Freedom Furniture customers hit by long delays after IT failure
Furious Freedom Furniture customers have been left waiting months for items after a major IT system meltdown left orders missing. This is what shoppers must do now.
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Furious Freedom Furniture customers have been left waiting months for orders that have either been jumbled up or significantly delayed after a major IT failure.
The popular furniture chain’s new multi-million IT order management system provided by technology giant IBM has been riddled with problems since its rollout late last year.
Many orders have been unable to be fulfilled leaving customers in limbo as to when they will receive their goods.
Some customers who purchased multiple items have had some pieces go missing and stock has failed to be allocated to their purchases.
Some shoppers have been forced to wait for more than four months for items, many of which were paid in full at the time of purchase.
The problems first started to appear back in October and the IT disaster has impacted Freedom’s 65 stores across Australia and New Zealand.
Disgruntled customer Danielle Codd, 29, from Camp Hill in Brisbane had two orders at Freedom’s Logan store in southeast Queensland for curtains, a bed and mattress totalling $2100.
“What’s annoying is they said if I paid in full I would be more likely to receive my order on time,” she said.
“When I started to look online (at online forums) I realised that I wasn’t alone.”
She ended up cancelling both orders and got a full refund, vowing to never shop at Freedom again.
Another livid customer Jo Gibson, 32, from Batemans Bay in NSW, spent $3245 on a sofa, bed, chair and rug from Freedom’s Fyshwick store in late November and is still waiting for her goods three months on.
She too said she would never buy goods from Freedom again.
“I’ve called them on numerous occasions and no one ever answers the phone,” Ms Gibson.
She said she was meant to receive her items at the beginning of January and was last week told she would have to wait another eight weeks.
On social media sites customers have voiced their anger, citing no response from the company or their failure to stick to their word and update them on their impacted orders.
Management at Freedom Furniture would be not be interviewed and reissued a mirrored statement from last month.
It blamed the transition from their old computer system to new system which had experienced “some short-term issues which have impacted the fulfilment of some customer orders”.
“This includes home deliveries, availability of some stock in certain areas and speed of delivery of new stock,” he said.
“Freedom unreservedly apologises to any customers who may have been impacted by these issues.”
Freedom Furniture was founded 39 years ago and is owned by parent company Greenlit Brands.
The company – which operates under Steinhoff International – also owns Fantastic Furniture, Snooze and Plush and lost about $288 million in the 2019 financial year to September.
Freedom’s IT system is run on IBM’s Sterling platform but also includes other technology systems and a third-party provider.
The chain is continuing to work to resolve the issues and has been forced to provide compensation for delays.
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It has even allowed customers who want to cancel their order to do so.
The NSW Fair Trading provided data to News Corp for businesses that are the subject of 10 or more complaints in one month and revealed Freedom has had dozens of complaints.
The furniture chain was on the register in November and December receiving 14 complaints each month regarding issues on the timeliness of delivery and the supply of goods.
IBM spokeswoman Elizabeth Eggington told News Corp they would not be commenting on the issues surrounding Freedom’s IT issues.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said when a business accepts payment for a product they must supply them within the time frame they have indicated.
If no time frame was outlined then the goods must provided within a reasonable time.
If Freedom’s IT failure has impacted you, contact sophie.elsworth@news.com.au
WHAT SHOULD IMPACTED CUSTOMERS DO?
• Contact Freedom on 1300 135 588 on Monday to Friday 9am – 5pm AESD time.
• Freedom will offer impacted customers compensation for the delay.
• Customers may be entitled to waived delivery charges.
• They may also have the option to cancel their order and receive a full refund.
Originally published as Freedom Furniture customers hit by long delays after IT failure