Emmaus UK Reviews 42

I'm posting this review on behalf of my Mum and her partner, who are both in their 70s. They had ordered new sofas in September 2024 from SCS with "guaranteed" Christmas delivery. They were told the sofas would arrive today, 20th December, so arranged for Emmaus to collect their old ones yesterday, which they duly did.
Today, SCS have failed to turn up with their new sofas, without any communication, and have now told my Mum they won't arrive until at least 6th January! My Mum was distraught and in tears but SCS did nothing to help, refused to refund them and left them stranded with nothing to sit on.
My Mum rang Emmaus and explained the situation and by about 2pm this afternoon, they had their old sofas returned to them!
If only Emmaus could teach SCS about good customer service.
Thank you Emmaus!

House clearance St Albans
Paid for collection....staff turned up to quote on time picked on furniture etc on time.....Sara and her team were very polite and helpful.

Thank you

Parked in the carpark and while I went to look in the electrical shop, before heading over to the main building, my husband stayed in the car park to have a cigarette. He wanted to stand out of the way so was stood in between 2 skips. He was rapidly and aggressively approached by a member of staff asking him what he was doing. My husband explained and again was aggressively told he couldn't stand where he was standing. Given that our car was parked right next to the skip we couldn't really understand the problem. And if it was a problem, was such aggression need? My husband really thought he was squaring up for a fight!

Their comprehensive approach to aid—encompassing food, shelter, education, and emotional support—is remarkable. I had the privilege of volunteering in their after-school program, where I witnessed firsthand the positive impact they have on children’s lives. The smiles on the kids’ faces as they learned and played were priceless. It’s heartwarming to see such dedicated individuals making a significant difference every day.

Submitted an enquiry about some small shelves to donate. The initial email seemed to be friendly, and as soon as I sent photo's they ghosted me. A simple no thanks would have been more professional. This "charity" seems to be only interested in antiques and high end items rather than flat pack stuff as it seems.

I ordered and paid for sofa.Total charge £163.00 for sofa and delivery. Was old they deliver and I was happy to pay £23for delivery. I am a 72yr old woman. I was told by the lady who served me I would receive a phone call 1hr before delivery. Didn't receive a call. 3 guys came in their van and the driver who done all the talking asked where abouts outside I wanted the sofa left. I said I expected it to be brought inside as I had no way of carrying it in myself. I received a lot of verbal abuse from the driver who kept saying 'I'm homeless '. In the end they didn't even take the sofa out of the van. I went back to the shop in Cowley Oxford to complain about the abuse I received and felt it wasn't taken seriously. They said the driver was known to be very volatile. I asked why you would let somebody like that interact with customers....Didn't get any real answer. I will never set foot in one of these shops again and would definitely advise anybody looking to buy from any of these shops DONT.

Coventry. Emailed them and was telephoned back and a collection arranged promptly. Two lads came to collect (Del & Rodney ) lol. Very polite well mannered and a sense of humour. Brightened my day. I only wish I had more things to give the charity. Keep up the good work and Thank You
D Norman

Disgraceful, I won't deal with them again. I wouldn’t want the lad I spoke to in my home as he was so disrespectful, immature and unprofessional. Bearing in mind they probably deal with very vulnerable people that is a concern. I rang to donate some furniture in the Greater Manchester area, was asked to send some photos on Whats App, which I did. They replied with a collection slot between 12 & 2, I replied saying 12 was OK, but I needed to leave the property by 12.45. Or, they could come the following day. No reply. I rang to see if they were coming the following day, the phone was answered by a lad who was clearly having a laugh with the other staff (no issue with that as long as they deal with the call). He muttered Emmaus, when I explained about the collection he said it's probably on tomorrow's van, we're done for today. Before I could ask how I could check that he hung up. I rang back, again he was having a good laugh with the other staff, maybe about hanging up on me! He hung up again. I rang back again, no answer. I rang the Swinton shop to log my complaint, I was initially told to message my complaint to What’s App number I had just rang, I pointed out that the lad I had just spoken to would pick the message up, which was not adequate, it needed to go to someone more senior. The guy then took my details and said he would escalate to Jackie Smith. Let's hope Jackie does, I haven’t had a response yet. I will try the Mustard Tree, rather than let the furniture go to waste. Shocking.

They r very lovely people and thank you for all the things u to for all us and very understand for everyone

Absolutely appalling. Didn’t turn up the first time, and then a week later came and said they didn’t need any more coffee tables (really good quality coffee table we’d paid £200 for). And sofa not sellable despite being in excellent condition with fire label.
Rude and dismiss behaviour. Someone could have really benefitted from these items. Call yourselves a charity?

Very abrupt and rude on the phone when I rang to donate a set of 3 solid pine furniture in excellent condition. Put the phone down on me.

This is a great charitable organisation run by friendly, caring, empathetic, knowledgable staff. They offering a variety of really useful support services for those who are struggling financially and/or have housing needs. They can offer a meal, help with accomodation and employment. They also point you in the right direction for other support services which can help you in other ways.

W9rts customer relations ever
Book online they don't reply
You ring up for update to be told the goods are not in a sellable condition
Two lovely setteee

i tried arranging delivery for a grey arm chair, first time I tried they told me that they couldn’t do cash on delivery so I said that’s fine. I will ring back tomorrow and do a card transaction, so I rang the next day and very nice lady answered the phone but apparently the card machine was not working. Could I call back in an hour? I Thought fair enough, so i did about two or three hours to give enough time for them to fix the issue The machine was still not working so I decided to give up

About 4 days later it was still on my mind so I decided to try one last time and i rang the whitefriargate store direct like I did the week before asked if I could arrange a delivery, i told them the item wanted & it was like they didn’t want any responsibility for a transaction. The guy on the phone was abrupt. Spoke to his colleague who refused to take the order over the phone so the guy who answered said well, I guess I will have to do it then I laughed it off and proceeded to ask to arrange delivery to which he abruptly replied i had to ring their logistics department so I said fine and put the phone down. I rang logistics at 11:45 twice No answer. So I sent a message on Facebook messenger saying that I was having a bit of a headache trying to arrange delivery for piece of furniture no one replied two hours later I rang them again before they apparently close at 2 pm & nobody bothered to answer the phone.

I fully understand your a charity but what kind of business runs like this? I have only ever made a purchase once which was in person and that was for a wallet. 

Who has customer service that closes at 2pm, they hardly even bother responding on Facebook and on the one occasion I did get a response. I was told that Wednesday the 26th June was the last day they can hold the furniture as they can only hold it for a week but the thing is I only ever asked them to hold it on the Saturday so unless things have changed there is not seven days between Saturday 22nd and Wednesday 26th

Just think if you bothered to answer you would get money to help the homeless more. You need to hire someone dedicated to social media & admin. So disappointed and definitely do not recommend.

Booked for a mattress collection
Booked for a mattress collection, first time around nobody came, but the driver said he was there but didn’t knock on the door, ring the bell or even give a call, which is odd. When we called their call centre they rebooked and apologised.

At the rebooking the driver claimed to be on their way and 10 mins before they were meant to arrive they asked for pictures of the mattress, upon receiving those pictures they denied to come and collect it. The reason behind that was that it wasn’t in a sellable condition according to their manager. When asked what was wrong with it they had no answer. The mattress met the criteria to be eligible for donation.

Seemed like the driver wasn’t going to come from the start and cancelled last minute simply out of spite. Extremely rude and disrespectful, a complete waste of time. Why not ask for pictures when making the booking, if you aren’t going to collect the mattress say so from the start instead of wasting someone’s time at two separate occasions.

Very misleading information. "We restore and refurbish furniture, so if you have something in need of a bit of TLC come visit us. We also upcycle and restore many of our donations". A number of very nearly perfect items were rejected and they told me that was on account that they DIDN’T repair or upcycle and all donations had to be in perfect condition. They weren’t rude, but I felt very mislead and was annoyed for having my time wasted. Its their loss. I will never use them again.

Twice I completed the online forms offering furniture and table lamps. Twice I have been ignored. There will not be a third time. Must be nice to be a charity that can pick and choose offers as they see fit.

We donated some of our furniture to Emmaus Greenwich. The guys who came to pick up were efficient, accommodating and polite and we were very pleased with their service. The furniture were used but in good shape and they were not knit picky like some other places. They checked fire safety labels for sofa beds and bed bases and gave us information on their services and location too. Overall, happy that the furniture is going to get a new home and loved.

Emmaus Oxford is wonderful.....
and clearly bucks the trend based on other reviews.
Very fast response to my collection requests, easy pick up of freezer with professional service and paperwork, very accommodating. Have come to my rescue at the last minute when BHF let me down with their furniture collection service. Moving house is stressful enough so their attitude and flexibility are so appreciated. Thank you in particular to Darren, your sunny disposition and helpful information are also really appreciated.

Scheduled a collection of a perfectly good mattress to be told they don’t collect mattresses without a bed frame. Sent in a complaint to the Purley branch to be told they do collect mattresses. The team that were due to collect falsely informed me of a policy that doesn’t even exist according to Purley branch. Also the team told the branch they had inspected the mattress and it wasn’t in a sellable condition which was complete inaccurate. They stepped into the property, pointed to the mattress and said we don’t take them and walked out, not even looking at it and didn’t even say goodbye just walked out and closed the door. Such rudeness. When I called to complain the grumpiness of gentlemen picked up and just wasn’t interested in helping to sort it. I won’t ever donate to Emmaus again. It’s terrible that this charity has rude staff that are unhelpful and turning away perfectly good products. A family out there could have benefited from the mattress.
Never use Emmaus it’s not worth the hassle and stress they cause you.