********** Service at Rochester

<p>On 18 March 2017, I paid the company for a custom made lounge set. The lead tine was indicated to be 7 weeks. After more than 10 weeks without hearing from them, my friend, who was meant to collect and ship the set to me in Zimbabwe tried to enquire for the set and struggled to get any response. After weeks of trying she was eventually told they were stuck in a warehouse and couldn't be collected because the system had been changed. At one point the feedback was that they couldn't be released because the branch manager was on leave.</p> <p>Weeks later, the manager then informed us that the set had a defect and they would need to re-manufacture. Horrified, I personally called them and asked for a refund. As I am not resident in SA they asked that I nominate a proxy to receive the refund and fill in forms and send IDs and Bank statements. I obliged. A few days later on enquring on progress I was told I needed to write an Affidavit. I obliged within hours and sent the affidavit. Now, more than a week later, I have written several emails to try and get my money back but the few times I have had a response it said unfortunately I cannot be told when I will be refunded.</p> <p>This is by far the worst customer experience I have ever received. I am from and live in Zimbabwe where presumably service levels would be poor because of economic issues BUT we have excellent customer service from comparable companies. I totally regret my decision to buy from Rochester and not only will I never be going back to buy from there but will dissuade anyone I know to intend to. No one deserves to be treated like a second class customer like this. My feeling, and with reason, is that they cannot be bothered as they are fully aware that I am a foreign customer.</p>