Written by Jeff Walker

Our introduction to CSL came about as a result of personal recommendation
from customers who had bought from them ‘many years’ before and mainly as a result
of reading the CSL website in which they claim ‘handmade’ ‘BSI Kitemarks’ etc.etc.

We visited the Blackpool store, found something we liked, specifically asked about
‘handmade’ the ‘factory’ ‘guarantees’ ‘Oswaldtwistle’ ‘terms’ ‘delivery times’
and so on and as a direct result of the answers we were given placed an order for:-
2 Electric Recliners and a 2 seater settee in the colour of our choice – supposed to be Latte.
We were advised a 13 week period for the time it took to make,
getting materials could sometimes cause delays,
we declined the pressure sale pitch to buy the additional warranty for another £200 +
but bought the leather care kit for another £25.

During the course of the waiting period I checked our order against the tracking system on the CSL website,
it didn’t work, so tried it again two weeks later, still didn’t work,
sent the first e-mail, no reply, sent another, no response,
then telephoned them and asked general questions -

Q. What was our tracking number ?�
why didn’t they reply to attempts at communication ?�
how long would our order be ?�

A. “Oh sorry – this is your tracking number”
“Oh sorry -we are short staffed can’t deal with e-mails.”
and “your order is delayed due to Hurricane Katrina
which has delayed container ships with the materials etc
try again in a couple of weeks.”

Now we have a tracking number, put that system to the test…
still didn’t work, however went into the whole contact process again
and eventually it worked,
so was then able to get some ideas as to when our order would be completed.

In the meanwhile like almost everyone else, we have a suite to dispose of,
but of course we have no idea when to do so at this stage.

After approximately 8 weeks we received estimated delivery date,
which did actually fit in with the 13 weeks original guess.

Then it changed, then changed to an earlier date and in fairness
they asked if we could take it at an earlier date,
so we agreed and disposed of our old suite ( which was perfectly ok by the way )
we gave it to a company who re-home items to less fortunate people,
they were thrilled to bits !!!! (And I later tried to buy it back !!!!!!)

The delivery date arrived and the CSL van with it,
the recliners came in first, the settee came in last, all wrapped in polythene and cardboard,
at this point my wife had spotted ‘Made in China’ on one end of the settee,
but said nothing to me at that time.

However the drivers swiftly removed the packing from the house,
put the chairs in place connected them up and then attempted
to get the settee to actually rest on the floor on its own feet !..
After many attempts, “oh your floor is not level sir” etc.
it became obvious that we had in fact received a ROCKING, RECLINING settee !

the driver reported the fault to Head Office
and we were given a date when the Technician would arrive to sort it,
which was 2 weeks and 3 days after delivery date.

To cut a long story short, this has been a saga and a most unpleasant one at that,
quite clearly I am of the opinion that this company tell lies, fail to communicate,
fail to back up, fail to tell, us as customers the truth,
do not have a factory in Oswaldtwistle anymore -
though they did have up to about 18 months ago,
the offices and the storage warehouse are still there
and the warehouse is used to store furniture
orders that are received from all over Europe and CHINA,
then when they actually get round to it – they give you a delivery date,
sometimes actually getting it right,
(though that should not really be a problem to any firm )
who according to the CSL M.D. – ‘deal with thousands of satisfied customers every year’ -
Though this website can confirm otherwise !

Anyway back to the saga -
quite clearly other than the rocking – reclining settee,the two recliners -
which by the way appeared to be turning into a sort of YELLOW COLOUR now�
had some very serious problems,
I took advice from the Preston Office of Trading Standards
and of my own violition decided to write to CSL and

“REJECT THESE ITEMS AS NOT SATISFACTORY
AND UNFIT FOR THE PURPOSE INTENDED”

they once again failed to acknowledge my e-mails (3 times)
despite setting up receipt requests….
they never contacted us by telephone until I copied all e-mails
and sent them to them by recorded delivery
and only then was I told that they had “received my e-mails”
and would make a decision when the technician had been,
I made absolutely certain that they fully understood that I had

REJECTED THIS FURNITURE

(Click on picture above to view full size. )

The Technician duly arrived and I showed him the photographs
I had taken of the inside of the two recliners,
I also asked his permission to take more photographs of the interior of the settee
when he had removed the hessian base covering,
he agreed, then set about the problems with the two recliners,
then checked the settee and his words -
“if you had ordered a rocker it would have been ok I suppose”
he decided the glue had come unstuck on the framework
and it appeared we now had two halves of a 2 seater settee,
each end working independently of the other�
I confirmed to him again that we would not accept this furniture
and wanted it removed from our home.

(Click on picture above to view full size. )

He reported back to H.O. and we received a phone call
from the ladies in Customer services who again in my opinion
are trying desperately to help and TRY to give a decent service,
probably fully aware of all the major problems behind the scenes,
but unable to do their jobs..
particularly when you directly ask the “IS CSL FURNITURE MADE IN CHINA.”
the answer was – “YES some of it is
and the rest comes from various countries in Europe.”

They advised the outcome of the Technicians visit,
the Managers had decided to offer us the chance of picking another suite
from their store in Blackpool and they would remove the other one.

At this point I once again CONFIRMED VERBALLY
what had been put into writing three or four times that -
“we did not want this CSL furniture in our home and would they please remove it”
I also confirmed that under no circumstances
would we ever buy anything from CSL again
or even allow anything from CSL into our home.

The furniture was removed the following Monday
and we received a refund of our deposit payment
by Credit Card refund as I had insisted upon.

The saga should have been over at this point,
but I decided once again to speak directly to the finance company
who CSL had submitted our credit application to – Black Horse Finance at Cardiff,
they originially insisted that they knew absolutely nothing
about any problems with our furniture from CSL…
they soon became aware and I had to send photostat copies
of all documents from day one,
together with my photographs to them by recorded delivery
and in fairness to Black Horse they did deal with it all
once they became aware of the saga via CSL,
it was funny though, because they never acknowledged anything
or discussed any matters in which CSL had been involved�.
they simply sent us a letter which said
“thank you for making your final payment and settling your account in full”
WE PAID NOTHING TO BLACK HORSE FINANCE.

To finalise what is really a very sad state of affairs,
this is a British Company claiming all sorts of things
which encourage people to buy their furniture, such as handmade,
family business, kitemark for BSI 9001� etc. etc.

the kitemark ,ACCORDING to the British Standards Institute,
does in fact relate to soft furnishings�.
but check that one yourselves before you even consider buying anything from them,
watch the wording of their TV adverts, look for the small print,
watch the guarantee which is for the FRAMEWORK ONLY
which makes purchasing an additional warranty for everything else an absolute must,
particularly if you buy recliners, we were advised by someone with great experience
and authority that the electric recliners cause never ending problems,
I can only suggest you look carefully at anything involved in a purchase from this Company,

in our experience and opinion -

THIS COMPANY CANNOT BE TRUSTED
AND THE PRODUCTS THEY ACTUALLY SUPPLIED TO US
WERE THE WORST AND I MEAN WORST STANDARDS
OF ANY WORKMANSHIP I HAD EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE

Did we just have bad luck ???�
are we the only ones to go through this ????..
I have to say read this and the genuine experiences of others,
look at the photographs of our ????? (WHATEVER IT WAS)
(can’t bring myself to say quality or furniture )
and decide for yourselves.

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