THERE is an art to making an effective complaint.
Raw deal would like to salute Ken and Linda Dair, of Dundee, for going about it in an exemplary way and getting the outcome they desired.
The Dairs bought a two-piece recliner suite in April, from DFS.
After just two months a part of the recliner mechanism on one of the recliners snapped.
DFS was informed and sent a repair man, who affixed a metal bar to reinforce the seat.
But in September the back of the same chair broke and there was a break at the other side of the sofa too.
The next repairman to appear said there must have been some force brought to bear on the sofa. But there hadn’t been and Linda and Ken calmly, but firmly, told him so.
After three breaks within six months, Linda and Ken didn’t want any further repairs. They wanted a replacement.
The workman said he would effect a temporary fix and speak to his manager about what was to be done next.
After no news for a couple of weeks, Ken phoned to inquire what stage his complaint had reached.
He was offered a repair to the back panel of the sofa, which wouldn’t have helped much as one of the chairs was broken as well.
DFS continued to insist that excessive pressure must have been applied to the back of the framework, but the Dairs knew this wasn’t the case.
They live alone and are quite sure the sofa was only ever sat upon in a normal fashion. They had also taken out a five-year guarantee on the furniture.
As is always a good idea when faced with this sort of stand-off, Linda sent a letter to Raw Deal.
We raised the issue with DFS.
Its spokesperson said: “At DFS we take customer service extremely seriously, so we were very sorry to hear Ms Dair had not had a satisfactory experience.
“A service manager visited Ms Dair’s house to assess the situation and agreed for her to visit her local DFS store and choose new furniture.
“We can confirm that the issue has now been resolved to Ms Dair’s satisfaction.”
The Dairs reaped the rewards of making their complaint through the proper channels, sticking to their guns and remaining focused on the main issue.
Most firms will react positively when a customer makes a valid complaint and is able to demonstrate that there has been a failing.
Well done Linda and Ken.
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