Where do I stand with DFS?

[KickButtowski]

I bought some sofas in January from DFS. I signed the contract and paid a deposit. It says on the contract that they would be delivered in approx 10 weeks and balance is payable at the time of delivery. At the bottom in big letters it says that YOU CANNOT CANCEL THIS ORDER and this is legally binding contract of sale etc.

I am completely pissed off with DFS for a number of reasons, pirimarily because the sofas have now arrived after just 6 weeks which is not good news at all. It isn't convenient and I don't have the money until end of Feb ( which would be 8 weeks from the order date ). They are saying that I have to accept delivery next week and that I cannot put it off at all.

I am pissed off enough with them that i feel like cancelling the whole thing, even if it means losing my deposit.

So I am wondering if they can force me to complete the sale? They can't take my money for nothing, so i would have to accept the sofas, but what if I just don't take delivery.

Any thoughts on where I stand with this?

Have you asked them the keep the sofas in storeage until the end of feb until it is convenient for you to accept delivery and to pay? They can hardly turn up on your doorstep insisting the sofas are brought in!

Can understand it is difficult if you don't have the money, but that is not their problem. It is not like they are very late with the order or it was faulty. And the delivery date was approximate only.

So although you would be completely in the wrong and unreasonable to try to cancel the order now, I don't know how far DFS will go to get their money back. I would imagine they would try quite hard tbh.

Sorry don't know the answer but they did e same with us. We ordered for the week after we moved house and they were fine with that, but then phoned about a month before we moved to say they were ready and we had to take delivery.

We said we couldn't and that it had been arranged at e time of purchase. They were very arsey with us but kept it at a depot, and kept phoning us, and we kept telling them the same thing.

On the day of moving, their lorry was the thing that arrived at the house.

But it has been a great sofa for the last five years so we have forgiven them somewhat.

Is it on finance ? Unless you told them you coduln;t take delivery before a certain date when you signed , it isn't part of the contract so don't think you can back out. You can say it isn't convenient and , as I expect they only do routes weekly, that may defer it. However you'd probably get more joy speaking to a manager at the distributor/warehouse to rearrange the date than the salesman.

Thanks for the replies.

I asked them to keep it in storage and they said that wasn't possible - it has to be delivered within 2 days of arriving at the local showroom as they don't have sufficient space there.

It isn't on a finance agreement so we haven't signed up to any way they can automatically collect payments or anything.

It just seems ridiculous that you buy it, are told an approx time, and then basically they can actually deliver it anytime they actually feel like it.

I know it's not their problem if I don't have the money, but if they had said at the time of ordering that itmight be here in 6 weeks I would have known that I wouldn't have the money by then and wouldn't have signed up for it without the option to delay. It never crossed my mind that it could come so much earlier.

I'm going to have to go in there tomorrow and see what they say in person.

Stick to your guns. They can't completely ignore the estimate they gave you. You relied upon that when you decided to enter in to the contract, so it must have some significance. Tell them you will not be in a position to accept delivery until x date, and as payment is not due until delivery is made, they'll just have to wait.

is it legal to say you cannot cancel an order?

Think it is something is when made to order (or you get a clause for substantial payment in lieu) and you don't have a cooling off period as you might with distance selling or in your own home.

I think where it says "you cannot cancel this order" is actually totally horseshit - it is either a legally binding sale contract or it isn't, and that phrase is irrelevent.

Let's face it, this is DFS so it isn't exactly handmade bespoke furniture is it? Our imminent new sofas have been on the front cover of every brochure that comes through the door, so I don't think they can claim that they are one-offs which can't be sold to anyone else.

I couldn't go in today and they won't answer the phone so I am going to stew on this all weekend.

You don't have a leg to stand on. You don't buy a sofa when you can't pay for it. A delivery estimate is just that - estimated and is not set in stone. You have entered into a legally binding contract to buy the sofa (that has been made especially for your order, as that is why delivery is so long) and cannot pull out.

Tell them you are on holiday abroad as of tomorrow for a fortnight. That should buy you enough time.

When my DD ordered sofas from DFS - they were bespoke in so far as they were made to her order. She chose the two types and colours of leather to suit her decor - so yes custom made. They did have a big warehouse so it is not correct of them I think to say they have no storage facility. If you signed a binding contract then they could sue you for the balance, but their estimated delivery time was part of a verbal contract which they should at least give a bit of leeway with you. I think they will be reasonable if you are.

I didn't buy sofas that I cannot pay for. I asked the delivery time, and calculated that the money would be in my account 2-3 weeks before the expected delivery date which was written on the top of the order form.

I love the idea of pretending that I am on holiday and just ignoring the landline for 10 days!