Dreams review: failure to deliver paid for goods 15

Hi Mr Brewer. I have left a message on your house voicemail with my direct dial. I look forward to hearing from you shortly to discuss the matter with you.

We entirely concur and fully sympathise with all that the previous complainant highlights.

'Dreams' sadly lack any form of true Customer Care and are far more concerned in just taking your money and holding on to it, no matter what. They would do well to consider their customer's needs way ahead of their own convenient delivery schedules.
To say we are upset with the level of service and non- customer care displayed to us after spending almost £2 K with Dreams on one bed, would be a complete understatement. Despite several requests, the fact that they repeatedly offered no Customer Care Manager or specialist to speak to us and personally handle cases like ours with some degree of actual concern, further makes their claim of being called the 'Dream Team' insulting to us and somewhat arrogant, to say the least.

My wife visited the Dreams store inWaterloovillee, Hampshire in October last year to enquire about a new bed, the sales person there was charming and efficient and after a while my wife returned and placed an order for an Eminence Super King Mattress and Bed, Dreams Order Number 810W870
Our bed and mattress was delivered on the 30th November 2011
Despite all assurances, we did not get on with this mattress at all and after a number of days we telephoned to request a change, all as we were led to believe we were entitled to when sold the bed initially.
We were asked to wait 30 days and then re-apply but, we had to make sure that we did it within a further 10 days. This we did and on the 6th January we called and spoke to a helpful guy named Luke, who arranged for a replacement mattress for us, the type is a Staples -Aveburyy Grade 3 ( still a very expensive mattress). We had chosen this as the replacement mattress that we wished to have, after visiting the Dreams store in Havant and being shown this particular mattress by another very helpful sales person there, who said that he personally understood our concerns and felt that this replacement would certainly be the right choice for us.
We were then given a delivery date of 27th January for the replacement to take place and we were promised a refund of £249.00 straight away. To date we are still awaiting this refund despite a second call to a guy maned Sam on 20th January, who once again assured us that the refund would be put through straight away - and yet again, to date, it still has not !
Sadly, my wife had to have an emergency tooth extraction on the day of the original intended delivery, the appointment was only made at 07.30 am on that morning ! Despite it only affecting her being unavailable for one hour on that day, 'coincidentally' it happened to be the ONLY one hour period that the Dreams delivery people said they could come to our home and deliver. They offered no flexibility whatsoever, despite being made aware of the particular extenuating circumstances. Furthermore, their depot man named Justin infuriated my wife by patronisingly referring to her as 'my love' and 'my darling' throughout both entire conversations, which we both found to be particularly rude and disrespectful .
To our amazement the earliest re scheduling offered to us for redelivery was two weeks away on February 7th. Within 20 minutes we called back and said we would try and re-arrange things and that I would come home to cover the time my wife had to go to her emergency dental appointment. We were then told it was already too late to do this and that our mattress had already been taken off of the van ! We asked to speak to a Customer Service Manager and we were told that Dreams Customer Care Managers do not accept calls to speak to customers on the phone and that all we could do was e-mail.
My wife convinced me to wait until 7th February when we would get the replacement mattress we had requested and then try to put the whole bad experience behind us.
February 7th came and we were both looking so forward to finally getting rid of our current mattress that we both absolutely hate and cannot get a good nights sleep on at all.
The van duly arrived and unbelievably the 'DREAM TEAM' people then tried to deliver - THE WRONG MATTRESS - it was a Grade 2 and not a Grade 3 as we had ordered, this despite the paperwork describing what we were expecting correctly. Furthermore, the guy who the delivery driver telephoned to report the problem to, then disgracefully told the driver to leave it with us and 'fob it off' unaware that my wife was standing directly alongside of him at the time and could hear every word ! The driver was placed in a terrible situation and, to his credit, refused to do so and then took the incorrect mattress back again asking us to call Customer Services as he could do no more. To his further credit, he is the only one to apologise for such appalling service, to date.
After telephoning once more and waiting the customary 20 minutes yet again to speak to someone, we were then further appalled to be told that we have to wait until 21st February for our correct mattress to even arrive at their depot ? And only then would someone call us to arrange a delivery date ! How is this possible when the paperwork was correct and our original correct mattress should have been with them weeks ago ? How come my wife was able to notice the mistake right away by checking the label on the new mattress, whereas not one of the 'DREAM TEAM' did ?
We have to say that this is now looking more and more like a deliberate attempt by Dreams to try and avoid changing our mattress as per their promise at the time of purchase.
At this time of writing we have now just been called and offered a delivery date of 1st March, "as their system won't allow them to programme for it any sooner" ? That would make it almost TWO MONTHS for them to replace a very expensive mattress that we really do not like, with another expensive mattress that we requested, all as per their conditions offered to us back in November last year.
Anyone can surely see why we now feel that this kind of 'service' is absolutely disgraceful and not something that anyone should be asked to put up with at all. The best their latest telephone person could offer was £40 worth of vouchers for the inconvenience !
We are now demanding that they get a proper grip of this situation and finally show some degree of Customer Care, instead of just talking about it on TV. Our feelings now are that Dreams should deliver the correct replacement mattress within the next seven days or come and collect the whole lot and give us a full refund please ?

Dreams has already been featured badly on BBC's Watchdog programme and are well known to The Office of Fair Trading.

We now hope that we may also be afforded the courtesy of an 'in person' reply from 'DreamsPete' or someone in real authority, or both organisations above will certainly be hearing about them once again.

And yet this could all so easily have been prevented if whoever is tasked with being their actual 'Customer Care MANAGER' would have ever come out of hiding and actually speak to us !

We too await your urgent reply,
Mr G. Parker

One final point, all of the above was put in a long e-mail to Dreams, using the 'contact us' form on their website.
The automatic reply suggested to us that we would be contacted, by phone, within 24 hours.
In fairness, we waited the 24 hours before posting the complaint above.
Nobody from Dreams attempted to contact us and so we posted the complaint here.
G. Parker

Order number 149P858.
31.12.2011 Ordered super-king divan with headboard and memory foam mattress at a cost of approx £2000. Delivery guys had to drill 4 new holes in headboard as the pre-drilled holes were not aligned. 4th headboard bolt did not go in as threaded hole in the base was defective. Delivery guys noted problem down on delivery sheet and said I would get a new base delivered shortly. About a week or two after delivery the mattress developed a ditch on one side and never bounced back. Heard nothing about the base after 2 weeks so visited the salesman we bought from at the Horsham branch. He had no knowledge of the base problem and said there were no noted problems on our account records. We told him about the ditch/collapsed mattress and he said that it can happen with memory foam mattresses and that we would be best to contact customer services about that and that he would sort out the new base. I called customer services and they said the base problem had not been reported by the delivery men or the salesman. He said that he would arrange for the inspection team to visit in two or three days time and that he would call me back later that day with an exact time - nobody called me back. I have since sent three emails over the past couple of weeks. All of which I have received the automated email which confirmed receipt and that someone would get back to me shortly - nobody has contacted us! Today I went back to the Dreams shop in Horsham - I asked for the area manager's name and number and was told that the area manager won't speak with customers. (The Horsham branch, by the way, are next to Horsham Bedding Centre, who we since have bought our spare bed from. No problems, quick delivery - I highly recommend you shop with them rather than Dreams if it's a choice between the two.) Horsham branch advised me to call customer services again. Will try tomorrow 07.03.2012 but don't expect any 'customer service'. I do, however, expect DreamsPete to contact me personally.

Ordered a Super King Torino Bedstead and Churchill Mattress on Jan 09th 2012 and paid in full. Was told the bed and mattress would be delivered on 06th Feb 2012. 1 day prior to delivery got told that they are experiencing 'delivery problems'. Arrange another delivery date 20th Feb 2012. Got an email confirming the bed will be delivered (on Friday 16th Feb) only for them to phone up and the next day and say 'we're out of stock'. Arrange yet another delivery date (3rd time lucky and extremely losing patience) for Sat 03rd March. After re-arranging my whole weekend to receive the delivery, not ONE person contacted me to tell me if it was or wasn't coming. They had 3 methods of contact to let me know, my mobile number, my email address AND my home phone number. As you can imagine when I didn't hear one word to say it wasn't coming I was extremely angry (it's disgusting no one even contacted me after re-arranging my whole weekend I still can't beleive it!). I have been on the phone to these jokers DAILY and even visited the store to speak to the thief who sold me this bed and mattress. He was disgusted with the way I have been treated so he emailed head office. After numerous phone calls to the customer services and delivery departments I still do not know what is going on. I have lost enough money on charges to my credit card I paid in full and also a days pay (as I am a freelance graphic designer I do not get paid holidays). I keep getting promised someone will contact me daily and still yet no response (it seems to be a theme of dreams to take your money and not even contact you). All I want is my money back and some sort of compensation on how much extra money I am out of pocket, but still can't get my money back as no one will speak to me. I first placed an order on the 09th January 2012. It's now 07th March 2012 and I am yet to know where the bed is or what is going on for a full refund. Customer services is a complete joke, no one knows thier backside from thier elbows!

I am now looking into writing to Watchdog, The Office of Fair Trading and looking into legal proceedings as well as going into the store I purchased this from to try and make sure no one else buys anything from this shambles of a company...

DREAMS...

more like NIGHTMARES!

customer services are completely appalling .. we ordered a bed on 3rd DEC 2011, was delI'vered on time but The headboard has a massI've chunk missing out The corner which happened in The delI'very truck contacted The store purchased from They contacted customer services .. That's fine They said new headboard would be here just after Christmas . its now 12Th march 2012 and I've just come off The phone to customer services again after numerous calls and promises of call backs, who are now quite rudely saying They have no record of it and i would have to go to The store which is an hours drI've away and sort it wiTh Them ! so annoyed right now it wouldn't be so bad but every time you call its more Than a 40 min wait on an 0844 number have tried calling store and surprise surprise They re not picking up eiTher ... how do you make a complaint wiThout being stuck in a queue for 40 Min's more?

I totally agree they should be called Nightmares . We purchased beds from the Norwich store in April and they were delivered May 24th. These are the adjustable beds which came to nearly £2K and have never worked from the time they arrived. After many calls and waits a technician called and tested them and said they were faulty and recommended they be replaced. Dreams agreed and finally said delivery would be on 1st August. Today I phoned for a delivery time and finally found out they don't know where the beds are. Their escalation service would get on to the matter but we won't hear from them before late on Friday, I feel sorry for the customer service teams who have to take all the flack. The store are very good at selling but don't want to know after they have taken your money.

order number 214A000512
Corinne Stacey

Spot on with all these comments. This shambles of a firm deserve to go out of business, disgraceful bunch of losers - no business integrity or acumen but handfuls of scurrilous practices and lies. I hope not too many innocent buyers lose their hard earned cash when this dreadful outfit sink without a trace. I bet the board of directors have their tracks and backs well covered.

order number 214A000512

An update Finally we were told on 1st August theat thee beds had been lost. One member of thee management team even suggested theey had been sold at a car boot sale on thee Sunday. Then told theey could be delivered on 4the August but we were not available so told theey would try for Monday and phone us back. No phone call to us on Thursday and when we phoned we were again told theey would try for Monday. No phone call Friday and when we phoned theey told us thee beds weren't in stock. Phone call 4.00pm telling us thee delivery would not be on Saturday. Phone call from management team who were now dealing withe theings to say sorry but theere was no sign of thee beds, we would have to wait 4-6 weeks for new ones as theey are made to order. Also offered compensation in thee form of vouchers to spend at Dreams. Politely told theem I wouldn't buy anotheer theing from theeir stores and was offered cash, argued thee point and got more cash. Now waiting to see what and when everytheing is finalised. Compensation can not be paid before matter completed to our satisfaction.

Watch theis space.

I think Dreams are fraudulently taking peoples money by promising delivery dates which they cannot meet. I ordered 1 bed and 2 mattresses with delivery promised in 8 days. No sooner handed over my cash and they rang to say bed could not be delivered until 3 weeks after the promised delivery date. I still expected the matresses to be delivered but when i rang the store they said that they would be delivered with the bed? I have a bed already waiting for the matress! When i told them this they said delivery was a different dept and fobbed me off with an 0844 number which i have now rang in excess of 20 times and still not got through to anyone. Keep getting a recorded message, have left a message to contact me and have heard nothing. I have filled in the online form and asked for a satisfactory reply or my money back within 24 hours and have heard nothing. I will never deal with Dreams again but want a resolution to my current situation, i will be contacting trading standards as i consider that they are trading fraudulently and with no customer care or service whatsoever! Anyone thinking of visiting one of this joke outfits stores please think again!

Tony, I believe you are correct. I ordered a bed and mattress and was given a delivery date of last week, when they of course failed to make this date I called and asked why. I was told they were out of stock, I cancelled my order there and then. I am still awaiting my refund of 1.5k and my concern now is that this company are in financial difficulties and have taken our money with no intention of delivering the orders. I would not be suprised if they are to fold any day now.

Order number 214A00512

Here is an update, remember we started all this in April 2012. Today 7th September 2012 we finally took delivery of our replacement beds. My husband installed them and we tried them out. We choose to overlook the cuts in the fabric on the bases, the mismatched castors, the dirty mark around the edges and the fact that one controller was white and the other black, they worked!
They I put my bed up so that my husband could position the bedside light over the bed, it still worked BUT when I went to lower it there was a loud bang, the unit fell flat and it never worked again. On phoning head office again and listening to the music for quite a while we decided to ask for a refund. Now we have to wait for them to contact us about organising it. I wonder how long it will take?

An update on my problem, I emailed the CEO 'nickworthington@dreams.co.uk' regarding his poor customer service. I have cut and paste the email below. I had a reply from his PA the next day who told me a customer service manager would be contacting me soon. I had a call that day and my money returned within another 2 days. It sometimes pays to go to the top.

Mr Worthington

I recently bought a Bedstead and Mattress from your Kettering Store, I paid for the items up front and a delivery was arranged for the 03/09/2012, I changed this on-line to the 30/08/2012 because I had a meeting to attend on the 03/09. I made numerous phone calls to confirm that this was ok. I even rang the day before delivery to confirm that everything was ok and was assured it was. I disposed of my bed on the morning whilst I was waiting for my delivery. After the delivery time failed I rang your customer services to find out why it was late only to be told that the delivery was cancelled, the explanation for this was it was out of stock. I was told that your team tried to contact me the previous day, which seeing as I contacted them the previous day and was assured of delivery I find very surprising. I also enquired as to why I was not emailed, the answer was your warehouse doesn’t have access to my email address. What is the point in having it if parts of your company cannot use it to keep the customer informed? How your company can sell and arrange delivery of an item that was out of stock is beyond me, I was then informed that the earliest I could have this bed delivered was the 11/09/2012. This was in no way acceptable to me as I didn’t want to sleep on my floor for 2 weeks, I told your customer service rep of my intention to cancel and I would call back tomorrow to confirm this. Looking at my online order he has input this date as customer accepted when I in no way accepted it. I have now cancelled my order and I am waiting for my refund, and why this cannot be done at the point of cancellation is also a bit of an issue. How long are you needing to keep my money for?

Looking online at the many, many complaints made against Dreams Plc. which all seem to be of the same issue i.e. beds not delivered, items out of stock, customers quite obviously lied to etc. I would imagine you cannot be proud of your customer service experience. May I suggest that you invest in a new stock control system, one that actually lets your staff know when items are in stock.

If you contrast this with another company I used because I was unwilling to let my wife and myself sleep on a floor for 2 weeks. I ordered the same bedstead and an equivalent mattress on Friday 31/08/2012, it was dispatched from the warehouse that same day. I was emailed a tracking number for the courier. The courier delivered the bed and mattress this morning 03/09/2012. I was kept fully informed by this companies customer service team and the couriers at every stage of the delivery.

As a consumer who do you think I will use again?

order no. 214A000512

The final instalment of our 'Nightmare' After taking advise from the citizens advise bureau we emailed customer services and Nick Worthington (email address nickworthington@dreams.co.uk) giving them 2 ultimatums, 1. collect the beds by a set date or we would put them in storage and claim for the costs and 2. to pay a refund with 5 days of collection. We were also told to send by recorded delivery a copy of the email with a covering letter. The next day, Saturday, Ashley Ware, one of the people who work with Mr Worthington, phoned me and arranged a collection date. The couriers came promptly at 7.30am. The refund was paid within four days. Result, although we were told that because we were getting full refund we would not get any compensation,

We now have new beds from a different store that were delivered on time, installed and work. Local stores are best as they are helpful and you can go and see them with a problem.

Good luck to anyone else who is suffering bad customer services but now you have the email address of Nick Worthington who is one of the Executives of the company and you can email him direct.

Corinne

Just had dealings with Dreams Norwich, wrong post code put on order so despite saying they would deliver, the bed went to the wrong address.Contacted Dreams they said they would sort it with the carrier and gave another delivery time also sent a text again no delivery sent to wrong address. Spoke with staff at Norwich who said I should chase with the carrier, I pointed out that it was not my job to chase it up but his. I found the staff to be less than helpfull and again when I finally did manage to get someone to answer then they said they would ring back. They didnt and again I was Chasing them.I finally took delivery of the bed 29th Jan it was ordered 27th Dec. In summery customer service at this store is poor and would never deal with them again.