Very unpleasant experience with The Bed Shop – N1 City

Unfortunately, our experience with The Bed Shop was extremely disappointing from start to finish, and I would not recommend them based on what we experienced.

We visited the N1 City branch and found a bed that we really liked. The branch did not have stock, so the sales assistant ordered it for us. We were then contacted and told that the bed would arrive at the N1 City branch at 3:00 PM the following day.

We drove all the way to N1 City the next day, only to receive a call shortly before 3:00 PM informing us that the bed would only arrive around 4:00 PM. We waited around N1 City until 4:00 PM, expecting the bed to arrive so that we could load it onto our bakkie.

We then contacted the branch and asked whether the driver could please stop at the loading bay and assist with simply transferring the bed onto our bakkie. The reason for asking was that there appeared to be only one staff member working in the store, and we were concerned about how customers — especially elderly couples or anyone unable to lift a heavy bed — would be expected to get the bed from the store to their vehicle. Unfortunately, there was no real assistance offered.

To make matters worse, by 4:00 PM the bed still had not arrived. We were then told that we could collect it from the warehouse at around 7:00 PM, as the bed was apparently coming from Table Bay.

Because we urgently needed a bed that night and we have an 8-month-old baby, we did not want to be out late at night in the cold with our baby. We therefore decided to drive all the way to Table Bay ourselves to collect the bed.

When we arrived, we were expected to load the bed ourselves. My husband had to load the bed while I held our baby. The shop assistant had to close the shop doors because there was no other staff member available to assist. Eventually, we managed to load the bed and drove all the way home.

Unfortunately, this is where things became even worse.

After unpacking the bed at home, we realised that it was not the same bed we had viewed and ordered in the store. The stitching was different, the spring was already starting to show at the front of the bed, and the mattress/bed overlapped the base. The overall quality and appearance were completely unacceptable, and the bed looked nothing like what we had originally chosen.

At this point, we were extremely frustrated and had no confidence that the bed would be taken back if we slept on it. We therefore had to spend additional money booking ourselves into a B&B for the night, despite having already spent a significant amount of money and time travelling around to collect the bed.

We also spent over R500 on diesel travelling between the branches, only to end up with a bed that was not what we ordered.

When we requested a refund, we were initially told that we would have to bring the bed back ourselves. We strongly disagreed with this, considering the circumstances and the fact that we had already travelled all the way to Table Bay to collect it. We insisted that the bed needed to be collected from us and that we receive a refund.

We have now been told that we must wait 7–14 days for our refund.

What makes the experience even more disappointing is that we ended up purchasing a bed from *The Bed Centre*, where the service was completely different. They took the time to show us different beds, explained the differences between them, gave us a discount, offered free delivery and setup, and even offered us a display bed to use while waiting for our new bed to be ordered.

The contrast in service was unbelievable.

At The Bed Shop, the overall experience was frustrating, the assistance was poor, the bed we received was not what we ordered, the quality was unacceptable, and we ended up losing both time and money because of the situation.

Unfortunately, I cannot recommend The Bed Shop and I will not be purchasing from them again.