Will furniture retailers such as Dunelm, Ikea and John Lewis pay for delivery damage?

The chances are that if you’ve order a piece of furniture, you’ve spent quite a bit of time choosing it –  and yet just seconds paying for it.

And you may have also completely overlooked one aspect of the purchase that could end up costing you money, any problems during delivery.

Getting furniture into a home is hard work and firms employ skilled professionals but things can go wrong. It’s up to you to check whether the company will pay for any damage that is caused to your home during the item’s delivery. 

If walls or anything else in your home are damaged by the delivery men, will the company pay or will you end up having to fork out for the repairs?

If walls or anything else in your home is damaged by the delivery men, will the company pay or will you end up having to fork out for the repairs?

Larger furniture items perhaps pose more of a risk, especially those that have to be moved around a flight of stairs.

The stairwell may be damaged during the process, particularly if the delivery men are in a hurry to get to the next job.

This may happen, for example, with a new mattress, particularly if it is in a dusty plastic covering. 

As the edges of the mattress are pushed around the corner walls of a stairwell, it could end up adding a new pattern to a recently decorated light colour scheme. 

Or the mattress could end up knocking over and damaging other pieces of furniture en-route to its final destination.

Buyers may automatically assume that the furniture supplier will pay for any damages to be repaired in these circumstances.

But it can depend on the retailer and the contract you have with them. Your contract with them can contain, for example, a disclaimer about its drivers only being insured to a customer’s front door.

In other words, if you expect the delivery men to bring the heavy item into your home, and they do any damage, there is no insurance in place to cover the cost of the repairs.

Always check on whether a company is covered with insurance to deliver inside of your home

We spoke to three large retailers on their policy on this. Thankfully, they all responded positively.

Other larger retailers or lesser known independent retailers may not have the same policy and so it worth checking before you hand over your cash, particularly if it is a larger item that you need lifting into place up stairs.

Dunelm

A Dunelm spokesperson said: ‘Should accidental damage be caused to a customer’s property, we have processes in place to renumerate the customer for the cost of necessary repairs and replacements.’

They went on to explain that should accidental damage be incurred as a result of one of our home deliveries, it asks customer to supply photographs of the damage and a minimum of two quotes for the repair – for example, if damage has been done to paint work.

It said that it will then pay the contractor conducting the repairs directly.

Ikea

An IKEA spokesman said, ‘All our service providers have full liability insurance against damage to customers’ property that might occur during a delivery. 

‘On the rare occasion this happens, service providers will document the damage and IKEA will make contact with the customer to discuss resolution.’

John Lewis

John Lewis explained that it has a dedicated team who would investigate any concerns about damage following a delivery.

It added that this includes carrying out an independent audit to determine the cause of the delivery, and offering a financial or remedial settlement if John Lewis is found to have caused the damage.