Faulty Sofas
We bought 2 Haresfield sofas in leather which were delivered in October. They had misshapen or no padding on the corners of the arms and an inspection confirmed these were manufacturing faults. We agreed to the sofas being remade as
we were assured both in writing and in a recorded phone call from Head 🏬 that the remade ones would be fault free and that their own upholster at their Milton Keynes depot would double check them to ensure this was the case before dispatch. However when they were delivered, it was immediately apparent that the replacement sofas had numerous faults, prompting the delivery guys (who were lovely) to send photographs to Head Office with arrows pointing to the faults. Despite this, Head Office initially denied there was anything wrong with the sofas. We sent more photos which again graphically showed the faults. Another independent inspection followed which identified multiple manufacturing faults, evidenced by 15 photographs taken by the inspector and sent with his report which he gave us access to. The sofas came with 2 cushions each made in velvet and we added a footstool to match. They eventually agreed to a refund but refused to refund the footstool and then tried to withhold a further £185 for delivery which would have been £85 but was free as part of a promotion running at the time. We were advised by Consumer Direct throughout and consequently, the whole order, over £7000, was refunded. We echo what other reviewers in 1 and 2 star reviews have said. There doesn't seem to be any quality control at the factory where these very expensive sofas are made. Head Office have an ADR provider but don't belong to the Furniture Ombudsman scheme. However anyone can use the Furniture Ombudsman's inspection service. We paid over £7k and regret ever buying from this company, and can evidence everything referred to here.
Added after S&S response. We left a factual review describing our customer experience over 5 months. Your response does not contain any apology for delivering 2 faulty sets of sofas, trying to withhold £364 which you were not legally entitled to do as we had cancelled the whole order, and £185, an amount you appear to have made up. Your customer support team comprises 3 people, all of whom we had the misfortune to deal with, who work closely with the owners of the business. In our review above we didn't say we had 5 months of enormous stress and that your emails were condescending or that we had to continually chase you for updates on the second set of sofas. Maybe you should reflect on your response because all you appear to be interested in your reputation, not good customer service. When we told you the next communication would be a Letter Before Action you finally refunded all the money. We didn't mind that things went wrong with the sofas, we minded very much about the way you dealt with it.
Date of experience: March 20, 2024
