Complain for change: the great sofa wait
How long is too long when it comes to delayed deliveries? A day? A week? How about almost two months? That’s how long I had to wait for a sofa delivery from Next.
In December last year I moved into a property with friends. On the big move day our landlord told us she was waiting on a sofa delivery from Next, and it should be with us within a few days. Can you guess what happened next?
Days turned to weeks and weeks turned to months. Despite being told our sofa would be with us mid-December, it was a no show.
We were subsequently told that the sofa would be with us by 16 January. Ok, I thought, even if it was almost a month late. But the 16 January came and went with no word from Next. Our landlord continually chased customer services and finally got a confirmed delivery date for 2 February, almost two months late…
Sofa, so good?
While I was glad we finally had a delivery date, something told me the trouble wasn’t over, and I wasn’t wrong. We waited in for more than five hours on the delivery day, but by 12.30pm the gaping whole in our lounge still hadn’t been filled.
When we contacted Next customer services to enquire where the sofa was, we were told no information could be given to us because we weren’t the account holder, despite Next being told by our landlord to liaise with us regarding the delivery.
On a second attempt, we got through to a much more helpful adviser who informed us that the delivery had been attempted earlier that morning, but to the wrong address. Fantastic. Next had given the wrong delivery address to the courier – another set-back.
Cushioning the blow
Luckily for us, the driver who was delivering the sofa kindly came back, as another delivery was only six miles away. Had it not been for their kindness, who knows how much longer we would have been waiting.
Because of all the delays, Next offered our landlord a 10% discount on the sofa price. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think a 10% saving makes up for all the stress, discomfort and frustrating phone calls over a two-month period.
We weren’t the only ones to suffer delays – I’m aware of reports by other customers who have had similar experiences with their Next deliveries. So if a company has to deliver an item late, why doesn’t it just give realistic delivery times in the first place, instead of getting our hopes up? How long have you waited to receive a purchase in the past?
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Sophie Gilbert
I tried to buy a cooker from Sainsbury’s a few year ago and after they delayed the delivery twice I told them to raffle it and they gave me my money back.
john mccolgan
I’ve been a Next account holder for years, their delivery times for clothing is superb however I’ll pass on their furniture if the problems are as read.
nick davies
With a thing like a sofa you need to find out if it’s off-the-shelf or made-to-order. If there are a selection of options – colours, finishes, materials and so on the chances are it will be made-to order and you’ll be in for a wait. In a place like Next they may well not volunteer that information, or might not even know unless you can speak to the head of that section or the buyers. If you are on-line and don’t see a stock level or firm delivery time it’s best to speak to a human and get a better idea. That’s not to let them off the hook though. – if there’s a delay at the factory they should come clean and let you cancel if need be.
Isobel Smith
Completely agree with you in regards to made to order, however the sofa we were waiting on was straight out of the Next catalogue with my landlord only specifying the colour. It’s a shame that we had such a poor experience with Next customer services as the sofa itself is very nice and I can’t fault the product.
Charlotte McClelland
You think 2 months is bad… we had to wait for 6 months, they gave us some compensation and then retracted some of that back! Next = never again
Isobel Smith
That’s awful that it took so long to arrive. Did they explain why there was such a lengthy delay to the delivery?