You’d think it’s simple really. You purchase goods, be that online or in person. The goods are damaged when they arrive. You return the goods and ask for a refund. The company in question apologises and gives you a refund, end of story right… er wrong.

We had a ‘bit’ of a poor experience with MFI recently. For those of you outside of the UK, they’re a nationwide chain that sells bedroom furniture, kitchens etc. For prosperity and in the hope that it will disuade others from ever buying from them, I will recount the story here. Ok, here goes…

It starts

On the 30th of May my wife placed an order online for 3 Kansas Ottomans from MFI to the value of £53.45. A few days later we received a call to confirm a delivery date. All good so far.

1 day prior to the agreed delivery date MFI delivered 1 of the items. Luckily my wife and I were in so we took the delivery. The box looked ok but on unpacking the Ottoman we discovered that it had been totally and utterly trashed. Ok so these things happen but having had this kind of problem with MFI before we decided to cancel the remainder of the order and return the 1 item they had delivered to save ourselves further dissapointment.

I’ll have a refund thanks

So I call MFI to have the first item returned and cancel the rest of the order. I’m given a collection date for the damaged goods and told that in a few days I’ll be refunded the total order amount.

The following day MFI attempted to deliver the 2 remaining Ottomans so my wife asked the driver to take these and the damaged Ottoman back. A few days later and I called to inquire as to where my refund was. At this point I was informed that MFI had no record of the items being returned. Great!

A number of phone calls later and I manage to ascertain that MFI have managed to find one Ottoman and I’m credited £16.15 for this. Numerous phone calls later and 1 whole month on I’m still to be credited the remaining £37.30. MFI are claiming that they’re still trying to ‘locate’ the other 2 returned Ottomans. Hmm… is that really my problem?

At this point I’m getting a bit miffed

I’ve returned the goods and requested a refund but I’m still without my hard earned £’s. I decide to give up on communicating via the phone at this point and resort to firing off a pretty shirty email to the ‘customer feedback’ email address listed on the website.

I get the usual ‘automated response’ and then hoorah a few days later an email from a helpful guy called David telling me that my query has been passed to the online sales team and I’ll be getting my cash back within the next few days.

Well… amazingly I get a refund… but still not for the full amount. What is wrong with these people, do they not get good customer service? All this running about they’re making me do ain’t getting them any brand loyalty, that’s for sure.

I’m not giving up that easy Mr MFI

I send off another email, I’m £5 short still and I’m not giving up.

I am really losing my patience with this situation. Why does a simple refund for goods returned have to be so complicated. I’ve been mucked around continually by staff who seem totally clueless as to how to deliver good customer service.

I have every right to demand a full refund, and now I’m starting to think I should be requesting compensation for the time and cost of continually having to chase MFI for my money.

And the response I get from MFI.

Good morning, thank you for your e-mail. I have checked your invoice and can advise that the order has been refunded. The outstanding amount of £5.00 was the delivery charge, which will not be credited to you.

I regret any disappointment this may cause.

Ha ha ha, that’s so not funny. Here’s my response.

I understand that the remaining £5.00 relates to the delivery charge. However I feel that it is totally unreasonable of you to retain this amount in light of the inconvenience and poor customer that I have had to endure. To recap.

Firstly the order was meant to be delivered on the 13th May, but MFI delayed delivery until the 27th at short notice which meant me having to take another day off work. Part of the order then turns up on the 25th of May! Luckily there was someone available to receive the delivery. However the item which was delivered is in an appalling state when we remove it from the packaging.

At this point we called to cancel the order, and request the one item that was delivered be collected. At this point MFI agreed to a full refund and promised that this would be actioned.

The remaining items then turn up on the 26th May, even though they have been canceled… what happened to the delivery date of the 27th?! Again luckily someone was available to receive the delivery and refuse it.

All 3 items were returned and a few weeks later we are still to receive a refund of any sort so I call customer service to chase. I’m now told that MFI are unable to locate the items I have returned and so again I have to wait, I’m promised a return call to inform me of progress but I get nothing so again I call to chase, and again, and again. Finally I get refunded, but for only 1 item, so then I ‘again’ have to call MFI to chase my full refund. A few weeks of calling and emailing later and this is where we are…

...and after all this MFI still feel it reasonable that for the ‘service’ which has been bestowed upon me I should pay £5.00 of my money. This is beyond a joke!

I would again request that I am refunded the ‘full’ order amount, that is to say that I demand that I be credited £5.00 of my money which you still have.

I will continue to pursue this line of inquiry until MFI have sense to realise that the damage that is being caused to their brand through such treatment of customers far exceeds the cost of a full refund.

Was that a ‘V’ for Victory?

Well, you’ll be glad to know that after that, I got my £5.