“I bought an ex-display sofa. I was contacted after purchasing it to be told it had electrical faults and I was assured they would be fixed. I have since found the padding in one seat is damaged and they had someone come out and assist me who agreed it is faulty but it is still not fixed - months later. Then, another electrical part has gone and the sofa heads are stuck. They sent someone out again but still not fixed after weeks of waiting. I have waited months for the padding in the seat and the electrical items to be fixed and I am chasing with no resolution. I have asked for a refund and I was told 'no'. Stokers are not part of the furniture ombudsman so if you have issues you have nowhere to turn. Stokers Directors have refused to engage with me on this matter. I am currently left with one broken Stressless sofa. I am now going to liaise with Stressless and Solicitors. Be warned of poor aftersales service from an organisation that are not registered with the furniture ombudsman.”
“As a 'family firm' you'd expect a policy of going above and beyond to make sure the customer is happy and retains a loyalty to the business. But not this place, generally unhelpful staff who verge on the cusp of arrogance, a general unwillingness to help unless its a benefit to themselves and poor customer care in the area of aftersales. Its not worth paying more money here thinking you'll be looked after, might as well save a packet and use one of the big companies, they will treat you just the same. Would think a company like this days are numbered, wouldn't be surprised to hear in a year or so that they will be closing down. Don't make the same mistake I did, find a better company to give your money too.”
“Very very poor quality recliner chair. I am an 81 year old who bought this 2 years ago at a cost of 1000. the springs went within a year and they repaired it after 3 weeks of waiting. They have just gone again and are now charging me 50 for them to come and look at it. Their free 10 year guarantee states it covers ‘manufacturing defects on the construction of the frame, springs and webbing’. Then they also say there is only a 2 year guarantee for ‘poor craftsmanship’. What’s the actual difference - I suspect legally. NONE. If necessary I will actually take this Trading Standards. I am of slight frame and build so any argument that I have somehow managed to overload the chair are ridiculous. It’s a manufacturing defect.”
“Purchased two sofas from Lucus furniture which is part of stokers. Soon after delivery we noticed the arms and wings of our Sherborne sofas were emitting a strange mouldy cheese sour smell especially in evenings when blinds and doors were shut. Lucus refused to send a technician before 7 weeks of awful smell had started to diminish to the point you had to put your nose in the upholstery to smell it. I asked them to pick the furniture up and refund my money but they have refused so far taking it back to their warehouse for two days and returning it to me. What a farce and o consolation for two months of sleepless nights wondering what chemical that awful smell was and having to keep all my windows doors open to try to air it myself. It was not fit for sale and we are being treated appallingly.”
“I ordered a leather suite in July 2020. Even allowing for some delay caused by the pandemic, it did not arrive until the very end of December 2020. It was immediate to the eye that each item of the suite was defective. An independent technician confirmed this. The suite had clearly been squashed into a container for transportation from the Chinese maker. The frames of both sofa and chair were misaligned, cushions were poorly stuffed and badly stitched, and the arm pads were not of equal length. The suite looked old, already sagging, and the leather was puffy and rippled. The technician attributed this to it having been stored in sub-zero temperatures causing 'leather freeze'.
Stokers offered little by the way of an apology and left me without any seating at the beginning of a new lockdown.
My other order of four dining chairs has seen me waiting five months for delivery with no sign of this happening any time soon so I have, today, cancelled it. Again, little by way of 'sorry' from Stokers.
M&S, John Lewis etc., are more than competitive in pricing, and their delivery times are much shorter and reliable, despite the effects of the pandemic. They will have my business in future.
Stokers (and Doorway to Value, one of their other stores) are not what they used to be. They have excellent sales personnel but do not have the same quality of furniture nor reliable delivery times.”
“Poor quality furniture and even worse customer service.
We bought a Dalton settee and chair from Stokers in June 2020.
As soon as the furniture was delivered we noticed that when resting your arm on the chair (without exerting any pressure) the frame of the chair could be felt.
We complained immediately. Over the following 7 months Stokers sent two upholstery firms to report on the condition of the chair. Both firms agreed that there was very little support in the arms of the chair. When we made it clear that we did not want a repair and we were requesting a replacement for an obviously defective piece of expensive furniture the upholsterers realised that they wouldn’t be getting any work they left after only a cursory inspection.
After 7 months Stokers were not interested in our complaint as they said the chair wasn’t defective as it was constructed to the manufacturers specifications. I can only assume that Stokers are happy to sell poorly constructed furniture from manufacturers happy to supply goods of poor quality.
Dismissing our complaint without actually having sight of the chair themselves and unwillingness to enter any discussion or compromise reflects badly on Stokers customer service”
