A man living in Bournemouth, U.K., was moving into a new house and reportedly ordered a new couch from Designer Sofas 4U, complete with a “white glove” delivery, according to reports.
However, instead of the delivery running as customer Luke Ansell had hoped (and paid for) when the couch arrived Jan. 19, Ansell reportedly ended up with his couch crammed in his stairwell.
Then, according to reports, the delivery people just… left.
Homeowner’s fury as delivery men leave sofa jammed on stairs and walls trashed – so they can “get home to Birmingham” https://t.co/5T1MpFgT0I
— James Rodger (@jamesdrodger) January 26, 2023
While the photo taken of the situation might be pretty funny to an outsider, it’d be hard not to be furious if things unfolded as Ansell has claimed.
According to The Sun, Ansell bought the Chesterfield couch, which cost about £2,000 or roughly $2,477.
Ansell seems to have known the couch would potentially be hard to get up the stairs.
“[The deliverymen] got here and I showed them where I wanted it upstairs,” Ansell said according to Somerset Live.
“I said that it looked quite tight, but they assured me that they do tight deliveries all the time. I just said ‘oh, well you’re the experts’ — they are a delivery company after all so I just left them to it.”
That’s when the problems reportedly started.
“They brought it in, they struggled to get it over the bannister and eventually got it in. But then it got jammed, they couldn’t get it up or down. Then they said ‘look we’ve got to get back to Birmingham’ and tried to leave. They asked me to sign for the delivery — but I refused.”
If Ansell’s to be believed, these workers came in, crammed a couch into a stairwell, and got out of Dodge.
“Then they just left it there and went back to Birmingham,” he said.
Wouldn’t that be fun to do any time your job got difficult?
In all seriousness, though, Ansell claimed that there was significant damage to his brand-new home.
“Honestly it was unbelievable, the sofa was over £2,000 and they caused about that much damage delivering it,” he said according to The Sun.
“They’ve destroyed the plasterboard, and damaged all of the wooden skirting on the stairway,” Ansell said according to Somerset Live.
“They’ve also damaged the sofa too. It was just a shocking response by the company — so I’m just trying to raise awareness about their standards of service.”
The drivers then reportedly tried to lie about the incident, despite overwhelming evidence contradicting what they were saying.
“The drivers also said they didn’t even try to get it up the stairs, but I have actual doorbell footage of them after they delivered it to my house. I have a photo of them at the bottom of the stairs after the damage was done, too.”
According to LBC, the company said in a statement that the sofa was “left in a safe place on the landing.”
However, hilariously, the company reportedly sent an email that would appear to completely invalidate that claim, while also still trying to foist the blame onto Ansell.
“Whilst our driver and his colleague attempted to get the sofa up the second flight of steps you also tried to help and between yourself and the two delivery persons managed to get the sofa wedged and also damage the walls,” the company said in an email according to BBC News.
They also said that they’d replace the couch as a “goodwill gesture,” according to The Sun. They also said that they’d be covering the costs of the damage done to the walls and stairs, according to BBC News.
They also said they’d be delivering body-worn cameras for their delivery people in the future.
If any of that sounds like the policy of a company that left a massive purchase “in a safe place on the landing” to you, you have far more faith in the benevolence of corporate entities than I do.
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