MFI are useless (MFI)

Member Name: miffedatmfi

Product:	MFI
Date:	14/12/04 (570 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: none

Disadvantages: everything

I ordered two bedrooms on June 6th 2004 from MFI. I am writing this review on December 14th of the same year and am still waiting for my order to be completed. After being advised of a delivery date of 24th Jun I didn't think it would be too long to wait for my furniture. At no time during placement of the order was I informed of any stock problems with any of the items I had purchased.

My first delivery (I say first, because I had have many delieries from MFI) took place on the 10th July. I was surprised to find thaton the 10th of July approximately just half of what I had ordered arrived. As I had only half of the componenets for two whole bedrooms my house effectively became a warehouse for MFI. I couldn't build any of the furniture as it was all incomplete.

Two weeks later more furniture arrived. After this delivery I started work on the bedroom I had all of the parts for. Only when I was part way through building the bedroom didi I discover that one of the component parts of a wardrobe had been incorrectly machined. This meant that I was unable to progress further. I contacted MFI and they told me I had a high priority order to ensure the part arrived. The part never arrived when they said it would, in fact, it was two weeks later than specified, and after several phone calls to the useless customer service line (which by the way takes an age to answer) I decided to pursue the store where I had purchased the goods. Eventually in mid August I received the part. I at this time could complete one of the two bedrooms I had ordered. I was still awaiting parts for my second bedroom. I had several promised deliveries that involved me taking time off work to wait for a courier, only the courier never arrived, I wasted three days of my life waiting for deliveries that never took place. I pursued MFI by telephone in August, September and October. After wasting my time waiting for couriers that didn't appear I asked for the parts to be delivered to the store. In the third week of October I went and collected the missing parts. I got them home, opened the package only to find they looked like tractor had driven across them. I informed the store who ordered a replacement, for which I am still to this day waiting.

I have contacted MFI by using the call centre which is a complete waste of time, the Store which even though the staff are helpful, they seem to have little control over what's happening, and I have resorted to e-mail on the MFI website. Note when you submit an e-mail you get an automated reply stating it takes seven days to answer your e-mail. This in my opinion is simply not good enough. If it also took 7 days to place an order then I would consider it acceptable. I have had three email exchanges with customer services, yesterday telling me I would receive delivery no later than 21st October. I responded asking them to clarify the date, they replied 'no Later than 21st of November'. As it is now December the 14th I have sent one further e-mail asking them to actually clarify the date. The worrying thing is they have promised to deliver it to my home, as the store is shut from the 18th - 26th of December.

I can rate this store using the star system available on this site, however I would advise anyone considering purchasing from MFI to strongly re-consider. THeir terms and condtions of business allow for a 'reasonable delay' and ensure that 'time is not of the essence' (section 5.10) so effectively they can do what they like. If you insist on dealing with MFI I would insist on a concrete definition of the word reasonable.

To summarize, customer service poor, organisation poor, delivery poor, overall useless.
The one exception is that the furniture os actually of quite a good quality.

Summary: