How long's too long?

IKEA keep a fair bit of stuff in stock, and you can check stock availability on their website before you make the trip up the highway.

Few suppliers keep stocks of furniture on hand. Furniture is very bulky and there are so many variations of colours, styles and fabrics that it is not economical to keep one of each in the store just in case someone decides to buy it. Retailers also do not want to be left holding stock that no one wants to but.

Christmas also has a lot to do with it as well. Apart from the factory and distributors closing down for the holiday period, everyone decides to order new furniture to impress their special visitors over Christmas. So you have a period of peak demand and reduced supply.

i had issues with frisco too – and they claimed to have nothing to do with the warranty, which is somehow outsourced.

Waited 4 months for a dining suite from Frisco- then had huge issues with delivery and it was damaged when it finally arrived. Needless to say, won’t be spending $ with them anymore. I think the long wait is standard, but if they promised you something earlier and then changed it , try for a discount…

When I was shopping for a new couch-suite thing a few years back, I learned about this order and wait thing. I’d assumed that you buy the couch and go off with it. Nope. I did not buy several very suitable couches because of the wait (I always asked before getting involved in buying). The worst was Oz Design, something like 12 weeks.

Eventually, I went to a Frisco sale at their warehouse in Qbn. It was a pay and take sale, found a nice big couch, paid for it, went home and got ute and went off with it.

These long waits might be standard but I’m not interested in having to do that. It’s “just in time” ordering gone mad (having to catch the cow before they make the furniture is stretching things a bit much).

Last furniture I ordered was from Freedom – it was delivered to the store the following week, and the storeperson rang me a couple of days before to let me know the ETA. I know this is not a ‘Who’s the best?’ thread, but it really was the best service I’ve ever experienced…

It doesn’t have much to do with being in Canberra. Built-to-order is the norm these days for mass produced furniture, with its associated 3 month waits.

I ordered some outdoor furniture with a similar turn-around time given. In the end it arrived in 4 weeks.

grundy said :

My wife and I waitied 3-4 months for our new lounge, but we were clearly advised at the time that it was being built to order and when it would likely be delivered.

No problems with that, but in your case they should have told you straight up as well, not give false ideas about a ‘week or two’ delivery time.

Same. We just got a new setting from DJs, ordered back in the June sales. We were told Oct-Nov for delivery, so we were actually caught out a bit when it arrived in early October and had to move on our old gear pretty quickly.

But not being told up front that a 3 month wait might be possible is a bit of a downer. 🙁

Normal to wait months for furniture, but they should’ve made the waiting period clear. Ask for your money back.

I don’t think it’s excessive, although I wouldn’t want to wait any longer than 12 weeks. The thing to remember about Canberra is that we’re not considered a major delivery destination for manufacturers. The majority of stock items are always in the larger cities and Canberra stores only receive minimal amounts. More often than not, if you’re wanting to buy furniture or large electronic items, they generally need to be “special ordered” specifically for you which of course will take time to be allocated and transported, but in my experience 8-12 weeks is the maximum amount of time any special or customer order should take.

As for Frisco, I think it’s their store policy not to sell any floor stock that’s larger than a barstool. When I asked about purchasing a bedroom suite there the salesperson told me that there would be a wait of about four weeks as they order stock for each sale the make – pretty much on an “as we need it” basis.

One last thing to remember, if only to make purchases like this easier in terms of wait periods – it’s always a better idea to try and order things on a Monday as opposed to the weekend. Larger chain stores like Harvery Norman and Domayne have people who collate all the sales and send out orders for anything they don’t have in stock. Generally speaking, these people are higher up in the admin chain and only work on weekdays so you’ll save yourself a few days at least if you don’t place your order on the weekend. Plus, if you have the time to go into the store on these days, you can ask your sales person to actually ask the admin people how long the stock will take to get in – they have a much better idea than any salesperson and you’re more likely to get a realistic answer.

I think if they advised you a much shorter time when paying, and it’s now blown out to January, then you should demand a refund or discount. If you simply didn’t ask when the ETA would be at the time of payment, then you don’t really have a leg to stand on.

A certain large store who are a long way from normal, or certainly hardly so, gave me bum advice on the delivery of a new Jensen Jarrah outdoor setting. We weren’t that concerned with the delivery date, because we were ordering it in February and a few days earlier another salesperson had stated that because it was a special order for the store, and because it would be coming from WA by train, delivery would be 6-8 weeks at minimum, and more likely towards the 12 weeks end.

So we went away and weighed up the options and decided that we were happy to wait as we liked the product, the price, and the interest-free deal on offer. I trotted back into the store and was greeted by a fresh salesperson, and upon expressing interest in the piece of furniture was told that these were on the way and should be delivered within ‘a few weeks’. I expressed surprise at this and mentioned the delivery time we had previously been informed of. New guy said he would go and make a phone call to confirm the delivery date, which I guess meant he would go make himself a cup of coffee out the back to reinforce this charade.

Upon returning he reiterated that delivery would be within ‘a few weeks’ and would I like to order? With the decision already made to wait 6-12 weeks, and the unfortunate situation that this store still had the best product on offer, I placed the order.

So how long did it take? About 10 weeks. A ‘few’ is a remarkably loose term at that store.

Frisco are particualrly adept at this, I got caught out waiting two and a half months for a lounge that I had seen in the showroom. I even asked for the floorstock and they said no. Lesson learned: confirm delivery arrangements before buying. The advice above is all good.

JR gives good advice. You need to look at your contract.

However generally, I think if I heard that on the phone I would plotz. Especially for a catalogue item.

My wife and I waitied 3-4 months for our new lounge, but we were clearly advised at the time that it was being built to order and when it would likely be delivered.

No problems with that, but in your case they should have told you straight up as well, not give false ideas about a ‘week or two’ delivery time.

Did they indicate that the goods would be in stock, available from a distribution warehouse or that goods had to be built to order?

What sort of contract was entered in to when you “handed over your money”?

Did you enter into a signed contract for the supply of the goods?
If so you need re-read the fine print to understand the conditions of the contract you entered in to.

Depending what was told to you in the first instance, they may have entered in to a contract with you under false pretenses in which case you would probably have the legal right to get your money back and go elsewhere.

If you were misled about delivery date, then you owe it to yourself to get a refund and deal with someone who won’t lie to you in order to clinch a sale.

One week is too long in my book. Tell them to give you , your money back. Unless you are really really fond of the seat, go somewhere else and find another one that also meets your needs.