Rochester Furniture
Reviews and Complaints

The worst Rochester out there. And we are forced to make use of them because we bought our original bed at the The Grove branch which now, after 5 years of use, has to be exchanged under warrantee. We did everything from our side to ensure we are not the ones that delay anything. We paid our warrantee amount over to Sealy on 19 April and they in turn paid Rochester the money quick enough to have a speedy process. And that is where it got stuck. Between Rochester The Grove and Rochester HO the one does not know what the other has to do to serve the customer. And us as the clients are left stranded...no bed to have a good night's rest on and also out of the money we paid that was asked of us. Today, 6 May we got hold of the 5th different person to try and help us. Always excuses, today's newest excuse is that someone at the branch did not do the job they had to with the proof of payments which caused the delay. Now we got a new "commitment" that soon we will be contacted with arrangements for delivery. This after the staff and the branch manager and staff at their Head Office has "committed" to a resolution at numerous occasions over the past weeks. Believing in what they say has become impossible. It is like the saying goes, they have us by the nuts and could not care less.

I purchased a study table that had a special of a included chair . They didn’t have stock of the chair since the chair they had in-store was broken so I was promised to be contacted as soon as stock was delivered to the store. I purchased on the 13 February 2022 and till today I have not received the chair . I called once and I was told new stock hasn’t been delivered yet . Now I’m sitting with a table without a chair for months now while I’m receiving no communication about what exactly is happening . I can’t be waiting for months to receive a chair . Can this be resolved please .

Ordered a drawer online, saw it in store as well, it was as per advertised on the Rochester website. The drawer that was delivered was a much cheaper quality. It had different wood, different handles, different drawer tracks, everything was much worse. I contacted Rochester a number of times but their customer service is pathetic, from their call center to their e-commerce department to warehouse. I phoned, emailed and even contacted them on Facebook.

No one could give me an answer as to whether the correct drawer will be delivered. They are hiding behind their supplier, blaming the supplier for their issue.

I would not recommend buying from them as they are very unprofessional and deceitful.

I bought a corner couch from rochester on October 2021 the couches they delivered were broken waited another 2 weeks for the new ones now 5 months down the line the material is coming off.

Please see pictures.

Rochester Furniture is the WORST! Terrible quality and customer service - DO NOT BUY FROM THEM!

Rochester Furniture is the WORST store with the WORST service. I have had endless problems since i bought my LENNOX CORNER LOUNGE SUITE. Shortly after arriving it started squeeking whenever i sat down and the legs started breaking! I have submitted NUMEROUS queries - the couches get picked up and my family is left with nothing to sit on for almost 2 months only for the couches to be brought back with the same problems they left with.

My current query with them is outstanding since the beginning of December 2021 and it is now end of March 2022! I have emailed, called their lines and inboxed on Facebook so many times i am ready to scream! They picked up one half of the Lennox couch to get fixed and there has been NO communication since! A month or so later the second part started having issues (the same problems they have apparently fixed before) and I have even sent email communication to 2 managers, Tshepo and Louisa and they didn't even bother themselves to respond to my query.

The last phone call i had with an agent he told me that there is nothing he can do, if i am not happy i must get lawyers or report them to the Ombudsman! What rubbish is that!? Every single time i keep getting told that my query has been escalated, escalated where when i still have ZERO resolution!

The below is an email i sent to the so called managers and i still haven't received any feedback till today! I am frustrated to my core and i want NOTHING to do with this store. I want them to pick up their remaining couch and return my money ASAP! What the hell do they think i am sitting on for all these weeks!?

Mon, Feb 28, 3:10 PM (4 days ago)

to louisab, Tshepo

Dear Louisa and Tshepo,

I need URGENT assistance regarding my unresolved complaints with couches that I purchased at Rochester in 2021.

I do not even have the patience to go through the entire story at this time but i need the couch that is still remaining at my house to be Picked up by the end of this week. It is unfair to have bought couches a year ago and have barely utilised them for even 4 of those 12 months because there are always faults on them OR they are sitting at your warehouse. Currently the one half of the Lennox lounge suite was picked up in early December 2021 and to this day i have received ZERO communication!

On the 6th of February 2022 i FINALLY got fed-up and i sent a request for the remaining half (which also is faulty) to be picked up and for Rochester to issue a refund. MANY DAYS LATER and the couch is STILL sitting in my house, i have called, sent complaints on your site and sent Facebook inbox messages NUMEROUS times and no response or when i get through i get agents who have a total lack of my frustration and they still can't give answers as to why the second piece hasn't been collected and my refund processed!

I have been more than patient and the worst thing is to be calling your call centre for the millionth time and be told by an agent that i should call the Ombudsman or call my lawyer if i am not accepting what he is telling me! What rubbish is that, these couches were not donated to me, I bought them with very hard earned money and if my patronage is not appreciated then please pick up this thing in my house and return my money and we can part in peace!

I will be waiting for a response as i am no longer willing to speak to any more agents than the 10 or 20 that I have spoken to!

Kind Regards,

Laybuy a R17000 headboard and finished paying in 15 December 2021 and paid R600 delivery at the store. It took Rochester 3 months to deliver and then they delivered today the 10th of March 2022. I stay on a first floor unit and on arrival the delivery guy said he can't take it upstairs because it is heavy and I must get him manpower to lift it. I told him I don't know anyone who can assist him and then he said he'll take it back to the warehouse of he did.

How can Rochester hire a 3rd party to deliver my goods whereas I paid Rochester and also how do you expect me to offload my goods whereas I paid money for the handling services?

I have been waiting for my headboard for 3 months now

Good day,on the 10th Jan I purchased a Paradise lounge suite from Cornubia branch. R30845 .It was delivered to me with one module less. after 2 weeks of being promised and fed all sorts of wishy washy excuses I was told that they will collect the set and refund me. the store was very efficient with the collection of it. on the 28Jan after pestering the store I was told the refund was processed. I have been following up with NO communication from the store and they said there was a problem with their finance department. they are not able to direct me to anyone who can help me. I was now told that the problem is with finance and not with them. end of story- so where does that leave me almost R31,000 out of pocket with no explanations and resolutions. this treatment should not be associated with a supposed high end store. poor quality, poor client liaison, poor service.

Please don’t support Rochester. They are an uncaring deceitful company. Last week a headboard in the Clearwater Rochester Store had fallen on my child head and they are denying that anything happened. They refuse to show me the video. The management of Rochester and Legal team are rude to me. When confronted they shouted at me and told me that I should leave my child outside as they have a disclaimer that you enter at your own risk. Rochester is a store that clearly canvas’ child neglect and abuse. If I had to leave my child unattended outside the store just to purchase from them, what would happen to her. They won’t even give me an apology or see if my child needed medical assistance. I have written a letter of complaint and yet not received a response even in acknowledgement of my complaint. They do not get back to clients, clients are clearly not valued.

I took a chair on credit from Rochester Fourways about 2 weeks ago, my credit application was successful however not one during the face to face interaction with the lady who assisted were the terms and conditions explained or was I offered an opportunity to red them myself and make an informed decision. I was just told to sign and the most I was told was my monthly installment and duration of contract. I did not even receive a copy of my signed contract to at least go through it at home and opt out within the allowable 7 days. No electronic copy or hard copy received. Further more I asked for delivery on 11 January 2022. The chair arrived while I was at work on 10 January when I was not able to collect and it had to be left with the security guards of the complex with no prior arrangement. I did not receive an invoice for this. A few days later I get an SMS that I have been signed up with some insurance which I was unfamiliar with.. I did not consent to this. Today I make an advance payment in the store and I am told the price of the chair is 9500.00. How is this possible? I call customer service and they tell me this is an initial fee. I was never made aware of an initial fee of R1500.00. If I knew this was the case I certainly would not have taken that chair as I believe it is already overpriced as is. While I'm on the phone with the call centre agent he tells me the actual price of the chair is 8500. The chair was advertised as 7995.00 in store, I even searched it online while I was on the phone with the call centre agent it was 7995.00 but he is telling me a different amount. Then the agent tells me he will log a complaint with the store and I will be contacted. After putting me on hold for about 5minutes he says actually I will have to go into the store. I refuse to pay so much money for people being too lazy to do their job properly. As it stands now I have no proof that I actually bought this chair from Rochester Fourways. I have no contract, no invoice. And the amounts keep changing. I will not pay that extra amount that was not explained to me where I was not given the chance to read the terms and conditions of the contract. I will not! Rochester is a scam. I've never experienced such poor customer service from a furniture store. They just add amounts.

My son was promised delivery of his furniture on the 17th December. This did not happen and after a lot of fighting some of his furniture was delivered on the 18th - half of it as flat pack which was not the agreement. He is still waiting for delivery of a table he ordered and it in now the 5th of January. He need the table to set up his home office to work from. The staff at the Brooklyn branch keep promising delivery but it never happens. The level of incompetency at this store is mind blowing. Last night a courier phoned my son to say he would be delivering the furniture... he then phoned later to say he would not be delivering the furniture to my son in Johannesburg as he "does not get paid enough to drive to Johannesburg"!

Stay away from this company, the cheap tatty furniture they sell is not worth the aggro you have to go through to get it.

Purchased a Chesterfield lounge suite in November 2021 It came torn and without the arm chairs. New couch received with another fabric defect and still no armchairs.Couch has not been taken away as yet. Poor service from manager to complaints department despite the fact numerous phone calls and visit to the shop. Empty promises and no action. Inconvenience and cost to get this rectified is unacceptable.

My son purchased three items from the Brooklyn store to be delivered to Johannesburg where he was settting up an apartment. Delivery was set for the 17th December as that was the day he was moving in and he was coming back to Standerton on the 19th to spend Christmas at our house so it was imperative that the delivery happened on time. It did not. After many phone calls and fighting two of the three items eventually arrived on the 18th. The plasma unit arrived in a flat pack box - he was never informed when buying the unit that it was flat pack. Upon contacting the store again he was told that the person delivering the item must assemble the item. The delivery person refused to do so and left... with the plasma unit still unassembled in the box. The dining room table he ordered simply never arrived at all. The manageress at the store said - oh it will be delivered next year...I will never use Rochester again, the service is beyond terrible, nothing that is said can be believed and the staff really could not care a hoot. I am in doubt that my son will ever receive his table at all as the delivery system seems to be in an absolute shambles with no one knowing what is going on. Dreadful, dreadful customer service.

I logged a complain for a bed i bought on the 16 nov 2021
i went to savannah store were i bought for more than 3 times without my complain been resolved .its been over half a month still my query is not resolved ...

will i be rude if i take it back to the store ? i really cant wait any nolonger and it feels like my query is not taken serious ..

Good day

On the 08/04/2021 we purchased couches from Rochester in Carnival Mall. We were advised by the sales lady, Francina that we should Master guard the couches as it will prevent stains on the couches.
We were advised that the warehouse will apply the Master guard and we will receive a certificate as proof of the application.

The following issues subsequently took place:

1. The Couches were delivered with no certificate that the Master guard was applied. When I queried with the store I was told that the warehouse ran out of certificates and they will send me a certificate soon. I went into the store a few weeks later and I was told that they still don't have certificates but my proof is that I paid for it as Master guard is on my invoice.
2. Currently my couches are staining very badly. Contacted the store and logged a complaint. Complaint number RO-GRAF-[protected]-7698.
3. I have on numerous occasions requested for my certificate but till today 17/11/2021, no one is sending it through to me.
4. A driver was sent through to my house to pick up the couches on the 16/11/2021. He contacted me and then put me into contact with a lady by the name of Belinda Opperman while at my house.
5. Belinda Opperman, told me that the driver tested my couch by applying water to the couch and that is all the proof needed to confirm that the couches were Master Guarded. She went on further to say that the stains on the couches are not an issue that she can address as Master guard does not Protect against any stains. The ONLY purpose of Master guard is to prevent Liquids from seeping through.
6. Belinda mentioned that she has proof that the only purpose of Master guard is to prevent liquid from seeping through and the store provided me incorrect information by saying that the master guard will PREVENT stains.
7. She asked her driver to leave my premises as there is nothing she can do further about the stains as this is my issue now and not hers.
8. Subsequently she closed the call.
9. I contacted Master guard and according to the representative at Master Guard, the certificate is the proof that it was applied which currently we don't have as the store is not providing it to us.
7. I spoke to the sales lady, Francina again from the store and she advised me that she was trained that Master guard is applied to prevent stains from the couches.

Above is the condensed chain of events minus the numerous calls made to head office and the store to try and get this resolved with still no resolution.

Yesterday, 25/11/2021, I received a call from Nonkululeko from customer care. She mentioned that she will arrange a refund however today she tells me that Belinda Opperman has refused to do anything further as she is insisting once again that Master Guard is only for water protection.

Please find link from Rochester confirming the purpose of Master Guard: https://www.rochester.co.za/masterguard-fabric-protection-kit

According to a consultant I spoke to today, 26/11/2021, the call has been closed again.

Good day

I bought a table in August from Rochester to the amount of R9000. I filed a complaint early in November about the poor quality as their is an opening on the one side of the table. This morning I received a letter that my complain is rejected as they state that

Kindly note that our policy stipulates that all damages of items are reported within 7 days of delivery. Kindly note that you purchased the table in August and logged a complaint in November, we logged a repair ticket with the supplier however the supplier rejected the repair and stated that the damages are customer liability since the table has been fine from the time of purchase until now. Please see attached rejection letter from the supplier. Unfortunately we are unable to exchange this unit for you."

THIS IS POOR POOR QUALITY AND NOT MY FAULT AS THIS TABLE IS NOT EVEN MOVED AROUND SINCE IT WAS SET UP IN AUGUST.

In terms of Sec 55 (read with Sec 56) of the CPA, all goods sold to a consumer are sold with an implied warranty of quality that cannot be contracted out of or revoked.

The warranty gives the consumer the right to receive goods that:
• Are reasonably suitable for the purpose that they are intended to be used for,
• Are of good quality, free of defects and in good working order, and
• Will be durable and usable for a reasonable period of time.

If goods are found not to comply with these requirements then up to 6 months after receiving the goods;
• The consumer can return the goods for a refund, or
• Request that the goods be replaced, or
• Request that the goods be repaired.

The above options are the prerogative of the consumer and not the supplier's prerogative.

SO I WANT A REFUND BECAUSE THEIR SERVICE IS POOR AND THE QUALITY OF THE FURNITURE POOR.

I bought my couch from Rochester in lephalale the couch is faulty. I reported this to them and was told a complaint was logged it's been well over a month and I'm being given the runaround woth no definate answers as to what must happen with the couch, I do not want anything to do with this company any further it was a waste of my money. I would love for them to take the couch back.

I bought the Evolution day bed from Rochester Savannah Mall in 2019. The daybed started sagging in 2020 and I reported this to the sales person Karabo, who never resolved or even tried to resolve my complaint. I kept on calling him for a few months and eventually logged a complaint at their customer service department. The daybed was exchanged in July, however the look, feel and color was different, so I returned the couch. They brought another couch in August and I was still not happy, so I returned it as well. I contacted the store manager Istrael and he advised me to choose something else. I did that and advised him what I decided to take and paid the difference. I sent him proof of payment on 2 Sept and he did not respond to my email. On 3 Sept, I called him and to my surprise he went on leave without informing any of his team to continue with resolving the complaint. To date, I did not receive delivery or a delivery date. I requested to speak to the area manager as the store was not assisting and they refused to give me the contact details and advised that he will call me. I have been trying to connect with area manager for 3 days now, with no luck.
This store has no clue what customer service means. They do not attend to complaints efficiently and have no sense of urgency. The store manager and area manager do not return your calls. The store manager even refused to give me the area manager's contact number, and he keeps telling me that he will contact me. These people are quick to close a sale, but there is now after sales service. Karabo is the worst at attending to complaints. I have been without anything to sit on for 4 weeks now. I am frustrated with these people. Think twice before buying anything from their store. I will not advise anyone to ever buy from Rochester Furniture

On 30/08/2021 I visited Rochester store at Cornobia Umhlanga shopping for a plasma stand which I saw online and I fell in love with it then decided to visit the store to be sure. when we walked in a lady who was sitting down [employee]told us to sanitize our hands.
I was expecting someone to help us or at least ask if we are interested in anything but nothing, there were four sales person in the shop. We looked around and saw the plasma stand we stood there for about 10min but no one helped us. I don't know maybe it's how u treat customers. I stay very far from Conorbia but because I wanted the stand I went there. I'm still thinking of buying it but SERVICE WAS VERY POOR. My email address [protected]@gmail.com

I purchased couches at Rochester The Grove Mall on the 17/08/2021. I was informed that my delivery will be between the 19/08/2021 and the 20/08/2021. I was called by the people on Friday checking if I am available on the 21/08/2021 for delivery which completely shifted the goal posts. I waited for my delivery on the 21/08/2021 with no show. I called the shop. The lady who picked up the phone told me that she will ask someone to call me back without even assisting me. Few minutes later I received a SMS saying my delivery is scheduled for the 24/08/2021. No apology nothing. Rochester know nothing about customer care and have zero respect for their customers. I am never purchasing from Rochester because I have realized that its their culture to disrespect and being unprofessional to their customers. My sister had the same experience with them, in another branch . I am going to cancel the purchase and I want my money back. I can not be disrespected in this manner.

I purchased a full leather recliner suite in in November of 2020.
I spent R 50 000 expecting that I was purchasing a high quality product.
I contacted Rochester almost a month ago confirming that the couch was peeling after only having it for a few months and this is not the quality I was promised. I asked for a refund as I do not want to peeling couch to be repaired only to continue peeling post the warranty expiry.
Rochester advised they want to take my couch away, which I refused as the last time we complained about our dining table to them they took months to get my table replaced and I have no other couch to substitute whilst I wait the months for Rochester to inspect the couch and provide me feedback.
We asked for Rochester to get management to reach out to us to resolve this matter and to date have not recieved any assistance.
The worst company to deal with, I just want them to take away their terrible quality lounge suite and refund my money and we shall never do business with them again!