[Resolved]  Style Spa Furniture — Defective products

On 31st August 2008 vide Order Form No. 78324, we booked/ Purchased a recliner (3-seater-Black) from Mumbai, Ghatkopar showroom and paid a sum of Rs. 8, 000/- (Rupees Eight thousand only) towards advance confirming our order. Again on 3rd September 2008, vide order form no. 78329, the balance amount of Rs. 30, 246/- (Rupees Thirty thousand two hundred and forty six only) was paid through cheque no. 018642 drawn on Centurion Bank of Punjab, Mumbai. At the time of booking, we were assured of delivery will be made within 10-15 days. The cheque was debited to my account on 5th September 2008. We were not delivered the furniture as per the agreed date and from 15th September 2008 onwards we were told by the branch employees as “the required colour was not available, the item was not dispatched from Chennai and it will be delivered within couple of days/etc” and kept postponing the delivery schedule/date.

On 21st September 2008, finally we decided to cancel the order and gave our cancellation in writing and requested the branch to repay the entire amount paid by us. With lot of difficulty, the same was acknowledged by the sales person at that branch and at that time, we were told the cheque will be delivered within a week’s time, since the entire operation is centralized at Chennai, (where we did not have any option to counter claim).

Within couple of days, we got call from the branch manager, to accept the furniture, since they were arrived from Chennai. On his personal assurance, we have reconsidered our decision and accepted his proposal. Again the same was not delivered as promised (because of your delivery schedule Wednesday and Saturday) and finally two packets (with consignment no 072479/[protected] – Product code-999907) were delivered to our house on last week of September 2008. Since the outer cartons were torn re-packed with some tapes, we were not sure of the condition of the goods. The same was acknowledged with remarks as “contents not checked for any damages”.

The assembly did not take place on the date of delivery. When asked for assembly of the furniture, we were informed that the technicians will be visiting in couple of days and they will assemble. Finally on 2nd or 3rd October, the technicians visited to our house and assembled the furniture. At that time, we noticed the following defects.

1. On the left hand side, the pull lever of recliner is very loose and not working normally.
2. There were some damages (torn leather) on below the side arm rest.
3. The Back cushion/s are of different size and
4. There were lot of wrinkle on sitting cushion resulting in multi folding (may result in cut/tear at later stage).

The same were properly brought to the notice of the technician and requested him to escalate appropriately and for earlier solution/change of new one. There were no response from the branch.

With-in couple of days, the left side recliner stopped working. The same was informed to the showroom and the technician visited (after vigorous follow-ups) to our house and informed some problem with the assembly and the some parts needs to be replaced. He also informed the order will be placed with HO for parts.

For over two months, we were made numerous calls (many times unattended/put on hold/with indicative dates) and also visited personally several times (during week ends) in order to fix the problem, without any success. Finally on 6th December when we again visited personally, we were once again (as usual given false promise) told the some body will visit and fix the problem but never happened.

During this trouble period, when we try to escalate the matter with the Branch manager, he was not available and we were informed by the showroom employee/s the same will be communicated with him. The irresponsible and cold attitude of the showroom manager is also disappointing. He never returned the call and always the calls are being attended (if attended) only by the sales personal.

We are totally unhappy with the un-fair trade practice (at the time of booking when we asked for the make, we were never told it is an imported one and were given to understand manufactured in India, at Chennai) and un-professional approach of Style-Spa. We feel we are cheated, we have paid for recliner and got something which is as good as ordinary sofa.

Also, we have not received the proper invoice from the branch. When asked, we were not got any proper reply. I never expected such kind of trade from reputed group like Birla.