Man says delivery men 'abandoned sofa stuck on staircase' - as firm refutes claims

A Bournemouth homeowner has accused delivery men from a sofa company of leaving a brand-new sofa stuck half-way up his staircase, saying they abandoned the furniture and went home.

Luke Ansell, 27, and his wife Eloise, moved into to their new Dorset property in December, and ordered the new £2,000 sofa from Designersofas4u.

However, when it was finally delivered on the 19 January, Mr Ansell claims that despite his warnings the staircase was narrow, the staff from the sofa company said it would be fine – but then abandoned the delivery after leaving what appeared to be damage to the wall.

He said: “Honestly it was unbelievable, the sofa was over £2,000, and they caused about that much damage delivering 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.

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“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.”

In response to the claims, Designersofas4u told Sky News it refutes Mr Ansell’s account of events, saying: “As part of our investigation, it was uncovered that Mr Ansell was made aware of the delivery space situation by our drivers.

“We have a recorded telephone conversation from Mr Ansell that took place whilst our drivers were on site and before any furniture was taken into the property.

“In this conversation Mr Ansell is informing our office ‘I’ve got your deliverymen here, and they don’t seem to think they can get the sofas in here.’ He later goes on to say ‘Alright we will give it a go’.”

The company sent Sky News the transcript of the conversation between Mr Ansell and its customer service agent.

Mr Ansell said: “Yeah it can get through the door, but it can’t get [to the] room it needs to get to. They’re saying it’s too tight.”

Customer services replied: “What would you like to do? There’s no point [trying] to deliver as it’s not going to fit in the room.”

Mr Ansell then said: “Alright we will give it a go”.

Designersofas4u also claim to have video doorbell footage from Mr Ansell, purporting to say it would be fine to try to bring the sofa in.

The company also shared an email it sent to Mr Ansell, in which it shares a number of its terms and conditions, one of which says it is the customer’s responsibility to make sure the sofa can get in the property safely, and it cannot be held responsible for damages. It also says the cost of the sofa was in face £1,129 – not £2,000.

Designersofas4u also offered him a new sofa free of charge, and help paying for the damages as a goodwill gesture.

Sky News has contacted Mr Ansell for a new comment in light of the company’s findings.

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