Disappointing attitude and approach to meeting customer needs
My experience of choosing a fabric with which to reupholster my sofa was positive - 2 visits to the showroom and helpful patient staff showing me fabrics and giving me samples to take away. But upon reflection the information and guidance provided on the fabrics themselves was limited and turned out to be insufficient. After the sofa was reupholstered and I could see it would be vulnerable to accidental stains I decided to have a stain protection treatment. The guy I appointed to do the job happily assured me his product would not cause any negative interaction with the fabric, as did the MD of Alltec who manufacture the product. But belts n braces, I emailed Linwood to seek their reassurance....but they effectively washed their hands of it refusing to provide any advice or reassurance whatsoever for any treatment applied after purchase. I pointed out that it's a sofa in a pale linen fabric so it stood to reason people would want to protect it from stains so why hadn't they anticipated that and raised the subject when I was in the showroom researching fabrics (after all that's the industry they're in!!), particularly as they know they refuse to recommend any treatment after purchase. I don't even know if they offer a stain protected option at purchase, it was certainly never mentioned. Their attitude and approach to customer service and care is deeply disappointing...
Reply from The Linwood Fabric Co., Ltd
Thank you for your feedback, Ruth. We’re sorry that your experience didn’t feel fully supported, especially after positive visits to our showroom. We understand your concerns around protecting a light linen fabric.
As a manufacturer, we cannot recommend third-party after-care or stain-protection treatments because their formulas and application methods vary, and in some cases can alter colour or performance over time. We appreciate this can be frustrating, but we do want to avoid giving reassurance we cannot reliably stand behind.
We appreciate you raising this – we’re now reviewing how we provide guidance, so customers have a fuller picture before choosing a fabric.
We hope your sofa gives you many years of enjoyment, and we’re very sorry this aspect of the process fell short for you. If you'd like to discuss anything further, we’re here to help.
The Linwood Team
