Coricraft is a furniture manufacturing and distribution company in South Africa that is VERY badly run. They have SHOCKING customer service, uninformed staff, and no POSSIBLE urge to improve themselves. In my next few posts, I’m going to outline my views and experiences with Coricraft in the hope that somebody out there will benefit from my story…
Coricraft may be reasonably priced
Coricraft may have decent looking furniture
But Coricraft should give you MEDICINE when you order something from them, because Coricraft WILL NOT give you ANY customer satisfaction!!!
I have tried 4 different stores in the hope that I will be treated well, and the items I’ve ordered will arrive on time and in good condition at least once, but no, 5 out of 4 times they have proved their incompetence. Why 5 out of 4? The Coricraft warehouse in Wynberg, Johannesburg is the lame arm of a sick company.
Anyway, there’s a lot more to this story, so feel free to read our travels through the dark land of Coricraft South Africa:
– Coricraft Sandton – From excellent to SHOCKING!
– Coricraft Morningside – Psychotic Uselessness
– Coricraft Morningside – Suckers for Punishment
– Coricraft Menlyn – A different language
– Coricraft Wynberg – OH, MY, FREAK!!!
– www.coricraft.co.za – WOW
– Coricraft Design Quarter – OMG
– Coricraft good service
– Coricraft Refund Policy Hell
I have obviously had similar experience!!!
Furious, they have my money (deposit) Delivery was expected beginning of September – I went in and with the result got a call to inform me that I would be called the minute my goods land ….. still waiting, not even heard from them again, it is now the end of September. Went in again and the sales staff have the attitude that well you can order anything you like – you might even get it, as soon as, early next year 2007! Very poor if any customer service. No satisfaction, rather pay more and receive good service and my goods – should I have kept my money in the bank, I would have at least been earning interest on it not them! I am sure this is the way they make their money? Clever trick don’t you think? Get a few stock items that you refuse to sell off the floor, get customers deposits, when you have enough money, buy the goods, ship it in cheaply as possible so that if goods are damaged – tough! Keep the money in an interest bearing account and use the remainder to purchase cheaply made furniture!
You know, that actually makes a LOT of sense. How bad is it getting when stories like this are the only way to explain this sort of incompetence?
How do I wash my coricraft set.
I am planning on purchasing a TV Cabinet from Coricraft, Tokai – will I have bad service and poor delivery????
Judging from my own experience, and everyone else I’ve met who’s dealt with Coricraft, I would say yes. But hey, you might be the lucky one.
If you DO get good service, I would buy a lotto ticket that same day, because surely your luck will spread over the entire day 😉
Coricraft = useless, but very good at taking your money.
I must admit that their administration is not well run but if you persist you can get what you want. I order two couches and a week before the delivery date I called up to check the status. I was told that it would be another two weeks. One week later, I received a call to say that they were delivering. Mixed messages but they managed to make the promised date.
When they arrived with the couches the delivery guys immediately said that they wouldn’t be able to carry it up the stairs. I made sure that the staircase was the required width specified by Coricraft before I ordered the couches. After a couple of feeble attempts to carry the couches up the stairs I eventually lost my patience and sent them off. I grabbed two labourers from the building site across the road and carried the couches up to my apartment. The next day I got on the phone, explained what happened and they gave me a refund on the delivery.
I have no quarrels about the quality of the couches so it seems to me like their management and administration could use some fine tuning.
YOU ALL CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!
Care to back that up, Mr. UNKNOWN? 😉
2 Weeks ago I tried to buy something at Coricraft Morningside, but as usual no stock available and no service at all. The young lady told us that is not bad service it is bad buying. So there you have it, to buy something that is not in stock is bad buying, and that is almost everything on the floor.
I have bought 2 couches, a dining room table with chairs, a butlers table, a leather bench, silver, and thank god nothing too terrible has happened. This was from the Tokai banch. They are very slow in delivery but the sales people are average in customer service. A lot of times things are not in stock, very fustrating. Sorry to all of you that have suffered. I will think twice now about buying from them- very wary!!!!
The sales staff at Coricraft are appauling. About 5 of them just sat a 2 front desks, never bother to ask if we need any help or even greet. I was not a browser, I was there to buy! I’m glad that I made my purchase at another furniture store.
I just received my “Coricraft Sale” sms today. Waste of money for them to send it to me! Hopefully people arrive here to read before they buy from Coricraft so that they are at least warned…
I purchased a dinig room set from Coricraft in Morningside, Johannesburg. Ordered on Saturday 20 Jan 07 and delivered on Wednesday 24 Jan 07. Service was excellent and all ordered items delivered correctly.
The beginning of December 2006, I ordered 8 Dining Room chairs from Coricraft in Boksburg. The young lady that served me said that delivery would only be during February 2007. I pleaded with her for an earlier delivery. She promised to try her best. I am happy to say that she phoned me on a daily basis and assured me she was trying her best. The chairs were delivered the week before Christmas, which made me very happy. I have phoned her manager and complimented him on the customer service she provided. I will be placing another order, with this particular sales lady, within the next week. My previous experience was not a good one. I did mention this to the sales lady and she promised me her best service…she certainly proved her worth.
The worst service I have ever experienced, will never buy from them again, and will advise all my friends and associates accordingly
Though I have purchased numerous items from Coricraft, I have to agree that the worse service I have experience from them is from the Menlyn Branch as well as the Warehouse in JHB. The Menlyn branch is run by very incompetant personal who if they are too busy have ” nervous breakdowns” , the JHB Warehouse simply couldnt give a damn. Though I do like their furniture it does unfortunatly come with crackes and pieces broken which seems to be a general rule from all furniture from the east. Though I must admit that our service levels in this country is sadly lacking….. coricraft is another one of the many companies who seem to follow the trend.
I am wanting to order some couches from Coricraft, but after reading all the above, I am scared stiff. Does any other furniture shop stock similar couches? What is Fourways branch like?
Coricraft are a joke, we need to tell everyone we know that they are useless and incompetent. I still do not have mu couches since November
Its just so sad, that people would take so much time, to write a complaint. why not have a look at how many other stores are on sites like these. Im glad to say that, however many complaints there are, we still have lots of satisfied customers, coming back and back again. But Id guess you woldn’t know that. Its sad that people just focus on negativity. And that, I have yet once again learnt about a site like this. What’s also sad, is that people are so quick to complain, but, give them excellent service with a smile everything 100% and you hear nothing. But yet again, some return, and say thanks for the great service that was offered, and that they are so happy to have their suite in their house, not on the expected time of completion, but 2weeks beforehand still. And can I tell you, this happens on a daily basis. I, myself have bought a couch from us, and no proplems with my order. The couch is excellent, if I say so myself and only compliments from my friends visiting. So next time, dont just base your decision on other peoples bad experiences…..
Hi.
First things first, go read the comments here: “Coricraft Sandton – From excellent to SHOCKING!”
You’ll notice I say “my complaints/experiences are really just MY experiences, and the comments are both good and bad for Coricraft”, so this is not really a one-sided thing. People have left some good comments, and that’s always a good thing. Just remember, you are in a “service industry”, so supplying good service shouldn’t be a “WOW” thing, it should be standard.
You’ll also notice, having read the ENTIRE saga, that we didn’t just have ONE bad experience. We had one good experience, and tried and tried and tried and TRIED to give Coricraft another chance. But you failed every time.
Most of the people who arrive here were searching for the Coricraft website when they found this site. Could you explain why? The reason I looked for your website was to find a number to speak to a manager. WHY did I have to speak to a manager? Because nobody from Coricraft was listening to my complaints. I was lied to about when my furniture would be delivered, and nobody cared. By the way, I left 2 voice mails for the Johannesburg manager to phone me back, I’m STILL waiting. Typical? I think so.
Was this site just a focus on negativity? Nope, it was a place to voice mine and my wife’s frustrations with a company that just does not seem to care. Nobody in the company would listen, or seemed to care. So I decided to share it with whoever decided to visit…
To top it all off, the fact that a staff member received their goods on time really means nothing to me. Has ANYBODY ever apologised to us? Nope. Go on, read the comment above this… An entire paragraph attempting to tell people who have ALREADY been burned by Coricraft, that they are actually a good company. AND NOT ONE APOLOGY!
Don’t worry, we all know the furniture is good. It just doesn’t always arrive when promised. (To newly weds that can be disastrous). Feel free to send your happy customers here to add some positive to the negative. Believe me, you could use it. The aim of the game is not just to get a customer to say thank you. It’s to get them to spread the word. To get more customers. Your customers are your best advertisers, and you pay them by giving them service that they WANT to advertise. I think you’ve failed there.
I can only assume their system is pathetic..
I have bought several things over the past year at their Design Quarter branch and each time the experience is simply pathetic.
First of all one needs to get served at all..pretty tough I assure you. So you end up walking around and making notes as to what you’d like.
Then you need to make sure you jump into a chair by the desk in front. Usually, while you wait seated there, you will hear at least one person complaining about the service or what is happening to their order.
But hey, their leather furniture hasn’t been bad quality, is much cheaper than elsewhere so you hang in there.
Eventually you order, pay in full, but they can’t confirm that \which items are in stock and which ones not but “they’ll call you” to confirm stock and delivery.
Needless to say I have never received a call, and when you call them the line is usually busy, so a few weeks later you pay them a visit again. After spending 10 min to find your order on their system they apologise that it hasn’t been delivered, and someone will “phone”
Needless to say..that again doesn’t happen…and you call again or visit and the process is repeated.
I just think that they must have a really poor ordering/management system, because they seem to be trying to manually manage something which should be automated.
Well… something or someone or some people just don’t seem to communicate.
The thing is, when it finally arrives, after much frustration I’m pretty happy with it..I just wish I could get it done without the hassle.
I won’t even mention the frustration some time back when their warehouse or whatever had a fire. Trying to find info then was simply impossible.
One positive was the manager did once apologise profusely about the service and refunded me my delivery fee. It didn’t help my waiting for several extra weeks, but at least he did do something to ease the pain.
Do they ever respond here?
Not any official responses… Just the “surprised” response 2 comments back.
Can’t believe that a Coricraft staff members actually got online and shouted at disgruntled customers! That alone says everything I need to know. If I have problems that seems to be the response I can expect. Shocking!!!
I have dealt with coricraft on at least three occasions over the past 3 years and I have not had any bad experience. The cushions of my first set of leather lounce seaters sagged and they sent somebody to replace them with new ones to my house. That was after we used it for 2 years. My last order was delivered 2 weeks early. I was also looking for their website to have a look at their other products, but that does not seem to exist!
I suggest you go have a look at http://www.hellopeter.com
Coricraft is actually one of the suppliers who respond and if you do have a complaint (there are quite a few) they seem to try and sort it out.
I’m hesitant about going to buy at Coricraft… I have however been after a particular lounge suite for a while now. Hopefully I’ll be one of the lucky ones.
I looked at the hellopeter website, and I noticed that Coricraft was one of the supplier’s to actually respond. But last I looked, they hadn’t responded for quite a while… But maybe they’ve played catch-up…
And, the info here isn’t to say “don’t buy”, just be forewarned.
As my dad always said: “Forewarned is forearmed”
Doesn’t make sense written down 🙂
Oh, and if you do order from them, come leave a comment when the goods arrive to let us know how it went.
I also had very poor service with delivery and I’m still waiting for their manager to call and apologize / explain what went wrong when It took them 3 days to deliver my order – I took time off work to be at home to wait for the order and after about 10 phone calls my stuff arrived. Nice stuff VERY bad service – I won’t buy from them again and don’t even walk into their stores any more
We bought a wall unit and display cabinet from Coricraft Design Quarter, the staff were very helpful. As there was stock, we were promised delivery the next week. Delivery was confirmed for the Wednesday, then changed to the Thursday, they didn’t bother to deliver on the Thursday and no call was made either (notwithstanding the fact that I had confirmed delivery three times that day). Then they were to deliver on the Saturday, that didn’t happen, then they were to deliver on the Monday, when someone from the warehouse called to change the delivery, we lost our cool and after speaking to a manager (lucky us) and threatening to cancel our order, the wall unit was delivered (half the order), the other was delivered on the Tuesday. The wall unit is faulty and now we are waiting for a replacement. As we expected non delivery on the date we were given, we didn’t unpack our wall unit, and surprise surprise, they didn’t deliver. Now we are waiting, and I’m not holding my breath, could cause some damage to myself. One lesson I have learnt, I will never buy anything from this shop again
I guess what you are all saying is true…. Coricraft has the most disgusting service I have ever had. I ordered two Santorini lounge suite in February 2007 from the Morningside branch, I was told they would be delivered on the 3rd of March 2007, and as you can guess they were not. After a screaming match on the phone to the manager at the distribution centre, they were delivered on Tuesday 6 March 2007. And thats right you guessed it, they were damaged. So another call and another complaint and my covers were collected on Saturday 17 March 2007. Well today is the 23rd of April and after numerous phone calls to the distribution centre and them telling me that they had dropped my covers off with my security guard on the 2nd of April. (Not to mention I have not had covers on my couches since the 17th of March)I now get a phone call to say that my covers were dropped off at the wrong place. My security guard had to go on his day off to get a statement signed at the Soweto police station to say he had never received the covers. He was taken to task by his site manager because I had to phone ADT to find out who was on guard the day Coricraft “dropped” off the covers. And it doesn’t end there. I am still waiting for the extra covers I ordered with my couches at the same time to be delivered, I was told when I purchased them it would take six weeks well now it has taken nine weeks. When I called the store to follow up I was told the consultant had moved to another branch. I phoned her there to follow up and am still waiting for my return call. I am too scared to even try follow up on the cover, maybe they will be delivered by December 2007, if they don’t go missing. And let’s hope they are not damaged in anyway because then it would mean I just flushe an extra R3000.00 down the drain. I can promise, I will not purchase another item of furniture from CoriCraft no matter how cheap it is or how much I like it. I can’t deal with this kind of service again.
If I was a share holder , owner or MD of Coricraft I would be very worried. I run a business. If I had to run my company the way Coricraft is run, I would not be in business.
I worked for the co for some time. as showroom staff, I was the scapegoat for managements decisions. orders for goods on the floor, presold to customers, were cancelled time and again, leaving us to explain to clients why their good are late.
I suspect cash flow was behind it.
I went to Coricraft on 19 Oct 2007 because i’ve been there before (never bought anything) and liked the furniture they have. Unfortunately they did not have stock of anything that was on the floor. I asked for a brochure to see what else they have. The reply I received? You must go onto the website. Now this is the problem…………. I stay in Alberton. I drove all the way to Boksburg to see what they have. Now I must drive back to Alberton just to go on the website? they don’t even have ONE brochure in the shop. thanks to this website I won;t even buy from them, imagine i have to wait 3 months for my delivery? NO WAYS!!!
At least Coricraft tells you upfront six weeks or more.
I recently ordered a couch from Barclays Furniture Gallery and was informed that because we paid in full upfront it will be delivered less than two weeks.
Every week is another promise when I phone and follow-up on delivery.
What buggs me most is that I have to phone everytime to enquire and not once in the last 4 weeks was I phoned to be informed when the couch will be delivered.
Today I was told Tuesday next week. So I am holding tumbs.
Having bought a couch from Coricraft, I can honestly say that I will never ever deal with them again. They delivered a damaged couch, told me it was my fault and then took 3 months to replace it. During this time the MD and MD’s PA actually had the cheek to ask me what my problem was. I will never never make the same mistake of dealing with them again. We actually used their emails as a study unit for bad customer service.
I guess we can’t really expect them to improve. They don’t have a clue how to deal with customers…
Thanks for posting your experience. If you feel like creating a write-up on your “study unit”, let me know…
Well lots of negative comments about Coricraft, time for a positive one – I received good un-pressured sales service – ordered my sofa with no issues at all. I went to the Clearwater branch.
I guess we will see now what happens. I am collecting from Wynberg so at least I cut out the possible delivery issues.
Thanks for the info. I was considering buying from Coricraft, but now I’ll stay clear.
I am a very happy customer – It seems many are you are very impatient and do not order far enough in advance.
Its is a typical SA thing – I want it now!
I have received nothing but good service!
Hmmm, I’m not sure of whether it’s a South African thing or not, but being told that it will arrive in 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 2 months, whatever, only for YOU to have to follow up and follow up and follow up and follow up and follow up (you get the picture???) and STILL be lied to???
I would say being lied to permanently is not my ideal “South African mentality” and I don’t believe it is. Whether it’s a certain person who works at Coricraft, or a Company’s philosophy, it doesn’t matter.
I had BAAAAD experiences with Coricraft. Only the first one was a good one. The 10 after that (yes, I know, I’m an idiot for TRYING different stores in the hope it WAS just an idiot salesperson and NOT the entire company) were ABSOLUTELY RUBBISH!
You are 1 of the lucky people I guess.
Their standard waiting time is 4 – 6 weeks!
I followed up once to make sure the couch is in process – which it was. Now I wait until six weeks passed and then we will see. Why is it such a mission to make a call and find out what’s happening… being lied to is another thing though! Well seen as you went back 10 times it must mean you value a discounted price over service you desire. If you want service that meets your demands then maybe buy a fully imported Italian sofa at 3 times the price and then its here and waiting to be delivered – no manufacturing required.
You’re right, being able to afford Coricraft couches is the reason for buying from them.
But, do me a favour and read a typical conversation with them here:
Coricraft Wynberg
It’s not the waiting 4-6 weeks that I minded. It’s the whole not being phoned after 8 weeks. So I phoned them. They said it will be here later that week. I phone later in the week, they say it will be here next week. I phone next week, they say they’ll phone me, they don’t. Etc. etc. etc…
Anyway, it’s taken a while to get over them, and I STILL refuse to buy from them, so things have worked out well.
Oh, and yes, Weylandts is a little more expensive, but my TV unit arrived that week, a day early, and WAAAAAAY better quality.
It does not seem to me that you are over it.
I treat them as furniture manufactures and that exactly what they are furniture manufactures not customer service centres. I post again when I get my sofa to prove you wrong.
Oh well. I started reading the comments on this company only after I had gone and placed my order for R70,000 to furnish my moms apartment in Pretoria and paid the deposit. I live in NY sbtw. My experience started out pretty rocky. First after several e mails and long distance phone calls to this store could I not get an order from the store in Zambezi cause they did not know how to spell “YAHOO” correctly. I just gave up and called Rustenburg. Dont know why. Maybe cause I went to school in Koster lol. I got a bit further here thank God. I got an order but then the communication eventually started dying off too. EVENTUALLY I struck GOLD!! ROBBIE NORTJE AT THE RUSTENBURG STORE!! Now listen here, this guy knows what he is doing and he is on top of his game. He e mails and communicates and I NEVER once had to remind him of something. He took care of me all the way through. Just a pitty he went on vacation a few weeks ago and referred me to someone useless Cindy Lee Job. I have to say. The furniture got delivered and the remaining items will be delivered on Friday. All in all I would rate Robbie at a 10 and Coricraft at a 1. It is such a pitty that this company has such beautiful furniture but they have useless, useless customer service. Time and time I had to remind people towards the end that Im actually doing them a favor buying from them and not the other way around. Im glad I found Robbie. If I need anything else I will sure as hell wait until I can deal with him and him only. He takes charge and gets the job done RIGHT!! Also not sure if they work on a commission basis or not.
Nothing here has changed,since i left their employ, I simply couldn`t take the embarrassment of people being upset all day long. YES the sofa`a are good quality and the design is superb. BUT the service stinks and is often dishones, reason being, they sell to big decorators overseas, so they take your deposit, tell you it will take 3 weeks or whatever (that is what the staff are also told btw) and then they sell all your couches in bulk to the overseas buyer, and leave you to go to the back of the line. Guess who takes the punch? yep, the poor salesperson who told you in good faith what he was told to say. Now he gets called a liar, its very demoralising, no wonder they eventually all switch off. Yes they do work on commission, a very good one too, so for a while they all take the punch, but int he end get miserable and disillusioned and leave.
If you buy there, you will get your things after a very very long wait, you will have to pay upfront, and if you want to cancel your order it will take ages too. So decide before you buy if you are prepared to wait much, much longer than quoted, (in most case). Oh, and the reason they don`t call you, is that they are too scared to tell you the lies that head office is feeding them, and then to face your wrath. So you will have to do all the following up as well.
Just in case you didn`t read it between the lines, yes, they are using your money, interest free, to fund the production for the couches they are selling to Spain etc. Not illegal perhaps, but certainly immoral.
WOW, that DEFINITELY makes things a little clearer now…
Follow up on my post: Everything was delivered except for 2 pices of art work. Now that took another headache and half to get that done. Someone needs to walk into this company, close their doors, start writing customer care policies and set them in place, start training sales people from the ground up and then, ONLY THEN open back the doors to the public. This company has excellent furniture but the CEO is either starring himself blind to all these web complaints or HE needs to GO!! You cant even fing anything on the CEO of Coricraft on google…..?? Topsecret??
In case anybody would like to read it, a visitor to this site wrote a pretty extensive letter to the Coricraft CEO and wanted it published on this site.
It details the delivery policy and refund/return policy.
Quite a long read 🙂
Coricraft Refund Policy Hell
Don’t EVER buy from Coricraft, they have terrible service, long waiting times for delivery and they deliver damaged goods. The worst company I have ever dealt with. NEVER AGAIN!!
Well thank you very much for all the info. I was considering buying a few things from Coricraft, but really dont need to start off any kind of relationship like this. I will rather google and find out who HAS got good service levels. Shame on them! I feel sorry for the sales people. Those really good sales people should be head hunted by similar furniture companies who actually do have good service so that these guys can actually shine for the efforts they make. Will definitely not be buying from them and have sent this website to my friend who said their products are beautiful. I am sure she has not bought anything yet, so will warn her. Life is too short to have to go through this drama. I have been warned and will take heed.
Extremely disapointed with the quality/standard or lack thereof of the furniture i have purchased from Coricraft. Bought 2 couches June/July 2011 which were so badly put together they were made so that the covers could be removed – the fit was just unbelievable. Must say I did contact them and after a lengthy period of moaning they sent someone out to inspect and they were in agreement that they were in a disgusting state. I then decided to chose other couches, L-shaped and when they arrived and hooked together the one is slightly shorter than the other and the main body of one of the couches is all wrinkled. Looks as if the padding inside has come adrift and is now rolling over itself. Made complaint in November/December 2011 told only would be able to have the problem sorted out towards the end of January 2012, they have no material left to fix the problem so had to purchase new. So will my two couches match? I have left messages for them to get back to me and confirm the situation – TO NO AVAIL!!!! I WOULD NEVER PURCHASE ANYTHING ELSE FROM CORICRAFT – which is really a pity because they do have some really nice looking furniture!!!! but badly made and also takes forever to deliver. My problem I felt was that I paid cash for both couches and a diningroom suite – NEVER AGAIN!!
I am also experiencing bad service from Coricraft. At this moment I am trying to get a statement out of them to pay them. The manager at the George branch gave me the Coricraft acc details to pay in money instead of the rcs details. It is really a pitty, I like their furniture but it seems the store people dont know whats really going on in the business. Just to avoid the poor service and battle to get things right I will not buy from them again.
Petro Strauss