A homeowner has slammed a furniture company claiming they left his new £2,000 leather sofa wedged in his staircase and ‘destroyed’ the bannister in the process.
Luke Ansell bought the king-size Chesterfield sofa-bed in December for his brand new home in Bournemouth, with the item being delivered on January 19.
The 27-year-old claims that despite the pair of deliverymen from the retailer, designersofas4u.co.uk, assuring him they navigated tight spaces ‘all the time’, it proved too much and they abandoned it halfway up.
Mr Ansell was left furious with the delivery, taking photos appearing to show holes in the wall where the plaster was damaged along with the woodwork as a result of the delivery.
Photos show the sofa left wedged in the staircase after it was delivered to Luke Ansell’s home on January 19
Mr Ansell, pictured here with his wife Eloise, has blasted the delivery drivers for damaging the sofa and plasterwork
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.
‘I said “I’m not signing anything, the sofa is stuck in my wall”.
‘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.
Mr Ansell said the sofa was left wedged in the staircase (pictured) after the delivery drivers got it stuck and then left
The 27-year-old says the sofa caused damage to the walls (pictured) in the process of being delivered
He added that one of the deliverymen suggested cutting off his bannisters (pictured) to allow it to be moved
The scene was reminiscent of an episode of Friends, where they struggle to get a sofa up the stairs in their apartment building (pictured)
‘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.
‘I called the main office and it was the worst customer service I’d ever received. Eventually they got into the van and drove away, leaving the sofa suspended there.
‘Since then, the company has continued to deny that they carried it up the stairs and now they’ve stopped communicating.
‘The whole bannister needs replacing. The house was newly refurbished. I’ve never experienced anything like it. They’re trying to do everything they can to get out of it.
‘I run businesses myself and I’ve never treated a customer like this – it’s disgraceful’.
‘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’.
MailOnline has contacted designersofas4u.co.uk for comment.