks this coming Monday and nothing has been done. I have phoned the Aberdeen store regularly for updates and although I was treated respectfully by the girl I speak to most I am still no further forward!! I was told a couple of phone calls ago that they expected to hear from the manufacturer by the week commencing 18 October and delivery to the store should follow and I would be contacted to let me know. I phoned the store again this morning and have been told that they expect delivery to the Aberdeen store next week and as soon as they knew they would phone me. Do you ever get the feeling people are just fobbing you off???? The usual polite helpful girl wasn't there today and the one I spoke just wanted me off her phone. I paid outright for my furniture and expected it to be of merchantable quality which it was not!! I'm a pensioner and saved hard for my sofas. I would just like my house to look nice is that too much to ask???? How much longer am I to wait??
DFS
I bought a 3 seater and a 2 seater leather sofa from this company, and i wish a hadent, when i went to the dfs store in Paisley, i seen the sofa i wanted in the showroom, it looked sooo nice and i instantly fell in love with it, it was even really comforable to sit on, well anyway, the sales guy came over and showed me the sample colours etc, i choose the vanilla, which was nice, he then told me if i ordered it i would have to wait 13 weeks, i was like what?, but i liked the sofa so much i went ahead, well after a long wait i finally got my sofa delevered to me, i was so happy with it, well for 3 weeks anyway until i started to notice the sofa started to sag down and look out of shape and it felt uncomforable to sit on, i was really angry!, so i called DFS and told them about this, and i wanted someone to come out and have a look, she then told me that they wouldnt normaly do that, but she will do it (this time) as a good will guesture, so she sent the upholsterer out , and he told me there wasent enough padding in it, so he opened up my sofa and put some weird looking stuff it in, i thought it looked ok apart from 1 side of my sofa looking higher than the other side! daftly enough i accepted it, he also told me he had the same complaints with people that had the same sofa! and also most of there stuff comes from china! that explains the long wait getting it delivered huh?! and he left, now a couple on months later.... both my sofas look 10 years old and both are sagging on differant areas, i will NEVER purchase a sofa from DFS ever again, you have been warned!, p.s if you want me to email you a picture of the sofa when i first got it and to how it looks now in the same year i can happily do so, email me on sexyscotsboy18hotmail.com
firstly he was supposed to call 11/10 but when I rang lunchtime as he hadnt turned up, I was told it had been rescheduled to the 11th and they had spoken to someone at my house to arrange this...odd I live alone and they didn't speak to me.
Anyway, he was fairly pleasant and agreed the cushion looked bad the cover is stretched due to the insides moving to edges and the base sagging but this is because of the way the base has been built it will always have these problems BUT it is not a design fault ! Certainly sounds like one to me.
The offer he now made is to have a cushion made from a different filling (probably foam) and a new cushion cover which he agrees will not match sounding great so far huh?
Needless to say I did not accept this solution and he is ringing me back to confirm what they will offer
I have today joined the ranks of those complaining about the furniture supplied by this company.
My previous suite was from them and I had it for 10 years with no real problems and only changed it as I needed a bed settee.
My new suite however is causing me a lot of heartache and being disabled and living on benefits was a huge outlay for me.
I first complained about 5 weeks after delivery and now almost a year later I am still complaining about the same problem.
It is a corner suite with fibre fill cushions and the corner cushion has sagged and lost shape from day one. Every time their service manager calls all he does is give me a lesson on how to 'plump' the cushions. His visit today did not go well and ended with me telling him to leave after he refused to allow me to see the paperwork regarding my dispute, he clutched it to his chest telling me 'No it the property of DFS!' and after having had yet another lesson on 'plumping' cushions I had had enough.
The problem with the corner section is as follows :-
The cushion sags as soon as you sit on it and is now so bad that you can feel the base through it, the base is also starting to sag, it has got to the stage where I have to keep another small cushion under the main seat cushion for it to be usable and apart from that it looks a mess.
yes I understand that fibrefill cushions need 'plumping' but it would have to be done every time you sat on it and my complaint is that it is only the corner cushion the other 3 cushions are fine and it has had the problem since I received it. They replaced the cushion once and it is exactly the same when you sit on it the stuffing migrates to the back and sides leaving little padding under your backside. the service manager told me to split the cushion open and put extra filling it to try to solve the problem ! incidently a problem which he also says doesn't exist as they are supposed to look like they have been sat on, he didn't seem to grasp that it wasn't just how it looked but was how they felt that was the problem.
They are now sending the store manager out for a visit so no doubt I will get another lesson on plumping I should now be at degree level.
I have today sent letters to their Head Office and the Credit company stating I am not satisfied that the goods meet the Trading Standards of being fit for their purpose and of satisfactory quality.
Not going to hold my breath but also not going to go quietly.
PLEASE read this before you go an buy a sofa!!! from any sofa retailer- it will save you loads of headache should your sofa arrive faulty!
My experience relates to both DFS and Paul Simon who both do not like to tell their customers their entitlements under the sale of goods act.
We had faulty sofa's delivered twice and managed to get our money back , but we had to make a few phone calls and tell these companies that
we were rejecting the sofas. They tried to tell us it wasnt their "company policy" to do anything other than a repair but that doesnt matter. We just kept
spouting the same line and eventually they both accepted that we were entitled to a refund as the sofas were faulty.
In order for this to happen you MUST follow this guideline
When your sofa's are delivered inspect them while the drivers are there and if they are faulty in anyway no matter how minor sign the paperwork and write damaged on the paperwork.
Call the branch up and tell them you want a refund or an exchange. Dont be scared if they say its not their policy. They will want to send round a technican. Let the technician come BUT! make sure that he doesnt touch the sofa or repair it. If he does you can pretty much wave goodbye to your cash or a new sofa.
They will be annoyed you didnt let them repair it and insist thats all they do. At this point you need to repeat the line you would have done when you first called them "Under the sale of goods act I am rejecting the sofas etc etc".
Then you will get your money back.
If you are opting for a repair then make sure they pay you compensation for any inconvienice- again this is something they have to do under the sale of goods act.
These companies will not tell you your consumer rights and its not their job to. Read this and you wont lose out.
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Comments:
In follow up to the previous post above, I had a second visit from the local store manager who now wanted to totally remove the leather cover to repair the arm, would they ever it get it put back the same way. I have since found out from the manager of the stoke store, that the nice Italian leather sofa we brought ( well thats what the sales advisor Jamie Wetton )told us when we order the sofa is infact inported from China and nothing to do with Italy like we were told. How can DFS expect to get away with poor repairs and lying to customers just to get a sale.
Well i have enventually spoken with the area manager of DFS today, Adam Hankingson, Still have not resolved the issue, He claims its acceptable that we can not clean the leather with the leather kit they sold us and that we may of wiped the leather to hard to cause the black marks and the hard circle patterns that happened last time we used them. Never have i had this problem with previous leather sofas i have had and cleaned. On the subject of the faulty arm, they will still do a repair but wont guarentee the work. As they need to remove the entire leather from the sofa, mend the arm and then recover it with the leather. He has refused to cover the work with any guarentee, so if they do not refit the leather proberly, it will be on myself to get it fixed again. How can they get away with this and all he can say is take us to court if you are not happy as the judge will rule in our favour. He also said that you do not use the chair so the leather wont move on it.
The subject of the sales advisor that told us that the sofa was made in italy when actually it was made in china, he basically said that this did not happen and i was lying. Well as i was there and asked this question when i placed the order, i know what was said and as he was not there, how can he say what was said without asking the sales advisor. I said i would go myself and speak with him. When i got to the shop, Adam had rang ahead of me going and told the manager to ring the police if i raised my voice as they did not want a scene in the shop. What does that tell you about them. Jamie Wetton could not recall what he had said despite remembering that we had made a template to get the correct measurements. He sat their quite smuggly and refused to answer the question about why he told me it was made in italy when it was made in china. If you do go to DFS in stoke avoid this sales advisor as he will say anything to get a sale. we would not of paid £3000 for a chines peice of poor quality furniture and would of choosen something else had he of told the truth. I guess the problems will carry on as this is still not resolved. Their customer service is very poor as well as they promise to ring you back and then dont. They seem only too happy to take your money but are not so good when problems arise and how they are sorted out.
on 23/12/2011 we recieved a phonecall saying our sofa was ready to be delivered today and we had to go into the store imediatley and pay the remainding £1000 before they would deliver our sofa although i had not even seen the sofa when it arrived we discovered that the sofa was in two parts not three and did not fit through my front door. i went into the store to explain what had happened and was told sal no longer works in the store and it is our word against his and that we must of ordered it in two parts, all they could offer was to pay an extra £160 for the sofa to be made in three parts and it would take another 12 weeks i explained to the manager thats not good enough i am due to have a baby in 4 weeks and he could see i am heavily pregnant he eventually agreed to a refund which would take 3 days. i paid £1200 in cash and am still waiting for a refund we cannot afford another sofa until dfs refund us our money and i have spent the whole of christmas sitting on laminated flooring i am now 36 weeks pregnant.... went into the store again today to be told by the manager we would be waiting a further ten days for a check to be sent top my address he did not care that me and my partner have no furniture to sit on and we were told to leave the store
Inside I found the makers paper label stapled to the frame(cheap timber/board but retained it's rigidity)... SoftLine S.P.A ... so assuming it was made in Italy and why it has done well.
I didn't like being pushed into the DFS fabric protection plan, BUT!!, I got the store manager to strike out and sign against a clause restricting it's cover.
I see comments where people compare quality over time but unfortunately we are in a throw-away age where so many people don't want to live with the same household items for years, so they're not built to last.
A good test when choosing .. lift one front corner up to test the solidity of a 3/4 seater (the salesman's face will be a picture lol)
graham58 at 20th Nov 2011, 10:01PM
On 25th February 2011 we took delivery and were very happy with the suite.
On 23rd May 2011 my wife was reaching under the sofa for her mobile phone when she cut the back of her wrist on something sharp! On investigation we found it to be a bracing spar underneath which had split and come through the base. The wood used was badly knotted, not the sort of quality you would expect on a £3000 piece of furniture. My wife was heart broken.
I contacted the store and told them that we require the suite collecting as we were told it is of the highest quality and it clearly is not. They said they would send someone to assess the suite. After taking another day off work, the technician came out to look at the fault. He explained that he could fix it, replacing the piece of wood. It would have to be collected and we would be left with a temporary replacement. I told him that is not acceptable as my wife suffers from allergies and having furniture in the house that has probably had pets on it at some stage could cause a severe reaction. I also told him that we didn’t want it fixing as it would be effectively bodged up, that’s not what we signed for!
I complained in writing to the store manager with no response so took advice from the Furniture Ombudsman. They told me to write to the store. I wrote to them, threatening them with legal action citing Faulty Product and Not fit for Purpose causing personal injury.
On 31st August 2011 the suite was eventually replaced with another new one. After taking another day off work for collection/delivery we thought the replacement was a different shade but put it down to lighting conditions at the time. By night time with the room lights on it was obviously a different colour. Instead of Tan, like the one on the TV advert, in the showroom, in the brochure and as previously delivered, it appeared Reddy-Brown!
I again complained to the store so they sent the technician out again to assess it. He came with swatches and insisted that they only do Brown and Red and that ours is a shade of brown I pointed out the Red dye in the folds of the suite and compared them with the swatch. He said we would have to take it up with the manager.
On 18th September 2011 we took the footstool to the store to show the store manager and compare it with the one they had collected. I took photos for evidence. The store manager said he was happy we did because he can see for himself the both suites are clearly Brown. I explained that one was Tan (as was the ones advertised) and one was Reddy Brown. He said “when you order Brown, you get Brown, it could be any shade of Brown”. I told him his manufacturer obviously has no quality control.
On 3rd October 2011 I wrote to head office in Doncaster again threatening legal action citing Not-as-Described, that we will charge for storage until it is collected and a claim for personal injury.
On 7th October 2011 the suite was collected after further phone calls to the customer services dept. The driver refused to give me a receipt to say he had collected the suite. If I hadn’t videoed the collection I would have no evidence to say it had been collected by DFS! All along I have taken pictures and written to DFS as talking to staff has no effect, they also tell lies. We were told by the receptionist at Parkgate that our original suite had gone back to the manufacturer for repair however when we visited the store, it was in the stock room. The store manager explained that it was now fixed so I pointed to the piece of wood stuck out of the bottom! How can you do business with these people, they cannot be trusted.
DFS has cost us dearly in loss of earnings. I also loose my monthly bonus if I take a day off work. My wife has suffered a personal injury which could have been more serious.
DFS customer service is very poor to non-existent. I have had to chase them up almost on a daily basis to get anything done. After contacting my home insurance company, I was advised to take legal action as we have a good case. I also had to tell DFS to notify their credit underwriters, (Creation) that the contract had been cancelled. If I hadn’t, we would have been hit with a £3000 bill in January for a suite we didn’t have!
We are now finally rid of DFS and will never use them again. The experience has affected us to such an extent that we feel compelled to tell everyone about how bad their service and products are.
My story begins on June 2nd 2011 when my mother of 82 years old and me went to the DFS store in Exeter and purchased a Taylor Leather Corner Sofa. We were told it would take 11 weeks for delivery, which I found surprising because I assumed they made the sofa in the UK by what their website said and I quote, 'A Proud British Company'. Anyway on the day of delivery, August 10th, the lorry arrived and the driver immediately asked for the remaining payment of £1000. We told him we haven’t even seen the sofa yet but he insisted on payment first, so we had no option but to pay. The sofa was put together and it did look nice. That evening we sat comfortably on it until bed time. I looked at the sofa and noticed the leather had stretched quite considerably, but assumed it would revert back to what it looked like earlier. In the morning the sofa was still stretched and now looked older than the 15 year old sofa I had got rid of to accommodate this one. I asked a neighbour in to get her opinion in case I was overreacting but she too said the sofa looked old and that it should not have stretched like that. The next day I called DFS in Exeter and was told that a Service Manager would visit on August 17th. Before he arrived I discovered that the sofa had not been built in the UK but in China. I also went searching on the internet and discovered hundreds and thousands of complaints from other customers. I then went in search of knowledge as to my consumer rights and that the best thing to do was not to accept any repair and to say that, ‘Due to the fault I am rejecting this sofa and want my money back.’ When the Service Manager arrived he did seem a bit cagey but agreed the leather had stretched a lot in a short period of time. He said he could add more filling but then the leather would stretch again as it takes several months to settle. I then informed him that I was rejecting the sofa and he said he would report back to the store manager at Exeter. In the meantime he advised I put in writing that I was rejecting it and send the letter to the store manager. This I did and sent the letter recorded delivery. Over the next few days the store manager seemed reluctant to accept the problem, but he eventually agreed that the leather had stretched after confirmation from the Service Manager. I was then informed that the sofa would be picked up on August 24th and the money refunded. Yes the sofa was picked up, which has left my 82 year old mother and me sitting on garden furniture for the next couple of months while we order a new one, but it took 16 days before we got our money back.
Looking at all the complaints on this site and many others, I count myself lucky that I got my money back. I would advise anyone to know their consumer rights when complaining and don’t accept a repair. The sofas are made from cheap low quality leather so you have been warned. We paid £1200 for the sofa plus extras but 15 years ago I had paid £500 for two leather sofas from Argos and they lasted me all that time. I would never buy from DFS again.
I attempted to take this further - I went to my MP,Maria Miller- I asked her to take this to a higher level so that other innocent people would not have to endure what i did.
A complete waste of time,she referred it to "the Minister responsible for trading standards" ,even more waste of time.Seriously, it is appalling how THERE IS NO HELP against this diabolical trader ! And we wonder why humanity has so given up......
Is the root of this , the billionaire Tory Peer, LORD KIRKHAM ,who until recently was the OWNER of DFS.He set it up this way ,and I wonder why he became a billionaire???
Is this another example of greed in our society.......
I left the store unhappy to say the least and was more than willing to cancel everything. 11 weeks had passed and i thought to myself my sofa should be here by now/soon so i thought i'd phone the store to get a delivery date. as i reached to pick up the phone i was graced by the rather un-professional tone of a glaswegian woman from DFS informing me that there has been a delay in my sofa and won't be here until the end of May 3 months after placing the order. Rather annoyed about this i asked to speak to a manager. I was told he was busy with a customer just now and was offered a callback. 2 hours had passed... Still no call so i brought it on myself again to call the store and chase things up. When asking to speak to the manager i was told he was still busy with someone and offered another callback. Annoyed with this i asked to speak to the managers manager to which i was told "The managers Manager was on Holiday" so away i went wating again to what seemed to be an eternity of waiting when i eventually got a call from another slightly more professional sounding Glaswegian.
He intorduced himself as Koraye the DFS store manager. when i explained to him the reason why i was wishing to speak to him he was full of empathy and sounded like he actually did care that was until i told him our current seating arrangement consisting of 2 deck chairs and a dinning room chair. He offered me a loan sofa to tide us over till our sofa came as the delay was due to shipping from Italy. When i refused this on the grounds that as i didn't know who had this sofa before me or how it's been treated ie damaged, stained or worse Flea ridden and i wasn't prepared to take this into my house he stated that "comfort obviously isn't important to me" Now i'm sorry but working myself in customer service i'd never dream of saying this to a customer and not to one paying £2000 in their store. after a lomg talk Koraye agreed to compensate me £75 off the total cost of the sofa and 2 free £25 leather care kits for all the trouble i've had. He also agreed to keep me updated regularly on the progress of my order. Trying to keep back the burning rage inside me i told the very helpful manager (and i use helpful in the most sarcastic way possible) i'd think about his kind offer and call him back with a decision on if i'd take the sofa and his offer or cancel the lot.
30 minutes past and i called hi back to say that i'd carry on with my order but if it does not arrive by the 30th May i'd be canceling the lot.
We are now going into week 14 and 1 week from deadline I deciced i'd call the Inverness store since they have neglegted to call me. I spoke to Harry who within 10 seconds filled me with more confidence than i could ever hope for. I asked to speak to Koraye and was told he has a day off tomorrow but will be back tomorrow at 9am (No this is not a typing mistake someone actually said this) He told me the systems were down for the night and can't chase up any orders till tomorrow morning. (Funny this as when i placed the original order it was well after 5.30pm probably more like 6-7pm and it was all done online and in store. Accepting this i ended the call or so our intellectual genius Harry thought. He failed to hang the phone up properly and in the background i hear the words "That was Mr H on the phone for you"
Thank you very much DFS not only have you lost yet another unhappy customer but you've also lost £2000 of our hard earned cash.
Harveys Here i come!!!
Anyway, we received the 'leather' sofa in less than satisfactory condition, it dips in the middle of the seats like it is old. The issues of little filling in the cushions were apparently normal, this is what the service rep said, who must be 20 stone and wouldn't dare sit on our sofa as he could already see it would collapse. The stitching which isn't straight has been explained as hand made. Well a machine has sewn this 100 cow and the only hands involved would have been the one operating the machine...I guess he was either drunk, hung over, or was cross-eyed. It is nothing short of a joke, the alleged 'upholsterer/service manager' tried to re-sew the dodgy stitching again, EVEN HE CAN’T SEW! Oh we are not going to even bother trying to get our money back, we will just chalk it up to experience and the dog will get a new bed … poor animal.. LOL.. DFS should be more like Pleather Lada in the lounge.
-Zero for quality ---zero for service.
I should have trusted the hundreds of reviews out there about this company and it's awful furniture and how different it is to the showroom stuff they advertise and dupe you in to thinking you will get.
Gordon
The sofa was re-delivered today, packed full of fibres, two bag loads the service engineer said! Well, perhaps a little more filling in the first place would mean these problems don’t occur. The delivery drivers were careful, they put dust sheets down and gave us a clean courtesy sofa whilst the necessary works were being done on our sofa. We feel they did go the extra mile to make sure we are happy with the sofa and we do hope that at long last we can get to enjoy it fully and without compromise.
We have the five year warranty on frame and springs, plus the two year warranty on stitching. As this stitching has been re-sewn since receiving the sofa, we would hope that they would extend that warranty, should we have further problems. The first service engineer who came out to sew the holes said that DFS usually endeavour to sort any problems out long after the warranty period as a good will gesture, and he stated that DFS really do value their customers. I hope this to be true, but hope more that we don’t have any need to find out!!!
What I would say in favour of DFS, because you have to give credit where credit is due, is that DFS have rectified the issue of insufficient fibre filling, which I feel is more than some companies would have done. But it has taken two letters to head office, several phone calls, declining the second service rep coming out a second time so it could be looked at by someone else. I had to wait in several times, week days, so had to juggle work commitments. It has been stressful and I still have reservations about recommending this company as our sofa was not checked before delivery and some of their staff lack the empathy needed when things go wrong for their valued customers.
The only advice I can give is from our personal experience. Write to their head office and list the problems you have with your furniture and what you wish to be done to put things right for you, whether that is for the furniture to be fixed, exchanged, or your money refunded if the furniture is not fit for purpose. Get advice from consumer direct, they will log the issue and advise you on what steps to take and help with letter writing should you need it. We were advised to write to our credit card company as we paid in full, giving copies of all correspondence should the matter go to court. I would imagine the same will apply if you buy the furniture on credit, you will need to send the details to the credit agency. We also took advice from a furniture specialist who could provide a specialist furniture report should we need to press matters.
All in all it has been an unpleasant and stressful few weeks, which I would not wish on anyone. I would suggest to DFS that you need greater quality control, our sofa was presumably made in China, one side did have less filling than the other, there was an issue with insufficient filling and perhaps is in a lot of your furniture judging by the amount or negative reviews out there. Also if furniture is being sent out to the customer unchecked, why is this? The first service rep told us that furniture was being sent out in busy periods unchecked, so it is an issue you should deal with. What added insult to injury was the dismissive response I got from Himan at the Preston store when reporting the holes, these things might happen but some common courtesy wouldn’t be too difficult surely?
Please look in to these issues DFS if you read this, our case is not a one off by any stretch of the imagination. We bought this sofa because it looked and felt great in two of your showrooms, we didn’t ask for a replacement or refund before allowing you to deal with all the issues we had with our sofa, so customers give you the benefit of the doubt, please give the customer the benefit of the doubt and look in to the issues of insufficient fibre filling and furniture going unchecked. Besides a better sales pitch as seen on Mary Portas, I feel these more serious issues will undoubtedly be highlighted soon, if nothing is done on another TV show. Good quality control would help resolve many of the problems you and your customers face.
I realise it might be a difficult balance when trying to produce quality furniture at affordable prices, but like any other large company making large sums of money, there is always room for improvement and customer satisfaction should always be first and foremost.
We have now had a second ‘DFS service representative’ out to look at the other problem areas and been given the explanation as to why the back cushions appear to have insufficient filling “ It is a high maintenance sofa with fibre filled cushions which need plumping every day or two to keep their shape”. If this is so, why weren’t we told of this ‘high maintenance’ when viewing it in two stores, or indeed when ordering it?
During this visit the service representative pushed a wire through the stitching on one corner to drag the fibres up to fill the sunken area, it still looks sad on both corners but we are assured sufficient plumping will keep it in shape and the fibres won’t flatten as long as we look after it. We still feel there is insufficient filling, the sofa doesn't look plump no matter how much we “maintain” the top and sides as advised, but judging by the way the second service rep explained DFS fibre filled furniture, it looks like we are supposed to lump it!
Shortly after the second visit from a service rep we received a phone call from DFS customer services and an apology for the condition the sofa was in when we took delivery. As a good will gesture the delivery charge was refunded to us. This is small recompense for our time and troubles really. Although DFS have asked us to contact them directly at customer services should we have any other issues with the sofa, we have sent a second letter of complaint to their head office as we feel the issue needs to be recorded in writing.
There is also the third issue in that of one recliner not reclining out fully, but the explanation is that it is stiff and needs to be reclined several more times before it reclines as well as the other side, something which will hopefully get better with use.
We are bitterly disappointed with the quality of this sofa and if we had known we would be put through this stress and inconvenience we would have shopped elsewhere. We don’t yet know if anything can be done about the badly filled cushions, the leather is creasing quite badly and I cannot see what will remedy this. We again are giving DFS the chance to rectify this for us but we are now feeling so very fed up with it all and wonder if we will ever have the sofa we can enjoy for 15 years?
New Sofa arrived and arm was dirty and scuffed, reported it and DFS guy come to try and clean but ended up completely replacing the arm.
In the meantime the stitching on the cushions have started to come apart after 3 weeks and the cushions are just ridiculous in that there is hardly no foam in the cushions and you have to plump them each time you sit on them. DFS basically dont want to know - they send someone out who must have been on the same training course as the rest of the posts in the forum because they completely deny there is a issue and have told us we bought a high maintenence sofa. We are just at our wits end with DFS. You buy a product from a reputable company and expect a better service bu they just seem so arrogant and unhelpful and unwilling to do anything.
any thoughts on what to do next or are we in the list of unhappy customers?
Also can anyone tell me if there is an independant furnisure assor and how would I know they are not linked with this company.
DFS Corner Unit Suite
• Ordered Suite in November 2009 – Delivered February 2010
• Immediately we could see that one part of the suite had stitching that wasn’t straight.
• A sales person who said he was an Assessor came out to see it. And said it was within his tolerances. When asked what were measures of tolerances, he said it was down to his eye. He said there was no problem.
• We went to see the store manager immediately after seeking advice from Consumer Direct. We informed him of our rights but half way through quoting the advice given he put the palm of his hand up to my face and told me to stop as he knew his rights but agreed to come and see it the next day.
• The manager came into our house and agreed it was faulty, he offered to get it recovered. He said he would order new leather and it would be in within ten weeks. When it arrived he would arrange for it to be collected and re-covered.
• After approximately ten weeks they picked up the faulty part and took it away to be re-covered.
• After a few days they told us it had been re-covered and they would be delivering it.
• Due to the fact that we were on holiday we could not inspect this until we returned and our brother-in-law accepted the suite back as agreed with the manager.
• During this time we had been informing Consumer Direct of our actions.
• On return from our holiday we noticed the part had not been re-covered so contacted the manager of the store we insisted it had but he would look in to it.
• Two days later he called us back and said he was very cross with his staff as they had not covered it but tried to stretch it, he agreed once again to collect the faulty part.
• Once again after a few days they arranged delivery of the re-covered section.
• When the delivery people arrived they asked my husband to inspect it on the back of the vehicle as they felt that had not been re-covered and they did not want to carry the part up and down again as they were the original drivers.
• Once again the part had not been covered and was returned to the store where it still sits.
• We were then offered a hundred pounds to accept the faulty suite back, however they now said the section never had a fault and they were only re-covering it as a good will gesture.
• I have been plagued with phone calls to go and see the section again, of which I did and there was no change I took an independent witness to see if their views were the same they also felt that a suite worth nearly £3000 that it was inacceptable to have uneven stitching.
• I have tried everything to resolve this and Consumer Direct passed this case to trading standards who have tried to resolve this matter, but they believe we have tried all reasonable suggestions and DFS will not negotiate and advised us to take this to you.
• The two compromises that were suggested were:
a) That they offer a mutually agreeable amount to be deducted from the suite and we would then accept the faulty section.
b) They take the suite away completely and cancel the contract.
• DFS regional manager contacted me and asked me to accept the faulty section back he would send an engineer for the day who would try to stretch it to our satisfaction and then see what he could offer in a way of compensation after the event.
• We were advised by Trading Standards that this is not an advisable thing to do as DFS have not been honest during the whole of this situation and we could be left with a faulty suite.
• We contacted Santander to see if they could help us however after days of phone calls and speaking to different people each time, they just keep saying that DFS say there is no fault so they are unwilling to help.
• Santander agreed until the matter had been resolved the agreement would be put on hold we have been advised that Santander, under the Sale of Goods act 1979 are equally responsible however due to their partnership with DFS they will not help us as they will only listen to DFS’s side of the story.
• I now am having phone calls daily from Santander harassing me for payment and putting interest and extra payment fees, this is now also affecting my credit rating and is causing me huge amounts of stress, I have recently become very ill resulting in 5 days of sick from work, for the first time in 15 Years of working for my company.
• I have recently received a letter saying Santander are still looking into the matter, yet on the same day I received a call from a different department telling me I am still in arrears.
• I would be more than happy to get this matter concluded amicably, even after all this time.
• DFS have changed from it needing re-covering to now nothing wrong and they only offered to change it as a good will gesture.
Anyone that can give me advise please do so.
I bought a 3 seater and a 2 seater leather sofa from this company, and i wish a hadent, when i went to the dfs store in Paisley, i seen the sofa i wanted in the showroom, it looked sooo nice and i instantly fell in love with it, it was even really comforable to sit on, well anyway, the sales guy came over and showed me the sample colours etc, i choose the vanilla, which was nice, he then told me if i ordered it i would have to wait 13 weeks, i was like what?, but i liked the sofa so much i went ahead, well after a long wait i finally got my sofa delevered to me, i was so happy with it, well for 3 weeks anyway until i started to notice the sofa started to sag down and look out of shape and it felt uncomforable to sit on, i was really angry!, so i called DFS and told them about this, and i wanted someone to come out and have a look, she then told me that they wouldnt normaly do that, but she will do it (this time) as a good will guesture, so she sent the upholsterer out , and he told me there wasent enough padding in it, so he opened up my sofa and put some weird looking stuff it in, i thought it looked ok apart from 1 side of my sofa looking higher than the other side! daftly enough i accepted it, he also told me he had the same complaints with people that had the same sofa! and also most of there stuff comes from china! that explains the long wait getting it delivered huh?! and he left, now a couple on months later.... both my sofas look 10 years old and both are sagging on differant areas, i will NEVER purchase a sofa from DFS ever again, you have been warned!, p.s if you want me to email you a picture of the sofa when i first got it and to how it looks now in the same year i can happily do so, email me on sexyscotsboy18hotmail.com
firstly he was supposed to call 11/10 but when I rang lunchtime as he hadnt turned up, I was told it had been rescheduled to the 11th and they had spoken to someone at my house to arrange this...odd I live alone and they didn't speak to me.
Anyway, he was fairly pleasant and agreed the cushion looked bad the cover is stretched due to the insides moving to edges and the base sagging but this is because of the way the base has been built it will always have these problems BUT it is not a design fault ! Certainly sounds like one to me.
The offer he now made is to have a cushion made from a different filling (probably foam) and a new cushion cover which he agrees will not match sounding great so far huh?
Needless to say I did not accept this solution and he is ringing me back to confirm what they will offer
My previous suite was from them and I had it for 10 years with no real problems and only changed it as I needed a bed settee.
My new suite however is causing me a lot of heartache and being disabled and living on benefits was a huge outlay for me.
I first complained about 5 weeks after delivery and now almost a year later I am still complaining about the same problem.
It is a corner suite with fibre fill cushions and the corner cushion has sagged and lost shape from day one. Every time their service manager calls all he does is give me a lesson on how to 'plump' the cushions. His visit today did not go well and ended with me telling him to leave after he refused to allow me to see the paperwork regarding my dispute, he clutched it to his chest telling me 'No it the property of DFS!' and after having had yet another lesson on 'plumping' cushions I had had enough.
The problem with the corner section is as follows :-
The cushion sags as soon as you sit on it and is now so bad that you can feel the base through it, the base is also starting to sag, it has got to the stage where I have to keep another small cushion under the main seat cushion for it to be usable and apart from that it looks a mess.
yes I understand that fibrefill cushions need 'plumping' but it would have to be done every time you sat on it and my complaint is that it is only the corner cushion the other 3 cushions are fine and it has had the problem since I received it. They replaced the cushion once and it is exactly the same when you sit on it the stuffing migrates to the back and sides leaving little padding under your backside. the service manager told me to split the cushion open and put extra filling it to try to solve the problem ! incidently a problem which he also says doesn't exist as they are supposed to look like they have been sat on, he didn't seem to grasp that it wasn't just how it looked but was how they felt that was the problem.
They are now sending the store manager out for a visit so no doubt I will get another lesson on plumping I should now be at degree level.
I have today sent letters to their Head Office and the Credit company stating I am not satisfied that the goods meet the Trading Standards of being fit for their purpose and of satisfactory quality.
Not going to hold my breath but also not going to go quietly.
My experience relates to both DFS and Paul Simon who both do not like to tell their customers their entitlements under the sale of goods act.
We had faulty sofa's delivered twice and managed to get our money back , but we had to make a few phone calls and tell these companies that
we were rejecting the sofas. They tried to tell us it wasnt their "company policy" to do anything other than a repair but that doesnt matter. We just kept
spouting the same line and eventually they both accepted that we were entitled to a refund as the sofas were faulty.
In order for this to happen you MUST follow this guideline
When your sofa's are delivered inspect them while the drivers are there and if they are faulty in anyway no matter how minor sign the paperwork and write damaged on the paperwork.
Call the branch up and tell them you want a refund or an exchange. Dont be scared if they say its not their policy. They will want to send round a technican. Let the technician come BUT! make sure that he doesnt touch the sofa or repair it. If he does you can pretty much wave goodbye to your cash or a new sofa.
They will be annoyed you didnt let them repair it and insist thats all they do. At this point you need to repeat the line you would have done when you first called them "Under the sale of goods act I am rejecting the sofas etc etc".
Then you will get your money back.
If you are opting for a repair then make sure they pay you compensation for any inconvienice- again this is something they have to do under the sale of goods act.
These companies will not tell you your consumer rights and its not their job to. Read this and you wont lose out.
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