Terrible Customer Experience
I rarely leave negative reviews, but unfortunately my experience with Delaco was disappointing from start to finish.
I paid a visit to the brand new Sydney warehouse on a Monday and met with a friendly worker who helped me with a quote. I was told stock was in Queensland, but should arrive by the end of the week if ordered that same day. I paid for the order later that evening.
On Wednesday and after I received no correspondence aside from an order confirmation, I followed up with Delaco and they admitted they were confused about the location of their stock, but they said the order would be shipped that same day. It wasn’t. Thursday evening, I received a Delaco branded email confirming shipment with an estimated delivery on Friday. I took the day off and waited - it didn’t arrive. This became a running theme. I took Monday off, no delivery. Tuesday, no delivery. Despite remaining in contact with Delaco throughout the process and being assured the delivery would arrive by Tuesday, it didn’t, and the delivery issues were never resolved. They even worsened.
Come Tuesday evening, and after three days spent waiting, I wrote to Delaco and requested the order be cancelled and redirected to their warehouse, with a full refund provided. An employee phoned me the following morning and apologised. I was told they understood completely and would feel exactly the same in my position, and they confirmed I’d receive the refund. At no point during that conversation was I advised that the delivery fee would be withheld.
To make matters worse, the courier attempted delivery 9 full business days after I paid for the order, and 2 days after Delaco confirmed the order had already been cancelled, suggesting there were significant communication issues between Delaco and its contracted courier. Based on my experience, Delaco believes its customers should be responsible for their poor business decisions.
Delaco ultimately refunded the purchase price but retained the $129 delivery charge, despite the courier service failing to deliver the product within the estimated timeframe(s) and despite the order being completely cancelled.
Customers shouldn’t be expected to absorb the cost of a delivery service that fails to provide the service paid for. As Delaco chooses its own courier, that commercial relationship should not become the customer’s financial burden when things go wrong. After researching the product further while this was unfolding, I turned to a local Aesthetic Wall installer in Sydney who sourced higher quality paneling at a significantly lower cost. It does exist - don’t believe Delaco’s marketing hype.
Based on my experience, I would never recommend Delaco. The customer service experience was stunted, they appeared to constantly be chasing their tail, and even when they acknowledged their mistakes and agreed to provide a full refund, they didn’t provide it. The company’s final resolution falls short of what is actually fair. Just avoid them completely and don’t be fooled by the slick social media posts. Use them as inspiration and move on.