Sonic Direct — Local services in Bradford

Absolutely horrendous service, giving one star is way too generous and it would be zero stars at least if there was an option. My dad was supposed to have a delivery of a new fridge freezer from Sonic, we did everything asked of us to be ready as the old one needed to be taken away, which wasn’t free either. Sonic’s delivery drivers just needed to pull one fridge out and replace it with a new one. I answered the door and they came past me into where I said the fridge was without asking what needed doing, they had muddy boots, and even though, we put mats down on the carpet, they stood all over the carpet and left dirt marks. No manners, no offer to cover their disgusting boots with covers, like most organisations do. So when we expressed our dissatisfaction about them dirtying the carpet, they responded by ‘so what, you can clean it up’. My dad suffers from health problems and is elderly, it’s a good job I was there to oversee all the antics. Not only were they not apologetic or remorseful, they tried to turn the situation round by blaming us and then refusing delivery, they took the fridge away back to the warehouse. To make matters worse, they parked in front of an active driveway, even though i personally left enough space for them to park at the side of the house. When they left the house they were sat in the van for a while, still blocking the drive, when I knocked on the van window to say they’re blocking the drive, the driver responded by saying he’s not moving and will stay there all day if he can. I’ve worked in customer service for over 25 years, face to face, over the phone and any other sort, but have never seen a colleague or a member of staff of any other organisation, who are that unprofessional, rude and disrespectful, threatening and every other negative you can think of. My neighbours were also disturbed and came out to let the delivery guys know they were out of order. I’ve had some good service from sonic in the past, but unfortunately as with anything, this event will undo all there previous good work. I feel absolutely shocked and disturbed by the events this morning, buying a fridge should not have a negative impact on peoples health and well-being, but that’s exactly what’s happened after this, unwanted, regretful, disturbing, mentally...

Appalling Customer Service

Since I recently purchased a TV from Sonic Direct due to the excellent reviews listed here, I wanted to share my horrific experience of dealing with Sonic Direct. The Customer Service email extracts are in quotations below. The Samsung television arrived broken in that it would not turn on. Whilst I don’t believe this is Sonic Direct’s fault, the resultant customer treatment was appalling.

“For the engineer to visit you need to either send samsung some photos or go through their troubleshooting on the phone.”

Initially it is my responsibility to fix the television. I have to phone Samsung on their premium rate line, set up an account and arrange for an engineer to come out.

“I have spoken to our service team, which are normally very busy, but they have agreed on this occasion to allow this TV to come back to us to be tested within our office.”

Seriously? They have sent me a non-working TV, would not even turn on and they are doing me a favour?

“I'm afraid we can not reserve another one for you as if the testing does not flag up any faults then it will have to be sent back to you, as we have previously discussed. I'm sorry if this doesn't reassure you but we do have stock available if we need to send you a replacement after testing.”

Sure enough, despite my request, by the time they had confirmed the TV as not working they had run out of stock. Not only that, the TV I wanted had been discontinued. They could only offer a shop soiled TV with a measly £69 discount.

“I'm sorry that you have missed the football and that it is taking a while for the TV to be returned to us for testing before we can then return it to you.”

It took 7 days for the TV to arrive back to them and for them to test it. They paid for the slowest cheapest return service possible.

“Please be reassured that we are not capable or qualified to repair technical appliances, I have an engineer who is going to run some tests to check and confirm the problem you are having. We have done this as a goodwill gesture for you since Samsung were not willing to do it instead.”

A goodwill gesture! Can you believe the cheek?

My final and only option was to ask for a full refund. The time and energy wasted has been...

I originally bought a Bomberg fridge freezer from Sonic Direct in 2021. The online ordering process was straightforward, the company was easy to deal with and they communicated well at each stage of the process. The fridge freezer is a good quality and works efficiently. I have only given three stars because of the appalling delivery service. I live in a first floor flat with external stairs and, as other customers have described, was told that the drivers would do a health & safety check on the delivery day before deciding whether to bring the item upstairs. In the event the driver hadn't been told about the situation although I had described the layout very carefully on the order form. He was obviously reluctant but agreed to bring it to the flat. He explained that they weren't insured and that any damages had to be paid for by them. They had no proper lifting equipment apart from a small trolley. He dragged the fridge freezer on its back along the concrete walkway although the package instructions showed very clearly that it should have been carried on its side. When I unwrapped it the condenser coil at the back was damaged. I sent photographs to Sonic Direct and they agreed a re-delivery. I eventually got an undamaged fridge freezer on the third attempt (the first two were damaged in the same place). This time it was delivered by the original driver who aggressively told me that "the coil was meant to be like that" although it had already been accepted as damaged by Sonic Direct. He was clearly angry and I felt intimidated. He refused to bring the fridge upstairs without first unwrapping it completely to make sure there was no damage and then carried it up the concrete stairs without any protective packaging, thankfully without damaging it. To be fair to Sonic Direct this delivery situation seems to be fairly common among other companies but it leaves those of us who live in anything other than a conventional house with very little confidence that we can have large items delivered at all. The fridge freezer had been a birthday present and buying it should have been a positive experience. Instead it was both stressful and...