Coopers Sewing Machines

[PPC]

Having read some of the recent posts regarding how wonderful Coopers sewing machines are, I feel I need to bring back my original post to the front of this thread. All the excuses used by Cooper's are just that, excuses, they have no respect for the consumer whatsoever and I can hand on heart say my original account is true and correct.

I still have all the original emails from Mr Jay Cooper himself, I have the classic email telling me my machine had arrived back at Coopers damaged and that I would have to pay for this and was only offered a part refund. Classic Cooper tactics you will find reviewed all over the internet.

Sadly the only way to deal with Mr Cooper is to sink to his level.. Don't get involved in his childish, offensive behaviour, just go straight to consumers advice and put it all in writing - He really isn't worth the stress he causes.

My advice, ignore both the negative and positive comments about Coopers you read on the internet and ignore Coopers too, don't take a chance with them.. Spend a few extra £'s and go to a reputable store such as John Lewis but avoid Coopers.

The negatives throughout this thread are consistent with my experience with Jay Cooper..

The internet has given us all more choice, and it has also given the consumer a voice and enabled us to make an educated choice. Had I have read the reviews on Coopers before making my foolish mistake and buying from them, I'd have gone elswhere..

I got a full refund because I stood up to Jay Cooper.

I have had the misfortune to have dealings with Coopers Sewing Machines Ltd this very day. It all started last week when I spoke with their sales staff who seemed very helpful and friendly at the time, they offered me a 30 day money back trial period which I felt was fair and worked for me as I wasn't sure if the machine was right for my needs.

So, I paid as I always do with a credit card and proceeded to buy a sewing machine from Coopers. I felt happy with their promise of after sales and awaited my machine. Having been assured the machine I had purchased was right for the intended job I looked forward to it's arrival.

The machine arrived last Thursday as promised and I eagerly un-packed it to try it out.. I immediately knew it was not suitable because it bounced around when I applied speed. I emailed Coopers and asked who I should address the return too and spotted the change in their manner. I then did my research and found all the horror stories about this Company.

I decided to take a deep breath and start the returns process and was pointed to their returns policy, no help just, look at the policy. I emailed again and was told I needed a returns number which I had to get from the returns dept. I phoned the returns dept and politely said "Hello, can I have a returns number please?" The chap asked am I returning for repair or refund, I said refund, he replied "5629" and put the phone down! I was shocked

I sent the parcel with UPS and 3 days pasted without contact - I checked the tracking and the parcel was accepted by Coopers and signed for with no notes so I assumed all was well. Got a phone call this morning from Mr D Henderson informing me the machine had arrived and it was damaged and required repair at my expense and that I had to claim this cost from UPS. This man was so rude and obnoxious, I asked, why was the package accepted if it was so badly damaged and why didn't the reciever note this on UPS's paperwork. He said they can't do that as they have so many machines in daily.

Stop there I said, this is consistent with the threads I've read on the internet about Coopers Sewing Machines and I'm not about to get involved in this. I said I'll speak with trading standards, my credit card company and then set up a small claims in the County Courts. This didn't bother him, he told my point blank I was not getting my money back and that he would send pictures of the box.

He put the phone down and I contacted trading standards who were very clear that Coopers had to prove the box and machine they spoke of was mine and that it was damaged by me or my transport providers. TS stated very clearly, Coopers are now making a claim against me and UPS, the onus is on Coopers to prove it.

The pictures arrived by email of a machine on a work bench which could have belonged to anyone.

I went back to Coopers and was told they would repair the machine and deduct the cost from my refund - My response was very clear that I did not accept any responsibility for this without proof and that I expect a full refund without and deduction. I quoted the conversation with TS and informed Coopers I would be sending a letter shortly once TS had emailed the copy to me.

Within 1.5 hours they refunded me the full amount.

I spoke with Jay Cooper and D Henderson, both of whom are very un-professional, rude and aggressive people. It's clear that this company have certain tactics to prevent people returning items and having a refund.

These people should be held to account and writen complaints need to be sent in the event of issues arriving from Coopers Sewing Machines and they need to be investigated. The lady who wrote a post earlier about the £25 bobbin charge, it's outrageous they have done this, how many others are bullied by this company.

I made a complaint to the Police, who in turn pointed me in the direction of the Action Fraud, we need to make complaints, even if we only get a crime number.

Remember, you don't have to deal with Coopers aggressive tactics on the phone, refuse to speak to them and put everything in writing, but do tack action. I think they do this with everyone in the hope the customer accepts what they say and keep the machine. I'm not qualified in consumer law, but this is my experience from today.

I've emailed BBC Watchdog also, you never know!

 

[trickygj]

Still waiting for my promised day out at Coopers new showroom! I think when the question of expenses were raised it was a step too far

 

[cupcake78]

I purchased a sewing machine from singerdirect.co.uk but it turns out that I was actually buying from Cooper Sewing Machines Ltd. This is such a terrible experience as a customer.
I am buying a brand new machine but I got sent a machine that other people have already used, I got sent replacement but it was no different it was a damaged one would not sew the stitches as described and after a few try it just did not do any sewing at all.

They also have got a terrible customer service They have missed up on delivery dates and no one would own up any mistake, one person keep saying I am trying to help you, how can it be called help when they keep sending you faulty machines and missing me about. The free gifts also that says £100 worth it's crop don't believe that I can buy it from the market for a tenner and I didn’t even get sent the whole lot they just keep saying we will send it now and will be with you in 2 days but after several calls it turns out they don’t have any in stock. All in all such a terrible company to deal with. purchased it from this website as I was going for a reliable name of Singer it turns out they are not connected to singer. I also found out that they have other website called sewingmachinediscount.co.uk and onlinesewing.co.uk. I would have been better off buying it from high street. If it doesn't work return it and no questions asked and no stress. But with them its just a complete screw up. I just wanted a sewing machine and I ended up in some kind of a legal fight involving a third party just to get my money back.

After reading other peoples comments, about them being rude. I remenber in the several conversations I have with them I was told once that he has to terminate the call because he has got other customer to speak to. When I got feed up speaking to the customer services I asked to speak to the manager so I was put through and when I speak to him he was so defensive and arrogant, he would not even let me speak and find out the situation, when I ask if he is the manager he said he is the accounts manager he deals with money not with sewing machines. Then he put me through this guy who just keep saying I want to help you, he sounds like he was on a script and could not say anything else other than what is on the script. How I wish I have read up first before I made the purchase from them. I could have saved myself days of stress.

 

[trickygj]

It would be nice for the owner of Coopers to reply to some of the allegations on this forum. When I spoke to him last year, his response was that it was 'crazy' that we should believe that any of his staff behave rudely and that the posts were down to competitors trying to damage his business.

That may be true but if he would like to contact this forum I am sure that some of the posters would be prepared to provide details so we could see if this is true or not?

 

[cupcake78]

Things happen and people makes mistakes that's inevitable as we are just humans. Where Cooper go wrong and they don't realise is the way they deal with the problem when it arise. One bad feedback from one customer is one too many, I am sure there are a lot of people out there who were victims of this kind of treatment and just didn't have the time or probably can't face anymore hussle that is why they kept quite. All this people here that had problems won't waste time saying bad things about them if they genuinely have bad experience with them. What happened to had angered me so much and I actually had sleepless nights. They way they missed me about and they wanted me to go around there schedule is unforgivable. What MR Cooper should do to find out if this are all tru or not is ask somebody he knows to purchase a machine from them anonymously and then wether there is a problem or not ask them to ring up and tell them there is a problem with the machine and want the money back, let see what happens. If I only have thought of it I should have put the phone on speaker and recorded the conversations. Maybe a tip to future customers. Having said that if Mr. Cooper himself is rude with what others have experienced then we can't expect his workers to be any different. When I have spoken to the Accounts manager and he was so arrogant and would not let me speak, I thought to myself, if a manager speaks to a customer like that then I have got no chance. As to competitors, you don't need to ruin others reputation to get business you just have to build your own good reputation so Mr Cooper can forget that theory.

 

[Witch consumer]

Sometimes you get a bad customer service rep, it has happened to us all from a whole range of companies, but when you get everyone within a company displaying the same "we doing nothing about it" attitude, then you know it comes from the top, it's the way they train their staff to work, no amount of complaints will change that, but maybe the odd court case would.

 

[Tony]

This story was on Watchdog tonight - you can see it on iPlayer.

 

[johnrob]

So glad this has been exposed by the bbc watchdog. It prompted me to look online and have been horrified by people's experiences.

I am buying my mum a machine for christmas. I now know one place NOT to look.

I hope people dont get bullied anymore and they all get their money back.

I always take people on their word if they offer a certain offer like 30 days - no quibble. There needs to be more action by trading standards to close them down and all their other web domains.

Good luck

 

[Edward Duncan]

Delighted to see that Coopers finally made it onto Watchdog and Rogue Traders. Hopefully this now clears all suggestion that the complaints that are posted on this and similar websites are false.

My contact with Coopers was quite simply the most shocking consumer experience I have ever had - by several magnitudes.

It will be interesting to see whether complaints on this forum and others have bean learnt....or not.... I truly hope they have.

 

[DaveofSussex]

I am amazed that people use the internet to buy sewing machines. The internet is fine for buying books , dvds, cds etc - things you do not need after sales service for.

However, sewing machines are not them - they are complex and even they most competent sewer will find problems arise at some stage. Having a local dealer on hand is vital when purchasing a sewing machine.

Just ask the manufacturers - they all recommend going to a local dealer to purchase.

 

[Threadbare]

Unfortunately these problems are nothing new. I had an unpleasant experience with Coopers in 2005. I ordered a sewing machine for my mother over the telephone and paid by credit card after seeing Coopers' website. However the machine turned out to be far too complicated for my mum to use. I called to arrange to return it for a refund in accordance with my rights under the Distance Selling Regulations. I was told that I had to go to the shop in North London in person to get a refund as opposed to sending the machine back. I explained that was not convenient and was told I could go on Saturday. I live in London but what if I had lived in Newcastle? After collecting the machine from my mum I realised that I had left the receipt behind and called the shop to check whether they wanted me to go back to collect it. When Mr Cooper realised I wanted a refund and not an exchange he became very rude and hang up. With some trepidation I returned the item in person and I was given a full refund after a thorough inspection of the unused machine however the "manager" then said he had a message for me from Mr Cooper which was that I was never to set foot in his shop again and that if I tried to buy from them online they would refuse to serve me! I asked why when I had done nothing wrong. Apparently I had "misled" Mr Cooper who had come in all the way to North London from Brighton because he thought I wanted an exchange! I reported them to Trading Standards as they had failed to inform me of my right to a refund at the point of sale and their bullying tactics in banning people who were trying to return unsuitable items were not in keeping with the spirit of the law. TS said they would keep a watch on the shop but unfortunately as was seen on Watchdog last week and from the other posts on this forum Mr Cooper continues to act as if he is exempt from complying with consumer law and providing courteous customer service.

 

[d-c]

Actually, our experience with Coopers was very good. I and my wife decided to buy a new sewing machine and looked at various reviews on makes/types. I found that Coopers through Amazon and saw they had hundreds of 100% Amazon ratings. I then called Coopers to seek advice on which type to go for, as we wanted one that could cope with heavy material but would be suitable for all our family. I was put through to a very helpful chap who explained the pros and cons of various models and so I ordered a machine that afternoon. After ordering, I called back with a couple more questions and asked for the same person. He answered the questions and said the machine was already shipped. I asked his name and he said it was Jay Cooper. In the meantime, out of curiosity, I looked at more reviews and discovered more info about Coopers and was shocked by the negative reports. I hoped that the order and the machine would be OK.

Well, the new sewing machine arrived the next morning at 08:20 with Parcel Force i.e. very fast delivery ! It was well packed in its customised expanded polystyrene container and cardboard box and has all the features that we will need. I tested it on a piece of denim to make a hem and it had no problem with that with plenty of power. The accessories and extra needles are good and there was a free box of 50 threads and pack of 3 scissors which I wasn’t expecting. The free extended warranty is great too.

I spoke with Jay Cooper since then to thank them for the good service and advice. Again he was fine with me and said not to hesitate if we needed any advice or assistance. I know it’s unusual for a managing director to assist customers directly. I think they have around 30 people in the company.

Although there have been some extremely unfortunate incidents, my impression is that Coopers are passionate about sewing machines, with a lot of in-house expertise, experience and enthusiasm gained over the years. We felt it was better to buy from a specialist company rather than a supermarket.

There is a lot of very positive feedback on Amazon (465 lifetime ratings : 99% positive. There are 297 ratings, 100% positive in the last year with 4.9 stars), so let’s hope that continues.

 

[d-c]

Well, our experience was this month, only just over a week ago : ordered on 8th Oct 2012 and delivered on 9th Oct 2012. We focussed on the most recent reviews when we decided what to buy and where to buy.

cheers

 

[Debbie]

I believe in complaining and praising when appropriate and not until after I made an impulse purchase whilst on the phone checking a price did I bother to review the company (Coopers). I was horrified to find their TV appearance and feedback all over the web. All i can say is that they must be working hard to remove their stigma of Watchdog, I cannot praise them enough. I ordered an ex demo model and it arrived promptly (3 days). I was not pleased with the machine and asked them to take it back and I chose another (new) machine. They collected the one I ordered & delivered the new machine all within 24 hours. That is great service in anybody's book!! The new machine looks fab and comes with some extras they have included.
I cannot wait to start using it and as far as I am concerned they offer a first rate service and everyone I spoke to on the phone were polite & helpful.
Based on my experience I can only recommend them and give 9/10

 

[charleskim]

AVOID THEM!! I did not do research and unfortunately bought a machine from them. Not only are they rude, but they dare to be threatening on the phone. I missed payment (my fault I know) - however they broke all the creditor rules in the book. It was like speaking to a loan shark you had signed over your liver to. That bad. AVOID them.

And that wasn't the only poor experience with them during the time. 2013 and still awful.

 

[AlisonB]

I got carried away with their cheap prices and free gift offer and placed the order before checking the company out online. After my order was placed I checked them out and was extremely worried by what I read regarding their after sales and customer service. However, I have to say my order was placed late on Monday, arrived on Thursday as promised. No free gift included but I rang this morning and they are sending it out. The service I have received has been good, the customer service staff have been helpful. The only drawbacks I have found to this company are that a) there is no order progress email notification so I had to ring to find out when my order was to be delivered but the customer service chap I spoke to did ring me straight back to say that it was being delivered that day and b) I think the free gifts should have been dispatched with the sewing machine. Overall I have had good service from this company, no-one has been unpleasant on the phone. I can only think that hopefully since their Watchdog appearance, this company has overhauled its customer service policy. I would certainly use them again. I have yet to try out the machine, as being new to sewing, I need other equipment like scissors etc, and haven't bought them as they are included in the free gift. I may come back and update this post if the machine doesnt work or I experience poor customer service, but I am a very satisfied customer at the moment.

 

[sparkx]

I have just received my sewing machine from this firm, of which I haven't any complaints, yet. However the £100 worth of free gifts is total false advertising. I never received these, after 3 phone calls to the company and three promises of them arriving on days, which they didn't, they finally turned up, after I threatened to return the machine if I didn't get them. How disappointing, a cheap set of cotton threads worth about a tenner and a set of pound shop scissors. I don't know how they can get away with it. I told them of my disappointment over their chat facility and they didn't care one iota, they just replied with, oh well, never mind. I am more upset because the only reason I chose to buy from this company was the free gift offer. I hate being taken for an idiot. I would not recommend buying from this firm at all, not when they don't respect your custom.

 

[Rebecca23]

Hello, I too last week had a very bad experience with COOPERS, I was told I was a pain in the bum, these are the eact words used by Mr Cooper, I have never felt
so upset. Yes, I ordered the wrong sewing machine and was then told there would be a 20% credit card fee, they cannot do this under the distance selling regs of 200, the machine had not even been despatched. This man was so rude, he had me in tears. I contacted trading standards and within half an hour I got a call from JAY COOPER who said he would upgrade the machine at no extra cost, guess he was worried. I apologised to the company for ordering the wrong machine. I was also told that I fuelled the situation, I wonder how I could have done that, I have never had such bad verbal abuse over the phone from an internet company. The suppliers of these well known sewing machines should stop dealing with COOPERS, they are so rude. Their testimonials are questionable to say the least. If I ever receive my sewing machine, I will contact all their suppliers and make it known how abusive they are, I will also contact sewing forums and let them know of my experience. You only have to look at various websites to see how customers are treated. I was given an excuse that the man that was rude to me was 90....so what...about time he retired then. Ity is disgusting. I will do all in my power to shame this awful company. They asked me for positive feedback should I receive the machine ok....no way.

 

[Time for the truth]

For anyone thinking of buying a sewing machine online, avoid this company at all costs. Mr Cooper and his company is every bit like the majority of people on here have found....rude, verbally aggressive, threatening abusive ...the list could go on. Having been named and shamed by Watchdog in the past this guy now operates online services under the name of sewing machine discount and doubtless other 'trading as' company names. If you have any doubt check the company registration number and see what name you get. It seems that despite loads of complaints (evident from various online searches) Trading Standards have done nothing to prevent this rouge from continuing to trade - disgraceful.
By the way, don't get sucked into there are different people in the company who might be rude now and again (like Mr Cooper senior 90+ years old), they are all the same one person - Jay Cooper (and a variety of other variations on the Cooper name). The guy has a serious problem in the way he deals with customers you will not believe just how terrible this is until you want a refund, return something or dare to question why your goods have not arrived. A saving of a few £'s on the selling price will probably end up coating you hundreds . For those who have had a positive experience - I hope it lasts- especially if you need some repair or or service in the future.

 

[Mgs271]

This is crazy. I have just had dealings with this company and I am a very strong person but this Mr Cooper was aggressive, rude and a down right nightmare. He kept talking over the top of me and when I told him I was shocked to say the least on how he spoke to me, he replied I'm the company director and I can say what I like and said he had been drinking(WHAT THE HELL!!) and kept saying BYE and hung up on me. I was so in shock I could hardly speak. I called back and then was talking to his son, but sounded like the same man and he said his father was retiring the day and that it was his 70th birthday. They had me so confused as I didn't know what I was thinking, saying or doing and had me in tears. Unfortunately I just done my research on this company after all this happened and I'm even more cross at myself for not doing my research as I am normally so careful. Please do not even go on their web site and I applied for a discount that was taken off at checkout but they said that I didn't enter it but thankfully I have paid by credit card so I am protected and the 1st payment has been sent with the discount taken off. I have contacted trading standards, watchdog, creditcard company, and will not stop until this company learns manners. They have no right to take our hard earned money and talk to anyone like this. All they do is be rude, aggressive, blame you for being aggressive which is impossible when you cannot get a word in edgeways. What gets me is that there are complaints about this company going back as far as 2008!!!!. What is going on with trading standards that this company has got away with this behaviour for over 17 YEARS!!!!!!!! People we need to make our voices heard and help protect other people from dealing with the abusive company. I am still dealing with issues that have arose as I just placed my order on 14/5/15 and I will keep you all posted as I have a few legal options that I will be looking into. Another thing Mr Cooper tried to hit me with was unfortunately I had opted for the easyplan option and he tried to tell me that I had given false information as it was only available to mainland UK and I live in N.I. but on further inspection and advice from Trading Standards and legal,I did not give false information as I had given all my correct details, names, address etc and was never prompted to read any T&Cs and didn't even see them until he has told me they were on the website. All these people want to do is bully and intimidate you but do not let them. They will try anything. I gave him all truthful information but as he has sent out my order he has accepted my information and has accepted my contract for 3 payments. Also there is no point in sending back the machine as they keep the 1st instalment as admin charges will probably say it was returned damaged anyway. A nightmare is an understatement.