I got a very low blow from Bradlows.

I regret the day I set my foot into Bradlows. I have two furniture accounts with them. They are supposed to debit my bank on the 28th of every month for both accounts. On the 3rd December (2021) I got an sms from Connect FS (Bradlows' financial department) informing me that they will debit one of the accounts earlier, on the 15th December. If did not want this I had to go to their mobile application to choose the preferred debit date, and to do this before the 5th December (only 2 days grace). I followed their link to the app, and there chose my debit order date to remain the 28th as usual. There was no similar message regarding my other account, so I assumed everything was settled.

Today, on the 15th December to my utter shock, my other account was debited, taking away my entire budget for Christmas. I called the store just after 8am this morning to request them to refund me the debit order, as it was not due until the 28th. The consultant told me the debit is not yet reflecting on their side, and that I should call tomorrow when it is reflecting to request a refund. She further told me that the refund will take 7 to 14 days to be processed, and that there was no way I could get refunded sooner.

Naturally, I got upset by this dismissive response to a complaint about a debit order that I did not mandate nor agree to. I told her I now want to stop this debit order process (so that I can pay manually at the stores every month going forward), she told me that it was not allowed, or I would have to provide various documents and proofs of why I want it stopped. She contended that I was given an opportunity via sms to refuse the 15th day Debit. I told her no such sms arrived, except only for the first account. When she insisted that the sms was sent to me, I asked her to send me proof of sending that particular sms, at which point she asked me to stay on hold while she went through the correspondences.

After holding for several minutes, the line went dead on me. Then I started writing this review. Several minutes later (while working on the second paragraph of this review), another consultant from Bradlows called me and apologised for the dropped line and the early debit order. She then told me that they will be able to process an "urgent refund" which should reflect by Friday (in 2 days).

I am thankful for the apology and empathy shown by the second consultant. Should the money get paid in by Friday as she promised, I will revisit this review to give it a better rating, and maybe I will think of visiting Bradlows and it's related stores again. At this point, I am still smarting from the treatment I got from the first consultant.

JM