Pfister sales season, not a good choice!!!

Complaints Corner
1
Before making this thread, I took a small search on Pfister in EF, and people seems to love this furniture, I just had no idea why!!!

Now they are having a sales season, and I went there to get a TV board. The furniture looked really nice, and with a nice discount (800 from 1200), so I decided to get it.

I picked up 2 days after, and when I opened the box at home, comes out that the 2 drawers of the furniture did not open and close properly like the one displayed on the store. After 4 unsuccessfull calls for help, to get someone to my home to check the furniture (because I am not taking a 80kg defective furniture back to the store), I went there to claim and the answer I got is that the system of my furniture is "the new system" for drawers and in display they have the old one (So the new one is a crappy, cheaper one, good way to go!).

Finally they decided to send someone... but I have to wait 3 weeks for them to come over and fix it!

But that its not all...

When I went there to claim, I saw a shoe storage furniture which I really liked, also with discount, so I bought it (masoquism)?

Again, when I got home and opened it, the furniture was completely trashed and broken. So here I go again and start calling, and after two days of debate they decided to ship me a new one, but only in 3 weeks together with this person who is fixing the other one!!!

Before anyone asks, I had help to move the furniture, and we treat the boxes with extremely care, even rent a mobility van to pick them up and transport them accordingly.

Is there any place (like customer care government institutions) where I can claim this so much bad customer service? It is so annoying rent a car, go and pick the furniture (a broken one), and now to get a response from the store I have to wait almost 3 weeks for something that it is not my fault...

2

Nope. There’s no such thing here.

Now you know why everyone goes to IKEA. Pfister are way overpriced and nothing special in the way of goods.

3
We bought a shoe cupboard and a sideboard which Pfister delivered and assembled. They did it very well. The shoe cupboard's shelves are a bit delicate but the sideboard is great. We also bought a wooden bench but went back to collect it. They said it would have 7% discount as we were collecting it. We brought home and assembled it on Saturday but the nails provided are too short!! So now we will need to ask them to post some proper nails or find something suitable closer to home. That store was about 1 hour from my home.

I hear your experience with them and all the waiting. IKEA is generally very good replacing things that are not so good (presumably out of experience!!) or taking returns but we also had to wait for 3 weeks to have wardrobes installed.

4
I've gone to Pfister for many years and really like it. Realize it is more expensive but everything looks great and the service I received was excellent. Maybe my experience different as I usually bought the name brands whereas they also have a low budget line. When I buy something from Ikea, it is definitely less expensive but you can see this and usually you toss it after about 10 years. Everything I've bought from Pfister still looks good after 10 years.

5
Hey everyone!

I am not sure about low/high line on pfister, but paying 1500chf for a side board you would expect not to recieve a "low class" one, for that kind of stuff I would go to ikea. If you buy whatever stuff you might find on pfister they have to represent their brand itself... It is not an excuse for a furniture to be delivered broken only because is "cheap" ("cheap" because it is swiss cheap)

They finally arranged a pickup for the "shoeschrank" and someone to come over and fix the drawers for the other one, but almost a 2 week delay is just to much for me, but quite not sure if it is also too much for swiss standards...

I hope after the visit I do not run into more trouble with this people! But for sure I will NEVER buy them anything again...

6

Is there customer care government institutions, that is a good one.

When you buy something in Switzerland, or simply, when put in the position of exchanging cash for a service, the seller is merely once the payment is made, irrespective of quality of goods / service.

There is no recourse.

You can wait for them, in there own good time, to do whatever they do and merely suck it up.

Good luck and welcome.

7
You can get excellent customer care here but I've found it's mainly small, family-run businesses who push the boat out (they've got a reputation that they cannot afford to lose).

Foreign companies such as Miele also tend to have a better set of policies that they apply across all countries.

8
Usually people walkin to Ikea for most of the furniture things... but if you ready to spend little bit more than Pfister is definately a good choice

9
Good to hear and could be a major deciding factor when it comes to buying my new washing machine.

Also I've heard very good things about FUST.

10
I've heard and seen really bad things about Fust kitchens but that's probably down to the fitters whom they contract out the work to.

11
Must be down to the fitters because the person who recommended FUST was specifically talking about their kitchens.

12
But that's the point. How can you possibly know who the fitters are when you buy the kitchen from Fust?

13
Usually Pfister has nice and quality furniture but the prices they ask for... ridiculous. You can get the same 50% cheaper from shops in Germany.

14
I have a positive experience with them! I bought 4 chairs recently and when I started to assemble them one would not come together at all. I took it back to the store and explained what the issue was. The lady there took it back and gave me one that was already assembled! Very polite and nicely done!

15
Before you spend your hard-earned money on furniture, you should educate yourself. Pfister has a good reputation because they are the manufacturer's rep for some very, very high end brands. They represent Rolf Benz, Fritz Hansen, De Sede, etc.

However, they are also the rep for some mid- to low-range brands which were, quite frankly, made in either China or Indonesia. Ask the salesperson where the item was made. Was it designed by an architect/designer or is it a knock-off? Are you buying the piece as an investment or are you going to throw it away in three years when you leave?

If you only want something serviceable for the time being, there is absolutely no reason to buy a Chinese-made piece at Pfister. Go buy at IKEA or Conforama or Fly or somewhere like that. If you want an iconic piece that will last forever and will increase in value, buy from a known designer at Pfister or Emile Foret in Martigny or Roche Bobois or one of the many Vitra dealers.

16
Pfister's stuff is nice and, yes the price is high, but my gripe with them is their delivery. Fine, you have to wait 10 weeks for a wardrobe. Wardrobe has finally been fettled out of moondust or whatever they use and they give you a delivery date and time. In my case their delivery time was given as "after 14H" - all fine so far.

I decide to take the afternoon off work and wait for them.

As I'm approaching my front door at 13H I see the two cheeky Pfister chappies getting back in their van and buggering off.

I rang their customer service line and asked what's going on, and they replied that I wasn't home so would have to wait for the next delivery in 10 days. WTF?

I argued that their delivery time was stated as "ab 14H" (from 14H) and arrived home an hour before this to see them driving away. Apparently " ab 14H " means " the afternoon, any time after midday ".

So beware!

17
I dont know about pfister, but most furniture shops I bought stuff at gave me the bill at or after delivery with 30 days to pay. If you're not happy you don't pay. And if you want something fixed they will jump to it as they want their money. Any store that insists you pay the full sum up front before assembly is completed (by them) and accepted (by me) is cheap by definition.

18
Actually, percentage wise, ikea has the highest profit margins, so they are the most overpriced of them all.

I've also yet to hear of ikea sending a guy over to somebodys house for free to fix something they assembled wrong.

So it's apples and oranges.

19
And your source is?? I don't believe what you are saying, as IKEA's model is to sell high volumes.

20
who keeps furniture more than 10 years anyway?