Who's in the wrong?

[Kellykelly23]

Last week I took my dad who is 88 to the local carpet shop for a new living room carpet.
He had been saving £20 out of his pension for months now and we chose a lovely one that came to £520 including underlay.
They told us they would be here to fit at 2pm on Sunday (yesterday)
My husband goes to my dad yesterday morning and rips up his old carpet and we wait.
Gets to 2.30pm and nobody has been.
I call the mobile number for the shop and the man says "the carpet fitter text your dad yesterday asking if he still wanted them fitted tomorrow and your dad didn't reply"
I said " my dad doesn't have a clue how to check his messages,he has a basic phone (it was £20) and only uses it so I can call him.
I only gave the shop it for emergencys.
I said you agreed a time with us,why would we assume you weren't turning up?
He said not our problem ..next fitting date is 12th Nov 3pm...
Is this bullshit?

I normally get a text confirming from Argos saying
"Delivery of your item will be between the hours etc etc "

I cannot believe anyone on here is trying to make excuses for the carpet shop . The way they are behaving is ridiculous and you can bet if at gone 9pm your dad had asked to cancel for an emergency they would be charging him. I honestly think contacting local news if they are a local business is your best option here there is no reason why they appointment should not have gone ahead and if there was a genuine reason why they couldn't fit it then I would expect them to call you even the most tech savvy of people might miss hearing a phone go off alerting them to a text.

Well none wpuld be free would they given they'd all be on jobs solidly til 12th November what use would finding one be

They sent an 88 year old man a text at 9:35 at night to 'confirm' their appointment for the following afternoon ... and then didn't show up because he hadn't seen it?

Crap service. Absolutely crap. They just didn't want to come on a Sunday. They should be busting their asses to put this right. Tell them to pick an evening over the next 3 nights, as you expect the job to be done.

Your poor dad! That's really rubbish of them, I'd expect much better service from a small company. I'd cancel the whole thing (tough luck on them if they've already cut the carpet) and go elsewhere. Get TS involved if you need to.

The owner should be prioritising OP's dad and doing it out of hours asap if necessary. It was their fault and I was going to say cock up but it wasn't a mistake, it was deliberately letting someone down. No excuse. The text was a load of nonsense sending it that late.

Can you go back into the shop and confront them face to face? They won't want other potential customers hearing them fob you off with excuses.

As your father was with you when you ordered the carpet, I am sure that this would have been noted. I agree that sending a text asking for confirmation is unacceptable when you’ve arranged and paid for fitting at a specified time. Texting is poor practice anyway, should have been a courtesy call.
Presumably as your husband has ripped up his carpet, the room is clear. I feel you should either tell them in no uncertain terms that you want it fitted within the new few days or you will go to the shop and collect the carpet and get someone else to fit it as it’s now an urgent situation, and hint at giving them bad publicity.

I think it’s very crappy of them not to be more obliging and want to resolve this especially as they’re an family business.

I cannot believe a professional company would try and reschedule an appointment by text! Absolutely shocking and unprofessional customer service.

Sms / email is useful to confirm and remind customers of an appointment but not to reschedule that way.

I would definitely put it in their fb page, even if after you’d had it done it done. I wouldn’t want my parents etc to use such a company.

You don’t cancel appointments based on the failure to answer a text. There is a dozen reasons why someone may not get a text message. They should have phoned and physically spoken to your dad or yourself.

I work in a job where I visit people’s houses, texting to arrange appointments is a last resort and only used when I have tried calling repeatedly.

Bastards! And now a two week wait? If you decide to wait I hope you get a deep discount.

That sounds totally unreasonable. You need to kick someone up the arse about this. Tell them your dad goes to bed at 9pm so he wouldn't have known about the text and there is no alert to tell him he's received a message. They need to rearrange as a priority. If not, Facebook Spotted time.

Have a chat with CAB

The carpet shop are completely in the wrong!

Terrible customer service, it just sounds like an excuse because the son/carpet fitter didn't want to work on a sunday.

Rang the shop again and the owner said he will personally fit the carpet this Sunday but can't do it before as he can't just shut the shop.
I'm still not happy about this but do you think it's the best il get?
My dads room is clear now...sofa is in the kitchen,tables in the hall/bathroom.
Basically it's upside down.

Have a chat with CAB

What on earth for?

I'm assuming the number the carpet fitter text on his their own? Phone the fitter directly. Explain, how an 88yo has been left without a carpet thus making the room unsafe especially if your father was to fall?

I bet it will be harder for the son (father/son business) to say no and fob you off....

Or shop owner could fit after he's closed for the day?

He can't just shut the shop? Well he won't have to if he fits the carpet one evening will he? Presumably he doesn't keep his shop open until midnight?

Why can't he do it tonight?

Not great service. But better than nothing. I’d be putting some negative feedback online once the job is complete.

Carpet is cut to size, room is clear - the laying of underlay and carpet doesn't take a great deal of time. (My father was a carpet fitter, I often helped on weekends)

You may have to accept it OP, although it isn’t satisfactory. I have a feeling you could be flogging a dead horse, if they wanted to be more helpful they would have done it willingly this week.
The stress of dealing with this may not be worth it. Sort it out on Sunday and then leave an honest review.

How do you know there wasn't an emergency? Not everyone decides to announce their personal business to every one, some people do sll retain a shred of personal dignity about their own circumstances.

But you're making it up, Dunkmein! They haven't for one moment suggested they had an emergency. Don't you think that if that were the reason they might have told OP, not least because she's more likely to be sympathetic to that excuse than the pathetic one they've come up with?

However, as I also said, it is good practice to check whether the appointment is still needed, irrespective of the OPs dads advanced years. The home owner might just might be indisposed and not able to cancel the appointment. Note use of the word might

No, it isn't. How often do you get texts from dentists, plumbers, electricians, hairdressers, opticians, lawyers etc asking on the offchance whether you still want that appointment you specifically made with them? I never do - probably due to the fact that they reasonably assume that if I need to cancel the appointment I'll, um, cancel it. Why would someone who needs to cancel an appointment wait around for the other person to get in touch? After all, you can't guarantee that someone will see a text: suppose their battery's gone, or they've lost the phone or, like me, they just leave the phone in their bag and only look at it occasionally?

It sounds like the best you're going to get. Just put a negative review online after it's fitted.