Terrible!

This is my first ever review of a company - I have never bothered before, but I have found Loaf so poor that I cannot but share my experience.

We ordered a dining table and chairs from Loaf in Nov 2016, expecting a delivery in Feb 2017. However, within a couple of days of the items arriving, we noticed that one of the chairs was faulty. We contacted the company who said they would send us a replacement, but it would mean waiting until end of April since the item had to be manufactured. Somewhat naively, we also ordered another two of the same chairs to complete our set, due for the same delivery date. So far so good - faulty goods are not unheard of and the company promised to put things right without a fuss.

Alas, things got progressively worse from here on. First, there was a delay to the order to mid-May; then the delivery company refused to take back the packaging - as this was supposed to be a merely a "medium-sized" delivery - although it left us with the task of disposing three massive boxes.

Worst, one of the items delivered was faulty again - clearly a design problem with the chairs and also with the supply chain, where the manufacturers and/or Loaf could not be bothered to double check what they were putting in their boxes before shipping out to customers (the cracks on the chairs were such that they could not have been caused by accidental bumping during transport).

Loaf offered to deliver us a replacement chair - which would be with us in August! - and give us a 10% discount for the inconvenience. Frankly, I found this offer of compensation laughable, especially considering that we had paid for the chair up front in November 2016, i.e. we had given them an interest-free loan for almost a year! So, we declined and just requested that they refund us the money.

After some more hassles with the pick-up company (who turned up the day after the agreed pick-up date), Loaf collected the faulty items from our home. That was almost three weeks ago - and I am still waiting for my refund! I have called countless times and spoken to as many customer service reps, who with extreme politeness keep telling me that they will chase this with their accounts department and get back to me within the day - never to be heard from again.

Frankly, I am at a loss as what to do next - in my books this is theft as they have no claim to keeping my money. I guess I have to go to the extra hassle of reporting them to the Trading Standards officers and the Furniture Ombudsman - I'm not sure the money owed is worth all my time and effort, but out of principle I refuse to let them get away with it.

I hope this makes others considering buying from Loaf to at least think twice about it.