Customers of Rathwood Garden & Living have continued to express their frustration and anger at delays in orders being delivered and refunds processed.
Earlier this week, the Carlow-based company apologised to people left waiting for extended periods for products, and said delays were due to a key supplier entering administration late last year.
Its managing director James Keogh said it had expanded its customer support, sourced new funding and developed more robust supply chains as it worked through an order backlog.
He apologised but expressed optimism that most of the issues would be resolved by the end of this month. However, a substantial number of customers subsequently contacted this newspaper to highlight their negative experiences with Rathwood.
READ MORE
Peter Fenton said he had been let down and denied compensation despite the company’s assertion it was issuing vouchers for its restaurant and experiences to customers who had faced long delays.
In early January he bought smokeless coal from Rathwood, on their “Wait and Save” promotion which offered savings for customers willing to delay delivery.
He paid two-thirds up front for an order scheduled to arrive at the end of March and paid the balance before the end of that month.
The total cost was €468.32 but the delivery date changed on several occasions. When he contacted the company in June, he was told he would have the coal “ within a few weeks”, however, days later he was told the order had been cancelled.
A request for compensation was denied and in July he contacted the company as the promised refund had not materialised. “I was informed that the repayment had not been made as my first payment, way back on January 10th, had been made by credit card and couldn’t be refunded automatically as it was more that 180 days old. The company had not bothered to contact me regarding this, or to get the necessary details from me to effect repayment.”
He says he eventually received the refund at the end of July “with absolutely no offer of compensation in any format whatsoever”.
Rosa Whitfield decided to buy an egg chair and patio furniture from Rathwood earlier this year. The chair was in stock in March when the order was placed and she was told to expect the patio set in June. She paid more than €1,000.
By the summer she had not received either the chair or the patio set. She asked for a refund for the patio set but still held out hope she would get the egg chair.
“My husband spent an hour on the phone one day, not getting through. The next day I did the same, eventually getting through. I asked about the egg chair, was told it was due in the coming days and I would ‘probably’ receive it within the week. He also said he would put a note on my account to expedite the refund on the patio set.”
She said the following week, the status of the egg chair was updated to another six week delay. She cancelled that order too. At the time of writing she had not received any refund.
Tricia Murphy ordered patio furniture in April and was told this week she will not be getting it until September.
Clare Murray ordered a chair in May and the date has changed several times. “It is still very difficult to get in contact with them and I am currently being told it’ll be September when my product arrives. I’ve been promised a €20 refund of the delivery fee and that is yet to come through nearly a month on.”
In response Mr Keogh said Rathwood was “truly sorry” to hear of the “disappointing experiences” people had.
He pointed to administration proceedings of a key supplier which represented more than 70 per cent of Rathwood’s supply chain. “This unexpected loss hit our operations hard and led to delays in a number of fuel and furniture orders. While we’ve worked quickly to rebuild that infrastructure with new partners and support from our investors, we fully accept that during the transition, some customers were let down, especially in terms of communication and delivery timelines.”
He said the company took “full responsibility, and we’ve spent the past few months doing everything in our power to make it right while providing full transparency with our customers”.
He said as well as providing refunds, more than €30,000 had been issued to customers in compensation in the form of vouchers for its restaurant and its Halloween and Christmas experiences.
“Our delivery drivers have been on the road seven days a week, working tirelessly to clear backlogs and honour customer orders as quickly as possible, which are coming to conclusion by month end,” he said.
He said the retailer’s customer service response rate had returned to normal levels while opening hours have been extended.
He said all the issues highlighted by the readers have now been addressed.
