Making the simple complicated

We made the poor decision to buy some furniture from Next last year. To be fair, we liked the designs and it looked relatively solid in the shop. On the other hand, some deliveries were late or just abandoned outside the house, some of the furniture arrived damaged and I had to put a little DIY time into modifying one of the cupboards to fix the noticeable wobble. Once we had gone through the call centre chain, Next were quite efficient at arranging a discount to cover the damage and inconvenience they had caused.

We then decided to finish off the furniture set with a nested table. True to form, this wasn’t simple either. The table arrived undamaged and on time (of course it was abandoned outside the house again, but tactically hidden behind the bins this time). Then the Next.co.uk small print kicked in: we received an unasked for Next Spring Directory – you have to ask why Next bother with this for internet customers who can view all of the products on their website – and also set up a credit account; again not requested. Next were relatively efficient at arranging closure of the account and even paid back the cost of the Directory.

I do not understand how or why Next want to make buying from them so complicated. We simply wanted the furniture, delivered on time, fault free and undamaged. We did not want furniture hidden around the outside of the house, a credit account or being charged for marketing materials.

At least the efficiency of the complaint call centres partially makes up for this. Practice makes perfect.