Sofology: We spent our Christmas on deckchairs

Frustrated Sofology customers say they have been left without furniture over Christmas after repeated delivery no-shows and "consistently bad" customer service.

The furniture chain, which is owned by DFS, has been without a chief executive since September, while its managing director resigned in December.

Sofology blames supply chain disruption and a new warehouse system.

It said there were "a small number of failed in-day deliveries".

However, dozens of social media posts complain about the company's lack of communication when deliveries fail.

Janet Mellor of Oldham was told on three separate occasions this month her new sofa and armchair - which she ordered in July at a cost of £2,500 - would be delivered but nothing materialised.

"I've never known a company as bad," she said.

When Ms Mellor received emails with the subject line "Great news your delivery is booked" including a delivery date, she got rid of her old furniture to make space.

"We've been sat on dining room chairs and so we ordered two deck chairs from Amazon for Christmas. I've totally lost patience with them now. I just want my money back," she said.

Hearing nothing from the company after each of the failed deliveries, she called their customer care line.

"It's a minimum one hour - sometimes 1.5 hours - until you get to actually speak to somebody," she said.

Sofology said in a statement that the roll-out of a new warehouse system is now complete and it expects "a much improved service across every depot enabling us to more consistently meet planned delivery dates".

It said it had been experiencing "a surge" in customer calls but added that it had doubled the resources in its customer service teams and is significantly reducing wait times.

"The vast majority of our customers have received their deliveries on time," said Sofology. "But we wholeheartedly apologise to any customers who have been affected by delays or difficulties in reaching our team."

But when Ms Mellor searched Sofology on Facebook, she found her troubles were far from unique.

A group called "Sofology Angry Customers" has 3,600 members, 100 of whom joined in the past week. The group has had 630 posts in the past month, according to Facebook data.

Other social media users have been expressing their frustrations on Twitter.

Jon Hawkes tweeted that it had been a month since Sofology was supposed to deliver his armchair but despite multiple attempts to contact the firm, he'd received no response. He described the company's customer service as "consistently bad".

Many UK retailers have faced supply chain issues caused by a surge in demand after the early coronavirus lockdowns, which led to an imbalance in shipping containers and long backlogs at ports around the world.

But an ex-Sofology employee told the BBC that the company failed to deal with the pent-up demand for sofas after Covid lockdowns and when problems at their warehouses emerged they "buried their heads in the sand".

The former worker, who was a sales representative at Sofology for more than two years, also blamed the company's culture.

"They want everyone to see everything as a positive and you can't question anything otherwise it is seen as negative and you get pushed away despite selling well. Staff aren't listened to with concerns, big bosses feel they alone have all the answers," he said.

According to statements filed with Companies House, Sofology's managing director Harvey Ainley resigned from the company on 21 December. Its former chief executive Sally Hopson retired at the end of August.

Customers say it is Sofology's poor communication that has compounded problems.

Tony Sinden of Fife in Scotland ordered a corner suite and a footstool from Sofology at the beginning of October, for £2,898.

On November 27, a delivery team arrived at his house but only part of the new suite could fit through his door. Sofology delivery staff told him they were unable to take the unit apart and reassemble it inside.

The company said they'd send another team in 24 hours but none came. When Mr Sinden went to a Sofology store to complain, sales staff told him they couldn't help and he'd need to call the company's customer care line.

"I've never come across a situation where you walk into a store and they take no ownership," he said. "I sat on the phone for 2.5 hours to be cut off at caller number four, from 200," he says.

A Sofology customer service representative emailed Mr Sindon, promising to resolve the matter. And although a delivery team called saying they had his footstool, they knew nothing about the missing part of the corner suite. The footstool then failed to arrive.

"They didn't bother turning up and didn't even bother explaining," he said.

Sofology, which was bought by the DFS Furniture Group in 2017, has 49 stores across the UK, making it the country's third largest furniture retailer.

Its most recent advertising campaign was fronted by the British actress Helena Bonham-Carter and in the past, Hollywood actor Owen Wilson also featured in its adverts.

Its parent company, DFS reported record sales of £1bn for the year to 27 June, up from £724.5m.

Sofology contributed £214.6m to total revenue, compared to £181.7m in the previous year.

The financial report said Sofology "is continuing to perform well… despite headwinds of shipping delays and foam disruption", adding it plans to add up to 20 more Sofology showrooms in the medium term.

The statement provided by the firm said: "Sofology is in good financial health".