Freedom Furniture technical glitch leaves customers fuming, orders missing
Customers of a major furniture retailer have been left in the dark while waiting up to four months on home deliveries after a technical glitch compromised scores of orders, saying the company has no way of knowing how many packages are languishing.
South East
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Freedom Furniture customers are fuming after being forced to wait up to four months for home deliveries because of a technical glitch.
Scores of furniture orders are up in the air after a failed system update compromised delivery details, with disgruntled shoppers telling the Leader the company has “no way” of identifying which orders have been left undelivered.
The multinational furniture giant, which is a major partner for this year’s series of the Block on Channel 9, is understood to have introduced the new ‘Order Management Software’ in recent weeks.
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Now, product review sites are brimming with complaints, with angry customers demanding a full refund.
Dingley Village resident Elaine, who ordered a custom couch from the Freedom Frankston store on July 7, was expecting a delivery on Tuesday but no courier showed up.
“After a couple of hours I decided to call the Frankston store and there was an automated voice message explaining the glitch,” she told the Leader.
“I finally got through and the woman told me that the company had no idea which orders had been muddled up.
“They were just waiting for customers to call instead of the company proactively identifying missing orders.”
At a depot at North Ryde in New South Wales, a courier worker at Unitrans, which delivers for Freedom, said that Freedom retail stores across the country had simply “stopped answering the phones” as the number of botched orders and complaints began to spiral out-of-control.
“There are a lot of delays to do with the system upgrade and it’s left a lot of customers (feeling) very upset,” he said.
He could not disclose the number of orders that had been lost.
Fed-up customers have vented on the ProductReview Australia website.
“Freedom you are sheet … where’s my coffee table? I paid on August 20 (and now) it (is) October 31,” one Moorabbin resident wrote.
“(Because of) a computer system error, no one knows where it is or when it will be here … it’s lost in the warehouse.”
Preston woman and ex-retail worker Dorothy Polanski said she would “never treat” her customers the way she had been treated by Freedom staff.
“I bought a table for my new home October 11 and was told there were technical difficulties … how ridiculous, it is paid for and I want it please,” she wrote.
Freedom spokesman Justin Kirkwood said the company would offer impacted customers compensation including waiving delivery charges and full refunds.
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“The OMS system has been designed to manage freedom’s stock movement from end-to-end … despite our best endeavours for a smooth transition from our legacy systems, Freedom is experiencing some short-term issues,” he said.
“This includes some home deliveries, availability of some stock in certain areas and speed of delivery of new stock.
“Freedom unreservedly apologises to any customers who may have been impacted by these issues … for any further information, customers should visit www.freedom.com.au/updates or contact their local store if they have questions.”