A CUSTOMER was left gobsmacked after waiting almost four months for her DFS furniture delivery – only for the £1,749 sofa to turn up as two right halves.
Liam Connell had ordered a new suite of a three-seat sofa, chair and stool from the furniture giant in May after and expected it to arrive 11 weeks later.
However the 58-year-old was stunned when the furniture didn't turn up until September 1 – a month later than expected – and to his horror featured two identical right-hand seats as opposed to a full sofa.
When poor Liam flagged up the mismatched mistake to DFS, he claims he was told he either had to give it all back or keep both pieces – despite having already got rid of his own couch to accommodate the delivery.
After informing the chain this would leave him with nothing at all to sit on, he was then left with the ridiculous furniture set-up for a week as two promised replacement deliveries failed to arrive.
The NHS warehouse worker was compelled to share his ordeal on social media exposing a photo of the bizarre sofa – prompting some to joke that it could be perfect for social distancing since the seats were separated.
Liam, from Alfreton, Derbyshire, said: "I moved into my new house about a year ago and now I'm properly settled in I decided to upgrade my suite – it was the finishing bit in my house so I was really looking forward to it arriving.
"I finally got my delivery date and the lads came and brought everything in and unwrapped it and then when we could see that the sofa was two of the same side.
"I was gobsmacked, stunned really. The delivery was already a month behind so I was already annoyed and then that.
"They said 'oh god there must have been a mix up'. They rang up and then said we've either got to take it all or leave it all because it's come together.
"I said you can't take it all because I'd have nowhere to sit. I'd already got rid of my old suite so I had no choice but to keep it.
"They said I'd get a call from someone from the office but no one ever called so I rang them later that afternoon and they said 'we're looking into it we'll be in touch'.
"Since then it's just been back and forth trying to sort it out. It's half an hour just trying to get through to someone on the phone every time, it's a nightmare."
Liam says he flagged the delivery issue to DFS customer services and provided them with photos of the mismatched furniture and was promised a replacement order would arrive on September 4.
Shortly after arranging a delivery time for the replacement he received another call to say there had been a mistake and the sofa was in fact not in stock and would not be arriving.
But in another confusing turn, the following day he received a text message and phone call confirming the delivery along with an email saying 'we hope you enjoy your furniture', despite it still being duplicate pieces of the same part.
The dad was due to be on holiday with his daughter Sarah Connell, 31, and grandson Arlo Walker, three, and so arranged for a neighbour to accept the delivery, which would turn out to be another let down.
Liam said: "I'd taken my grandson to Butlins in Skegness for the weekend but I said it's fine my neighbour will sort it out so I arranged a delivery time.
"I got a call on Saturday morning to say the driver was on his way and would be there in half an hour so I rang my neighbour and she met them.
"I didn't hear anything from her so I called her back a couple of hours later and she said they'd been but they didn't have anything on the van for me.
"It ruined my holiday – we'd been in lockdown and I was finally going away with my grandson and it spoiled that."
The following Monday, as Liam prepared to return home with his family, he received another call from a DFS worker to say they had the sofa and to arrange delivery for September 8.
But despite saying they 'definitely' had the sofa as the worker was 'looking at it' while on the phone a later call yet again retracted this as a 'mistake' caused by the computer system.
Liam said: "I was getting a bit frustrated then so I said how long is this going to go on, is it going to be days, weeks, months? They said they haven't got a clue – the worst thing is just trying to get a straight answer.
"The tracking email changed to say 'your furniture has been delivered, we hope you enjoy your furniture', which was a bit worrying because I thought am I going to end up with just these two pieces.
"You would expect better service paying that much from a big brand that people trust but they've handled it terribly. I'll never be ordering from them again."
Only once journalists contacted DFS for comment did they resolve the issue and deliver a replacement sofa for their disgruntled customer.
Despite Liam claiming they had initially insisted that the sofa was out of stock, the firm ended up delivering the replacement furniture from his local branch the same day.
Liam said: "I just don't understand why they couldn't have done that in the first place instead of messing me about."
A spokesperson for DFS said: "We are extremely sorry that as a result of a supplier error, Mr Connell received the wrong sofa configuration.
"We have quickly rectified the mix up and can confirm that the correct sofa has been delivered and the problem resolved to Mr Connell's satisfaction. We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused."
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