Couple Forced To Sit On Deckchairs After Ordering £2,700 DFS Sofa 6 Months Ago

A couple who ordered a £2,700 DFS sofa 6 months ago have been forced to sit on deckchairs as they're still waiting for their expensive delivery.

David and Bronwen Jones, from Blackwood, Caerphilly, ordered two navy two-piece sofas and a stool in July 2021, which were supposed to arrive within 16 weeks.

However, nearly six months on, the couple have claimed their new sofa is still yet to be delivered.

Hoping their £2,700 suite would be with them by October and well in time for Christmas, the sofaless couple were instead left rather uncomfortable as they had already got rid of their old sofa.

Speaking to WalesOnline, David said: "We've been sitting on deck chairs and we've spent most of our time lying on the bed upstairs watching TV because it's uncomfortable.

"You can only sit on those chairs for so long. It's not like a sofa at our age."

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David said when he ordered the sofa set, he and his wife were under the impression it would arrive before the festive period and paid a £1000 in deposit up front.

"We ordered a sofa on July 10. We were told it'd be 16 weeks, there was no sign of it, so I rung them up to make sure we were going to have it before Christmas.

"As it got closer to Christmas there was no sign of it and I had an email to say it'll be in the docks between December 21 and 24. They said it would be arriving January 17."

After receiving the new delivery date, David said he asked DFS about the possibility of loaning a temporary sofa while they were waiting and was pleased when they agreed to send one out before Christmas.

But much to his disappointment, that sofa also went AWOL.

"They got back to me a day or two later saying they had a two seater sofa they could lend which would arrive soon. We had a text then to say it would be arriving on December 22," he explained.

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"I had another text on the same day to say it would be arriving between 7.55 and 10.55am and it was trackable. I put on the tracker to say where it was and it was saying I was delivery number four and it was on delivery 11 so I don't know why it passed four. Then it went to 12, 13, 14 so I rang them up and they said they didn't know what was wrong so they'd get in touch with the warehouse and they'd ring me."

David said he and his wife had no idea if or when either sofa would turn up however, after WalesOnline contacted DFS on Wednesday, December 29, a temporary sofa was delivered.

A revised delivery date for the new sofa has been agreed, a spokesperson added.

"We did expect them for Christmas, you don't expect to be waiting for it over five months down the line," David explained.

"I know there's trouble with a shortage of lorry drivers, but they're not telling us what's happening. Unless I'm ringing, I'm not hearing anything."

He then said matters had been exacerbated since his wife suffers with arthritis and needs to be comfortable, along with it being frustrating to be off work over Christmas unable to sit comfortably at home.

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"I'm fed up of it all being on the phone and getting nowhere. I'm really cheesed off, I've had it up to here."

A spokeswoman for DFS said: "We would like to reiterate our sincere apologies to Mr Jones - we understand the frustration and disappointment that a late delivery can cause.

"Like many businesses, we are managing unprecedented challenges in the global supply chain and unfortunately, these disruptions are impacting delivery timings. We apologise that Mr Jones' order was one of those affected - the revised delivery date in January has now been confirmed with the customer.

"We agreed to deliver loan furniture to Mr Jones but unfortunately on this occasion, due to a system error, this furniture was regrettably incorrectly allocated. We work hard to provide our customers with both a product they love and a positive experience, and we regret any occasion when that isn’t the case.

"We have since been working closely with Mr Jones in order to resolve the issue as a matter of urgency - we have allocated new loan furniture which was delivered to Mr Jones' property earlier this morning (30 December), to the customer's satisfaction. We have also arranged for a store manager to call Mr Jones to discuss his concerns and a further gesture of goodwill.

"We appreciate Mr Jones' patience during this challenging time and extend our apologies for the inconvenience caused - we look forward to delivering his order as soon as possible in January."

Topics: UK News