Bensons for Beds

Ordered a base and mattress and paid in full 12th January. Delivery 16th March between 7am and 1pm. 4pm they turn up,had paid for assembly. While assembling delivery men complaining of hours and being given extra deliveries and customers should not be given time slots etc. I had waited all day after doing a night shift so went straight to bed. Next morning, saw cuts, dirty marks and a nail sticking out of one side of the base. Went to the store I ordered it from with photos. They agreed the delivery men must have seen it but advised to email customer services with the photos. 18th march,sent photos and email. 22nd March, phoned to ask why no response to email. 40 mins to get through. Girl looked at email and photos while I spoke to her, agreed base needed changing. Said she would order one and they would be in touch when it was ready. Advised it would take a while. Emailed 12th May to chase it up. No answer to email.Phoned 18th May, recprded message saying to try again another day as they were too busy to take calls.Emailed 22nd May, no answer. Phoned 30th May, on hold for 45 mins before I got to speak to someone. Assured me she had checked, my base was in the warehouse but had not been booked for delivery. Assured me she had now booked delivery for 4th July.30th May, receive a text, delivery booked for 4th July, will be contacted 48 hrs before with a time slot. 29th June, text stating delivery between 7am and 1pm.Booked day off work, guess what, no show. On phone to customer services, 1hr 10 mins on hold tp be told I had been given wrong information and the base I need is not in stock. Would I accept 50 pounds compensation. Absolute insult. Asked for refund and take the bed back as I cannot take any more. Assured it will be picked up. I am absolutely broken, also apparently have to phone after 48hrs of it being picked up to get my refund so seems like another hour on hold or I dont get my money back. What disgusting customer service and I am telling anyone and every one to avoid Bensons at all costs.

me and my partner came in to Benson for beds over a month ago and bought a bed we had brilliant customer service, we had booked for the bed to come for the 15th of June as It was the only available time i could get off work. I have waited for the bed to come which I had been told between 3 and 5 pm which is absolutely fine but I received a phone call at 14:35 by the delivery man asking if I had just the ordered a mattress once I explained to him it was a bed frame also, I was then informed that the bed frame will not be coming today.

I am appalled by what has happened today as I have lost money today due to having to take the day off, I now have to book another day off due to someone else's incompetence. If I was informed before today I would have asked for every thing to come together at a later date. Me and my partner have been sleeping on an old mattress on the floor which we expected but we didn't expect to pay so much money and still be sleeping on the floor.

I have been advised by Cambridge store that you will be calling me in the next 48 hrs to arrange another date which is difficult for myself and my partner as we both work in a prison and we do not have access to our phones.

My mattress has arrived and we have only just been told that they will not be taking our old mattress nor do we have any pillows or the mattress protector to sleep on as this came with our order. Our pillows were put in the bin this morning due to yourselves telling us that everything we have ordered will be here today.

We also feel terrible for your delivery men as they were not told we were on a second story flat and they are not able to take our second mattress back. We live in a very small flat which is not practical to have a double mattress lying around.

Also after reading your terms and conditions you have failed to comply with notifying us within a reasonable timeframe that you would not be able to fully fulfil our order.

it is now the 5thof July an update on what has happened, i had sent the above email on the 15th after my mattress was delivered, me and my partner then had to sleep on our new mattress for another week on the floor. my partner had to take another day off work for the delivery to arrive once our bed frame arrived my partner was then told that they do not have our pillows that we had paid for. we have now got a delivery for the 11th of July.

every person i have spoken with cannot do anything or its not the correct email or phone number or their is no reply

I would like to make a formal complaint and i also want monetary reparations back as i am utterly appalled by Bensons for beds.

Please see attached purchase order of a Divan bed and mattress from the month of March 2022.

I was promised a delivery date on 14.4.2022, for which I took a day off and waited to be informed that the delivery can only be partially completed due to issues with stock.

I was given another date after discussing with customer service for the 1.6.2022. On this day I received a call to say that the delivery will be done in 10 to 15 minutes, so I quickly dismantled the current bed (which broke) and waited for my delivery. The driver called to say that there was an issue with delivery due to the size of the vehicle and therefore had to cancel the delivery. As it was the bank holiday weekend, I was not able to get in touch with customer service.

Today I received a message to confirm that the next delivery will be on 11.7.2022.

I am very disappointed with the service. I have waited since March and now have to sleep on the floor. I suffer from back ache and have recently had abdominal surgery, that makes it very difficult. I am very distressed and feel trapped as I have commited to this order.

I hereby request a delivery this week or early next week from Benson for beds. I have been told that there are no dates, however there has to be a mitigation plan for a situation like mine.

I have lost two annual leaves due to this delivery issue.

I have been emailing Bensons for beds since March with regards to a damaged bed and mattress we received back in December. To date I have had no response whatsoever from customer services, we even struggle to get through to them on the phone. The email address I use is given on their website. We have had many failed collections whereby myself and my husband have lost out financially, we are both self employed and have arranged time off and even re-arranged meetings etc with our clients to ensure we would be at home for collection only to find no-one turns up! The complaint was originally raised with a member of staff from our local store back in December 2021 whom we later found out had been sacked, yet regardless to this he continued messaging my husband saying it was being sorted - all messages have been saved and Bensons for Beds are fully aware of it yet not even an apology from them. Its an absolute disgrace, a joke! the bed was finally collected yesterday, even then it was late so once again we have lost out financially arranging for one of us to be here! Today will we receive our refund (apparently!). All dealings with them have been via the local store but all emails and "WhatsApp" messages have been saved! lets hope I get a response from this... I have many more issues I could mention on here with regards to this mess but I have wasted enough time with the company!

Please lol at emails sent over the last weeks from Josie.[protected]@btinternet.com

Sent to all your email addresses

From: Josie Lowe

Sent: May 25, 2022 at 7:34 PM

To: [protected]@bensonsforbeds.co.uk

Subject: Fwd:A6056337, LOWE

Sent via BT Email App

From: Josie Lowe

Sent: May 25, 2022 at 4:42 PM

To: Maureen.[protected]@bensonsforbeds.co.uk

Subject: Fwd:A6056337, LOWE

Order originally dated 6th March 2022

As you can see below I spoke to Jack Meakin who assured me he would respond personally but that doesn't seem to be happening.

In exasperation in phoning your customer services today and to be 64 I. The queue I contacted the Store in Cannock where we made our purchase to be told by Emma (who fully understood) how upset we were that our Base might be in the delivery warehouse Tuesday next week but could give no more information.

I feel now if by next week Tuesday, 29th May we have not received this item I will take this matter further to the Fair Trading and Ombudsman and who ever else will help us as I cannot begin to say how let down by a Company like Bensons we have been.

Your reply is waited as a matter of Urgency please.

After failing miserably at their deliveries, witj lack of replies, hoorah our mattress arrived... but 2 days later it already sags, i raised this immediately and informed my bank due to the lack of contact. Ive sent pictures, been told not to spam b4b and couldn't get through no replies and finally after 10 days after sending images and videos apparently Megan can't see an issue and will send someone round, when who knows because she hasn't replied.

What do you guys think? 🙄

I purchased a bed and headboard from the local branch on 18-03-22

At time of purchase we set delivery date as 20-05-22. I received a text message on 17-05-22 to confirm delivery for 20-05-22 between 7am - 1pm.

On the evening of 19-05-22 I received a text message saying the delivery had been rearranged for 02-06-22 due to stock and van availability.

I tried calling customer service, however they had left for the day.

On 20-05-22 I called customer service again, I was told I was 'number 97 in the queue' 1 hour and 25 minutes later, I was 'number 5 in the queue' then the call was terminated.

I then drove to the branch and a staff member looked at the receipt information I gave her and showed me a list of order numbers, saying I was next on her list to contact.

I said I wanted a full refund as I have seen online how people have been in this and situation 2 and 3 times and still don't have their deliveries.

I was told I could have a refund, but the system was locked and she could not lock it. I calmly asked her to speak with someone who could unlock it. I was told she could do the refund for me first thing tomorrow and the funds would be in my account in 3-5 days.

I said I was not going to leave until I was provided with my refund. I was then told if I don't leave she would have to call someone to make me leave. I asked who she would call and she said ' the Police'. I advised that the company had my money and we're not returning this, so perhaps it should be my calling the Police.

I sat there while she tried to call a manager and I made a call to the local newspaper.

After my call, I was told she would put the refund back on my card today, but it would take 3-5 days to reach my account. I agreed to this and left the store.

I am reading all over social media how people have been in awful situations with the company.

Ordered a divan bed in January 2022

The mattress and headboard arrived in March as expected. Since then there have been 4 more promised delivery of the base.

They now tell me the base has been delivered - if it has it wasn’t too me. I have told them 3 times I do not have the base still

Please please please think very carefully before you place an order with this company

We had an approved replacement for our defective bed. We paid additional funds for a higher quality or so we thought. We waited months for this to be sorted out only to be told that the delivery only contained the bed base ! I told the driver when he called that I did not want the base only as it was the mattress that was the problem! I emailed customer services now asking for a refund. No response. Tried calling but it’s impossible to get through in my lunch hour due to waiting times!

We then got an email stating new delivery date of 17th June.

I don’t know how I can make myself clearer I want a refund. I have also seen such bad reviews about the replacement and I can’t face this hassle for a third time.

We oredered a new bed earlier in the year which was delivered as expected. However, we decided that we wanted to change the mattress under Bensons's 40-night scheme.

The delivery of the new mattress was first scheduled for 11 April. The van turned up to collect the old mattress, but no new mattress was on board, so we turned them away.

A new delivery was scheduled for 11 May. No van turned up and no reason was given. Attempts to speak to Cutomer Services required waits of more than 30 minutes. I have now received an updated delivery for 6 Jun "due to limited stock and van capacity". This suggests that there are significant operational problems within the delivery system and a major overhaul is needed.

Today was the third attempt to deliver; base, headboard, mattress, mattress top and yet again the issue is with the base.

During the first and second failed attempts I have been told the base wasnt built, then that it was never going to be built by the original date provided, then that you dont know if it will ever get built!

After the second failed attempt I visited the local store, where the person was polite and helpful to an extent but could not offer me any reassurance that the delivery would ever be successful.

I optimistically allowed for a further couple of weeks for attempt number three. Today you failed again.

I have been lied to, fobbed off and dismissed and still have no idea when I will receive the products you are providing. I have no faith in you as a company and your customer service is beyond shocking!

Had a great experience in store order our bed and mattress in Oxford. However it went down hill afterwards. New bed and mattress was order 05.03.22 with expected delivery 13.04.2022- I express in store I was six month pregnant and we have an issue with our current bed so will be on a blow up bed till this ones arrives.

13.04.2022 arrived and I get notified in the morning that our mattress will not be delivery and there would be another weeks delay - we excepted that however upon unpacking the bed we were missing parts so had to drive to collect form store those parts.

21.04.2022 was meant to be the arrival of our mattress again on the day get a message to say it not coming - I speak to the store and they tell me it going to now be 05.05.2022 but they cannot guarantee the mattress will arrive. I am now 8 month pregnant with no mattress.

Could never get through to customer service - details from the shop where unhelpful when I ask if I can change the mattress to have something sooner they could delivery. I work full time unsocial hours which meant this was not easy to sort out.

In the end I have now had to spend an additional £400 to go to another company to get a mattress which was delivered within a week.

The shop couldn't give me full mattress refund due to the time of purchase - so I can now a further £450 out of pocket, serve back pain due to the delay in delivery and continuous missing time at work to be in for delivery that didn't come and didn't notify until the day.

Awful service, no one helped. Everyone else got the blame with out finding a solution.

On 8 Feb I ordered a bed, mattress and headboard from Bensons in the sale.

For 7 weeks I got regular updates telling me my order would be delivered on 24 March, until on the day of delivery, I had a new message telling me my order would be delivered on 21 April, with no explanation or apology.

I then spent 2 hours trying to get hold of customer services, who said the bed had been on the delivery truck but was subsequently removed. They didn't know where the 21 April date had come from and assured me the delivery was scheduled for 7 April.

On 7 April the headboard and mattress arrived, but no sign of the bed.

I received an email at 09.47 apologising and saying they had been unable to locate the bedframe in the warehouse that morning, but someone would be in touch within 24 hrs. I rang customer services (another 60 mins wait time) and they confirmed this. However, 24 hrs has now passed without any communication.

I needed this bed to be in the flat by the beginning of April as I had a tenant moving in then. I have now lost that tenant. I cannot rent out my flat until the bed is here, so Bensons is causing me a lot of lost income as well as massive inconvenience. I am really angry.

We had a bed delivered on 3/2/22. We paid for the bed to be put together.

He came out this morning to put the bed together. When he attempted to build the TV part the 3 bolts that make the mechanism of the tv go up and down were missing. And the wireless remote doesn’t work. He said he was happy to be contacted to give more clarity. However, he informed us he is going on holiday the following day.

So we have brought this TV bed and we now cannot use it. We would like this resolved as soon as possible. Myself and my wife have requested call backs to no avail. I have been 56th, 96th and 37th in the que. We have called everyday and we have sent 4 emails! We have had zero response from anyone. We opted for call backs that never came.

I went in store (Aylesbury) and was told there was nothing they could do as we ordered online. We were told that they even knew how bad the customer service line was and they could not get through for us either. We were advised to call at 10am- this would be the best time. We have tried at 10am every day.

We are completely baffled as to why we cannot speak to anyone.

We also feel that we have no choice moving forward other than to seek legal advice. This is a very expensive purchase and to not have the main feature of the bed work is a complete disappointment.

We have also asked the credit company to not start charging us for the bed as it is faulty.

Order number D4828592

Amy Lawes

I have emailed 4 times starting from 1st March and despite being promised a response "within 5 working days" I am still waiting for a response, I had called prior tomy email and was 38th on your phone line! I did leave a message for a call back which I did receive, however part way through the call the line went dead and I was sure the agent would call me back as she must have realised I wasn't going to call again to be 38th again! However not great service as she didn;t. However i had taken an email address so thought I would pursue using this form of communication. Been very dissapointed and called on friday morning to receive a message saying you weren't taking calls. Shocking. Seems the only way to get your attention is to log a complaint so here i am an hopeful you will take notice my number is [protected] if you need to discuss. Thanks

On the 1/02/2022 I had a bed and bases delivered, the delivery drivers left me to unwrap no way to check the items before they left. Once unwrapped I was appaled by the conditions of the large drawer base. One of the black clips that join the bases together was not screwed on and fell off, one of the inner plastic runner wheels for the drawer was broken, and the wooden stretcher that goes beneath the drawer has a large knot hole and should never have been used to build the base, the small drawer base seems okay but yet again one of the wooden stretchers beneath a draw has a knot hole. I contacted customer service numerous times, first reply from grace aspden asking for all details and photos, sent these no reply, second contact chris knowles again asking for the same details, sent these and more photos, no reply, sent another email, no reply. Disgusting way to treat a customer. The order number is for the numerous time [protected], I am mr k w hack,7 shetland close borehamwood wd62sx, phone number [protected].Contact me asap.

One of your teams of delivery drivers thought it was ok to park 3/4 on the path and totally across my drive whilst delivering to a neighbour 2 houses down. Lorry Registration number DG17 KJO saturday 26th Feb 2022 at B32 3SG. They where parked for over half an hour and when my husband came back from shopping they where still there so unable to park on our own drive or get the shopping out when they came out the house they where told to move it but took their time putting things in the back etc and told him he'd have to wait and didnt even say sorry. Also anyone either in a wheelchair or pushing a pram or pushchair would not have been able to use the path at this time total disgrace and bad attitudes from your driver.

we have had nothing but problems with this matteress we both have bad back problems, the sales person at bensons suggested this materess as the best one to buy for our situation, it cost us £1100. we have written to customer service but they do not reply. the materess is sagging in places.

1 Nov 2021 - the headboard of the bedframe of the Bensons for Beds I purchased under Sales Order: 5359684 broke and the entire bed collapsed.

I was hurt by the collapse.
I could not use the bed and was without a bed.
I called the Bensons for Beds phone line and was asked to email.
1 Nov 2021 -I received an email reply from Joseph Simm, Bensons for Beds Customer Services
1 Nov 2021 - I emailed photos of the damaged headboard.
8 Dec 2021 - an inspector visited to view the damaged headboard
9 Dec 2021 - received an email from Arianne Piper, Bensons for Beds Customer Services confirming a new headboard had been ordered and would arrive within 10 days
18 Dec 2021 - sent follow up - the headboard has not arrived- no reply
20 Dec 2021 - sent follow up - the headboard has not arrived- no reply

This letter was sent to Bensons on Friday 19th November 2021 with out acknowledgement or response :

To whom this may concern,
This is a letter of complaint. I already have spoken to a member of your management team, who couldn't really
help me. I was disappointed that she couldn't bring the order date forward, seeing that you had messed me
around, but I waited. I decided at the time that if there would be no more issues, I wouldn't bring this higher,
but, when I received the base on November 18th, you didn't even instruct your drivers to build it! I paid for this
service because I have a bad back. Why wasn't a note added to this delivery?

The following is of your poor customer service, no communication amongst your departments and absolutely
no responsibility taken by yourselves for this fiasco.

Please see the details as follows sent on October 4th 2021

5th August - Purchased base, mattress, headboard

21st September - Received a call to say the base wasn't available, when asked when it will be available, the
agent said she'd call back but didn't.

22nd September - Received a text AFTER delivery to advise us of our time slot

23rd September - I called for an update, the agent told me the base was available and would reschedule
delivery for Monday 27th September and I received a text to reflect this but within 4 hours, received an
updated email/text to say it had been rebooked for Wednesday 29th September.

24th September - Called back in for an update as to why it had been changed to be told the base wasn't
available in the distribution centre like previously told. Advised I needed a time slot for this now and advised
this would not be possible due to drivers not knowing their routes but would call me Monday to update
me. (Didn't receive a call - I had to call back in)

27th September - Received a message of a time slot 7am -1pm for Wednesday 29th September but no phone
call as promised. Called and spoke to a lady in the delivery team who told me I may have to PAY for a time slot
(after you had now messed me around 3 times). She passed me through to someone in customer services, who kept me on hold for 10 minutes to call the distribution centre who said they would call me. That I would
receive a message/email before the delivery of a time slot (but I told him again and again that last Wednesday
we received this AFTER delivery but it fell on deaf ears), he then told me to track my order and the ‘drop' on
the Bensons website. He confirmed the delivery number and I asked for mine to updated with my number,
kept me on hold what felt like an eternity to be told that the account is locked and he was unable to.
29th September - received my time slot for delivery 8.41-1041 but got a call at 9:10am to say they are having
issues getting fuel. They said they'd call me back in a bit to let me know what was happening. Like most
customers, we do not have the luxury to work from home, so it takes me longer to get home from work to
meet delivery. I told the agents that 30 minutes is not enough to get home for me and no one is in besides me
to meet the delivery. Called the customer service team after trying to call the driver 30 minutes later and after
providing more information, left on hold for another 10 minutes to be told - the driver can't get fuel because
of the national shortage.

Called back through for an update, Grace told me she couldn't give me an ETA that I was drop 14…. even
though my email said drop 4 of 14? I said to her why she is saying 14 and she said 10 is after 4, really! Asked
her to contact the driver as it was unacceptable.

Said she would change the delivery but then told she couldn't. So my options were to waiting for delivery
without knowing an ETA or reschedule, which ever suits me… it didn't. So when the driver eventually rang me, I couldn't take the delivery as I had to go into work, they then rang my partner to see if he would take delivery.

I had originally booked the morning off to take this delivery. Surely, you would know if your delivery van is
having fuel issues the night before and not drive to Sandbach trying to find petrol to drive back to
Manchester. Looked the tracking and they were near sandbach and then at 930, were driving back towards Manchester!

Three times in the space of 1 week you have messed me around.

Please assist me with the following:
You had the order for 6 weeks, why were we only told 24 hours before delivery that the base wasn't
available?

Why did I receive a text/email of our time slot 1.5 hours AFTER our time slot

Why aren't your agents calling back when they say they will? Are they allowed to follow up with customers?

Why aren't your delivery vans fuelled up before a delivery?

The whole of the UK is having issues with fuel, why are your delivery vans allow to leave your distribution
centres without fuel?

I cancelled my second order due to the appalling service, and the person didn't even ask me why.
After this was sent, a colleague came back to me 5 working days later on the 7
the October:
*
Dear Ms Lucy,
Sales Order Number: [protected]

Thank you for your recent email regarding the above order.
I am very sorry to learn of the service issues and the delays you have experienced with your order.
In regards to the delays with your divan base the supplier, Myers, had a covid outbreak meaning the
warehouse had to close for 10 days for a deep clean to commence. Once the workforce returned to the
warehouse they had to work with reduced staff meaning that production of orders were ultimately delayed. This then led to your delivery being delayed at short notice due to there being no notice of the closure of the warehouse from the supplier. The original delivery date of your
order was booked on the basis that delivery from the supplier to our distribution centre arrived on the scheduled date.

I can only apologise for the lack of communication from our customer service team, this is not what we expect
here at Bensons for Beds.

In regards to the fuelling issues with our delivery vans, we were struggling to find fuel as this was a national
issue and out of our control.
Unfortunately I can see that there are no earlier delivery slots available due to a large number of our customer
being effected by the Myers delay as you have experienced with your divan base. We are now rebooking all
orders to be delivered in the order they
were purchased.

I apologise for any inconvenience this has caused and a goodwill gesture can be discussed once you have
received delivery of your divan base and there are no further issues to be rectified.
I am very sorry for any inconveniences caused. If you require any further assistance, please do not hesitate to
contact us.
Kind regards,
Jade Ormerod

*

To which I replied on the 19th October with:
Dear Customer service team,
Sales Order Number: [protected]
First of all, thank you for replying to complaint.
Secondly, I am appalled that Bensons haven't taken any responsibility in this.
I have gone through your email and your comments, am I the only order that was delayed? Surely not. If you
knew that it was closed for a deep clean would this
not prompt you to call your customers straight away? Not the 24 hours before when you have had the order 5
weeks. This just shows lack of time management and preparation of your orders. I was advised on the phone
by a guy that it was at a different distribution
centre and hadn't met the correct one in time for delivery, now you are saying it was due to covid? Which is
it? Very conflicting accounts.

Regarding the fuel shortage, this was out of everyone's control and I can accept this however, what I can't accept is why you would schedule 14 deliveries knowing you didn't have petrol to deliver them? Again, another example of poor time management, no organisation of your delivery staff and preparation of your orders. I ordered from Amazon during this time and they delivered what I ordered without delay or excuses.

Covid
and the fuel shortages are just life things that have hit the Uk the past year and you get to hide behind them
because you can but you know that they have nothing to do with your mess ups with this order. Poor time
management, lack of communication and lack
of organisation are the only reasons here.

All I can see is push backs, AGAIN, and my complaint falling on deaf ears, not being taken seriously and getting
absolutely nowhere. No help for the customer and no blame being taken by yourselves, just pushing it on
other things in life, because you can. I now have to sit and wait for a base that took me so long to save for all because you messed up. And if you look at my call log or listen to my calls, you will see that misinformation was provided from the start. The fact you have offered me a good will gesture
infuriates me. I didn't ask for one and it's just a way to push me off and keep me quiet.

What would make me happy is to deliver my base! That would make me happy and stop this unnecessary
stress that this has caused me.
I would appreciate it if you could escalate this to a supervisor/manager, failing this, I will escalate
higher.
Kind Regards,
Lucy Smart

*
After this email that I sent, your customer services team took 4 days to tell me that half of the email was missing!
When I did send it back, I sent it back in a PDF and then had to wait an additional few days for a call from
management. The manager told me that they needed to educate the person receiving my complaint on how to ensure half the words weren't missing,

Just to say, your manager didn't apologize for the stress this has caused me or acknowledge where this went
wrong but Only to see if she could pull forward the delivery date. She left it a few days only to be told, that she
couldn't. So the divan base was in your warehouse, and you couldn't deliver it. Are you saying you couldn't have sent it by taxi or hired a van to get it? I had to just wait it out. Not great customer service.

The base delivered yesterday 18th November within the time scale, which is great but the drivers told my mother they had 7 minutes to get in and get out during that time. I had paid for the bed assembly due to a bad back, why wasn't this added after the first delivery was made? Please refund me for the service I didn't receive. Plus no one has followed up to make sure delivery went well or not. There doesn't seem to be any proactive staff within your company, which is sad to see. Through this stressful situation, you will see plenty of examples of this in my complaint.

Regarding a gesture of goodwill, please do not offer me anything off future orders, because the likely hood of
buying with you again, is unlikely.
Please email me on lucy. [protected]@hotmail.com to acknowledge receipt of this complaint.
I would appreciate an email regarding my points before a call to take place to ensure all my points have been
taken into account.
Kind Regards
Lucy Smart