Pay deposit and balance on delivery options

Hi John & Ryan We have looked at your site and are impressed with your knowledge and the comments. We also prefer to deal with local business owners where possible rather than big chains. However, we are very nervous about dealing with internet only based companies on such expensive purchases (£1,000 – £1,500). I understand that your company requires 100% payment upfront (correct me if I’m wrong). With 3-4 weeks turn around on delivery. This makes me even more nervous. I am sure a lot of your potential customers feel the same. We would feel much more comfortable dealing with your company, if you accepted deposits (say 10%), with the balance payable on delivery. This would seem fair – it is widely practiced in many industries that manufacture and sell expensive products (e.g. cars and high end furniture). We appreciate your company will make an initial outlay when you order and manufacturer the mattress. However, given you offer a 100% money back guarantee (which basically says to your customers you guys take the risk because you know your product far better than the customer) – it seems odd that you require full payment upfront (which tells the customer that actually you want the money in your account and are pushing the risk straight back onto the buyer). The consumer is in a very weak position if a company that operates this way goes bust or if they simply refuse to deliver the goods. Whereas the company will always have control of the product until full payment – so the burden is shared much more fairly where a company accepts deposits!

That said, there are some genuine companies out there, but it is difficult to know who to trust. I understand your company has been around for 5 years and we really hope Factory Beds Direct is one of the good guys that does what they say on their site. They certainly have a well written site that promotes your services and products very well indeed!

Perhaps John or Ryan could reply and put our minds at ease and explain why payment is required in this way – despite offering a money back guarantee. Cheers guys Rob Thomas Hi Rob. Thanks for your comments and this has given us food for thought. In the early days when we used to do our own deliveries in person we did offer the option to make payment upon delivery of the goods as standard. Then as we grew and had to employ couriers to do our nationwide deliveries we had to revert back to payment at the point of order as the couriers cannot collect payment at the point of delivery and we cannot carry out all the deliveries. I do understand the points you raise, the only other feasible alternative would be to take a second payment for the full balance when the goods are manufactured but before the goods are taken to the couriers for delivery. This would be somewhat of a nightmare to administer but admittedly not impossible, although if someone makes a payment late or is on holiday etc. then we would have to store the goods until payment is received and they can be delivered. This alone would increase lead time and significantly our transport and storage cost and ultimately the cost of our beds. We do not carry a stock of beds they are all made to order on receipt of the order. The money back guarantee is there as an assurance that if you are not entirely satisfied then we will offer a full refund. In our years of trading not one person who has ever had the need to use this guarantee has been let down and we would hope that the wealth of feedback on this site and elsewhere will assure you that we are indeed worthy of our reputation as a reputable and trustworthy company. We are always looking at ways to improve our service and we have taken your comments on board. For example, we are currently looking at the option of flexi-payments so that the burden of cost, particularly on the high ticket items can be spread over three or four months. For now though, the way we operate has worked well for us and the consumer. There is no guarantee that any business is immune to going bust – remember the big High Street names – Courts / MFI / Woolworths and more recently Comet?

We are in a very healthy position and our plans to grow and improve our position in the marketplace is well on target – we have no intention of going anywhere else but upwards. As a final assurance, payments by debit or credit card give you added protection. The company we use (Netbanx / Optimal Payments) retain a percentage of all sales for a period of six months which obviously now has amassed to several thousands of pounds. As our leadtime is a maximum of 4 weeks there is considerably more in our Netbanx account to cover all pending and current orders should the worst happen. I hope this puts your mind at rest Robert. We will consider the deposit on order and final payment prior to delivery option as well as other options to improve the overall purchasing process. Thanks again for taking the time to add your comment. John and Ryan