"If you have any queries regarding an order or enquiry with our business then please feel free to email your grievances to the following email address and we will be only too happy to do our best to help you." Hmm, I suspect ELS would rather any 'problems' be kept private and away from this site. Note to ELS. I would assume that the people who have posted on this website have indeed tried to sort the problem out with your first - before having to resort to posting here. If you value your customers, as you say you do, then you have to act as though you do. And that's where a website such as this comes into it's own. It highlights bad business practices. ELS, your business IS your customers and you cannot continue to treat even 1% of them in this manner. As I've said in a previous posting, if your store had kept me informed and explained the situation, I would have happily chosen another sofa that WAS available. Instead, my calls were never returned and I was lied to time and time again. I was screamed at by your store manager when asking for a refund. It was disgusting. Perhaps you ought to start by rectifying your staffing situation at Cannock Branch.

Hi there Pink Polly, I am no expert, but I believe this refers to any documentation or evidence you have in your possession to support your claim. I am sure someone with much more knowledge will be along shortly to assist you. All the best to you. dibby

Mujarrad, good luck in your endeavours. Did you refuse to accept delivery of the furniture? Keep us informed.

Hi DivineRetribution I'm not entirely sure what you mean when you say: "Hi, be warned. Retribution is a wonderful thing, but only if you are careful." I think you are the only person here who has used this term in conjunction with ELS. I dont quite know why you are warning us either (?). Thank you for your offer of information on this company DR (you obviously feel slighted by the treatment you received whilst working there), but there is nothing further I wish to know about Exclusive Leather Sofas. I hope you have found another job that you are happier in. Dibby

Hi CC, yes they are one and the same I'm afraid to say. All I can suggest to you is that if you are not happy about delivery times or the quality of your furniture, then refer back here for advice. Good luck, you may be one of the lucky ones!

Purplejess, sorry to hear about your predicament. How long do you have to use up these minutes? Is there a time limit? If not, surely at some point you can either sell them on or at least have them used. Personally, I woud make sure I used up the minutes!! Oh, this scenario is so familiar to me. I use to own a tanning salon and there was no end of complaints from customers who were used to the archetypal 'tanning salon mentality'. We adopted a completely different approach and were professional and always fair. Had you come to me, I would have refunded you, no questions asked. Are these people stupid or something? Why risk getting a bad reputation for £50. I would rather a customer was satisfied and told her friends how easily my salon had refunded her in this instance. Too many people with absolutely no idea open up tanning salons as they think it's a quick way to make a few bucks. It isn't, believe me. And if, as you say, this particular salon is running on dead and worn out uva/ubv tubes/lamps, well they wont be in business for too long - so take heart. Dibby

Exclusive Leather Sofas will do and say anything in order to get you to part with your cash or to sign a finance agreement. They promise you the earth but once they have your money, that's where the communication ends. You then potentially have a major fight on your hands if either you dont receive your furniture or if you receive faulty goods. My first posting on this website (dibby v Exclusive Leather Sofas) seems to have been copied onto another website called click2complain. The wording is almost exactly the same with a few changes. I remember the manager of the Cannock branch of Exclusive Leather Sofas ringing me up and literally screaming at me and saying "we are not theives". I did not say that they WERE theives. I've only just discovered that my posting was copied from here and inserted into click2complain under an annonymous posting. But to be perfectly honest, I dont mind in the slightest. The more bad publicity this company receive, the better. Lubylou (who worked for the company for many years apparently) is suggesting that we all try 'communicating' with ELS. Believe me Lubylou I am an excellent communicator - that is my job. My communication skills were wasted on this company let me tell you. I was fobbed off from one miserable sounding employee to the next before having the priviledge of finally talking to Jane Boulton, the Cannock branch manager. Now that was an experience! What I ABSOLUTELY fail to understand is WHY a company would continue to employ a manager who has no interpersonal skills, a person who uses sarcasm, who is arrogant, unhelpful and rude. I can only assume that she is related to the owners of this horrid company. Eventually I realised it was absolutely pointless trying to reason with ELS and so I started court proceedings. Eventually they settled out of court - as I guess they would. Lets not forget, it is not in ELSs interest to appear in court every week - and I'm sure they have enough unhappy customers to facilitate a weekly appearence! Think about it, how do you think a judge would look upon this company if they were in court all the time????? The manager tries 'scare tactics' in the hope that you will not persue your rights legally. Persevere folks and go the whole hog. This company's bad business practice must be stopped. I have had a full refund (including court costs). And if you persevere, you will too. Again, good luck to you all. Dibby

Hi everyone. For reference, please see my own thread here: dibby v Exclusive Leather Sofas (see link at bottom of this page). I've been reading the latest batch of postings on this thread concerning ELS. It's appalling, and you all have my sympathies. I must admit, the posting by Lubylou's did bring a smile to my face. I'm NOT surprised they couldn't come up with anything better than that. Please see (on my thread) the posting made by DivineRetribution. And tell me what you think.

Update on my dispute with Exclusive Leather Sofas. My court papers were sent to ELS on 27th February 2007. ELS immediately defended the claim on the same day which gave them a further 28 days to file their own particulars. I was informed by the court on 6th March (one week later) that they had received a cheque from ELS for the full amount of my claim, plus court costs of £120. I received a cheque from the court on 31st March 2007. I am happy to say that this vile experience is behind me now - despite suffering considerable stress and having to wait 7 months for my refund. I knew this company was going to take me to the brink before paying up. This appears to be their method (see other posts). I would urge anyone having similar problems with ELS not to give up and to pursue your claim to the end. I would like to thank Consumer Action Group for enabling us (the consumer) to post up our experiences with this particular store. I hope that it helps other members of the public avoid such experiences - if they have the foresight to do a search on this company before parting with any money. Good luck to everyone else who are sadly having to fight with this company. I wish you well.

I have began court proceedings on this one which has cost me a further £120 so far. Exclusive Leather Sofas are defending the claim and have filed an Acknowledgement of Service. Basically this gives them 28 days to provide their defence details. Referring back to the abusive telephone call I received from the store 'manager' in Feb, she informed me (or should I say spat at me) that they would be delivering my furniture on 27th February. And that she was sending me a letter confirming this (prior to this when I complained that they never communicated with me by phone or letter, she had told me that it wasn't company policy to send out letters). When I tried to explain that the deadline had passed, she ignored me. I did receive a letter from her in the post the following morning - the one and only ever. But it was addressed to someone entirely different. I returned the letter to them (keeping a copy) and heard nothing further. I cant fathom WHY they are operating in this way. You know, if they'd only kept me abreast of the situation and been honest with me, I would probably have chosen another suite from them. But when my calls and letters were not answered, I knew something was very wrong.

love2, Please see my postings: dibby -v- Exclusive Leather Sofas I have now begun court proceedings and am waiting for a date for a hearing. Exclusive Leather Sofas are 'defending' the claim. They have held on to my money (£2750) for six months now and they are defending my claim?????? The mind boggles. Their business practice is absolutely shocking. Exclusive Leather Sofa's monitor this website. I recently had a call from a manager when she saw my posting and she was very abusive. I have never experienced anything like it. I will be taking all of these postings to court with me. And I have made a note of the telephone number you provided love2. Thanks. Good luck.

Good luck in your endeavours. You are most certainly not alone. I think it's diabolical that when you ring these companies, no one will talk to you. Your phone calls are not returned and you're given the run around. Basically they dont want to know after the initial sale is made. But are extremely efficient in churning out letters when you haven't paid for the sofa at the end of the 12 months. I'm currently having a delivery dispute with Exclusive Leather Sofas. I bought (and paid for in full) a sofa and chair back in September 2006 - this furniture was never delivered. Eventually got in touch with Consumer Direct (Trading Standards) who told me how to go about rectifying the situation. After sending out two letters and waiting a further month, I am now having to make a claim through the court and am waiting for a court date. The store manager has said they will not give me a refund as they have apparently been trying to arrange delivery!!!! It wouldn't have been quite so bad if they had kept me informed, but I didn't even get the courtesy of a letter (I was told by the store manager that it wasn't their policy to send out letters). She only rang to chastise me for posting my complaint on this website. Totally unprofessional. I wish you luck in sorting out your own problem.

Received a call from ELS this afternoon from a very angry and aggresive manager. She has seen my posting and basically rang to give me a grilling. She tells me that all they have ever done is try to organise delivery of my furniture. But that I have refused delivery. It really does astound me. For most of the the past 22 weeks I have been waiting and chasing up delivery of this furniture. My calls were not returned, and when I DID eventually speak to the manager a couple of weeks back she was unhelpful and sarcastic. She has informed me this afternoon that they are sending me a letter informing me that delivery will take place this month (I believe she said). I told her I gave them a deadline and that deadline has passed. But she didn't particularly want to hear what I said to her. My claim form has been returned to court today and I will let a court decide this outcome. She claimed that she is unable to post up a comment on this forum because it would 'just be deleted'. But I'm not sure if she has tried. I for one would welcome any comments made by ELS. This is an open forum and I would like to think a fair one. I dont think my complaints and my request for a refund is unreasonable. In fact it's five months tomorrow since I paid for this furniture.

Thanks Willow - I've posted my concern up in the 'Other Stores' section of General Issues (I think). What a great site you have here - thank you.

Firstly well done to Sharon1t for securing a refund from Exclusive Leather Sofas. :grin: I'm having a similar problem with ELS. I bought a sofa and chair back in September 2006 - paid for up front and in full (£2700 for the furniture and an extra £50 for delivery!). I was assured by the 'friendly' salesman that delivery would definiately be before Christmas. Of course this did not happen. I get a telephone call from them just before the holidays to tell me that the furniture would not be arriving before Christmas. OK! I hear nothing further from them. I rang them 12th January 2007 to be told that 'the person dealing with this' was not in the store and that she would call me back. Of course she never did. Prior to this, on 8th January 2007 I had spoken with a guy at this store (Cannock branch) who said that upon looking at the paperwork he could see that the sofa and chair had indeed just arrived in the UK that morning and that he would call me in a couple of weeks with a delivery date. This was not acceptable to me and I guessed that I was being told lies. So I called the store back a couple of days later and spoke to another person. I asked whether or not she could 'see' if the furniture was in the UK from her paperwork (not mentioning that I had been told this). She said she couldn't establish this unless she called the manufacturers. So, one person told me the furniture was here, the other person contradicted this information. So, I'm worried now. I told the person on the phone that I intended to cancel the order. She informed me 'the manager' was out but that she would pass on the message. Of course nobody called me back. I wrote to them expressing my disatisfaction and outlined the reason for wanting a full refund. I heard nothing from them. I got in touch with Consumer Direct (linked to Trading Standards). I sent ELS's a 'Time of The Essence' letter saying that I would agree to accept delivery by 26th January 2007. After that, they were in breach of contract. Again, no response from them. I next called them on 2nd February 2007 to be told that they were NOT going to give me a refund. The 'manager' said that she didn't know what the problem was because they were 'trying to organise delivery'. In effect, they are totally ignoring my letters. I told her that unless I am refunded, that I will take them to court. She sarcastically informed me that that is my perogative. Basically, they have had £2749.99 of mine for over five months. I hav no furniture and they refuse to refund me. I've paid for their credit details online which shows several name changes and CCJs, although their credit worthiness is good, apparently. My next step is court. I suspect that they will take me to the brink before issuing me with a refund - that's if they dont go pop in the meantime. So, be warned. Avoid EXCLUSIVE LEATHER SOFAS at all costs. I'll keep you all posted. Sorry for the lengthy post.

Hi, I just joined Consumer Action Group today - so hi to everyone. I'm in the middle of a battle concerning non-delivery of some furniture and obtaining a refund. But I will post this up in the correct forum. So, hi everyone! I shall be exploring the site today.