cost plus sofa sale delivery charge??

tipptom

cost plus sofas doing big tv and paper ads for sofas at the moment,but when you talk to them any of the nice reduced sofas at the 500 mark have to wait til themiddle of june for them while they keep advertising them,handy money in their account for 3 months while you wait(land of leather?),so their biggest sale ever comprises of more expensive ones with 50 euros of, that you have to wait to bring down from dublin to their shops which they want to charge the customer 30e for and then charge 75e to deliver it to your home,no problem with home delivery but looking to paddytax you for bringing it to their store is laughable,slow to tell you about this until paying as well,hoping you will just roll over,dont pay this 30e people,somebody shout stop.

Zeppi

Delivery does not come free from any retailer. I've paid €142 for a flat pack wardrobe from Ikea and mind you on the day of the delivery my wife was on her own, delivery guys knocked on the door and told her you have a delivery just sign here and to her surprise they just left it outside and when she asked them to put it in the hallway at least they told her we deliver only to the door.

I've bought from Cost Plus sofas and I did pay €75 BUT they unwrapped the sofa in front of me, put it in the room that I wanted, they put the feet on and took all the wrapping with them and at the point of sale they told me if I want to collect I can and obviously it's free of charge.

To deliver furniture you have at least two guys to pay and not to mention the fuel.
I was very satisfied with their service and we went back and bought beds from them.

dudara

tipptom Can you please use some paragraphs and sentence structure in your post. Lack of structure makes it quite hard to read and comprehend.

dudara

robo

AFAIK there is no consumer issue if the company tell you at the time of purchase about the delivery charge. I have been amused at the different companies that charge it and those that don't.
But I have to say that any furniture delivered to my place has been put into the room that I requested them to be in. I was always aware of the charges at point of sale. I guess when you hear about sales, you should ask before browsing - how much do you charge for delivery.

tipptom

i did say no problem with 75 delivery charge,its when they want money from before point of sale,where does it stop.its like going in to a branch of tescos and and going to the counter with a pint of milk thats marked at 1.65 and then the person on the counter telling you there is an extra 30c for delivery from distribution centre.

point noted about my post.

ch750536

I don't get your issue. Are you saying they only offer delivery, no option to collect yourself?

seamus

tipptom wrote: »

i did say no problem with 75 delivery charge,its when they want money from before point of sale,where does it stop.its like going in to a branch of tescos and and going to the counter with a pint of milk thats marked at 1.65 and then the person on the counter telling you there is an extra 30c for delivery from distribution centre.

That really depends on their policy though. If Tesco Blanchardstown don't normally carry that brand/type of milk and have to order it from Tesco Dundrum, then they may charge you on that basis.

However, usually there's a flat charge for a delivery of a piece of furniture, and sometimes there's a surcharge for a long-distance delivery.

Having to pay the company for a standard piece of furniture to be delivered to their shop doesn't sound right.

mixer101

I think what he's saying is when you go in to buy the advertised furniture that there's a 3 month 'wait' to get it.
However, while you're there at the shop you might consider buying another (more expensive) sofa only to be told they 'have to bring it down from Dublin' for which privelege they charge you €30...just to get it for you!!...
:eek:

BennyBlanko

Yeah, we gotta be carefull out there.....

I don't put down deposits on anything and I don't pay delivery charges and when you tell some co's this from the outset you invariably get it for free.

My mantra is " I don't pay extra fee's, CC charges, delivery, deposits,Admin fee's".

ch750536

Seems to be a sensibly named company if that is the issue.;)

channelsurfer2

bought a sofa set from them and had to wait 3 months due to non arrival of the ship from china but other than that delivery was 30euro and it was installed and assembled in the room i wanted when they came. the driver and helper did grumble on about them expanding way too quickly and not paying their staff overtime etc.....

tipptom

the internal logistics should be their concern and added to their main price of sale,i phoned them the day before about delivery prices and was asked where i was and they said it would be 75,no problem,nothing about delivery fee to limerick until i drove 30 miles there and eventually they came out with it when i was trying to make sure it was actually in dublin.
far as im concerned they are trying to charge twice for delivery,and one of those is not even being delivered to me!

Cost Plus Sofas

At Cost Plus Sofas, our catchphrase is 'Designer Sofas at discount prices' and that is what we work hard to do. We keep our costs low so we can pass on the savings to our customers, which leads to more sales.

For delivery charges, we pass on what it actually costs us to make the delivery. There is no profit. As you mention, Cost Plus charge between about 50e and 75e wheareas Ikea charged you 145e for a wardrobe. We also deliver the furniture to your room of choice and make sure the product is fully unwrapped, assembled etc.

In summary, we do not include the delivery charge in the price of the product as this would need to be paid for somewhere in a higher price for the sofas, but try to be fair about the amount we charge and give a top quality delivery service as that is the last point of contact we have with our customers and we consider customer recommendation to be the lifeblood of the business and a lot of the company focus is on having happy customers.

On waiting times, while occasionally people may have to wait up till 3 months due to over-demand on a product, for products in adverts average delivery speeds are within 2-3 weeks.

ch750536

Welcome to boards, cost plus sofas. Nice of you to drop in. Don't forget to post boardsers exclusive offers.

deadl0ck

Hi Cost Plus Sofas. Great that you have registered to help people with any issues they may have.
I'm curious about this 30 charge that tipptom is talking about :

that you have to wait to bring down from dublin to their shops which they want to charge the customer 30e for and then charge 75e to deliver it to your home

Can you calirfy about the 30 Euro charge that tipptom is talking about ?

I ask, as I live beside Mullingar, and was in Cost Plus Sofas yesterday looking at 2+1+1 leather recliners.
Anyhoo - there are small signs up everywhere saying it's 75 Euro for delivery, but would I have to pay 30 + 75 (like what tipptom is saying) or just the 75 on top of the displayed price of the sofas/chairs ?

Cost Plus Sofas

Hi,

It is 75e for delivery normally. There are a few exceptions, but in 99% of cases as far as I know it is 75e.

There is an exception this weekend, in that we are advertising on the TV "buy the room, get the TV" with a room with two sofas, tables and a 42" Philips HD TV from 1,299e. The TV is delivered by D.I.D. and there may be an extra delivery charge from our partners at D.I.D, I am really not 100% sure but all will be clarified in your Cost Plus store when you buy. There is a great team in your Mullingar store headed up by Gary.

In general tho' it is 75e. for delivery including delivery to the room of your choice, unwrapping of the goods etc.

On the offers, I need to clarify if we are allowed to offer specials via Boards.ie to Boardsers...if we can we will, just want to clarify first with Boards and then will see what we can do!

Happy Easter!

dudara

@Cost Plus Sofas

Thank you for taking the time to register on Boards and answer questions. However, as you are a commercial representative, I would ask you to contact the admins of Boards (hello@boards.ie). They will help you understand the requirements of commercial representatives on boards.

Regards,

dudara

Cost Plus Sofas

Hi Dudara,

Thanks, will do. It's our first day today on boards.ie and look forward to learning how to do this, will do.

Thanks for the advice.

tipptom

thanks for replying cost plus sofas which is a lot more than a lot of them will do,still confused about double delivery charge and i have no problem with your descriptions of your sofa but can you really say faux leather sofas from china are designer sofas.

tipptom

let us know deadlock what they say in mullingar as they told me in limerick this charge is on anything,seems this charge is a grey area that they try to spin away from.

Cost Plus Sofas

All questions noted...

On the designer sofas question. We do have a wide range of sofas to suit all pockets. There are a range of materials from faux leather, to soft category 45 leathers to semi-anilines and on the fabric side from microfibres to beautiful woven fabrics.

You are right, that for some of cheapest sofas, that people might put in rented accomodation, you would be hard pressed to describe these as designer-ish. Same time, almost all Cost Plus Sofas are produced to our own designs and our in-house Sofa Designer works hard to keep us at the leading edge of all trends. So, we were one of the first in Ireland to focus a few years ago on two tone models, now widespread. Also corner groups, now widespread and we have in the pipeline a lot of other exciting new bits that we again will be the first to bring to Ireland. In Cost Plus Sofas stores we often get the comments "you do not see the same sofas in Cost Plus Sofas that you see everywhere else in Ireland". This is because we are always on looking out for the latest trends and styles internationally to bring here, so that we can offer something unique to people.

In short, we try hard at all price levels to offer a stylish product, somewhat more stylish than is available elsewhere - as above...this is the feedback we get from our customers...if you see for yourself, you may agree!

On the delivery charges question. To the best of my knowledge if you are getting sofas and tables from Cost Plus, the delivery charge is 75e in about 99% of cases. I will double check all on Tuesday/ Wednesday with my colleagues but to the best of my knowledge there is no 75 + 30 = 105e delivery charge. Will double check and confirm.

tipptom

thanks for the reply cost plus sofas.

jimmycrackcorm

We went shopping for a suite last weekend. We tried cost plus sofas but ended up spending the same money in a shop in Palmerstown who deliver for free. 75 for delivery? Smells like it is straight from the Michael O'Leary school of profiteering...

Cost Plus Sofas

Glad you found a suite you liked.

The 75e is what it costs to deliver the suite, with a two man crew, unpacking the suite, fixing legs and ensuring all is good with it. As another person has pointed out in this thread, Ikea seem to be charging 145e, so Cost Plus is not trying to be silly about it.

There are people who offer free delivery. In all cases, this cost has to be paid for somewhere, normally in the price of the sofa. At Cost Plus we try to make sure that our sofas are superb value and then charge a fair amount for delivery.

thebiglad

BennyBlanko wrote: »

My mantra is " I don't pay extra fee's, CC charges, delivery, deposits,Admin fee's".

So you don't book flights/holidays or attend concerts etc then?

Joey the lips

Delivery chargess..... These have always been a contentious issue. The way i always figured it is you pay for it no matter what.... If you are not charged its in there costs and if you are charged then you know...

The problem with them is sometimes I have said "i will collect" and I am told "You cant" so the way I figure is this is not a charge that can be avoided so it should be included in the actual price and so helping you decide better.

tatli_lokma

€75 is quite a bit for delivery. I paid Des Kelly €50 and for that they set up the 3+2 suite in the room as requested, and even took the old one out and the lads were good enough to drop it across the road to a neighbour whom I was giving it to.

keithclancy

Cincikchick wrote: »

€75 is quite a bit for delivery. I paid Des Kelly €50 and for that they set up the 3+2 suite in the room as requested, and even took the old one out and the lads were good enough to drop it across the road to a neighbour whom I was giving it to.

Weird you say that ... twas 75 euros here in the Netherlands also for Delivery cost. Although this was a flat fee for a couch + Coffee table + TV Unit.

Tisn't just a ripoff republic thing then

deadl0ck

I was in the Mullingar store on the way home from work this evening.

It's 75e for delivery to your house

It's 30e for delivery to the store if you intend to pick it up there

There is no 75 + 30 charge, so I think the shop you dealt with didn't explain it right.

My only issue is really with the 30e delivery to the store cost, as it's essentially impossible to buy the sofa at the advertised price, as you must pay at least another 30e to get it.

ch750536

I agree & I'm sure that is in violation of advertising standards. As far as I know a product must be available at the price advertised unless it is an error. This goes beyond the invitation to treat.

Only my opinion though, which may be wrong.

Joey the lips

ch750536 wrote: »

I agree & I'm sure that is in violation of advertising standards. As far as I know a product must be available at the price advertised unless it is an error. This goes beyond the invitation to treat.

Only my opinion though, which may be wrong.

Your not correct there... as such. If you see a sofa and its advertised for 150 euro and you go to the counter and hand in 150 euro and the assistant says there is 50 euro delivery this is legal. Perfectly.

However if the seller launches a radio campagn and says sofas from 150 euro you have the right to ask what sofa is 150 euro...

It all depends on how its advertised.

However the law does allow for pricing...ie it might say 150 on the label but that does not mean it cannot be sold for 250

Its all about offer and acceptance and what constitutes an offer and acceptence.

However.... I always thought these campagns dirty and they should advertise that collection price only....

I would be interested in seeing a challenge for delivery to the shop although this is covered under exworks delivery terms I wonder do delivery terms apply in consumables like they do with cars for example....

ha-ya-said-what

On another point, we were sold sofas from cost plus sofas & assured that they were interest free for 12 months, after which interest would be charged, in reply to the sales assistant "so we don't pay any interest for the 12mths or pay it after the 12 months, we only pay interest on the remaining amount of months it takes to clear the payment, let it be 2 or 3 months we only pay the interest on those months & you don't add on a lump sum of interest for the 12mths that were interest free" .. to which he said yes, paperwork had no mention of it either

12mths pass, letter arrived from UK office informing us that we were to pay the interest for the 12mths ... nice amount that added up to aswell!

So be very very careful of the info they give you when taking out credit agreements!

bongi69

All this has reminded me of an argument I had with a co worker a while back.

I believe, that if a customer requests delivery for an item regularly stocked in store, they should be charged. This used to happen when I worked in Dixons. Say we had a 42" TV on sale, and ample stock in the store room to take home today. A tv this size will fit in an average car if the seats are folded down. So if you come and buy it, you can take it home in your car, no extra fee.

However, if you wanted this home delivered, there would be a charge, anywhere up to €60. This is to cover the item coming from the warehouse in a delivery truck. If this cost was assimilated into the selling price of the TV, it would be a little more expensive, and hurt the pockets of the people who want to take it home themselves.

What I think is wrong, is retailers charging delivery for items that are home delivery only, and you having no other option to get the item home. Any delivery charge for these items should be assimilated into the selling price. Or give customers who have access to a van or the likes the chance to go collect the item from the warehouse themselves, without charging extra

jimmycrackcorm

bongi69 wrote: »

What I think is wrong, is retailers charging delivery for items that are home delivery only, and you having no other option to get the item home. Any delivery charge for these items should be assimilated into the selling price. Or give customers who have access to a van or the likes the chance to go collect the item from the warehouse themselves, without charging extra

Home Delivery is exactly that however getting a non-stocked item to be dropped to the shop for pick-up should be free for said home-delivery items. Consumer should have that choice....

ch750536

Joey the lips wrote: »

However.... I always thought these campagns dirty and they should advertise that collection price only....

The point being that you can't buy the sofa for the advertised price at all, even collecting from the store has a surcharge.

Thoie

From what the OP is saying, IMO if they're currently saying the sofa costs 200, but it's 30 to get it to the store, or 75 to get it to your house, I would prefer to see them advertising the sofa as €230, with a €45 surcharge for home delivery. I expect that the cost of getting something to the shop is factored into the price.

Cost Plus Sofas

Thanks for all comments - and can see the point.

Candidly, for the 30 euro charge for collecting this at the store, this charge is not always charged, it is at the Manager's discretion. It was introduced over the last couple of months to try to discourage collections - as collections tend to be difficult for the store team, with people arriving unannounced to collect often at the busiest times for the shop.

At Cost Plus, we always try to look after all customers as best we can, as reflected in independently collated customer service scores. We do try to discourage collections, so that store teams are not rushed and can give all people the best possible service.

One bit of positive news on the delivery charge front. We do not charge any extra for deliveries when people buy one of our 42" TV + room packages. Even though D.I.D. charge Cost Plus for delivery of the TVs, Cost Plus swallows this and there is no extra delivery charge for customers over the standard 75 euro when buying one of our TV room packages including a TV, sofas etc.

astrofool

Surely for a collection, you book a time with the customer.

€30 to pick something up from a shop is ridiculous, I can see what it's trying to do in encouraging buyers to use delivery, but there has to be a better way to do it.

Cost Plus Sofas

Understand your point...

For a pair of sofas, please bear in mind that the vast majority of people want Cost Plus to deliver. This is firstly as it a pair of sofas is not something that most people have transport for and secondly the delivery charge of 75 euro is reasonable - others have mentioned in this thread 145 euro for delivery by Ikea, although we have not verified this. Cost Plus also then take responsibility for delivering the sofas in perfect condition, unwrap the goods fully, put in the legs and remove all the rubbish to give what we call a 'red carpet delivery service'.

For those few people that want to collect their sofas, we do not book times. Good point and we should think about booking times! We'll discuss with others in Cost Plus to see if this would help all concerned.

Also, as above, the 30 euro charge for collection is at the store Managers discretion and so can be waived. It is just that we are trying to discourage collections for the reasons mentioned in our last post. We'll also discuss this charge further at this end.

All feedback appreciated...keep it coming!

astrofool

The €30 charge if waived, becomes a discount on the sofa. The €30 charge leaves you open to false advertising, as you cannot officially buy the item at the advertised price, unless a further discount is applied.

Imagine being charged 50 cent to collect your milk in a supermarket.

I really see what you're trying to do, but your manager needs to go on a course on human psychology before he makes more decisions like that.

Cost Plus Sofas

Understand your point about milk in a supermarket.
Equally, a pair of sofas are a much bigger purchase - e.g. if you are buying a car, delivery will often be quoted separately

Only about half the stores are mentioning about this charge, mainly those that are far from the central warehouse. And really this is to discourage people collecting and the charge is frequently waived...most people want their suite delivered.

We will look into this some more at Cost Plus, we work hard to have happy customers. Thanks.

lip

We were in cost plus 2 weeks ago and decided to get finance on a 3 and 2 seater room package with the free tv.It was advertised for E1853.When everything was totted up,bearing in mind i took out insurance at E250,the total cost was E2194.
I had no bank statement so was told the forms would be posted out and to return them with my statement,which I still have not recieved after 3 phonecalls and promises that I will be phoned back in 10 minutes.Anyway,looking at the invoice,the sums just don't add up.The package is broken down into individual prices,for the 2 seater,3 seater,coffee table,2 side tables and 2 lamps,it adds up to E1603,so obviously the insurance is included,but I was charged again.
So with the E75 delivery charge,it should only be costing us E1928.Thats an overcharge of E266.
I am going in tomorrow to first question it and then cancel it,I'm sure I can get a decent 2 piece and 42'' tv for less than that.
Sorry,post is a bit long winded,moral of the story,check the figures and make sure they add up.......Thankfully I hadnt paid for it.

Cost Plus Sofas

Hi Lip,

Am sorry to hear of any confusions. If you can give me your "customer order ID" which is on our invoices, we will happily check this out for you.

We suspect the reason this may not add up is that finance charges can add to the cash price shown, as with all retailers. Equally, we're only speculating. If you can give us your customer order ID ideally, we will check this out for you and let you know via Boards.ie. Or, please ask in your local Cost Plus. Either way, as you prefer!

Our pricing should be pretty straightforward. We do not do phoney 50% off sales and the like, we've year-round low prices. Am sure any confusions can be cleared up without too many problems

Kind regards,

Cost Plus Sofas

dudara

@Cost Plus Sofas

Have you contacted the Admins of Boards at hello@boards.ie yet? I believe that I previously requested that you do so if you wished to continue posting in an official capacity on boards.

dudara

knighted_1

lip wrote: »

We were in cost plus 2 weeks ago and decided to get finance on a 3 and 2 seater room package with the FREE tv.Q

where does it say free tv ? dont think it does ,people are just assuming its free but its just included in the price and did electrical deliver them for 25 euros -

lip

Thanks for reply cost plus sofas. I decided to ring and was given the reason.Knighted you sound like the salesman i talked to. Apparently it doesnt say that the tv is FREE,and it is NOT included in the price. It is actually given at a discounted rate when you purchase the room deal.
Now,unless my ears decieve me,but does the advert not say that a 42'' tv comes with the room?I will stand corrected,but I do not recall it saying that the tv is given at a discounted rate.In my case it was costing E266.
I will not be getting my suite there,I really feel swindled on this one.Maybe it doesnt actually use the word FREE but it definately gives the impression that it is.Clever advertising????Or just totally misleading?I would love to see the ad again to make sure I just didn't miss something.

And re not recieving the forms in post,apparently the woman just forgot.

tipptom

yes, this is typical of what i was saying starting the thread,its all just put in in when you are about to pay and hope you rollover and pay,there is an underlying sneakiness there the whole time that cant do a companys reputation any good.

Cost Plus Sofas

Dudara - did email hello@ or admin@ after you requested last time. Will email again tomorrow to get us set up officially.

The 42" Samsung HD TV is not free, it is about 250 euro extra when buying the sofas and tables. Still, 250 euro for this TV is not a bad deal

Lorettasm

Just in reply to this comment from cost plus sofas, I ordered the "room" on the 4th of April and was informed by the sales assistant that they would give me a code and that I would have to collect the tv from the shop myself. I called into the shop the following week for the code and was told that DID would deliver the tv to me at a delivery charge, Three days later DID rang me to say that they would deliver the tv on the fri which they did, when I asked how much the delivery charge was the delivery man told me that delivery was free. It seems that sales assistants have not been briefed properly about this matter. Incidently my two sofas and 3 tables, which were promised faithfully by the sales assistant for 3 weeks still has not arrived and basically the shop cannot give me a delivery date, even an estimated one! Not a great customer service guys. Just one other thing my delivery charge from cost plus sofas was 80 euro. I have paid in full for everything and still nearly two months later I have seen nothing from them. At least DID were able to deliver when they said they would

Cost Plus Sofas

Dear all,

Lip - our full page newspaper adverts use the following words in the main headline. "Buy the room. Get the TV" and "Get the ultimate room package including a 42" Samsung HDTV". We are trying to get over that the room package includes a TV, not that it is free. It actually works out at about 250 euro extra for the TV part, which is not a bad deal. As previously, we try to be quite straightforward in our advertising. E.g. Cost Plus are one of very few furniture retailers who do not do phoney 50% / 60% / 70% off sales

Loretta - for the delivery for the DID TV, all rings true. We are new to working with DID and there were some gremlins on the Cost Plus side. DID do charge for delivery, equally when we sold the TVs in stores, we often did not tell customers, due to unclear training. So, to avoid any bad feelings, Cost Plus has taken the hit on this cost and not passed it on, even though we are making less than nothing on the TVs. We are happy as looking after our customers is our key company goal. Most of our customers come in because of recommendations from friends and family.

On your sofas not having arrived after 3 weeks, we are sorry to hear. Not one of those 16 week or 20 weeks for a sofa horror stories you sometimes hear, we do aim to offer a very quick delivery, but really sorry if you have been let down on what you were told, not good.

On the second part you mention, the reason your sales executive may not have been able to tell you when your goods would be delivered is that deliveries are now managed directly by our central distribution facility. They can be contacted via our central number, 01 484 5633 and should be able to help you. Or, if you prefer, please let us know here your customer order ID and we will get someone to contact you and let you know. Thanks for all the feedback.

lip

i got a copy of the ad and imo it absolutely suggests that the tv is free with the package. All the rooms are that are shown have the package deal price,and beside it th says ''YOU GET'',and what the package includes,and the tv is in bold writing. Definately false advertising.
The cost of the tv would have been E266,and thats a lot of money to pay for something that i thought was free.