A furious homeowner says a furniture company abandoned a failed attempt to deliver new sofa - leaving it jammed on the stairs. Luke Ansell, 27, had just moved in to his brand new home in Bournemouth in December when he bought the £2K couch that was delivered on January 19.
He says despite delivery-men assuring him that they made tight deliveries 'all the time' the pair from designersofas4u.co.uk failed to get the new sofa-bed up a narrow staircase - before abandoning it. Photos of the shocking attempted delivery show how the pair left huge holes in the staircase plasterwork, and damage to the woodwork, before leaving.
The farce drew comparisons with an episode of TV comedy Friends - in which a couch was stuck on a staircase. Luke says he refused to sign the delivery forms after they recommended cutting off his bannisters and then insisted that they had to leave so they could get home to the company's offices in Birmingham on time.
He says the company later rejected his account of events when he complained, with the delivery-men allegedly denying they ever tried to get it up a staircase - despite Luke having photos of them at the scene. Newlywed Luke, who runs a pet grooming service 'For The Love Of Dog' with his wife Elouise, said that the service was 'shocking'.
He said: "Honestly it was unbelievable, the sofa was over £2,000 and they caused about that much damage delivering it. They got here and I showed them where I wanted it upstairs. I said that it looked quite tight, but they assured me that they do tight deliveries all the time.
"I just said 'oh well you're the experts' - they are a delivery company after all so I just left them to it. They brought it in, they struggled to get it over the bannister and eventually got it in. But then it got jammed, they couldn't get it up or down.
"Then they said 'look we've got to get back to Birmingham' and tried to leave. They asked me to sign for the delivery - but I refused. We had a little bit of an argument about it, and then they suggested I cut away the bannister to get it out.
"It's a brand new house that we had just bought for half a million, and now we have to have the work done to repair it. Then they just left it there and went back to Birmingham. The drivers also said they didn't even try to get it up the stairs, but I have actual doorbell footage of them after they delivered it to my house.
"I have a photo of them at the bottom of the stairs after the damage was done too. They've destroyed the plasterboard, and damaged all of the wooden skirting on the stairway. They've also damaged the sofa too.
"It was just a shocking response by the company - so I'm just trying to raise awareness about their standards of service."
The company based in Birmingham told the BBC it was carrying out an "interval investigation". The BBC says the firm emailed Mr Ansel disputing his version of what happened - claiming the sofa had been "left in a safe place on the landing".
It offered to replace the damaged sofa as a "goodwill gesture". A spokesman for designersofas4u.co.uk said on arriving at the property they warned Luke the sofa would not fit and suggested leaving it in a safe place.
They said it is a customer's responsibility to check the sofa would fit into the room they wished it to be moved to. They said Luke was aware of the terms and conditions but insisted and tried to move it with the delivery drivers up to the third floor.
They say ''we objectively accept that between our delivery team and yourself that damage has been caused'' and offered a replacement and to pay for reasonable repairs.
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