Jamz3k

have had an awful experience with the belfast branch. Totally would not recommend buying from them to anyone! My girlfriend and I do not drive so we trekked up to there belfast branch which is a nightmare to get to from where i live which meant us both having to take a day off work to get there. My girlfriend has never had credit before so they never bothered checking her credit score but signed her up for a sofa anyway. The salesman acted the way you would expect a Currys employee to act, when i asked what sort of deal he could do me, i got a reply of "none, if i screw up your order and you get charged less it comes out of my wages" did i really need know that? no! and did i care? No? i asked for a deal not discount! An absolute disgrace in my opinion he didn't even bother to offer to order a taxi for us even though he seen that this was the way he we arrived.

A week later i got a phone call to say that my girlfriends had been declined credit and that they took the liberty to credit check myself and that i had been approved and if i come up and sign some documents that the money can still come out of her account every month (which i found a bit fishy) I told the manager that there was noway i was traveling all the way up again as myself and my girlfriend could not get a day off together and it is not our fault that they did not do a credit check to which the managers reply was thats not our problem you've signed for the sofa and we'll be getting payment off you whether it be through credit or not!

After waiting another week for the manager to call me and ringing me on one occasion 4 times during the day with no joy. he rang me when i was attending a funeral and asked him to ring me back at approx 2 or 3pm which he never did. When i finally got hold of him and asked him why he didnt ring me he said that i told him that i would ring him back. I told him this was not the case and he called me a liar!.

Now i am waiting for him to call me my house to sign documents for my sofa. I have been waiting since 12 o'clock with not even a phonecall to tell me when he's coming.

Also to add to the absolutely brilliant customer service of being called a liar, i heard the secretary slag me off whilst i rang to speak to the manager and whilst my girlfriend was on the phone to them they hung up.

Now being the Deputy Manager of a shop I find how they have treated me and there actions to be of worst i have ever encountered. IF any of the above happened in my shop the staff member involved would no longer be a staff member. I also cannot believe that a company as big as DFS cannot arrange a credit check on the spot if a small company like mine can.


Dont buy from them folks, support local business. You may pay a bit extra but the service is also far superior as they appreciate your business!

Scotsman

iTrader: (3)

That's bloody awful!

Jamo

iTrader: (23)

unless you agreed for them to do a credit check on you, they have broken the law. data protection act etc. and I would be making sure they know you know the law and how it affects you and more importantly, THEM.

as for not getting you a taxi, no offence but surely thats not their job, and it would be going well beyond the call of duty.

unfortunatly the smaller business out there cant compete with the likes of DFS when it comes to price.

hence the reason you went there and no where else.

james

Jamz3k

to be honest i think my expectation are just too high as well as it seems to be common in most places to treat your customers like ********.

A few weeks before this all happened i signed up to sky for the £18quid a month package and £5 a month for broadband. 2 weeks in to having everything up and running I went onto a movie channel back accident and all of them worked. I rang up a guy who spoke very little english to be told i had the £42quid package and that i could only cancel it as a certain date in the month. I swore down the phone until i got a very nice english speaking person who actually seemed to care and sorted it out for me which i was very thankful for. Although when i got my sky bill in i found that they are charging me £18quid a month for my sky broadband instead of the agreed £5 which apparently i can't do anything about!


sometimes i feel i should just bend over and take it as fighting it seems to do **** all good

Jamz3k

its called being polite. Calling a taxi for a customer and making sure they are sorted takes very little time but is a very nice thing to do but maybe I just think that way as its the way i run my shop.

Lee247

I was going to suggest a letter to the MD of DFS at the head office. Had a look in Google and there are pages of complaints. Still, I think it would be worth letting him/her know about this particular branch. That service is appalling.

Jamz3k

on the bright side the manager has just called to my door and got everything sorted, he was very polite and got the job done and least i'll have a new sofa in 4 weeks that hopefully!

I have just sent an email to customer services but i am going to buy a printer tomorrow just so i can write them a letter too

Simon 69

DFS used to be quite good: when it was one shop in Two Dales. Hardys pissed all of their money up the wall though and they ended up selling out to Northern Upholstery.

Nido

If he is coming to your house to sign the paperwork is it then not covered under some different regulations to if you sign in the shop (to stop pushy door to door salesmen ripping peopl off)?

I think you'll be able to cancel the order quite legally within a certain period (7 days?) if it's signed at your house.

As said it is illegal for them to credit check you without your consent.

Oh, and the sofa will fall apart when it arrived anyway, DFS have been featured in the press many times for their shoddy products. Of course the manager was polite, he wants the sale for his store bonus!

Spoon

Apart from the credit check on yourself (if you never gave them permission) to which I'd have been annoyed, I can't help picturing you sound like a good enough reason to lock the store doors on approach.

Tam the bam

Does DFS stand for Dodgy Fu*king Sofas btw?

Jamz3k

I'm not an easy customer but that is due to the fact i know how i wish to be treated, I work hard for my money and I work hard by helping people spend there money in a way that makes them feel good and not like they've just been robbed in the dark.

I do honestly believe that shops like Currys, dfs, PC World etc etc need to be shown a lesson in how to treat there customers. If i was to work in Currys for a day i could guarantee i would clean up commission wise as i know how to treat people and tell the truth something which most of these large shops lack.

Fuzz

No you need to vote with your feet and buy off a decent company to start with, stop trying to get the cheapest deal and you will probably get better service.


Andy

Aaquil

Probably does..we bought our sofas from a local place in Prestwich north manchester near the Tesco (If anyone knows that area). We have now had them for over 7 years with two kids and they are still in good condition...so I tend to agree with trying out local shops.

Does anyone have any recommendations for furniture places in Manchester as we may be looking into buying some more soon and I am not sure if that place is still open.

Aaquil

Probably does..we bought our sofas from a local place in Prestwich north manchester near the Tesco (If anyone knows that area). We have now had them for over 7 years with two kids and they are still in good condition and the service was good...so I tend to agree with trying out local shops.

Does anyone have any recommendations for furniture places in Manchester as we may be looking into buying some more soon and I am not sure if that place is still open.

Aaquil

Sorry posted up twice I don't know how I did that!

Fuzz

The forum seems to be going the speed of an Asthmatic slug this evening.

Maz

iTrader: (34)

The world is full of big multi national conglomerates monopolising every aspect of the market. Small independent retailers will be a a thing of the past. Who knows the vision portrayed by Paul Verhoven in Robocop of the ultimate conglomerate OCP may be upon us soon.

Simon 69

Direct Furniture Supplies, originally.

sti-04!!

I have bought a few items from DFS never had an issue yet. Recent buys included by two corner sofa's to make one large one in the games room same as alastair on here.
I also just recently purchased a sofa from Vogue & although the salesman was a bit of a **** the sofa was top notch.

Simon 69

Your money is better spent at a firm like Ponsford's (local I know, but there are firms like thi sall over, Im sure), in the long run. You pay, but you get excellent quality and it will last.

Aaquil

Where is Ponsford'd based?

Simon 69

Sheffield.

gazza-uk

your gf signed a finance agreement, the agreement was declined by the finance house, deal dead. tell him to shove the sofa.

one of my mates did the same, they told him he had to take it, he said (rightly) no I dont and hung up, last he heard of em

Fuzz

Trouble is, it's all true.

RLE

iTrader: (2)

Agree 100%. If they wanted to proceed with the sale they have to work around the credit declined issue. Assuming you must have given them your details at some point if they conducted a credit check. Can't have been based on "assumptions". If not they are in trouble but look closely at any Privacy Statement to make sure you dont look foolish if you go in all guns blazing.

Had to laugh at the taxi line though Jay.

Simon 69

It is, but he's still wasting his breath.

Abdabz

Well I went to DFS 3 weeks ago and ordered a spangly splendid sofa of much delightfulness.
This was at Speke in Leeeverpewl la. The saleschap was very helpful, explained everything clearly (including that signing to order was a legally binding contract etc), explained the delivery process and I walked away two grand lighter but a happy customer.
Obviously the suite is yet to be delivered and it could be a rancid dogs *** when it arrives, but my early recent experiences of DFS are excellent.

Always remember that in general salesmen in sofa shops are the car salesmen who werent good enough to work at Carcraft...

All that said, an unauthorised credit check (performed by the independant finance houses they use for their credit) is illegal

The Chief

My sister and her BF bought a couple of sofas from DFS, they spent over 2 grand on it.

Now after only 3 years it is completely f**ked and they really take care of their stuff no kids leaping about on it or anything like that,

They have swore never to buy from there again