We had some decorating done recently and DS is getting his first proper bedroom (as opposed to cot in the corner of spare room/junk room/our room). It has a narrow dormer window so I ordered a pair of dormer rods (those hinged curtain poles for the uninitiated) and found a nice, reasonably priced toddler bed online.
In a rare burst of organisation I ordered the dormer rods from a company that said they had them in stock for the next day delivery so they would arrive in plenty of time for the decorators, and I timed ordering the bed so the room would be finished.
There was a minor carpet fitting kerfuffle in the middle of the decorating but that was rectified and all seemed to be going smoothly. And then it all went wrong.....
- Dormer rods did not turn up. When I queried I was told that they had not arrived from the supplier and would be there the following week. This was 2 weeks ago and there is apparently a national dormer rod shortage.
- I ordered the bed on Friday before noon for guaranteed next day delivery. I received a confirmation email stating that delivery would be between 8 and 6 on Monday. I stayed home all day Monday and at 4.30 I rang the company to check that it was coming.
- After 20 minutes on hold I got through and the operator cut me off. Another 12 minutes on hold got me through to someone who said they would need to speak the the supplier.....and cut me off. A record 5 minutes got me through to someone else who said that their colleague would ring me back.
- At 4.55 she rang me back and cheerily announced that the mattress was being delivered on Wednesday. Um, but it was Monday delivery I pointed out. Yes, but it is coming on Wednesday. I got very cross at this point and asked why I hadn't been contacted and had instead been allowed to waste a day of holiday. She had no idea. And then announced that it was a bit irrelevant anyway as the bed wasn't going to be in stock for several weeks. When I pointed out that it was in stock on their website and I had confirmation that it had been processed she agreed that this was strange. I got more cross and asked when they were planning on telling me this. She said that she was sure someone would have called me "eventually".
- She offered a choice of alternative beds. We went through a lengthy process of what was in stock (not much) and then she announced that none of those options were available till the following day and she couldn't give a set day for delivery. I lost interest and told her to cancel the whole order and I would go elsewhere. She said "but the mattress is coming on Wednesday". I said it most certainly wasn't because I wasn't going to sit in for another whole day on the off-chance it turned up, and then wait in for a bed to be delivered from another company. She cancelled the order.
- I ordered a bed and mattress for next-day delivery from another company and rang up to check the order had been processed and that everything was in stock. Yes, everything was fine and I would receive a text in the morning with a one hour slot for delivery which I could reject and have re-scheduled so no waiting around.
- Tuesday - I get the text saying delivery from 11.47am. At 10.30 the mattress turns up but no bed. At 11.50 a further delivery turns up - of another mattress. Further enquiries show that mattress 1 is the cancelled order that should have been there on Monday and which I was told would be there on Wednesday. Instead it turned up on Tuesday after cancellation. There is no bed on the van.
- I ring the company and am informed that the bed got separated and would be there in the afternoon. So another day of waiting around. It did, to be fair, turn up.
- I ring the first company and shout about the mattress. A lot. I am informed that it will be collected between 8 and 6 on Wednesday. I shout some more and tell them that they will need to contact me with a definite time as I am not wasting 3 days of my holiday on them. They agree to this.
- I get an email confirming collection...between 8 and 6. I send a snotty email back pointing out why this is not going to happen. I get a very apologetic email from customer services agreeing to call me with a specific delivery time. This does not happen and I have to go out. I come back to see a delivery van disappearing out of our drive and off in the opposite direction. I assume this was the failed collection attempt but cannot get a response from the company to confirm this. I so, however, get another email informing me that they are going to arrange collection of the mattress.
I therefore have a bed, two mattresses, no dormer rods and a massive, ever-growing hatred for delivery companies. I may or may not have collection arranged for today or any other day. AIBU to think that these three companies must have communicated and agreed to annoy me as much as humanly possible in a three-day period?
And would IBU to hurl said mattress off the drive and onto the road below with the sodding little returns form that they demand be filled in, and then email them telling them any time is convenient and to make sure the delivery driver doesn't drive over it?
