Rochester Furniture
Reviews and Complaints

I recently purchase some furniture from the Rochester store in Craighall and had a debit order set up to come off my account on the 26th of each month. The amount came off my account for the first time on the 26th of July and I received an sms from the JD Financial Group a few days later requesting immediate payment! I phoned the accounts department to check what was going on and was advised that everything was up to date on my account and "I mustn't worry." Yesterday I applied for a storecard through Woolworths and to my surprise it was declined - reason being that I have been logged with ITC as a slow payer by JD Financial Services and that my account is two months in arrears! I now have a bad credit record because of your incompetence! Please contact the ITC immediately to rectify this and I expect an apology from you. I am livid!

I bought a couch at Rochester in November 2015, in February it started pealing off which I complained. The took my couch in April and to date they have been sending me from pillar to post.

I escalated my problem to their regional office and national office who promised to deliver a new couch on Friday the 10 of June and no one bothered to call me and inform me on non delivery. I spoke to van niekerk who promised to ensure that I get a couch today. Some guy called Yaku called me from Festival mall to give me further delays on delivery to Friday meaning I must sit on the floor this cold weather

I need your help to get my R17000 since the store cannot deliver

Regards,

Ntsako Nombelani
[protected]

Rochester...Where do I begin? It started last year December when we made the fateful mistake of walking into a Rochester store. We saw what looked like a nice matching set of a couch & 2 occasional chairs. We did the deed, paid for the entire set. They informed us that the 2 occasional chairs would be delivered early next year, not such a biggy because we were going away for December. They delivered the 1 couch about 2 weeks after purchase. Now the fun begins:

- We paid for scotch guard but discovered that the couch had not been scotch guarded. When spilling WATER on the couch, it left yellow water marks, as though someone had peed on it.
- One of the back cushions was puffy and the other rather empty of filling.
- They never once phoned us in the new year to let us know when the 2 occasional chairs were expected to be delivered, we had to chase them.
- With the bad service we decided we would rather cancel our order, they said that we would have to pay R99 a day for usage of the couch that was delivered. So our hands were tied.
- After waiting exactly 3 MONTHS, the 2 occasional chairs were delivered.
- The chairs were both delivered lopsided as each chair had missing tile protector feet.
- Later we discovered a hole in the wood in one arm rest of each chair, as though they had made space for a cup holder and then covered it with material. You can put your elbow or thumb through the material. Later I lent on the arm rest & have made more holes.
- We then inspected the other couch properly and found that there is a protruding piece of wood, apart of the frame, which over time will wear a hole in the material.
- After many trips and phone calls to the store, to try get some kind of justification out of them and after waiting 2 weeks from complaining about the quality because Rochester only has one lady dealing with complaints, and trust me they have hundreds, was off sick, someone came to inspect the furniture and found all complaints to be true.
- It's a week now since the inspection and I have just received a mail from the complaints lady, who was off sick again stating that she's waiting for her managers approval to come and clean the couch from water marks and scotch guard them and fix the chairs! Forgive me for not wanting this furniture at all!

ROCHESTER, IT HAS BEEN 5 MONTHS NOW AND WE HAVE BEEN VERY PATIENT WITH YOU. COME AND COLLECT YOUR WORSE THAN BELOW SUB-STANDARD FURNITURE BEFORE WE COME AND DROP IT OFF AT YOUR STONERIDGE STORE!

Regards, Lindsay Minuzzo

Argumentative, defensive/aggresive, unprofessional, the words just flood me when I think of how I was dealt with at an interview when I applied for a position with the company

As far as I know, in business you treat people with respect, be it a customer or a prospective employee? The interviewer discusses & asks questions that gauges the prospects ability & suitability which he notes. At the end he is free to make a decision either in favor or not?

From the get go I was treated with disdain & had to practically defend myself on all fronts from personal attacks to professional ones as well.

How I managed to keep it together I suppose is to my credit. My better judgement told me to remain professional even though I felt I'd been treated unfairly. It was just a waste of my time & the effort I'd made for this shamble I found myself being engaged in.

What a pity when leaders in positions of power feel they have the right to behave so? I can only imagine that the power goes to their 'heads' & their egos get a thrill from it!
If the tables were turned, & based on the authoritarian condescending manner in which I was treated, then my assumption would be that he's an aggressive egotistical bully, whose subordinates shudder at his presence, he is totally another character in the face of his superiors, & an utter fake in the face of the Rochester customer!

Well thank goodness I recorded the whole thing & on listening to it feel ever more aggrieved.

Rochester was a place I considered working at? Rochester now is a bad memory I shall not hesitate to share with others.

I suppose all complaints are treated as priority? I would consider this a complaint in the interest of proper ethical conduct & behavior during the interview process.
Unfortunately such behavior shouldn't be tolerated at all!

To Whom It May Concern

After consulting with my attorneys on the below matter, I would like to hereby give you the opportunity of rectifying the below matter before proceeding with further action as I am highly disappointed at the quality of product of which has been supplied to me by Rochester and am hereby hoping that this matter can be resolved amicably.

I bought an imported lounge-suite cash from Rochester Festival Mall and had it delivered to me on the 1st of February 2014, unfortunately I can no longer find the receipt although I am sure Rochester Festival will still have it on their system along with all my details.

It has not even been 3 months since date of receipt of goods and I have found that they are of inferior quality, please see below list of inferior qualities:
• On the arm of the one lounge-suit, the whole arm seems to be tilting, sagging and seems that this will eventually compromise the entire structure of the couch.
• On another of the couches, the skirting attachment has not been sewed properly so the skirt sits awkwardly and cannot actually attach neatly as it is meant to
• The stitching of another couch is coming out and has not actually been done properly at all.
• On the three-seater the couches do not sit level anymore, which is further proof that they are actually sagging!

I especially bought my lounge-suit from Rochester thinking that the quality of product I would be receiving from this store would be of superior quality to anywhere else due to the fact that Rochester is a well-known store and seems to be infamous for their high quality and standards, this is why I was happy to pay so much money…I thought it would be worth it!

The couches have not even lasted me 3 months let alone a year and it seems that the high price I paid for them is no indication of a high quality product. I am now of the opinion that the products Rochester sell to their high-paying customers are all of inferior quality and made to only last being on show in their show-room and for the duration of the grace-period as prescribed by the Consumer Protection Act and then to fall apart so that their high-paying customers can hopefully come back and waste more of their money! This seems like a case that Carte Blanche may be interested in should this matter proceed further.

Kindly see to it that somebody gets back to me with some answers!, I am honestly so disappointed with the quality of this lounge-suit which seems to now be slowly falling apart that I don’t actually want it anymore and am hereby requesting a refund in order to avoid this matter going further! I am truly highly disappointed and shocked at the quality of goods of which was sold to me and feel that the money I spent has been wasted on inferior quality product!

I ordered a couch from Rochester in Woodmead to be delivered to my home. Rochester insists that the customer pays up front before they will deliver the items. I waited 10 weeks for the couch to be delivered. On delivery the driver and his guys ended up damaging the wall and pulling the door off the hinges. I complained to Rochester about the damages. Rochester said that they are only contracted to deliver the items to my front door and were doing me a favour by moving the couch inside. As a result they are not prepared to repair the door or compensate me in any way.

We bought several pieces of furniture from Rochester in Centurion. Some of the items had to be replaced three times before they were of (almost) reasonable quality. Although I value Johan at the Centurion branch's cooperation, he does not see the furniture before it gets delivered, so he cannot vouch for its quality. Still now, we are sitting with a set of dining room chairs that differ as much as 3 cm in height from one chair to the other and doors on the buffet that look like the carpenter never heard the term 'square'.

We would like to have a factory representative take over this issue, come and do inspection and sort out...

In the beginning of July 2005 we bought a lounch suite from Rochester Furnishers in Strubensvalley Roodepoort. Their policy is 30% deposit and then they order the furniture to be delivered within 8-10 weeks. When I phones to follow up I was told that our lounch suite already arrived on the 24 August but it had a tear in the one seat and that they have send it to the dealer in Johannesburg to be fixed. When I phone 3 days before my set was suppose to be delivered I was told that the set is still in the warehouse with the tear and that the manufacturer will collect it only tommorrow and that I will have to wait another 2 weeks if I am lucky!