Poor service and dishonesty from Essops Furniture in Randburg

On the 4th of January 2019, my mother purchased what she thought was a new dining room suite (a table and 8 chairs) from the Randburg branch. After paying approximately R21, 000 for her goods, she was told that delivery would take place within a week or 2 and that upon delivery, she should thoroughly inspect the items to ensure that there were no issues or defects.

At the time of the delivery, we were out of the country but left my brother to receive the items on her behalf which he did. On the day that the furniture was delivered, he noticed that the quality wasn’t up to scratch and made a point to alert both my mother and the store.

A week later, we returned from our trip at which time my mother further inspected the furniture herself. She too noticed that that the table had a defect and that of the 8 chairs that were delivered, 4 were not only badly manufactured, but in fact looked like they had been used. Given that she had paid in full for BRAND NEW furniture, she was unhappy and logged a complaint with a lady by the name of Aisha.

To cut a long story short, the company sent a new table top on two separate occasions only to find that in both instances, the quality was STILL not satisfactory. Further to that, the issue of the chairs had not been resolved.

When my mother followed up again, she was told that they would send someone from the company to “clean the chairs” to which she contested as she was not happy with getting second hand chairs when she had paid for new ones. She was then promised that she would get new chairs to replace the ones that were unsatisfactory, failing which she would be issued a certain percentage as a refund to make up for the inconvenience.

Fast forward to last week, my mother calls in only to be given more excuses and zero resolution. As it currently stands, it is 3 months later and the chairs have been swapped out, no refund has been given and no apology or reasonable explanation has been offered.

The experience and service has been nothing short of appalling! My mother is furious and frustrated by how she has been taken for a ride. At this stage, she no longer wants anything to do with Essops and is demanding a full refund and a written apology. It goes without saying that we WILL not buy this store ever again or recommend it to any of our family members or friends.