Dreams, the bedroom store have taken discriminated against the disabled?

[MrsjREwing]

I have complex disability. I wanted to order an electric bed from the dreams sale, I wanted this bed due to disability issues.

Long post don't want to dripfeed, any ideas how to get money back?

I ordered the bed from X at a branch. X was putting in the order when I was filling out the VAT form. Y the manager on 15 September waded in, and took my card, I have cognitive issues, I was filling out a form and Y took card payment from me. After card payment was taken X said he input wrong info on the system and couldn't change it. I thought it was odd, said I wanted my money back Y refused said he couldn't give me money back. I said how do I get it back Y said he will do it Monday. In the carpark I phoned my bank who registered a dispute with Visa debit. I thought dreams would give money back, not been well, banking has not been top of my list.

Just got a call from Dreams, asking for Miss J Ewing, said he tried loads of numbers as number wrong on system, when do you want delivery Madam, I said I am not Madam as you have my name please use it, he kept calling me madam, eventually he called me Ewing, I said I am Mrs Ewing, he said ok Madam.

Anyway I then rang trading standard which put me through to consumer something or another whi want me to go to the postoffice or CAB. I explained I lost my blue badge and DLA being looked at again, I would have to go to carpark, get ticket, go back to car walk to postoffice, que and go back, the same for CAB, ablebodied people have no clue, next can someone do it for me, who would that be the invisable man? I said no. I said I will try to email dreams headoffice to get my money back. So I was given 08442259259 to ring to get email for dreams headoffice, was continually engaged up to point of this post.

Feel taken advantage of due to disability by firm that sell beds for people with disabilities.

[LadyBeagleEyes]

Was it a nice bed, that you really wanted?
Because if it is then just get it delivered and enjoy it.
Otherwise you're going to have to go through the whole process again.
These sort of salesman do get commision so maybe he was doing the hard sell,
but I doubt he was doing anything illegal.

[BridgetBidet]

If you read through all the OPs posts it's not that difficult to understand what she is saying.

She has cognitive impairment and the salesman at Dreams has gone in for the hard sell when it was totally inappropriate to do so because of her disability. You can tell from the OPs posts that she has difficulty with communicating effectively and getting across what she wants which would have made her disability apparent to them but they've still gone for the hard sell.

So basically they have gone in for the hard sell, she's been railroaded into the purchase, when she stood up for herself and said, no I don't want this, you've pressured me into it, please refund my money they've said they would do it on Monday to get rid of her but then done nothing of the sort and are now trying to deliver a bed she doesn't want from a purchase she feels she was pressured into.

The stuff about being called madam etc is irrelevant.

The bare bones of the issue are that she feels they exploited her disability to push her into a purchase she didn't want. Then conned her into thinking she was getting a refund when she wasn't in the hope she would take the bed.

Dreams are bloody appalling I've heard loads of horror stories about them.

[complexnumber]

I too believe you have been treated badly and pushed into something you were obviously not comfortable with. Bullying and unacceptable

However, given the difficulty many readers had in actually understanding what had taken place from your messages, is there any chance you could ask another person you trust to proof read e-mails before you send to people regarding issues such as these.

I hate to say this, but if the first person to read it cannot understand what is actually being asked, it is likely that the message itself will just be ignored.

[HollaAtMeBaby]

Sorry to be thick but what are "cognitive issues"? Is it like a learning disability?

[MrsjREwing]

I can't link on my phone if you are interested then hopefully you will get the brain fog blog I found after putting into google cignitive Ehlers Danlos Syndrome it discusses the many physical causes and how it is intermittant.

[IneedAsockamnesty]

cognitive issues = when a persons cognitive abilitys are impared in some way things like concentration,thinking,understanding,planning and perception.

often issues are caused with these as a result of a disability and as such taking advantage of a person with cognitave issues when as a direct result of a disability.or using certain tactics that you would only get away with doing to a person with a disability that caused those issues and a person without those issues would be highly unlikly to allow to happen,is discrimination.

[HollaAtMeBaby]

Thanks sock. I guess it's then not a good idea to go shopping for high-value items on your own - would Y and X have reaised they were taking advantage? One would hope that Dreams would do the right thing out of goodwill but they aren't obliged to. Agree with those who have said this is about customer service rather than discrimination.

[LRDtheFeministDragon]

Are you serious, holla?!

She told them she had cognitive issues. She says so.

How exactly would you like people with disabilities to cope when they need to shop? Or do you imagine all disabled people need to have minders?

I am really shocked you'd say something like that.

Btw, I don't know the OP's condition (I googled the name she gave but I wasn't familiar before that), but some kind of cognitive issues are pretty common, aren't they?

[Bluefrogs]

I think you are being VERY unreasonable to continue to keep posting these employees names,you are potentially identifying these people.
I hope you are using false names as a retail manager I would be exceptionally pissed off to read a thread like this identifying my company,staff names etc even if the service is poor.
Address the issue with Dreams rather than effectively slagging someone off by name with identifying details on a parenting forum.

[EdgarAllanPond]

customer service wise -

if customer details are wrong - they need changing as obviously the wrong phone number was a material problem

if a customer requests a refund immediately, it should be given immediately (to her card, even though it may take a few days to come back in )

if a customer doesn't want to be called 'Madam' then use the appelation requested

I don't think the op has said she was subject to a hard sell (unless i missed something) but the above three things should have been done.

[BridgetBidet]

The OP would be legally entitled to a seven day cooling off period. Considering she wanted a refund straight away they were legally obliged to refund her.

That's another reason why this is so dodgy, telling her to go away and that she would be refunded on Monday would seem like a way of conning her out of the cooling off period. As the OP said she is afraid the people in the shop will say that she's only changed her mind now rather than at the time so they can get out of refunding her.

Re naming the staff - the OPs given her own name so I think she's naive about the etiquette and wisdom of these sort of things on forums.

[BridgetBidet]

The OP would be legally entitled to a seven day cooling off period. Considering she wanted a refund straight away they were legally obliged to refund her.

That's another reason why this is so dodgy, telling her to go away and that she would be refunded on Monday would seem like a way of conning her out of the cooling off period. As the OP said she is afraid the people in the shop will say that she's only changed her mind now rather than at the time so they can get out of refunding her.

Re naming the staff - the OPs given her own name so I think she's naive about the etiquette and wisdom of these sort of things on forums.

[EdgarAllanPond]

she's entitled to return the goods within 28 days also, so no reason for no refund now..

[BridgetBidet]

I would say pushing her to sign something was a hard sell. Okay she was quibbling over whether some of the info is correct or not but pushing someone into signing an order sounds like hard sell to me.

[adeucalione]

As OP registered a dispute with VISA from the car park outside the shop immediately after the encounter, I don't think she will have any problem proving that she changed her mind within the cooling off period.

I do still find it hard to believe that a sales assistant would refuse a refund - I wonder whether it was a sort of 'no need to be hasty, I can amend these order details like you want on Monday' sort of misunderstanding.

I could be being a bit naive there, but it does just sound so odd - never the less, it should be easily addressed now either via Dreams HQ or by progressing the dispute with VISA (I've done this myself after ordering something online that never arrived, straightforward process).

[bradbourne]

"The OP would be legally entitled to a seven day cooling off period."

I don't think this is correct as the OP bought the bed in person, not over the internet/ by mail order. A shop isn't obliged to give a refund simply because the customer has changed their mind (although most would do so as a gesture of good will).

[nancy75]

Looking at the dreams website, e en if you order online you only get the basic 7 day cooling off period. I can't find dreams instore refund policy so it is quite possible that they do not offer refunds when a customer has just changed their mind. Although not good customer service they are within their rights to do this. If they don't offer refunds it may be that the sales assistant was not able to process a refund inshore, they may not have had the facility on their till or pdq machine.

[LilyCocoplatt]

The OP said she went into the shop with the purpose of buying a specific bed which she wanted, so I'm confused as to how she was pushed into buying it. Yes the customer service sounds rubbish but I think some of the comments against the staff are unfair, if OP wanted the bed I don't think they had to use hard selling to get her to buy it and the madam issue just sounds a bit nitpicky to be honest, madam is a pretty standard way for a company to address a customer.

[LRDtheFeministDragon]

holla - oh, ok then, you come along next time I have to buy something, ok?

Otherwise, I really shouldn't be allowed out on my own, nor should the OP.



We have disability discrimination laws for a reason, not so bigots can tut at disabled people and guilt-trip them for going out alone.

[Bluegingham]

From the POV of the staff, woman comes in, wants bed, explains she has complex disabilities and needs a VAT form.Staff fill put forms and 'send' but then woman wants a detail which is irrelevant to the sale, changed. Staff explain they'll do it but woman suddenly has a bad feeling and changes her mind after she's paid. Staff are confused. Rather than lose sale they get John to ring her. He calls her Madam, which isn't her preferred title. Woman has already contacted credit card company to lodge a dispute. Order is processed. Woman doesn't pick it up.


What will happen next: Credit card company won't pay, bed shop will cancel order, staff will be disappointed.
The end. I think.

[Bluegingham]

LRD that wasn't what Holla was trying to say, as I'm sure you know. If someone happens to have a disability which includes cognitive impairment it is perfectly reasonable to suggest that they have some sort of an advocate to protect them in situations in which their disability might render them vulnerable.

[Bluegingham]

MrsJREwing what was the detail which was incorrect which you wanted changing? That isn't clear from your posts.

[LRDtheFeministDragon]

No, I actually don't know, and I disagree with you and her.

We have disability discrimination laws. The OP explained she has a cognitive disability.

Yes, probably, if I were her I would feel intimidated and I would want someone else to come with me next time. That doesn't mean it's ok to post rudely to her blaming her for what has happened.

It is disablist.

[LRDtheFeministDragon]

And blue, she did post with a 'hmm' face, so I think you're being rather disingenuous to make out she was making a reasonable suggestion. She was being snide.