Bensons for Beds - Pre October 2011

When I recently moved house I decided we'd invest in a decent mattress for our bed. I purchased a £799 memory foam double mattress for myself and a £250 Memory foam mattress for my daughter. We put the mattresses on the beds after airing them for 48 hours as advised. The following day I asked my wife if the bed linen was clean, which it was. But I could smell the smell of an old damp towel that had been left to rot for weeks (I don't know how else to describe it). I then realised the smell was coming from the mattress.

I phoned the shop to complain and was told by the (nice when I was buying) lady in the Llandudno branch to try opening a window. I was not happy at all! I then phoned their head office who tried to palm me off with the smell was just the chemicals they treated it with.

They then sent out an engineer (hmmm! He was about 12) to assess the mattress. Again I was palmed off with it being chemicals they treat them with. I could even tell by his face that he was lying. I was told to air it for up to 3 weeks! What was I supposed to sleep on? I informed the young child that if I took a number 2 in the corner of the room and left it for 3 weeks the smell would dissappear! The company is a absolute disgrace and I would never use them again. Stay well clear!

Thi was delivered on time and fitted by cheerful friendly operatives. However the bottom base was faulty and another was ordered by the friendly customer service team. However the fitters this time were surly & not friendly and went away but as I found out one hour later the drawer was broken & not fit for use. Apparently these were agency staff but customer service got them back within the hour and all was put right. Our memory foam bed is so comfortable and the staff at customer services went out of their way to rectify everything. I an having brilliant nights sleep! The manager at the Bury, Lancashire branch, Omar was also very helpful when choosing the bed, as I am disabled. He had plenty of time for me! I recently went back to Bury and purchased pillows which re great & a throw over quilt. Unfortunately that shop is closing and re locations elsewhere in Bury. I sincerely hope they retain the same manager.

Bought a bed, headboard & mattress from Bensons for Beds at their Southend Branch. Very good advice from store staff, the lads who delivered and assembled bed were quick, and done a good job. Delivery date was adhered to, they 'phoned the day before to confirm delivery and the driver telephoned half an hour before to confirm delivery. The guy they recommended to take away the old bed also turned up on time. The bed is extremely comfortable (grade 4.)If my wife and I were not retired we would have difficulty getting up in the morning!!

Peter White, Renfrew ,Scotland.

Purchased new divan and mattress from Hillington Branch Jan 2013 as my son has back problems good mattress was essential. After 6 weeks after delivery date noticed mattress not returning to original shape sinking in center. Contacted customer center after answering all relevant questions informed me that independent assessor would be out to assess fault, he gave me time and date of visit.Assessor arrived on time and confirmed fault was a manufacturer problem, Bensons contacted me to within 5 days of receiving report to arrange new bed delivery no charges and apologies forthcoming. Nothing but praise for the way they dealt with my complaint.

New Mattress arrived but alas again within 4 weeks same problem again said to myself Bensons are going to get fed up with me.Telephoned but once again sympathetic staff dealt with my concerns and again communication with independent assessor dates and times all fell into place, another design fault ! 5 days passed contacted Bensons Customer Services spoke to Jay on the 22nd April 13, he apologised for all the inconveniece and that the manufacturer has addressed the fault. Jay e-mailed me letter to take over to Bensons Branch at Hillington within 10 minutes of telephone call.

Dealt with salesman over in hillington dealt with me in a courteous and professional manner again another plus for Benson new mattress on its way. This is how to keep customers coming back and recommending your company to others.People tend to shout from the rooftops when they get bad service from companies and quite rightly so, but this is my first time writing a report but feel through the service I received from Bensons it is right I give praise. Would highly recommend Bensons.

My husband & I purchased a mattress & divan in may 2012, we loved the beds at Bensons for beds, so after trying them all in the showroom we finally decided on the one we wanted. It was delivered promptly & the service we received from the sales person in the store was great. After nearly a year we began to see that the mattress had something wrong with it, we could see that the mattress top layer of memory wasn't returning to its original state & was leaving a dents where we had slept & there was a significant hump in the middle. We contacted the customer service & they asked us to take a photo & email it to them. They contacted us within 48 hours & saw that there was a problem with the mattress, we are now going to receive a new mattress as the one we have is faulty. We are very pleased with the service & how professional Adam greenwood who dealt with our problem. Thank you very much for the great service.

I PURCHASED BEDS FROM BENSONS IN SHEFFIELD DRAKE HOUSE WITHIN HARVEYS FURNITURE STORE THESE BEDS WERE NOT SUITABLE FOR ME AND MY HUSBAND THE DAY AFTER DELIVERY I CONTACTED CUSTOMER SERVICE THE YOUNG MAN I SPOKE TO WAS VERY ATTENTIVE AND ADVISED ME TO GO BACK TO THE STORE AND THE PROBLEM WOULD BE RESOLVED ONCE THE STORE HAD SPOKEN TO THIS YOUNG MAN. WE WENT TO THE STORE AND IMMEDIATELY THINGS WERE PUT INTO PLACE AND WE CHOSE ANOTHER BED AND ARRANGEMENTS WERE MADE IMMEDIATELY TO DELIVER A REPLACEMENT BED. I WOULD LIKE TO SAY A VERY BIG THANKYOU TO BENSONS THE CUSTOMER SERVICE WE RECEIVED WAS EXCELLENT NO HASSLE AT ALL EVERYONE WHO WAS INVOLVED JUST RESOLVED GAVE 100% SALES STAFF ,CUSTOMER SERVICE AND DELIVERY MEN COULD NOT HAVE GIVEN A BETTER SERVICE AND EFFICIENCY WAS RETAINED AT ALL TIMES WELL DONE BENSONS MR AND MRS HODKINSON SHEFFIELD

our mattress collapsed in august 13 months after buying it,they sent someone to take photos of it and check it out.we were told that it was falty and they no longer did this type micro coil zone 7 but would change it for an 8 the 8 was loads firmer and i didnt like it the 6 was better eventual they agreeded to replace me with a 6 charging me a further £120.bare inmind the 6 was £150 cheaper anyway,i have had to phone everyday since then speeking to someone different and given different phone numers and names all the time the matteress as come to day and guess what they have bought the wrong one so i still dont have a bed and bensons dont care

thought i found the perfect bed the sydney sealy international bed, i could not wait till the day it got delivered it cost nearly £1400 so i thought i was buying the top of the range bed that would last me a while, oh i was wrong!!! i started vaccuming under the bed and cut myself on something sharp i looked under the bed they had left all sharp staples hanging down from the bed and if you think that was bad the 3rd week of having the bed had noticed the mattress was going out of shape hanging over the base of the bed. We wasn't happy so i got onto the phone to benson beds after 6 phone calls and a couple of days we managed to get someone to come out and actually look at the bed, he took all the nails out and apologised and said the delivery men should have done this, then he left and said i would expect a phone call within 3days or so. one week went by and heard nothing waited a bit longer, nothing, so i ended up calling myself, explained about the mattress and asked what are you going to do to sort this out? she replied

I've just sent this email to Watchdog:

Dear Watchdog

I watched with interest your story about Comet not fulfilling their obligations in relation to expensive extended warranties.

In September 2009 I paid £699 for a new specialised orthopaedic mattress that was supposed to be good for people with low back problems. I was assured of the following:

1: This mattress will never have the problems often associated with other mattresses in that there would never be any tilt or rolling after any amount of use. In other words, the mattress would not “sink” (for want of a better explanation) towards the middle after a certain amount of use, due to the specific way it was “built”.

2: On spending £90 on a 5 year “Care and Protection” 1000 Plus warranty I was told by the salesman that if there were ANY problems, the mattress would be replaced immediately with no quibble whatsoever.

3: He also said that if I had an accident, such as spilling a hot drink on it, or putting my foot through it, even something like that would cause the mattress to be immediately replaced with no quibble.

I asleep alone.

In my case, I have had no such accident but I recently found out that the mattress was faulty. I slept on it for two years with no problem and then decided to rotate it as a “dip” was forming where I was lying, despite the assurances I was given, that this would not happen.

On going to sleep on the “new” side, I found it tilted towards the middle. Nobody has ever slept on that side of the bed.

I have a long history of low back problems which can be evidence by my GP if necessary. I have had years of physiotherapy and also spinal injections. If I do not sleep on a flat mattress then I get a tugging sensation in my lower back which causes pain the next day.

I contacted the company via the telephone number provided on the warranty. Somebody eventually came out to see the mattress. He used some sort of “red string” and a card which did in fact indicate that there is, indeed, something wrong. However, when I said to him something along the lines of “I’ll be glad when it has been replaced because I could use a good night’s sleep” he said something like: “it won’t be replaced as it is not damaged enough”.

Apparently the “tilt” has to be 3.5cms before they will replace it. The “tilt” on my mattress was, as I recall, 2.5cms. Not that that matters. It should have been flat.

Therefore it seems Bensons for Beds will only replace a faulty mattress if it conforms to their idea of what is not acceptable, regardless of the fact that I have long standing low back problems (which is why I bought this mattress), and I was assured that this super-duper mattress that was never going to “tilt”, but it has done, or rather it has always had the tilt as nobody has ever slept in that bed apart from me.

Plus I had been assured that if ANYTHING went wrong then it would be replaced immediately.

The assertions made to me by the salesman was the selling point. I now feel that I have been sold two items under false pretences:

The mattress would never tilt

The warranty ensured that the mattress would be replaced without quibble.

I feel cheated by Bensons for Beds because they have sold me something that cost £699 that does not do what I was told it would and clearly it has a fault and also I was conned into spending £90 on a warranty that will never be honoured.

It looks like I will now have to go to the added expanse of getting a good quality mattress topper – certainly I will not be going to Bensons for Beds for that.

I wondered if Watchdog has had any other complaints in relation to this company and the warranties not being fulfilled.

I have copied this email to Peter Neaves of Bensons for Beds, who arranged for the technician to visit. I emailed him after the technician departed and although he clicked the receipt for my email I have never had a response back.

Thank you for your time

Went in to the shop at the end of August to order a new king size bed from Bensons, the order went through ok, got the finance set up for it as didn't really want to pay for it before it arrived.

Day before the bed was to be delivered got a message left on the answer machine saying they were not coming, due to manufacturer not making the frame anymore, got in touch with the store to be fobbed off and eventually offered the show bed with £100 of the price which will be sent to the finance company so that when we paid it off it would already be reduced.

Contacted the finance company to pay of the bed to be told they knew nothing about the discount that was supposed to be sent to them.

Got on to Bensons to be told that it should be and they’ll look into it and get back to us that same day, no phone call from them, phoned the next day to be told ‘Nothing we can do about it’ then cut off, phoned again asking for a manager and got cut off,

Phoned next day told 48 hours call back to speak to a manager, 48 hours later no phone call, called yet again to be told same as before 48 hours and still not call, this went on for a number of weeks

Phone last Friday and told we’ll get a manager to call back within 30 minutes, and yet again no call.

Called on the Monday to be told 48 hours again and cut off, phone call didn’t come, phoned Wednesday told same but this time got a call back on the Thursday(today) from some low down guy who couldn’t even deal with it as ‘He wasn’t a manager. I asked him to get a manager to call be back before 12 noon and yet again no call called at lunch time to just get through to there message desk and told the usual nonsense of 48 hours . So going to the papers and trading standards, hopefully will have better luck now.