03 August 2010
Buyer beware!
I have to say that I found this company very difficult to deal with, and they didn't uphold their end of the bargain. I ordered a Joseph Betel bed for my mother who is 70. Initially I wanted it delivered on a weekday as it was free, but then I was surprised when I was told that because of insurance issues the courier would only pass it over the threshold of the property to her, and not take it inside. As I explained she is an old lady and has suffered several strokes so hardly able to manhandle a huge box containing a flatpacked bedframe!
So, I changed the order to a Saturday delivery, explaining to the company representative that given the courier's inability to take the package into my mother's hallway I would have to get up at 3.30am and travel the 300 miles to her address in order to receive it, so it was crucial that it arrive.
As others have said this bedframe was out of stock despite the website saying different so I decided to go through with the order and wait the month or so it would take for the bedframe to be available. And this is where the company broke one of the T&C's binding covenants which is that they will not take any monies until the product is available - within two days of my order the full amount of £274 was deducted from my credit card, even though it was weeks before the 19th July availability date. I wonder if the company has a cash flow problem? Otherwise, why break your own T&Cs and effectively illegally take money for goods not available?
A few days before the bedframe was due a company representative called me to assure me that it would be delivered on Saturday so I thought all well and good.
I made the journey, thinking that since deliveries stopped at 1pm I would have the afternoon to assemble the bed, and then return home on the Sunday. But both my mother and I waited all day on Saturday for the bed to be delivered but to no avail. I tried calling the company ten times but no one picked up so rather than try the "1" or "2" options I instead used the "0" option that no one is told about and which bypasses the automatic cutoff. I got through to a pleasant girl who assured me that the bed had been dispatched to me, and it was due for delivery that day.
This is where the company broke a second of its own T&C's binding covenants which is that if there is a problem in completing the order/delivery they will call you to let you know... in my case, I had to pester them to get any information out of them, and even that information turned out to be false.
By 7pm there was no sign of the bed at all. I thought naively that perhaps, given my mother lives in Cornwall, that the courier company might - just might - deliver it first thing on Sunday morning but no, nothing. I had no recourse but to stay in Cornwall and take another few days off to try and rectify the problem.
Monday morning came and I called the company first thing. I spoke with a young man who tried to find out what had gone wrong but when he called me back he admitted that despite being told on Saturday the bed had been dispatched to me, there had been a mix-up and the bed hadn't been scanned in... so why was I told it had been dispatched? The young man had no answer for me, and when I asked him to get his supervisor or indeed the company's MD to call me to explain why the confusion had happened in the first place and what sort of recompense I could expect I never received a call back. Two days later I am still waiting although Mr Seeley, the MD, ought to note that he will be hearing from me in the future.
Finally, Monday morning the bedframe arrived via a local courier service. When I quizzed the man about the order he showed me the paperwork and I discovered that there had been no intention to deliver to me on Saturday - if there had been then there would have been a special note on the delivery form. Indeed, when I asked the delivery man further he admitted that the courier company don't deliver on a weekend and that they only received the goods in question on Saturday in the first place!
And to add insult to injury there was no sign of the free memory foam pillow that is so well-displayed as a selling point on the website.
I have to say that although the product was reasonable, the service I received was terrible and I won't be recommending the website to anyone in the near future. As other disgruntled customers have said in their postings on other company review websites I would avoid this company if only to teach them the valuable lesson that good reputation equals good revenue... and I'd like to see them hit where it hurts - in their profit and loss sheet!
Mattressnextday... surely the name alone contravenes trading standards?
Your reply is now saved. You will in a moment receive an email with your new login for your company profile.