‘They wanted to avoid talking to me at all costs’

RETIRED primary school teacher Gordon Butterworth was told he would have to wait up to 50 minutes to speak to the Harveys Furniture customer service team.

Gordon, 70, who lives in Lancaster, ordered a £224 chair on December 12 — but had to contact the furniture chain when the wrong model was delivered.

It was two days before Christmas, and all Harveys stores closed for the festive period. When Gordon tried to call customer services afterwards, an automated voice informed him that the waiting time was 46 minutes.

By mid-January Gordon became frustrated, returned the chair and cancelled the order completely.

The grandfather-of-two says: ‘Two weeks after I cancelled, there was no sign of a refund. When I rang the customer service number again, they said the waiting time would be 50 minutes.’

Even when Gordon visited a Harveys store, staff said they could only contact

the number he had and that any emails they sent would not be answered for five days.

Gordon only got the refund at the end of January, after emailing the customer services team.

‘I must have tried to ring customer services at least half a dozen times,’ recalls Gordon. ‘It was a relatively simple problem but they were trying at all costs to avoid that person-to-person service.’

A Harveys spokesman says: ‘We always,

above all else, have our customers’ best interest in mind, and endeavour to respond to customer complaints as quickly as possible.

‘We were very sorry to hear about Mr Butterworth’s frustration with the handling of his case.’

The spokesman added that delays were in part due to a ‘refresh’ of its IT systems and that anyone who emails its customer service team should receive a reply within 72 hours.