Sorry, but this is another tale of customer dissatisfaction. I don’t mean to bore you, but surely we shouldn’t have to put up with this sort of sh*t. How can it be so hard?
Today, a tale in 2 parts.
Part 1: Sales Prevention Officers
We recently spent over £350 on curtains and cushions from Dunelm (that’s in Part 2). When practically the next day our wall-mounted coat racks fell off the wall, Rachel remembered some nice looking furniture she’d seen there that would be great for storing all our shoes and boots. So she went back on a mission to spend another £150 or so.
However, the only unit available that she wanted was slightly shop-damaged with a small, virtually invisible crack near the base of the unit.
Can you spot the crack... nope, me neither
The following is a recreation of the conversation she had with the Dunelm sales assistants (no, honestly, that’s their real title).
Never mind about the crack, can I still buy it?
Yes.
[long pause] Er, I don’t really expect to pay full price for a damaged item.
[deadpan] It’s not our policy to discount shop-damaged goods.
You’d knowingly sell a less-than-perfect item for full price?
It’s actually not our policy to sell shop-damaged goods at all, but if you do want to buy this one, we wouldn’t discount it.
[long pause while Rachel absorbs the fact they are deadly serious] So what are my options?
[optimistically] You can buy it online, and it could be delivered within a couple of weeks.
But I’m here now, and I’d like to take this one home in the car. I’ve driven 30 miles to get here and you have something I want to buy. Did I mention I’m still waiting for my £350 curtains? You’d rather write this stock off at its full value than sell it to me with a discount…?
In the end Rachel walked out. I’ve never been more proud of her (except maybe at the births of our daughters). But then (and I’m proud of this too) she went back… to speak to the manageress, who phoned Head Office and eventually came back with a 20% (£30) discount. Rachel would have accepted £10 (it’s that small a blemish) if it had been offered at the start…
Sheesh.
Part 2: In time for Christmas … (next year?)
“Order curtains before 11th December for delivery in time for Christmas” said the signs instore, and so did the man on the phone. So we ordered on 8th December, for the sole purpose of having new curtains and our revamped open fire in time for Christmas.
By 23rd December the chimney was swept and the new grate had been made by the very nice people at Cherington Forge (in time for Christmas). But there had been no contact from Dunelm, so we called them. Noone could trace our order. Noone could tell us when the curtains would be ready, but we were promised a call back. But noone called back.
We called again between Christmas and New Year, and received the same chaotic response, as though Dunelm was shrugging its shoulders, staring at the ground and mumbling “er, I dunno” like a child standing over a broken toy. The workshops are closed for the festive season, and evidently their ‘system’ (a massive overclaim if ever there was one) is so prehistoric that noone except the workshops have any idea if our curtains are still just rolls of fabric, and if or when they might ever be completed.
We’ve left more messages, but we’re still waiting for a call. By now it’s also evident that had we waited until after Christmas to order the curtains, as in fact we didn’t really need them for Christmas, we could have saved 20% as there’s now a sale on. We have every intention of getting at least 20% discount on the full price we paid… I’ll keep you posted.
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