Hello and welcome to FUtube.
First up tonight we have a customer who’s unhappy with well known furniture retailer
Freedom!
Ok, not that unhappy.
But not far off I want to say a big FU to Freedom Australia.
A couple of years ago,
Gabriella paid Freedom Australia about four and a half thousand dollars for a Dahlia sofa
set which was upholstered with a fabric called
“Shell Austria”?
Hmmm maybe that’s why Freedom says the Dahlia has a “sophisticated silhouette”?
Anyway Approximately 2 months after getting the sofas,
I began to notice the fabric bobbling and pilling.
Now I don’t actually think of bobbling as a problem, though that is just a personal opinion.
pilling on the other hand - which is where small balls of fabric appear all over the upholstery - can
that be a problem?
Yes it can.
Gabriella says the pilling was quite bad.
Tho it could’ve been worse.
The pilling on the sofa from the Freedom TV ad
was so extreme that the presenter actually slid off.
In july of 2017, we finally had had enough we contacted Freedom again.
They sent out an independent technician to do a report. And by “independent”, they mean a “specialist”
contractor with 100% Freedom … dependent income.
And the technician took a bold stand in support of Freedom.
He determined that it was not a warranty issue Cos the thing is, on their website Freedom
says: Temporary pilling can happen with some fabrics.
This isn’t considered a fault And Freedom told us the sofa came with this
“Information label” Pilling should not be considered as a fault.
“Should not be considered a fault”?
The mind bobbles But that’s exactly what freedom told Gabriella.
It is with regret that we confirm that following the independent site inspection, the pilling
is not deemed a manufacturing fault.
And this shows, yet again, why the consumer guarantees in the Consumer Law are superior
to a warranty from a manufacturer or a store.
With a warranty in a contract, the business can try to just define problems away like
in that Freedom “Information Label”.
Killing should not be considered as a fault Fair enough.
But you can’t “additional information” your way out of the consumer guarantee of
acceptable quality, which includes being reasonably durable.
The standard is what’s reasonable not what the business says.
Sure, “Wear and tear” is inevitable with any product.
(Actually “wear” is, I’m not so sure about tear).
But a little bit of pilling won’t always be a product failure.
And there are ways you can deal with pilling yourself:
there are de-pilling tools, and DIY options.
Apparently, you can shave the pills off sofa fabric
Though I didn’t find that very effective.
But Freedom is not free to just say any and all pilling is not their problem.
Gabriella thought the pilling on her couch was a major
failure.
Plenty of other Freedom customers seem to think the same thing.
the pilling was overwhelming … fabric quality was poor …. The couch started pilling badly
from day one … within 1 month we started noticing pilling … within the first month
it started pilling and fraying … all the cushions were covered in pills … severe
pilling occurred after just three months … the cushions have started pilling really badly
But even though Gabriella was a paid-up member of Freedom’s customer loyalty program, Freedom
did nothing.
we will not be taking this claim any further Freedom!
Gabriella didn’t give in though.
She complained to Consumer Affairs, cos she knew - as another FUtuber once said
freedom is not given it must be won And eventually, Freedom was defeated!
Hooray!
That sounds wrong.
Anyway, we were told by Freedom’s Bobblehead of Marketing
there has been a breakdown in our customer service process
Gabriella elected to receive a full refund.
So the happy ending to this FU is that Gabriella has had her Freedom taken away from her.
You can take your beloved sofa too!
Our next FU is about … MOO?
OMO!
And Jon’s got some dirt on them.
I noticed that Omo Ultimate powder was more expensive than the standard Omo.
He’s right.
$22 per 2kg box, versus $20.
Now that might seem fair enough.
After all, Omo Ultimate is meant to be “Omo’s most advanced laundry powder formulation
ever”!
What an incredible time to be alive.
But as Jon points out.
Omo Ultimate requires one-and-a-half scoops per wash whereas regular Omo requires
one.
Meaning it’s more than one-and-a-half times as expensive per wash as regular Omo.
And the thing is, both products claim to have “Built-in pre-treaters”
“Amazing first-time stain removal” and to be “recommended by leading machine
manufacturers”.
So I’m curious - is OMO Ultimate the same as regular OMO only they want us
to use more of it?
Great question Jon.
Such a great question in fact, that we put it to Unilever - the makers of Omo.
And they said OMO Ultimate laundry powder has more
enzymes and oxygen bleach than our OMO Active Clean powder.
These are the more expensive components which are the reason for the increased washing
efficacy of OMO Ultimate.
Hold on a minute - if it’s got “increased washing efficacy” why do you need to use
more of it?
Ahhhh
In 2017, Choice tested 109 different types of
laundry detergent, Omo Ultimate front loader powder scored 80%, and regular
Omo powder scored 79%.
So by choice's measure, Omo Ultimate gives you a 1% better wash but costs 66% more.
That sounds like the ‘ultimate’ rip-off.
It does a bit, doesn’t it?
Until next week, DINGO GOTH
Until next week ...ergh
Until next week...
GOODNIGHT!