Dunelm Review by Lourdes D, 2018-03-23T20:40:42
Don't make the same mistake we made. We visited the Staple Corner store in November hoping to order Shutters for Christmas. The Fitter came to our house and meassured the windows in 2 rooms for the shutters The Made to Measure Consultant told us it was too late to order for Christmas. So we decided to wait until January as we knew there would be a sale. We placed the order on the 21st January and we were told that the earliest slot for the fitter to come and fit the shutters would be in March. Actually it was meant to be tomorrow 24th March 2018. Since placing the order in January, we had to change the order twice already as when it was sent by the Made to Measure consultant, who you would assume would know what configuration/ specification would be possible for the shutters after he was given all the information by the fitter who came not once but twice to our home to measured and also advised/ suggested which direction the shutters should open, if we wanted tier on tier etc I then received an email on 6th February telling me that the configuration discussed was not possible. I was sent pictures of the configuration which was possible and I sent an email to confirm from that selection what wecwould like but did not hear back from the consultant. I left voicemails on his mobile and as I still did not hear back I contacted the fitter who told me that the consultant had left the company all of a sudden. I then contacted the store and spoke to the assistant manager. He then looked into my order. We confirmed the configuration again by email and I even asked whether the day for the fitting would stay same the 24th March to which he confirmed that it would. This was on 16th February. Last weekend on the 17th March as I had not hear from anyone from the store I sent a text and tried to call the fitter. I did not get a response. I tried to call the store but as always it is very difficult to speak to anyone as they do not answer. I then emailed the assistant manager. To my dismay I received a text message and email on Sunday 18th March worded " Your appointment with Dunelm is now cancelled" . Not believing what I was reading I then picked up the phone. 12 mins later someone pick up. I asked th speak to the Assistant manager he had just sent me another email which I had not seen telling me that the "Expert Fitter" had left the business and that he was trying to get the head fitter to come to fit our shutters. When I spoke to him he assured me he would contact me the next morning. I got to work on Monday 19th March noticed I had an email from the assistant manager which read; I’ve come in today to review if a fitter has been allocated unfortunately it hasn’t been as of yet but more importantly your order was due in today, which it hasn’t arrived. A email arrived on the 6 th March, when I was on annual leave, which they mention the bi – folds configuration isn’t possible, to your requirement. How would like to proceed? 1. Reorder shutters 2. Refund – deposit £633.60 and cancel order. Apologises for the inconvenience caused. Im back in store in Friday 23 rd if you would want to discuss it further. Kind regards Well after all of that how do you think one would like to proceed???? We wasted hours popping in and out of the store had two home visits to measure, chasing/ changing configurations which Dunelm staff were telling me were possible, phoning, emailing, texting and to top it off we even spent time decorating to then be told 5 days before the fitting day that configuration is not possible to my requirements!!!Need I say more.See below response from DunelmHello Lourdes Thank you for taking the time to contact us and please accept my sincerest apologies. I can completely understand that you feel extremely annoyed and the issues that you have experienced show a lack of understanding on our part.Of all the products we feature at Dunelm, only a small percentage experience problems and we do all possible to avoid any problems and try our best to resolve when problems do occur. We have been let down by the fitters on this occasion which we understand has had a disappointing effect on your experience with us.We take feedback such yours very seriously and thank you for taking the time to advise us as to what has happened as this gives us the opportunity to make improvements when and if necessary.Again, I am so very sorry that we have been unable to fulfil your order on this occasion and we hope that you will give us a chance to better serve you in the future. I hope this experience does not deter you from shopping with us in the future.Kind regardsStuartMy response backDear Stuart"You are so very sorry " Is that the best you can come up with when I have spent so much time back and forth with trying to sort out this order? Had I know it would take 4 months for Dunelm to realise they the are incapable of making/ supplying simple shutters, I would have gone elsewhere from the start. Your staff are inexperienced and useless. What assistant manager fails to check his email or doesn't arrange for his colleagues to have access to his emails if he is on Annual Leave? Had this been checked I would have had an opportunity ONCE AGAIN to changed my order to ensure that I would have been having my shutters fitted today, as arranged 3 months ago.Your fitters and consultants should know from the start what specification are possible. They clearly need training. You should invest some time in doing that with your staff, so that they can become competent in their jobs. No wonder they both left the company.To top it off,on wednesday this week, the Assistant Manager sent me an email saying we could pop in on Thursday to get our deposit back. I emailed him to confirm that my husband would come in on Thursday at 6.30pm. I didn't get a response. My husband was about to go straight from work but in order to not waste MORE TIME with Dunelm Staples Corner he decided to phone to ensure his time would not be wasted and guess what...? Yes that's right the assistant manager was not there, it was actually his day off and yes again no arrangements had been made for anyone else to sort out the issue. Who arranges for someone to come into the store when they clearly know that they are not going to be there? Is that the type of excellent customer service you offer?Thankfully the issue was resolved by one competent duty manager who as I told him deserves a promotion because although he admitted he does not know how the "Made to Measure" department works and I consoled him by telling him not to worry as evidently no-one else there did either and he would fit right in, he actually arranged for someone else to sort out our refund last night. Should you like to see the numerous emails to and fro with regards to this order watch this space. It is really comical....Therefore with all due respect SORRY does not even begin to fix it!Kind regardsMrs De Lucia