Or is DP? Over a bloody refund

[albapunk]

A petty one but still hah!

Ordered 2.3k of items from Oak Furniture Land.
1 item arrived damaged with a 30cm crack on a side panel, not hugely noticeable but disappointing.

DP contacted them about the damage, they have replied today offering a £200 refund or replacement. DP took the call at work and (stupidly in my eyes) accepted the £200 partial refund. Whilst £200 isn't a small amount of money on its own, given its less than 10% of the order value I think it's a very poor offer.

I have asked DP to call back and negotiate a higher partial refund, and if not then to accept a replacement. DP thinks I'm being silly, and its a good deal as it saves a courier coming to take the item away.

We bought these as "lifetime" items in a timeless style. We aren't materialistic or trendy people, we like good quality things that last, hence my major disappointment in DP also!

So AIBU in thinking that DP is an absolute idiot and should call them back!?🤣

Bad crack

Refund ahoy

If it helps, I knowingly bought a damaged triple wardrobe from one of their outlets last year. The damage was a bit worse than yours, I think, but to the side so I don't notice it. At the time they were having a wardrobe event and all their triple wardrobes were £799 (doubles were £599). The qualty of OFL is really good and I suspect quite a bit might get damaged as it is all so very heavy - difficult to manoeuvre through houses into place.
But I imagine they take quite a loss on their damaged/replaced stuff - they would probably have offered you a better deal if you'd pushed it.

I would be asking for a replacement.

Get it replaced. I had similar with furniture and thought " well I can't see it as its against a wall". Next house, different layout and I ve looked at it every day!

We ordered a large sideboard from them which had a large deep crack running the length of the top. The person on the phone asked if some wood glue would be a solution, and so I sent a few pictures and asked for a replacement. We had to tape it back up in the box , and they took it away and replaced it. After having flat pack we wanted some thing different too.

We have had a nightmare with them, furniture has been delayed, then delivered damaged, then delayed, then delivered wrong (1 half 2 seater sofa 1 half 3 seater anyone?? 😂) etc.., etc…

This all started when we ordered last august and still no ETA on it being ‘finally’ sorted out.

They will have offered £200, but will have expected your DH to negotiate. Bet they were pleased he accepted their first offer!

Always check nothing is damaged before throwing the packing away from there. Because they said if the packing was missing they would not take it back.

@albapunk
If they refuse, say you want to return it - you still have a legal right to return the item within 14 days. Those are rights set in law.

Then re-order!

This doesn't apply if the item is faulty

I took delivery of a big tall fridge freezer a couple of months ago, we'd paid for next day delivery (£60)(needed it asap), this thing was a fantastic price and was the last one they had in stock. (genuinely, as relative wanted one and couldn't get one)

Well the delivery turned up on time and they were nice guys - good start. I asked if they would removed the packaging for me - no probs - and when they started stripping this thing off while still in the lorry we could all see it had a dent in the door Bloody typical. Not bad enough to effect performance but a bit ugly.

One of the delivery guys rang the company on his mobile for me (we were all standing freezing in the road) and said ''don't expect much they're buggers for not giving out partial refunds ... but go for it!''. Assertively but pleasantly i asked the woman for 100 off. I said i would settle for nothing less! She went away to check .... me and delivery guys waited agog ... she came back and said best they could do was £70 - and i got total brain freeze! I dithered and dithered and dithered! I pushed but she stuck to her guns. God in the end i was so cold stood there in the road i just said yes.

Every time i look at the crack i think ''should i have said yes ..... ?''

Don't be too hard on your DH. It's tricky when you're on the spot!

Quite, it’s absolutely miniscule. I think £200 is pretty generous.

@Blossomtoes did you see the 2nd pic?

Taken from inside the wardrobe. You can easily see daylight through it.

I would go for a replacement. We had a similar problem with a chest of drawers from Cotswold, but they offered a straight replacement as the problem really was conspicuous and on the front. The guy who brought the replacement was surprised they offered a straight replacement as he said they usually prefer to fob people off with a refund. So they all must do it.

Those places are expensive to buy from, and I would expect a replacement.

YANBU, that is substantial damage and they should replace it free of charge. It was laughable that they offered £200 and shocking that your DH accepted it .

Thanks all for the responses!

DP is now home and realising that actually, yes it is worthy of a full replacement now its dawned on him this set has to last a LONG time and future house moves. I appreciate he was thinking of the £200 being a nice bonus into our savings, but the risk of future damage with use isn't worth that.

To clarify, I wasn't ever fully angry at DP, just a bit cross he didn't think it through or call me to discuss but I understand given stressful job and work situation. He did call back on his break but was left on hold so will call again tomorrow! I couldn't call them myself as despite being a joint account, he signed the contract in store when we ordered.

Truthfully the furniture is gorgeous quality, I am very pleased with the style and how robust it actually seems to be, just a shame we've gotten a damaged product.

DP thinks the panel itself was slightly bowed the pressure from delivery has caused the split.

YABU. I’ve had small faults that weren’t really noticeable on furniture ordered from M&S (they gave me 20% refund, which was amazing as I’d already bought the items in a 20% promotion).

The from Neptune, there was a small damage on the rear of the item, so visible and they gave me 35% off.

So with their offer of less than 10% refund, I’d want a perfect replacement instead.

I would only keep if they offered at least £700 partial refund.

I would want a replacement I'm afraid

Your hubby is being daft.
Ask for a replacement.
We had a £3k table replaced for less and we kept the damaged table until the new one arrive months later. By then the furniture store sold us the damaged table for half price.
And some of the chairs arrived with issues - we ended up with six free chairs as they replaced them and we got to keep the ones we complained about.

That's going to get worse with it's proximity to the hinge

I had similar few years ago. We ordered a dining table and chairs from Oak Furniture.
When it arrived the delivery people dropped the table on its corner, this damaged the corner.
They refused to take it back with them even they damaged it when unwraping, we paid for the unwrapping and them taking the cardboard away.
The did not offer exchange or partial refund but sent someone to repair it, it still shows the damage as it was impossible to repair it properly, it still looks damaged, peeling now, even we use the table rarely.
Terrible company..

Did you get a repair estimate from a cabinet maker?

They have a bad reputation, I have heard tales like this before.