UPDATE January 25, 2010: For nearly four years, this has been my most popular post, so I wanted to add a disclaimer right here. The intent of this post is not to rant against Ashley Furniture as a company or even the local expression of it here in Lafayette. The local Ashley Homestore owner is quite a good person according to all the people I have met who know him. However, I still think this story is worth sharing for two reasons:
- This is one of my first experiences with Lafayette area businesses, and it raises the questions of how a church planter should approach relationships with those businesses that operate with apparently unfair practices.
- This is also a post that addresses the basic question of how Christians should respond when they are wronged.
If you are unsatisfied with this post or offended by it, please write me and interact with me about it or post your own comment, but know that in the end, I simply went along with the demands of the company even though I thought and still think they were unfair.
Here’s the rest of this post as it originally was.
Where do you draw the line between being a loving, self-sacrificial Christian and a pushover who doesn’t mind getting ripped off?
My natural tendency is to make concessions a little more easily than needed probably because I want people to like me, but when I get pushed over the edge, I don’t hesitate to get firm with people. I’ve heard that is a standard characteristic of people who have ADD (which my wife suspects I have).
Here’s my story…
A couple weeks ago (April 15 to be exact), my wife went to Ashley Furniture in Lafayette and decided on a particular set of furniture that she wanted to get for our new house. Now, the pieces in question weren’t her favorite of all that she saw at the different furniture stores in the area, but they were the best of the cheapest, and she signed the paperwork to buy four pieces of furniture for a total cost of $1442.66
Their policy at that store is that all sales are final, there is a non-refundable deposit of 50% due at the time of purchase and the rest is due 48 hours before the stuff is delivered. So, she gave them our credit card, and they charged us $721.33. She signed the invoice and came home.
A couple days later, they left a voice mail message for us saying that they had “undercharged” us by accident and the real price of one of the pieces of furniture was really $70 more than what they wrote on the invoice, and therefore, before we would be able to have the furniture delivered, we would have to pay the new balance of not $721.33, but something like $790.
This is where it gets sticky. The price on the invoice is truly $70 less for the couch than what it should have been. I was feeling that if Jen really wanted the couch and they honestly mischarged us, then I was willing to give them the difference, but Jen felt otherwise. Her position was that she signed a document with the prices and the items listed clearly, and she felt that document was binding. Not to mention, she actually liked some other furniture better, so if they weren’t willing to abide by the signed invoice, it should be considered void and we should get our deposit back. Mostly she was mad because one of the sales agents made it sound like they had already charged us the extra $70 without our authorization.
Ok, so I chose to defend my wife, and I called the store that week. I spoke to the sales agent and later the sales manager and said very simply that if they wanted to uphold the original sales agreement, we would too, but if they weren’t willing to do that, we wanted our money back. They had made the mistake, and so it was their problem to deal with their salesman about not ours. The sales manager wasn’t interested in working with us at all, so I asked to speak with her supervisor.
She told me the supervisor would call me back, and a few days later, we got a voice mail indicating that the supervisor had called back.
Now, I’m not interested in ripping them off. A few weeks ago, I was in Circuit City, and I bought a video game. It said $9.99 on the label, but when I gave it to the lady at the counter, it rang up for $1.99. Surprised, I made sure to double-check the price with the clerk before I left the store. Yesterday, I left a store and noticed that a clerk had mistakenly not charged me for something in my cart, so I went back in and had him ring it up. I’ve heard the story of Abraham Lincoln walking miles to return a penny. I value honesty. But I also know that stores that deal in high ticket items regularly negotiate prices, and if a fellow at the Guitar Center rings me up for $70 less than the list price of a product, I say thank you and don’t sweat it at all.
So today, I called Ashley again, and this time, they were willing to make a deal with me. They offered to give us a different couch (different color, style, etc.) for the same price as what was on the invoice so we wouldn’t have to pay the extra $70 or they would cancel the contract and charge us a 20% restocking fee.
I told the sales manager (the supervisor was unavailable again) that such a deal was unacceptable to us and we either wanted them to abide by the invoice, or return our deposit. She was resistant to either of those options, wouldn’t even acknowledge them as a possibility, and so I clearly said that I was disappointed with them and didn’t want to do business with them ever again. I told her that I didn’t think her store needed to have the negative publicity of a disgruntled customer giving them a bad name, and that I was willing to make use of whatever legal means I had to get my deposit back. I have disputed fraudulent charges on my credit card before, and I know how the system works.
She told me that she would no longer talk with me about it and would only talk with my wife since she was the one who made the purchase. So I had Jen call her back and she told her basically that she needed to pay attention to me, and the last phone call ended with her telling me she would have one of her supervisors call me back.
I have not heard from her supervisor yet, so I have filed a complaint with the Ashley Furniture headquarters in Wisconsin, and I have left a voice mail with the owner of the Lafayette store.
I can fully understand them not wanting to give us a piece of furniture for $70 less than their list price, but if there was a mistake like this, why won’t they give us our deposit back? $1442.66 is a lot of money to give to a store you can’t trust.
What would you do?
Update:
I just called Suzanne at the store and she said I only have two options. Either we pay the $70 extra and schedule a time for delivery, or we cancel the order and get our deposit refunded minus about $180 in restocking fees. She says the 20% restocking fee clause is clearly described on the back of the receipt we signed, but she still maintains that their store is not bound to uphold the front of the receipt we signed.
I’m so irritated by the whole mess that I wrote a letter to the editor of the Lafayette Journal and Courier.
Have you ever felt ripped off from a company you thought you could trust? Of course, we all have. In most cases, though, it’s just a simple mistake that is easily settled by a brief conversation with the manager or the sales agent responsible for the transaction.
I’ve been on both sides of the issue before, and I know how important it is for businesses to maintain good faith with their customers.
Recently, though, I’ve lost my faith in Ashley Furniture. Sometimes, it’s the simplest things that cause you to lose your trust in a company.
My wife bought some furniture from the local Ashley Furniture store here in Lafayette, and according to their practices put down a 50% deposit. The remainder would be due when the furniture was ready to be delivered.
It’s now two weeks later, and the furniture is ready to be delivered, but the store is claiming we owe them the 50% plus another $70 because the sales associate who wrote up the original invoice made a mistake on the pricing of one of the items.
Now this is really not that big of a deal, but we don’t have $70 extra dollars to throw around, and we don’t want to buy some of the pieces without getting the whole set, but the store managers won’t void out our order unless we pay them a 20% restocking fee which would amount to about $180.
The manager told me that the 20% restocking fee is clearly described on the back of the pink sheet my wife signed. My problem is that they want us to abide by the back of the signed invoice, but they don’t want to abide by the front of the invoice.
I understand that businesses have policies and products have prices, but when something goes wrong in the process of a transaction, shouldn’t there be some manager somewhere who understands when circumstances require special consideration?
So now, my options are to pay the restocking fee and end up with nothing, pay the extra $70 and get the furniture, or pay a smaller amount and get just the part of the order that was correctly represented on the invoice. Either way, I feel I’m getting ripped off by a company that should care about its customers. Why should we be forced to abide by the back of the signed agreement when the store won’t abide by the front of the same paper?
Give me some feedback here.
Am I completely out of line asking for them to honor the prices on the front of the receipt or void the whole transaction? Should I just pay the $70 and be done with it? Should I pay the $180 restocking fee and move on to a better company? As it stands right now, they are holding on to $721.33 of our money, and I feel I need to do something about it.
Why should you have to pay $180 to fix a $70 mistake made by an employee of the company? And if I were you, I wouldn’t even consider paying the $70 to get the furniture because of an employee’s error. I think you’re doing the right thing by taking your complaint even higher. Somebody will eventually listen to you, especially if you don’t pay them by freezing the charge.
Amy and I had a similar problem with the installation of a new dishwasher recently. We had to have three installers come to the house before everything was hooked up properly. Everything was working when we signed, by the way, but broke down after the installers left. Amy was persistent and we were able to get almost all of our money back for the installation charge.
For anyone in our area, do NOT let anyone from Quality First Installations into your home!!! Their name is wholly inaccurate!
J just recently purchased a bureau/ mirror/ 2 nitestands & headboard / footboard w slats for platform bed. Delivey came a 3 weeks later. They couldn’t put bed together.invoice numbers were a mistake but they took the CORRECT HEADBORED but left rails/ slats & other paraphernalia in middle of my bedroom for 3 weeks. I had to sleep on air mattress in my living room for 4 weeks. Couldn’t get thru on phones . Drove to store 6x to get some answers. I still don’t have right pieces to beset & management never called me back. I’m in process of disputing w my cc company about Ashley furniture .HORRIBLE Company to do business with & would NEVER BUY ANYTHING IN an ASHLEY STORE Again.
Hey Chuck,
Thanks for the encouragement, but it looks like Jen and I are just going to have to give in. I’ve contacted the corporate office, and they don’t care. I’ve contacted the owner of the store, and he doesn’t care. I’ve contacted the local newspaper and local TV station, and they don’t care. So it’s either pay the $70 and get furniture, pay $180 and get nothing, or pursue some silly legal action and possibly ruin my witness in the area along with spending a lot of money on a gamble.
I’ve heard some other horror stories about Ashley Furniture, though, so I really hope this local store starts taking customer satisfaction a little more seriously.
So, we went ahead and paid the $70 and got the furniture delivered last week. It’s pretty nice stuff, but I just keep thinking about the way we got it.
That’s too bad to hear that this happened to you! You had no fault in this whatsoever… The Customer is always right! Age old adage… It’s ridiculous, because if you had filled out the order and put the wrong colour code, etc., that front would be upheld, regardless, so why when their employee messed up, didn’t they step up to the plate for $70, out of a corporate pocket! You went to an Ashley store, not a little mom and pop store, so trust me, that $70 only cut their profits by that much, and they probably still made close to 100% profit on the deal. I have found phone is difficult… Go into the store on a Saturday and make your point, make it heard… At least now, you may get a refund, you have the furniture, it is no longer being held ransom… So, go to the department, make a fuss in front of other “potential customers” and see how quickly they try to find $70 for you in lieu of losing thousands from others. It’s not seedy, in fact, it’s an act of kindness making potential suckers aware of the shady practices.
My 2 cents!
Hi Jeff,
Your not alone, I just had a simular incident happen with Ashley Furniture as well. We ordered furniture which was supposed to be in between 4-6 weeks (May 20, 2006), yet at the same time was given an earlier date of April 23 for delivery, then another date and another and another. After over a dozen phone calls to Ashley the sales person finally called back only to leave a messge and never follow up with an additional call. Everytime I called I was given another type of excuse. On the day of that the 6 weeks was up I went into Ashley and asked to speak with a manager, he then gave me another excuse stating that the delivery personnel were basically on strike due to an ownership change and stated my furniture was being loaded as we speak in Wisconsin and that I might get it in about 2-6 weeks. My family of 5 have been having to use bean bags as furniture, my parents cant come over and stay because there’s no where to sit, etc.
The manager with his car salesman attitude offered me a 100 dollar certificate to do a “SHOPPING SPREE” that day or I could have the showroom floor furniture that had been there for two years delivered to me(to keep me as a customer). Um, I dont recall seeing anything in Asley that was under $100 with the excpetion of a flower arrangement and I certainly dont want 2 year old furniture without a discount and a full warranty. We are now in the process of trying to get our money back from them.
In the mean time, the same day I went into Ashley to speak with the manager, I went ahead and went to some other furniture stores to see what they had, I happened to go into an Ashley outlet store (it wasnt posted as Ashley, it was a mom and pop store that accepted Ashley’s discotinued and damaged goods) I just so happened to run across a piece of the same furniture we had ordered and low and behold guess what the tag said, “DISCONTINUED”. That particular line was discontiued on 10/28/2005 by the manufacturer, I ordered the furniture on April 8, 2006. In my opinion they never intended to ship my furniture and only give me the run around and many excused. I too am a Christian and it was very hard to keep my composure after being lied to and ignored.
Ashley’s customer service is the worst. They are surely kind and helpful when your there but when you have a problem they certainly dont give you the time or day.
We’ll see what they do next, whether I get a refund or if they come up with anoher excuse. Your not alone!!!
Jeff, I can feel your frustration and I have felt it too. We bought a sofa and had it delivered. Two days after purchase three springs popped out the bottom and severly gouged our newly refinished hardwood floor. they replaced it right away. Long story short– 6 months, 31 contacts, two visits from floor refinishers, an insurance company and lots of wasted time, we finally have some resolution–But only because I was not going to let this one go. Most frustrating of all was the insurance company, Wausau Ins., whose claim rep’s voice mail actually said “You have reached Blah Blah, please leave your name and phone number and I will return your call at MY earliest convenience. So I can understand your frustration. Good luck. By the way, awesome job backing your good-lady wife.
Why is it so impossible to find the number of the corporate office to complain? I have had my furniture delivered for 5 weeks now, parts missing, damage to my walls from delivery and called customer service nearly 10 times…I am no exagerating.
Anyone has the number to reach someone who cares at Ashley?
Thank you.
I’m sorry, Nicole. I threw out the number after I called it. However, I just recovered it by doing a “whois” search on their domain name.
Go to http://www.whois.net and search for “ashleyfurniture.com.” You’ll discover this:
Ashley Furniture Industries
bhermsen@ashleyfurniture.com
One Ashley Way
Arcadia, WI 54612
US
608-323-3377
fax: 123 123 1234
That information should take you to their corporate offices. However, the corporate office will tell you that all complaints need to be directed toward the local reseller. However, if you are nice, you can get the corporate office to give you the name of the owner of the local office, and then when you call the local office, you ask to speak to the owner (using just the first name like you are friends). It didn’t resolve anything for me, though.
Make sure you report them to your local BBB.
Hello to you all. I am appalled and dismayed at the thought that Ashley Furniture would fail to deliver both on its promises and on its products.
I am a potential new hire at the Arcadia office, as an executive, and I assure you that these attitudes and behaviors are not only unacceptable, the will not be tolerated. I cannot and will not work for a company with an atrocious, customer service record. If this is the Ashley “standard”, then it most certainly will have to change.
With your permission, I would like to copy this link and save the contents for future sharing with the leadership staff in Arcadia (assuming they hire me).
I wish you all the best and look forward to reading more of your responses.
On behalf of my future company (fingers crossed) I offer my most sincere apologies.
sean
Hello All,
My name is Sean and I am a potential, new hire at the Arcadia headquarters. I cannot believe the things I have read here and am dismayed at facts. This is definitely NOT the kind of behavior/company style that I wish to be part of.
I assure all of you, if/when hired, I will bring this information to the proper persons capable of having some influence with the Home Stores’ leadership.
With your permission, I will copy and share this webpage with my potential employers.
Sincerely,
Sean
You certainly have my permission Sean.
I feel like you are all telling my story! I too have been treated with dis-respect by our local Ashley store. I bought a dining room set that I loved, when I first purchased it. All was damaged, aside from 2 chairs. It has taken then several months to deliver it, now it has taken several more mos to replace it. The store manager could care less and each store I am told is individually owned? That is horrible news.
I for one will never buy from them again and I tell all I know not to shop there. I will pursue legal action if the replacement furniture is damaged as well.
Maybe we should all get a joint suit going? Wonder if Sean was hired?
I wish you all the best with your ordeals and if I come upon some useful info. I will forward to all of you. Companies such as this should not be in business.
Hello to you all, I have read these horrible things that Ashley Furniture has done and I feel for each and everyone of you. I agree with you that this company should no longer be in business due to the fact that they clearly do not care about the customer. I admit that I have bought from this company myself in 2002 when I purchased my new home and I needed Dining Room furniture. I purchased a Table with seating for 6 and the matching China cabinet/Hutch from Canton, Ga. I did wait approx. 4-6 weeks to receive this but they only make these when ordered. They do not stock each piece on dining sets so they make them as ordered. But not such in all cases or types. I know you probably felt like you had no choice, but why didn’t you call your credit card company/Bank card that your wife had put the 1st payment on and tell them that it sounded like they were trying to put extra on the card and you would like the transaction stopped…ALL of it. THere are certain circumstances where credit card companies can help and it doesn’t always have to be in the case of a stolen card, it can be dissatisfaction, company fraudulents, etc… Did you look into any of these possibilities? Sorry it turned out the way it did.
Sincerely,
Susan in Dallas, Ga.
Susan,
I actually filled out a charge dispute with my Credit Card company, but never went through with it because Ashley never did anything that the card company would consider fraudulent, and my wife and I realized that to stop the transaction would likely require legal action that we didn’t want to take.
As a new pastor in the area, I still feel unjustly treated, but in the end, I decided that $70 was too small of an amount to make enemies with people here.
Jeff, We just purchased almost 10,000$ worth of furniture with Ashley Furniture. My husband and I have never had our own new furniture and we decided to get furniture instead of a house for now. It wasn’t till speaking with the delivery staff that said my furniture was damaged getting to them that led me to research their product quality. Which lead to the enormous amount of complaints. We purchased on 12/5/15 and we they are supposedly ready to deliver our furniture today is 12/23/15. I am afraid to let them deliver and finalize the purchase. But I don’t know what to do? I don’t want to sue I just want to get my money refunded to our credit card accounts. But it seems like getting root canal is going to be an easier and quicker process than the getting our money back. Not sure what to do and feeling like I am at the edge of a no turning back cliff fall.- Laura
Wow! I was searching for Ashley furniture dealers in Lafayette, LA when I discovered this site. Now I am rethinking my selection. I found a dining set that I liked very much made by Ashley. However I am very afraid to deal with them now. Thank for the warning.
I live in Milwaukee but grew up near Ashley’s headquarters in Arcadia. I felt proud a small town company is doing well. I bought a sofa from the Arcadia store and took it myself to MKE. A month later I noticed the seams coming loose where the cushions are stitched to the back. And despite being 3 miles from a local Ashley store, my only option is to take the sofa all the way back to Arcadia (4 hours one-way). It would make sense to send a nearby service technician to check out the issue, but no, the stores are locally owned and operated. And I can’t wait to find out what hassles await me when I decide to take the sofa back to Arcadia. If the quality of the sofa was up to par, I would have remained blissfully unaware of all of your unfortunate experiences.
Is anyone aware of the mark up in furniture? $70.00 is not
worth the aggravation and waste of time for Ashley. Thank you for your warning. I just relocated to Ga., bought a new house and need lots of new furniture. Some one had mentioned Ashley, but after reading all these horror stories, that is one place I wouldn’t touch with a ten feet pole. Thanks!
Never, ever buy anything from this company. I’m cutting short a very long story here… my local store in Florida consistently delivered damaged furniture and even went to the extreme of not crediting me for a returned item even though I personally took it back to their distribution center in Tamarac! This was over one year ago and I’m still waiting for my $125…
Customer Service is a joke. They lie through their teeth about deliveries and pick ups. You agree something with one rep, when it doesn’t happen, you call them back and they claim no knowledge of the prior conversation. I managed to get hold of one of the supervisors whose only line of defense was that Ashley Furniture stores could not be held responsible for the damage and poor quality of the furniture and in fact it was the fault of the manufacturer. According to him, Ashley is only a vendor. Technically this is true, but do they really think that consumers are stupid enough not to associate their stores with their furniture!!! They just have no interest whatsoever in standing behind their products. When I asked him who manufactures the furniture, he told me it was in ‘some company in China’. When I asked him to buy me an air ticket so I could go there and complain directly to them, he declined!
Eventually I got hold of their Customer Service VP. She finally returned one of my calls and when she did was very snippy with me. The conversation went like this;
“What’s your problem?”
Me: I explain the background. 10 seconds in she cuts across me.
“Why are you telling me this?”
Me: To give you context about the deeply unsatisfactory experience I’ve had.
“What do you expect me to do about it?”
Me: I want you to pick up the piece of cr*p furniture sat in my garage. Just like your rep promised me about 8 weeks ago.
“Someone will call you later to arrange it”
Me: OK. Also, can you tell me what has happened to my refund for the other damaged goods I personally took back to your warehouse? Also, why did your Customer Service manager tell me barefaced lies about…. Hello?….Hello?…..
(she cuts me off)
A complete joke of an outfit. I take great pleasure in knowing for a fact I’ve cost them at least $10k in sales by telling my friends about them…
WOW, and I thought I was all alone in the Ashley Furniture Wars!! We purchased an ENTIRE house full of furniture from Ashely in Jonesboro, GA, not only did it take over 2.5 months to get most of our funiture delivered (after several calls to the Sales Manager, Bob) I eventually had to re-order my downstairs furniture, because the original order was no longer being produced. Here it is 6 months after the original placement of the order and I STILL don’t have my complete bedroom set!!! I just hung up from Bob again and was advised AGAIN that he has a call into the warehouse to find the posts for my headboard. I told him I just want them to send a truck to pick up the bedroom suit since delivery was never completed and give me my almost 4000.00 dollars back for the bedroom suit!! Of course he told me he isn’t authorized to give me my money back but would pass my wishes on to customer service…like that will do any good!! Where do I go now I have a huge 4 poster canopy bed with only 2 posters and can’t put the canopy on, it looks incredibly stupid!! Not to mention the boxes with the canpy and an extra box of rails in my bedroom still, WAITING for the last 2 pieces of this puzzle to finish.
One this I have done is tell every one I know to NEVER for any reason at all go to Ashley Furniture Homestore!!
I am currently having issues with the company that takes care of the insurance that Ashley sells with their furniture and was wondering if Sean (see above)got that job. If so let me know how I can contact you Sean, providing you have not fallen to the dark side. 🙂
I am pursuing a management position at Ashley Furniture. Before running into this website I was under the impression that Ashley was a respectable company. But these reports make me a little concerned. If you have employment experience with Ashley that you think would help me I would truly appreciate your feedback.
Monica – Phoenix, Arizona
monica_mcgann@yahoo.com
U.S.A.
I feel comfort in knowing I am also not alone in this nightmare. They are a bunch of criminals and I intend to unveil these injustices. I am working on getting media attention to this matter and hope it will help resolve each of your unique situations. We all work so hard for our money and to furnish our homes beautifully and this company has made this simplistic dream a nightmare. That is not acceptable and I am on a mission!
Cross your fingers, I will keep you all posted!
I have resolved my issue with mush ease. It was a matter of getting to the right person. Apparently each “individually owned and operated” Ashley store has a marketing person that handles customer service and basically disgruntled customers. If you have not given up the battle I urge you to try calling their corporate number in Arcadia, (608) 323-3377. Select the customer service option. After you get to someone, which was very easy for me, explain your situation as calmy and diplomatically as possible, crack a joke, become this persons friend. This person will then pass your info along to this “marketing” person that represents the store you are having issues with. I was told that if this person did not call me by Monday to call back and ask to speak with her. I had a call back within 2 hours and had my problem solved amicably within 10 minutes.
There is hope afterall! I hope this helps anyone resolve your issue.
Hi Yasmine, would you mind sharing with us what your problem was and how it was resolved. It may offer something to help someone else.
I have been dealing with Ashly for over a year now. This is our problem. My boyfriend bought a couch, love seat and coffee and end tables from Ashley furniture in Bozeman, MT. He lives in Billings but he could not get a salesman to wait on him in Billings. They delivered the WRONG love seat. It was a completely different color. We are still waiting for the right love seat. They said they tried to deliver it twice to Billings but he wasn’t home. Well he will admit they came once, he was on an emergency call at the MRI center here in Billings but was available by cell phone. They didn’t stay long and didn’t leave a note. They claim they came to Billings twice but he swears they DID NOT…the manager of the store was just rude to me. He said we need to drive to Bozeman and get the new love seat and bring back the old one. Okay, I agreed just to get this resolved, they called last week and they ordered the couh, not the love seat. Now were are waiting for the right loveseat again!!!!!! Ashly will never see any of our business again and I work in a business that has 3300 employees, I have told everyone I know not to buy from these crooks. That is my story….Dont’ pay the $70. It was their mistake and certainly don’t pay the restocking charge….restock what, they never delivered the right thing to you………
Wow, I just went to the Ashley store yesterday. I wanted a bedroom set that I found was actually discontinued. The salesperson treated us like crap even though we were potential buyers. He even made comments,that I felt was racist. I do not want to buy from them. Does anyone know other stores where I can find Ashley’s discontinued furniture?
I too have had difficulties with Ashley. I purchased a king size bed then reconsidered and decided on a another bed at the same price. I called a couple hours after the purchase to ask them to switch. Not days or after pick-up or delivery just within the day-hours! Eight calls later and rude C.S. people all refusing to contact me with the manager, I am now contacting the people at Amer EX to cancel the order period.
I have never seen a business run like this!
I can tell that everyone on here really likes the furniture but not the customer service from Ashley. Do yourself all a favor. I bought my ashley furniture set from Rent a Center BRAND NEW, they have excellent return policies, deliveries are a breeze, customer service is so….. great!And to top it all off if you get tired of it before you pay it off you can trade it in for a new set! Good Luck to you all! Stepahnie Raponi
I have never personally had a problem with Ashley Furniture, but my boyfriend and I were at our local store here in Calgary, Alberta, Canada on September 3 2006 and I was very disturbed by what I saw.
We were actually just purchasing the rest of our bedroom set (we had previously bought only the bed in April of 2006) when we overheard a lady talking to the floor manager. She was very upset about something, I’m not quite sure what as we weren’t there for the first part of the conversation. She asked to talk to the manager of the store and she was told to wait. About 10 minutes later (apparantly he was on his break we found out later) I would guess the manager finally came out. He looked at the woman and said the following
“This is the bottom line. I’ve allready heard the story, we don’t want your business, get out.”
I was beyond shocked. The fact that the manager would treat a customer like that just floored me. Especially since there were many people within hearing distance. I looked at my boyfriend and said “I don’t think I want to buy anything anymore”. But because we had allready bought the bed we felt sort of stuck since we wanted to have a matching bedroom set.
I was planning on writing a letter to the head office, but it sounds like that wouldn’t do me much good from what everyone else has written. Hopefully enough people will stand up for themselves and Ashley Furniture will have to realize that they can’t treat people like they have been.
I was actually looking for the corporate headquarters address to express my dissatisfaction with the service I’ve gotten when I ran across this blog. Just add my name to the number of dissatisfied customers – being ignored, not receiving a call back, not getting delivery when promised. Someone needs to give all this info to a competitor!
I came across this letter and felt very bad for you and your wife and the problems with that company….keep up your fight and I know that I won’t be buying any furniture from them and believe me, I have the money to buy it.
We are also dissatisfied customers of Ashley Furniture in Lafayette. After looking for over 1 year, we thought we found the perfect table for our family room. We made several trips to make sure the color and style were just right. Unfortunately, when we put it in our family room, it was too large for the room and the style really didn’t work afterall. Of course there was no way of knowing this before the purchase. As stated with others, the manager did not care and would not even allow us exchange. We would have been happy to pay a restocking fee. That is how unhappy we were with the purchase. We contacted headquarters and also found out that they do not care about the business practices of the individually owned stores. We are in the process of refurnishing our whole house, but we will not be back to Ashley. Everyone we see will know our story because the table still has the tags and plastic seat covers to announce to everyone that crosses our path, NOT to buy Ashley furniture.
Wow! I was just google-ing Ashley Furniture to see if I could look at some furniture for my son’s and daughter’s rooms and came across this site. I will definitely not even look at Ashley Furniture as an option now! In Canada, the contract would be completely void if they did not deliver your furniture as per the terms you signed to on the front, which would also nullify the “re-stocking” fee as they are not meeting their terms of the contract.
Good Luck!
I was planning to travel 2 hrs tomorrow to the Ashley Homestore to purchase furniture. I have read all of these reviews and will now shop elsewhere. For all of you that got a bad deal, perhaps you will get some satisfaction in convincing another person to buy from another company. Thanks for taking the time to warn me.
I bought $8500 worth of furntiure in Plano, TX. Every piece of furniture arrived damaged. I had to accept or be charge a restocking and redelivery fee. It took over almost 2 months to get their tecnician here only to tell me that every piece will need to be replaced. I get a call that my furniture arrived and we scheduled a date/time. On the day of arrival, we moved all clothing and content items out of drawers, desks, wall cabinets; practically have my house in disarray, only to find that they are not coming because all the pieces have not arrived. They did not even bother to call me. Their customer services are staffed with idiots!! I will never shop at Ashley Furniture! Word to the wise, shop somewhere else or be prepared to be another Ashley dissatisfied customer. All they care is about the money – not you!!
add me to the long list of angry customers for ashley furniture I bought a livingroom suite, it was finally delivered one chair damaged cushions on couch falling apart and this nightmare only cost me $2400 never again.
I wish to add my terrible experience with Ashley customer service and on floor manager at South Brunswick, New Jersey location. We had bought ‘Pheasant Run’ bed 8 months ago from Ashley. We bought Sealy posturepedic mattress and the foundation. We had told the sales person that we are planning to use the mattress combination on the bed we had bought from Ashley earlier. She recommended that we should use the matching foundation to get the full benefit. When both foundation and bed was placed on the bed, it became almost 4 feet above the floor level and making impossible get on to the bed without a step ladder. We went back to Ashley on the same day the bed was delivered and informed them about the problem. Initial reaction from the manager was ‘we won’t pick up due to health reasons’. In fact my wife had spoken to the customer service when the delivery person was assembling the bed. After raising my voice she decided to see if the foundation comes in low profile. She came back with a list, 25% restocking fee which was $50, delivery and pickup $45 and the difference in price of $55. For the sales person’s pathetic knowledge about bed and mattress I got docked about $100 more. We requested them to acknowledge their mistake in sales and provide the relief in terms of delivery and pickup. It was flatly refused, and it appears that Ashley thinks customers should know everything about the product before it is purchased. If that was the case why should they have sales people on the floor. I told the manager that you are trying to save $50, imagine the amount of business your store looses when the potential customers get to know the type of service provided.
I would to like to suggest to potential customers to be well aware of their re-stocking policy and absolute sure you want to buy. Or just avoid them so that they know the value of a customer.
One of my coworkers moved into an apartment in October 2006 and bought a sofa in November 2006 from Ashley Furniture in Plano, TX. It is now March 2007 and the furniture has not been delivered even though they ensured it’d be delivered two weeks after the purchased date. After reading everyone’s reply, I will NEVER shop at an Ashley Furniture store no matter how much of a bargain I may be getting. It is not worth the risk.
Boy this undercharging by$70 is a common thing. The same thing happened to us when we purchased our daughters bedroom set. Our story is a bit different in that it was an extra delivery charge because all the items where not availiable on the same day and they wouldn’t shange the day so it all could be on the same day. Our only other option to avoid the extra delivery fee was to go down in person 40 miles away to pick up the remaining item ourselves from the wearhouse and by doing so void the warranty and service aggreement for it. And scince the charge was applied to the credit company they use the next week after the original purchace and the statement already came out in the mail we got charged a late fee for the $70 dollars.My husband calledAshley and they wouldnt do anything. However after explaining the issue to the credit company they waved the fee and we paid the $70 late which went on our credit. Funnything is we purchased the whole set on the zore interest and no payments for blah blah blah. It was frustrating cause my husband had actually spoken to one person in the store that said they would void the charge but never did. What a head ache…lol and you know what none of it matters. None of the things on this earthly world matter in the end. It will all turn to dust eventually. Fortunatly we kept our tempers.
I have just purchased a desk and when I got home and put together it was damaged. Now I have a choice to bring it back (and I am a single mother and will have to get help in doing this ) or have them come and fix it at my house for a charge of $35. How is that fair? It should be the store that goes the xtra mile to make it right. When you buy something it should be in perfect condition. I have bought a lot of furniture at this store, but now it looks like that time will end. I have told my family and I will tell anyone that is in the market of buying new furniture that Ashley is not a place to go. I would like to know how they would feel if they spent the money on an item and it was broken and they had to go through the hassel or pay a fee to get make it right. The store I went to Was the one in Lafayette, Ind. I would like any customers to know how unfair this store is and hope they might think twice before they would shop there. Please don’t make the same mistake I did. There are alot of other furniture stores to go to that will stand by there product and do the right thing. Ashley in Lafayette, Ind does not stand by there furniture, they will not do the right thing and make the customer happy. Hopefully they will loose bussiness by this letter, because this is the only way I can fight back.
Judy, from Lafayette, IND
I have had the same response from Ashley Furniture here in Wichita Falls, Tx. They delivered my couch damaged.I paid over 2,000 for it in January and now it’s April and I have recieved nothing but attitude from the local store.Sure wish I had found this site before, I gave my hard earned cash to this SHADY company.
Just had to throw in my horrible experiences with Ashley. I wish I had found this site before I dropped $5K for furniture that I haven’t received yet. I purchased the furniture over a month ago at which time I was assured that the product was in stock and ready to ship. My first shipping date was rescheduled because my furniture was NOT in stock. I rescheduled a business trip, which upset my manager, so that I would be at home for the rescheduled delivery date. Guess what – still not in stock. I purchased the 5 year warranty and have lost over a month on that warranty and don’t even have the furniture. The attitudes from everyone I’ve spoken with at Ashely is the same – they really don’t care. I’ve called Corporate and the local store and have received the same attitude. They’ve lost my business forever.
Jeff:
I am sorry to hear of your unfortunate incident with Ashley Furniture. I sold Furniture for 2 years with a company that did not have a restocking fee. To be honest with you, I wish we had. I have found myself I the same situation as your salesperson due an incorrect price entry on our database. I at the time felt as you do that the company should honor the invoice even if it resulted in disiplinary action (i.e, the sale being housed, write-up, etc), against me. I was informed by my general manager that would not be fair to the company. In that particular case the actual price was clearly posted on the item (bedroom suite), therefore, that was the price that we were obligated to honor. The company’s argument would have been upheld in court. I don’t know the particulars of your situation, but if the price of the sofa you wanted was clearly marked, then that is what Ashley Furniture was legally obligated to honor. This also applies to discounts. As most states have similar laws regarding regarding business pratices, with the exception of real property, I would suggest you research how Wisconsin defines an invoices and contracts. The two are not usually synonymous. With regards to sellers of high end merchandise negotiating price. I can only tell you that large value stores such as Ashley do not as policy do this because their margins are fairly tight. As I previously mentioned I do not know all of the particulars of your situation but I don’t think the Ashley Furniture was dishonest with you. Besides, would it have been fair for you to recieve a sofa a $100 less than what other customers would have to pay for that same sofa? What seems to have upset your wife was that due to cost, she did not purchase the set that she truly wanted.
Tony,
I think you are missing the main point of this story. Allow me a brief rebuttal to your comment:
Actually, that’s not the point. I’m not trying to argue the price of the sofa. I’m trying to say that once a mistake is made, what should the company do to make it right? Ashley considers their receipt to be legally binding on one side of the paper but not legally binding on the other side of the paper. From my perspective, once the receipt was signed then, either the entire receipt (front and back) is valid and should be upheld or the entire receipt is invalid and should be thrown out, i.e. allow for a full refund with no restocking fee especially because the furniture hadn’t been delivered yet!
Ashley would allow neither of those options.
Again, you are missing the point. “Honesty” has varying shades of meaning. From one perspective, you can say that the Ashley corporation was honest with us. They published a price, published a policy and upheld both. In that sense, the company did not tell any lies and was therefore honest. However, honesty also refers to the morality or justice of a situation beyond mere truth telling.
Consider the parable of Abraham Lincoln walking miles to return a penny to a customer whom he overcharged. He was considered an “honest” man for doing that when technically, he hadn’t told any lies to the woman. Honesty is about doing what’s right to make things right because your character won’t allow anything else.
Regardless, my point wasn’t to say that Ashley is dishonest. My point was to say that Ashley treats their customers like meat hanging on a hook. They can do whatever they want to you and what are you going to do about it? They have you on a hook–the restocking fee charged even on undelivered items.
Again, the issue isn’t about the price, and yes I do think it’s fair for one customer to get a better deal than another customer because that’s just the way retail works. Nevertheless, the issue isn’t about the price but what should a company do when it clearly makes a mistake.
Finally, you said…
Wow. Thank you for noticing that. I never knew that a complete stranger through the Internet would be able to know my wife better than I do!
😛
OK, that was a bit harsh. Seriously, though. I think the comments on this page are evidence enough that Ashley Furniture does a terrible job of customer service. Mistakes happen all the time, and I can understand that, but how a company deals with its customers after a mistake happens will determine whether that customer ever comes back.
In this case, I can’t imagine we ever will.
Jeff, I would file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau — this sounds very suspicious. I’ve had good luck using the BBB in the past; they may be able to get you a refund.
To everybody else in Lafayette, I highly recommend Kittles; they’ve always treated me well and quality of the furniture is excellent. And not once have they tried anything like this! (btw, I’m not affiliated with them in any way, just a happy customer).
Blessings to you all; hope things work out for you!
I just got off the phone with the rep that sold us two recliners. It has been over a month and my chairs are still floating in the bermuda triangle between here and the factory. Apparently they disappeared and he is going to put in another order for us. But, it will be another two weeks at the least before we see anything. What really pisses me off is that they did the exact same thing when we bought our dining room set a year ago. I wish I wouldnt have gone back.
Update, just got a call back from the sales rep and they are going to take someone elses chairs and give them to us. Isnt that great, the other customer ordered them a week ago and they are already in. Now they are going to piss off two customers. Lord only knows if the other person will ever get there furniture. Needless to say we will never go to Ashley again.
P.S. I love how they give you those 50$ giftcards knowing full well there aint a dang thing in that store for less than 150 bucks.
About three months ago we went to Ashley furniture in Athens, GA and bought a coffee table, sofa table and 2 end tables. It took about two weeks to get it delivered. When it finally came, the coffee table and both end tables were damaged. The sofa table was the only one that I kept.
They replaced the coffee table and end tables with the same ones they delivered in the first place.
I had them take them back and waited a few more weeks to have them replaced, the coffee table came and had to have a tech come out and adjust it(something about the screw not lining up) one end table was ok, but the second end table has a crack in the leg. I told them I wanted a new one, they sent a tech out to REPAIR the crack in the leg. I told them NO, I bought new furniture and thats what I want, not furniture that has to be repaired.
The store manager Andy called me and told me they would not replace it and wanted to come and get all the tables and he would refund my money. I told him that I did not want to return the tables I just wanted the damaged table replaced with a new one. He refused. I put this in dispute on our card and then he called back saying he wanted to come and get the tables. I told him no, I only want that one damaged one replaced. I have not heard any thing since. I will NEVER buy from Ashley furniture ever again. They sell damaged furniture.
You have every right to be upset with your transaction. I guess the name Ashley is only as good as the people who privately own the stores.
My wife and I are fighting the same battle. We purchased a dinete set from Ashley’s Furniture in Midland, Texas December of 2006 and are still trying to either get what we paid for or get a refund. 4 months later, all we have is a dining table and the bottom half of the hutch. The top part of the hutch was broken in the warehouse during the 1st delivery and the workmanship on the 6 chairs was unacceptable (some of the legs on the chairs were 1/2″ shorter than the others, which made them rock terribly). They attempted to deliver the chairs twice more, with the same outcome (The quailty of the furniture never got any better.). We are fighting a loosing battle with the local store management, who seems to have no concern for our frustrations. Management seems to be more concerned with selling to new customers, and not taking care of the ones who have already spent money in their stores. We have turned the matter over to the credit firm that they used to finance the furniture and quality control has assured us that the matter will be handled. I don’t know how this is going to turn out, but the amount of trouble that we have had to go thru, not to mention not having a place to have Sunday dinners for the past 4 months has left a dirty taste in our mouths. We may not get what we want, but they’re going to know that they have been in a fight. I encourge everyone to think twice before buying any furniture from Ashley’s. I will never have anything good to say about them and will discourage anyone from buying from them. The furniture may be okay, but the customer service is terrible. Good luck with your battle!
we are getting a new store at the end of MAy
I will warn everyone I know about this Company!!
Thanks Deanne
Well, I wish my husband and I would have read this site before we purchased our new bed at the Ashley’s in Waterford Lakes Town Center, Orlando FL.
We just purchased a Sterns and Foster bed for approx. $1500. Within 3 weeks the bed had such body impressions that a tech came out and defected out the bed. A replacement bed was sent and within 3 weeks, that mattress was also doing the same thing. Another tech came out and said the dents were not 1-1/2 inches yet so they would not defect out. The impressios were at 1-1/4 after three weeks! So it is only a metter of time before we reach that warranty mark. So I have been back and forth with SF and Ashley’s and neither one will allow us to exchange or return the bed. They also will not send out another tech for 90 days! It’s crazy that after having a bed less than 2 1/2 months that they say I am stuck with it!
I am stuck with it while they continue to take my money!!!
I am dealing now with the store level and S&F corporate office. I will also be contacting the BBB but I don’t expect much there since the store and company apparently do not care about their reputation. I hope to have some resolution. All we want is another model bed.
Seems like pursuit of the sale is more impratnat than the satisfaction of the customer. Business and executives are rewarded based on sales data not customer satisfaciton rates – best thing to do is avoid these companies and hope that they will run out of good will in the communities they server. Please take this to heart – find the oldest most well respected store front in your community – it may seem like the prices at the smaller reatilers – the mom and pops – are more expensive but a solid reputation and a business manager/owner who is going to value your repeat business is worth the price. I have to think of Jen and Jeff sitting and looking at that furniture in their house everyday and have to believe that in no way can they ever have a zen moment out of the transaction – burning the furniture in the front yard would probably bring more enjoyment….
For what it’s worth, you would have won your dspute in small claims court.
They printed an invoice, had you sign it and took your deposit.
That binds them to the terms of the contract unless they get you to agree to an amended one.
You could have either just paid the originally agreed to price and demanded they deliver it.
Or asked for a refund and have the small claims court recover the 20% fee, which you would have won.
But I would definitely bring this to the attention of the Indiana Attorney General’s Office which enforces Indiana’s Consumer Protection Laws.
Here’s the complaint webpage:
http://www.indianaconsumer.com/filecomplaint.asp
A merchant cannot attempt to force you to pay more than they agreed to accept (which they did on the invoice). One risk of doing business is that you may accidentally undercharge a customer and the business owner is on the hook for that….NOT the consumer.
We too purchased a living room set from Ashley Furniture. After 9 months the cushions lost their resiliency, which happens to be covered by the manufacturers warranty. After 2 months of waiting we have received half of our cushions. Only one quarter of what we have received, has actually been installed. Ashley keeps sending the wrong cushion (size or shape). Although they keep trying, they simply cannot seem to complete the repairs. They have been courteous so far (and yes we have been very patient) but the problem has yet to be fully corrected. Avoid like the plague. Your money and your piece of mind are best spent elsewhere. Sometimes the mom and pop merchants in small towns (or large towns) for that matter are worth the extra price you pay. I hope we all have good luck with our resolutions in the days to come.
Here is my girl friend’s story
I purchased two leather couches from Ashley furniture at Waterford Lakes in Orlando in July 2006. In April 2007, I noticed that some of the dye was wearing off in some of the creased areas. Upon closer inspection, I discovered areas where the coloring was “flaking off”. Only my daughter and I live here, so the couches do not see extraordinary duty and I was extremely disappointed since I was told leather should last; however, only 9 months after I bought my couch and loveseat, they had both worn severely.
I called Ashley and they told me they would send a technician out to take a look at the couches. He came as scheduled, inspected the couches, touched up some of the worn areas and order some replacement pieces for the flaking areas. He said agreed that this level of wear was extremely unusual and told me that he suspected it was probably a “bad dye lot”. Instead of waiting for the replacement parts to arrive, having the couches repaired (hopefully with the replacement parts matching the original couch) and living with the “touched up”, “repaired” couch (that would most likely continue flaking in other areas), I wanted a replacement for the defective pieces that I was sold. I called Ashley and spoke with the manager and asked for a replacement love seat and couch. He told me that he would need to talk to the technician who had come to my house. A couple days later, Ashley called me and set up a time to deliver the replacement couches. I received the new couches today and they look great! The whole process from when I first called to when they brought the replacement furniture was only about 3 weeks.
While I was going through all of this, I did some research on-line and found out that each Ashley store is independently owned and the replacement/guarantee policy is up to each individual store. I read many horror stories of Ashley customers who were screwed by their Ashley store (furniture taking months for delivery, furniture delivered damaged, months for replacement furniture to be delivered, different furniture delivered than ordered, etc. etc.). So, I’m just letting you know that the Ashley furniture in Waterford Lakes, Orlando stands behind the furniture they sell. They were very professional throughout the entire process, followed through on what they said they would do and acted quickly to rectify the problem. This kind of customer service is not found very often. While I am disappointed that the original couches had this problem, it’s nice to know that the store stands behind what they sell. I highly recommend the Ashley furniture store at Waterford Lakes, Orlando. Please pass this on to anyone you know who is considering buying new furniture.
I bought a King-sized bed back in February in Austin, Texas and was not able to get it delivered until April. Another piece of furniture in my order was back-ordered, so I had to wait until they were all available or I would have been charged two delivery fees. When the bed arrived in April, I did not have the delivery men set it up because I was waiting to receive a new mattress (and didn’t want to remove my old bed until I had something to sleep on). The next week, I received my mattress and attempted to set up the bed. As it turned out, the wrong rails for the bed were included, so I could not set the bed up. When we called the Customer Service Center, I was told that the rails were on back-order and would not be available until May 31st. Unhappily, I decided to wait to receive them because I figured this would be better than losing my $100 delivery fee and returning the bed for a refund. Well, here we are on June 10th and I still hadn’t heard anything. I call the Customer Service number again today and was told the rails are now “not available” due to being discontinued. I asked for a refund on the bed and she refused. I was told that I could “reselect” a bed but not get a refund, even though the situation was handled very poorly and was clearly Ashley’s fault. What made me the most angry was that they “discovered” at some point the rails were discontinued and never bothered to call me. If I hadn’t called today, I would have never heard from them again and I would still be sleeping on a mattress on the floor. The funny thing is, I had a queasy feeling about buying this bed and my husband talked me into it. Too bad I didn’t trust my gut and avoid buying the bed in the first place. I prefer not to “reselect” another bed because I don’t want to deal with this company any more. I just want my money back! I am still waiting to hear back from the local store manager, so I don’t know how all of this will turn out.
Wow thank you all, I was just looking for their website to take ‘advantage’ of the no interest and no payments for 2 years thing, and came across this website. I am NOT buying from them and I am going to print this and pass it around, and post it on forums boards etc.
We bought leather motorized reclining furniture from Ashleys, along with some living room furniture. We had to send back the end tables, coffee table and hutch twice. Finally the warehouse manager himself delivered the furniture in decent shape, although I am certain the hutch is the same as the first delivered, but repiared. Since the scratch is in the back, I let it go, but pointed it out to him.
The worst part of this is that our leather furniture looked like it had been in a tornado! the motors did not work and the frame was so twisted. They promised to replace but on following deliveries of the other furniture, no one knew anything about it. The store said they would send technicians, call us back etc- that never happened.
On the final delivery, we insisted that the warehouse manager take the sofas with him at that time, even thought he kept insisting he could fix it! The tech that was with him, mentioned when no one was in the room that their warehouse was full of these motors which are junk. He quit talking when the manager returned.
Now we are trying to get our full refund and it will take an actual miracle, I’m sure.
We have spent hours and hours discussing this in person, etc.
They did offer in store cresit, but have nothing comparable to what we had, or thought we had. I also spent $5,000 on the other furniture and so what else would there be for me to buy!! $3,000 worht of what-nots? Oh they did console me with the $100.00 gift card, sorry not even the flower arragements go for that much.
I am adviseing everyone I know to not buy there. I will write BBB and anyone else I can.
How in the world are business working like this? Surely something can be done so they will quit ripping off people!
Larry- the store we bought from is in Amarillo- possibly the same owners as the Midland store. Did you get anything resolved? If you read this please let us know how. We will check back
Thanks
Thank you for sparing me some time and frustration, I was at Ashley today willing to spend thousands on new living room furniture, although the sales rep was pleasant, I was not getting a good feeling. I got my quote and left the store. I came online to see what else Ashley had and came across this. I think I will spend my money at a mom and pop store than a chain that couldnt care less. Thanks again!
I’m so glad to see this. We are getting an Ashley store here on Labor Day. I will save myself the frustration and not shop there.
I hate businesses that deal like this.
Thanks for posting this.
Hi All,
I was googling “Ashley’s Customer Service” to see if anyboody else had complaints about thei stores’ level of service and lo’ and behold…
Luckily our furniture WAS delivered and is in fine shape for now. However we did notice a distinct lack of professionalim and service when we visited the Ashley’s in Vista, CA,. We also visited the Ashley’s in Miramar through a friend’s reference, however as this branch was out of the way for us, we decided to purchase the 3-piece sofa set we wanted from the closer Vista store. We noticed the difference between the two stores the moment we walked throught he front door. Whereas the saleslady warmly and enthusiastically greeted us at the Miramar Ashley’s, the three salesman sitting right next to the entrance at Vista barely gave us a passing glance as we entered. Not to say that we were expecting a red carpet treatment, at least a “Hello” or “Need any help?” would have been appreciated.
After we located the set we had decided on by ourselves, we went to the service counter to see if we could have a salseperson paged. When I asked the young lady standing behind the counter she stared at me as through I was speaking gibberish and answere “Salesperson? Why?” Now if I had been on the otherside of the counter and smelled and easy sale upwing, I would have been jumping through to acoomocate the customer but not here! I replied “We ‘d like to purchase a furniture set and need a salesmand to assist us…” wondering why I was explaining my intent to buy furniture at a furniture store. THe young lady responded “Oh”, picked up the intercom and announced “I need a salesperson upstairrs”, then walked off. After about 10 minutes of my fiancee standing around ignored by the employees, a salesperson finally arrived and after pointing out the set we wanted, began filling out the paperwork.
I guess we should have realized we were working with a newbie when we watched her mumbledto herself while filling out the papers, talking herself through the steps and constantly referencing her “cheat sheet” (she informed us). That wasn’t a big deal (everybody has start somewhere) as long as our purchase was completed correctly. Even the thirty minute wait while she entered our order into the computer system with the help of her supervisor wasn’t much of an issue. Finally with the order set, we were pointed towards the service counter once again. Another young lady proceeded to inform us of the delivery date, warranty information, delivery date, final cost etc. and after she finished, continued to stare at my fiancee as ifwaiting for something. We were both slightly confused so he asked “What?” and she answered “Give me the money” holding out her hand. We both stared at her dumbfounded wondering if she had really said what she said, and upon recovering after a few moments, informed her that we had completed and been approved for financing She looked quite embarassed and didn’t make eye contact with us from that point on.
When our sofa set finally arrived I was disappointed (but not surpised) to find that they had delivered the correct sofa and loveseat but the wrong chaise. We retuned to the store that day as soon as they opened and went to service desk to see if we could rectify the situation. I walked up to the employee behind that counter and asked if she could help us out with an incorrect delivery. She proceeded to give me a look of annoyance mixed with boredom and replied “Did you call customer service?” I answered no and told her we came straight here after receiving the furniture. She proceeded to tell me that I have to call customer service and handed me the phone. As I stood there listening to the phone ring and ring, another employee who had remembere us from the previous visit approached and asked if we needed assistance. My fiancee explained the situation (meanwhile I’m still holding the phone waiting for customer service to answer) she offered to check our order. The girl who had told me to call customer service then grabbed the phone back and said “Ok, well you don’t have to call customer service now.” After checking the order, the manager arrived to assist us and finally straightened out the problem. Apparently whoever they had ordering the furniture sets from the distribution had entered a bunch of sets “built” incorrectly and several other customers had retunred with the same problem before us. We were told the saleslady who took our order had just started that day (in fact I think we were her first “sale”) and a week later, had went on vacation and the quit without notice.
The final blow came on the morning of the scheduled day of delivery. I received a call from the service desk by an unethusiastic sounding employee (I could imagine her surfing the internet and painting her toe nails while talking on the phone) informing us that our chaise would be delivered between 7:30am to 10:30 am TOMORROW. I answered responded “No, I believe we were scheduled for delivery today” to which she replied “No, it’s tomorrow”. I once again assured her that my fiancee had scheduled deliver for today to which she responded slightly annoyed “No, it’s in the system for TOMORROW”. ” After hanging up the phone, I re-confirmed with my fiancee that the delivery day had in fact been scheduled for that day, not the day after.
Thankfully, our furniture set is now complete and correct, however next time we shop I doubt we’ll be visitng Ashley’s in Vista (or maybe Ashley’s anywhere after reading the comments on here). I have my fingeres crossed now that my sofa’s don’t start busting at the seams.
I was looking at website to see how to go about complaining to Ashley Furniture about the way the fabric is holding up after we purchased the furniture. We bought the furniture in April of 2007. We are very unhappy with the quality of the fabric of our couch and chairs. I am very discouraged after reading the results that you have recieved from Ashley Furniture. I know about having a hard time finding a telephone numer for the HQ.
I called them and told them that I was not satisfied with the furniture, but they told me to call the store where I purchased the furniture. So I will call them Monday and see how far I get with my complaint.
Nowadays, the customer is not right. They act like they are doing you a favor selling you the furniture and taking your money. It is amazing at the attitudes of the companies. Well, wish us luck with our furniture woes.
WOW!!!!! I was out here looking for sales prices for Ashley furniture when I found your site… let me say I am truly shocked… and at the same time happy… On the 19th we were going to go to the store for a 15% off “Friends & Family” sale they are having. We intended to purchase about $3400 in furniture for our bedroom.
FORGET THAT BS. After reading your site and about 10 other complaint sites that house complaints for all businesses, I will not step foot inside this store again, not only that, I will make sure that everyone I know finds out about this.
My recommendation? You all need to seek out others like you. A lot of newspapers offer free classifieds (typically if the item is under $200) where you can post for anyone else who has had these experiences to contact you. If you can find at least 4-5 other people with these same issues from the same store, you’ve got it made. Contact the news, the newspapers, the BBB, but most importantly a lawyer. It should only cost you a couple hundred bucks to have the lawyers submit a legal letter to the store kindly asking that they remedy the situation. Faced with a lawsuit from several plaintiffs, they might re-consider their stance on their customer service (or lack of).
If they mis-charged you for $70 over the amount, you think they would give you the money back? You stuck up for your wife too which I highly respect, she is the more important one. As most people in the sales industry will tell you, what you sign is legally binding. If they did not deliver it, you could call a lawyer and also sue for lawyers fees.
It’s sad but more and more places are doing this sort of thing these days, they think they can just kick their customers around and get away with it. Thank you for fighting this battle, I always feel as I am the only one
– daniel — rainey@triad.rr.com
Also, one more thing. When you buy furniture, you are paying for NEW furniture, NOT damaged furniture. Damaged furniture can be secured at a much lower rate all throughout the country by places that sell it. Some furniture is damaged in freight, some in storms, accidents, you name it. Typically speaking if the damage isn’t too bad, you can find yourself one heck of a deal…
HOWEVER, back to the original statement; you are paying top dollar for undamaged, UN-REPAIREED, NEW furniture. If your furniture is damaged in anyway, send it back; have them send you a replacement as the value of the furniture once it is damaged decreases tremendously. I think it’s time we all stopped taking these (inser_name-calling_here) BS and demand what is right
I was in the Layfayette furniture store on July 7th. The owner of the store was celebrating the grand opening donating 6,000 spuare feet from his stores to Big Brothers and Big Sisters as their new headquarters. The value of this donation alone is worth at least $120,000 per year. In addition, all profits from the store for the entire year of 2007 are being donated as well.to the cause.
I also found in shopping the competion that the prices he sold at were 15% to 20% lower than anyone else who carries Ashley in the area, with the best selection and stock availability.
In checking with the Better Business Bureau about this store, i found they had very few complaints.
Shame on you Jeff Mikels, former pastor to people in Chicago, where I am from, for claiming to lead people one step closer to Jesus. Is tis your way? Comdeming and leading people with anger and hatred towards a business establishment owned by the most generous, giving individual i have ever met. The store is not perfect, but does a very good job.
Maybe we should begin to question what the people in Chicago is, i.e. that you are qualified to teach how to be a wise blogging master? Did God’s revialation tell you to share the hate toward a good businessman in the community?
sent in an email to Ellen:
Hi Ellen,
Wow, it looks like I offended you with my brief article on Ashley Furniture. I’m sorry for how you took that. My article was written in the summer of 2006, and since then, the local Ashley store has undergone a number of dramatic changes. In fact, I believe the store where we bought our furniture is now called Star Furniture. I don’t know the man you met, but I wish I did. When I had my problems, I attempted to get in touch with the owner a number of times and he refused to speak with me.
I’m glad your experience with the store has been a positive one. If you buy furniture from them, I hope you get it quickly and in the quality you expect. Nevertheless, please allow me (and all the others who have left comments) the right to share our experiences.
Please read my comments again, and if you can, share them with the owner you met. If he’d like to meet with me, I would gladly update my article or write a new one.
Also, would you please share with me which parts of my article “share the hate” so I can change them?
God bless,
Jeff
Jeff,
I have read your original situation from the store. It appesrs that a salesperson made an honest mistake on the furniture your wife bought at a very low price already, they undercharged her $70. Instead of paying the $70 balance, that was your original intention, as something an honest, normal person would do, you chose to take your wife’s counsel to fight paying what you owed. Since you have the power of this web site, you decided to weild the story here to become a sort of Ashley bashing leader, using your bias to kick it off. Certainly this is your right.
In my opinion, just as if you had left a department store inadvertantly with goods you didn’t pay for, you should have paid the $70. If you had gone to Target and walked out with a unpaid $70 item, would you have gone back and paid, or would your wife had called the receipt a cntrect and that you do not need to pay for items not on it. Would you start a Blpg against Target if they called for the money?
Big Brothers and Big Sisters have 110 boys and girls on their waiting list needing help at Star Furniture right now. I think that things like this are more important than all the scratches, delays and human errors encounted with any furniture. This I am sure happens with all retail stores and manufacturers from time to time. As you are a man of God, I hope you see why I find frustration with your focus. Consider being a Big Brother, i think God might see that in a better light.
,
God Bless,
Ellen
I also am having a problem with and Ashley Store. Here is my situation.
My Girlfriend bought about $5000 worth of bedroom furniture from an ashley store in fountain valley, CA. Everything was delivered at the same time except for the $1000 dresser. We were told it was damaged in shipment and that we would have to wait for a replacement. After a day they called back and said they had another one in their warehouse so we scheduled for it to be delivered. Everything seemed fine at this point. We then just moved and hired professional movers. I was standing right there and they picked up the dresser and one of the legs fell off. It turns out that the dresser they gave us was the damaged dresser. The piece of wood that the leg screws into was poorly glued back together with regular elmers type glue. So to me this means they knowingly sold me damaged product and claimed it was new. So I went down to the store and the Store manager seemed very helpful and I was led to believe that they were going to replace the dresser. We even went over the fact that I would need several guys when they delivered it to get it up our stairs. Then about a week later I recieve a leg in the mail and it doesnt even include the part that was broken. How does leading me to believe I was getting replacement furniture and then sending me parts that do me no good do anything at all? It just makes me more frustrated and upset. I believe that they just wanted me out of the store and told me what I wanted to hear. So now I have called the store back and expressed my frustration and am waiting for a return call. I have also filled out a complaint form on their main web page. By reading some of these other problems I am thinking that I might not hear back from anyone. I am planning to go to my credit card company to dispute the charges if I dont get results soon. And If that doesnt work I am thinking about taking them to small claims court. I dont want to just let it go. Does this seem like a valid option for me or am I just wasting my time? I dont know that much about this stuff so can anyone tell me what options I do have as far as trying to fight this? To me they fraudulently sold me a damaged product and called it new. That can’t be legal.
Responding to Ellen again…
If I walk out of a store realizing that I have accidentally taken something out of the store that I didn’t pay for, I promptly go back in and pay for it. In fact, that happened to me just a month ago at another local store.
I’m sorry you don’t to see the difference between that scenario and what happened at the store formerly known as Ashley Furniture Homestore here in Lafayette. Ashley doesn’t give people receipts. The transaction my wife entered into included the signing of an actual purchase contract.
I’ll only say two things more about this. The first thing is that my complaint is focused not on the $70 but on the customer service and the corporate integrity.
Secondly, I’m really shocked at how my being a pastor has inflamed your irritation against me. If some pastor in the past has offended you and predisposed you to think negatively about church leaders, I’d like to find a way to make it up to you.
hello everyone,
I have just read eveyones horror stories , i only passed this web site trying to find head office to get my own problems delt with. Well i really cant say im suprised but this is some really bad shit that they do to everone.Its like im reading the same stories over and over again just with a little bit different twist.
My issues are still currently not solved from march. I do admitt that they have nice things and they did help me at the time of buying.They had told me my dead line that i would be getting my things( bedroom and living room total of about $15,000) they were late by weeks i went there several times to talk to the manager they always had something to say “they wont deliver things that are damaged” “we have quality care” blah blah blah.We enden up as weeks passed getting piece by piece sofa,1 end table,chase,love seat ,coffee table. and still to this date missing my other end table.I remember taking off so many days for them to bring piece by piece (they only say i cant give you a time we come between our window we have open)i had to leave my patients in a chair so i can sneek away.how bad is that.i cant afford to take the whole day off.My bed room furnature was the seahore with the pillers and the marbel toppings came at the same time as my love seat it took them about 4- 5 hours to move and put everything together.That was not the problem ,they damages 7 walls in my new house i just bought for half a million.7 walls and my bedroom furnature was still all damaged ,and they dragged the things on my white carpet.I was livid i took my camera took pic of them the truck every furnature damage ,carpet ,walls and went back to the store.Weeks later they cleaned my carpet (apprx 3 weeks after ),and just i month ago they had a painter come to paint my walls.Ya he painted all the 7 walls going up my staircase but he didnt mix the paint he told me in 2 weeks it would go away and blend in( he didnt even paint the whole walls).im by all mean not a dummy i said ya ya ok have a good day i took pics again went back to the office he was fired the next day.So these other 2 fellas came in to check it all out they didnt even get someone in here to get a colour match so they tapped up my house 2 weeks ago and the next appointment they said isnt till aug 13.So my house and walls have been looking like this for months now and going at this rate for many more to come.
i have told them to take all there shit back i dont want it but i think they will damage my home even more im stuck will all this junk and damage,when i said shit to her on the phone she hung up on me and i cant even get through,there is no one that can even help me and to even solve this.where is head office ??? winnipeg i think.what r they going to do from there if the managers here cant care at all???
Ashley furnature stores should be burned and banned from here i would never have one nice thing to say about that place ever.
Today is sunday july the 22 and am i am signing out i will be back so write the end of my story as this case closes.
I am so glad that I accidently found this web-site. What is happening to everyone is awful! We have spent the past month looking at our first new furniture purchase at Ashley. We almost went this morning, but we have this weird feeling. I am so glad we did not go. Also, a comment to Tony above, the price listed is not binding on the furniture. The price listed should always be considered an “offer” by the customer. Yes, they (Ashley) can negotiate and change the price if they want. THAT is what is legal and what more customers should do because their mark-up is so high anyway. My family and I were a potential customer, but we will never shop there.
I am a former employee of Ashley Furniture in San Antonio, and I cannot say strongly enough how much I depise the company and their practices. I was in sales for them for 6 months, and that was MUCH too long.
This is a company that will smile to your face, then take your money and deliver shoddy goods. In a short time there I saw so many illegal and ethically shady practices I was amazed.
They refuse to let their employees take breaks, if you try to sit down you will get bitched out for not talking to customers, even if you have been on your feet for 8 hours straight. They will take 30 min out of your check daily for lunch, regardless of whether or not you get to go. And even then they will dictate when you can go and WITH WHO!
The managers are constantly pushing the sales people to “close the deal” regardless if the customer wants the merchandise or not! We have TONS of returns monthly, as in several thousands worth ($20,000 and up usually!) and the company is always in a panic trying to recover cancelled orders.
The sales people (myself included!) were taught to screeen customers for signs of wealth, ie clothes, cars, etc. If you look middle to low income many sales people will completly ignore you. The good ones who honestly do just want you to have the best info available, and the exact furniture you want get fired for not forcing sales on people!
The so called “DTMs” or design team members are a sham. Its just a fancy word for a shark, you know, like a used car dealer. These are the people who follow you throughout the store and hound you till you either buy something or leave.
I’ve never worked in such a cut throat environment in my life. It was literally the most awful place I have ever worked, and I worked fast food as a teenager!
I know this post is getting lengthy now, and I haven’t even gotten to talking about the furniture or the service!
The company instructs all sales people to tell customers that our furniture is high quality and well made and that couldn’t be further from the truth. The furniture is made in Mississippi by people who must either be drunk, dumb, or given REALLY bad instruction manuels! I’ve never seen so many items put together either incorrectly or with so much damage. I occasionally helped in customer service and I can’t possibly count the number of times someone called to say their furniture wasn’t made right or was delivered to them broken.
And speaking of delivery, the warehouse in New Braunfels texas has pissed off so many day laborers they can barely keep them hired. The company brags about how the delivery guys are part of our company and family, and they really just outsource delivery to the cheapest bidding company. They don’t pay well, and treat their delivery employees like crap. I personally know 4 people who quit because of the working conditions, ie no AC in the warehouse (even in the heat of texas summer), making them do deliveries well into the night, like 11pm and sometimes later.
I’m going to stop ranting about the company because I think my blood pressure is rising! Please just be aware that you are buying your furniture from a company who could care less about their employees. The owners are rude, disgusting and chauvinist pigs. They can rot in hell for all I care. They made over 90 million dollars last night, and some of their employees can barely pay their bills while working 50+ hours a week with never a weekend off.
I HATE ASHLEY AND EVERYTHING IT STANDS FOR.
Just another brief note, I know I already ranted a bit above… If anyone has questions for me on the way this company deals please send me an email and I will be happy to respond.
JEFF’S EDIT: Jennifer’s email is thefabulouslifeofjenn ~AT~ yahoo ~DOT~ com.
It’s sad to say, but after reading this I just have to laugh, because everything I read happens DAILY. Yes, daily, several times a day actually. I have seen the police called after my managers have been rude to someone and they tried to beat their asses. I’ve been in the store for bomb threats, shooting threats, etc. The day of the bomb threat, our manager refused to let us evacuate the store for over an HOUR, finally another employee called the police who showed up and made EVERYONE get out in a hurry. When asked why they didn’t evacuate the manager said she thought it was a prank. She was more concerned about making a few more sales deals than the safety of her employees.
The manager at the store in Live Oak Texas is a horrible, rude, heartless bitch. Her name is Sharon, and if you ever have any problems I can personally GUARANTEE she won’t do a damn thing about it. I can’t even count the number of times I have watched her tell customers there was nothing she could do, knowing full well she could fix the problem.
And don’t get me started on the corporate schmucks who own the franchise, (they are called Hill Country Furniture Partners) are rude pigs. They are classic examples of men with no tact, reason, or sense of moral responsibility. They are only after YOUR money. They could care less about you. You are only a number, thats ALL. I can’t count the number of times I tried to help people with low credit scores get furniture financed only to hear them say, “We don’t want broke ass people buying our furniture anyways, besides, it’s ONLY a $3000 sale, you are wasting your time working with them”
I was nothing other than a number either. In the San Antonio office is a big white board with everyone’s name on it where the manager tracks daily sales, cancellations, and protection coverage. The employees have to lie , cheat and steal from one another to put numbers on the board. If you are on the bottom of the list, expect to have a manager write you up for something. I was told over and over that I needed to care less about the people I was selling to and more about the sale. I think that very disturbing.
The sad part is that I, myself, ordered a mattress through Ashley and it was supposed to come in a month after I ordered it. For 3 months I called the warehouse only to be told it wasn’t in yet. Finally one day I am at the headquarters for training and I ask another girl there to look up my order. She tells me all surprised that my order has been sitting there for 2 months. She laughed and said they thought I had quit since I never came to pick up my order. WTF???
Working for that damn company was the worst thing I ever did. It really made me feel ill to go to work and lie to really nice people everyday. I had to tell them the furniture was going to be great, that Ashley would make sure to put things right for them, knowing full well the probability there would be a problem was like 75%. I had to explain to sweet old ladies that there was nothing I could do about their broken or damaged sofas, had to tell parents that their childs’ bedroom set was indefinitly backordered, telling newlyweds that their wedding suite had been discontinued after waiting 4 or 5 months for it. It still makes me sick to my stomach.
I hope they go bankrupt/
I was one of the original Ashley Homestores and I lost everything. I worked for 20 years to bulid my business. After I opened the Ashley Homestore everything went down hill. I was left with a pile of dept and have not been able to recover. I am in a desperate situation at this point in my life. I am 50 years old I have a buliding I owe for That I can”t sell or lease my dept is overwhelming and I lost hope. I have 3 children and a wife I have been Married for 30 years and the strain is taking its toll on me and my family. I need prayer and a miracle from God. Please pray for me and my Family.
I was in a Mesa AZ store today and had a bad vibe about how the sales manager was acting and decided to hold off on making a $5400 purchase of dining room and kitchen furniture. I found this site after doing a search on Ashley and I am very thankful you are here. It gave me enough pause to actually take the time to look them up on the AZ BBB and I found this…
Quote off the BBB
“The BBB processed a total of 645 complaints about this company in the last 36 months, our standard reporting period.Of the total of 645 complaints closed in 36 months, 60 were closed in the last year.”
Complaints generally concern product quality, delays in delivery and customer service issues
BBB Definition:
service issues – Claims of alleged delay in completing service, failure to provide promised service, inferior quality of provided service, or damaged merchandise as a result of delivery service.
BBB Definition:
“customer service issues – Claims alleging unsatisfactory customer service, including personnel’s failure to provide assistance in a timely manner, failure to address or respond to customer dissatisfaction, unavailability for customer support, and/or inappropriate behavior or attitude exhibited by company staff.”
“. Specifically, complaints allege the delivery of damaged furniture and the charging of a restocking fee to cancel the order as a result, delays in getting repairs or replacement parts and failure of the company to return calls, follow-up on service requests and/or order the correct replacement parts.”
“The BBB has been in discussions with the company regarding its complaint activity. Ashley Furniture has recently implemented new policies to improve its customer service. If you have a problem with the company and need assistance, you are encouraged to contact its customer service line at 623-209-2896.”
In contrast to other companies that sell furniture that I also visited today most of them had 0 to at the most 16 complaints in 36 months, all resolved. I would like to know how the heck they still have a satisfactory rating all be it they resolved the issues when they have had over 600 complaints in 36 months!!! wtf!!! So many people just let things go even though they are completely unhappy. How many people are out there that did not complain to the BBB that got burned? Double? Triple?
I would say anyone thinking of buying from them should really take a long hard look at their track record. I called a few friends to find out they have heard a bunch of bad things about this store and I have to wonder why they are allowed to continue screwing the public? It seems insane to me they can get away with charging a restocking fee on something they never delivered and secondly my own mother in law told me when they bought from them they were going to take their own couch home with them and were told if they did that would void the warranty. Is that not forcing us to buy it? I know of no other company that does that. NONE
We will not get into the long drawn out story, but we were screwed by the store in Grapevine, TX. Do not buy furniture from Ashley Furniture. They are set up to con you out of money, not sell you furniture. Basically, we paid a lot of money for furniture we will never get.
My husband and I drove from OK to the Ashley Home store in Wichita Falls TX to buy a living room set and tables for $2200. We had talked to the rep about delivery and customer service problems and she reassured us that they were under new management. She also went on to say that any customer service issues are handled promptly. We bought the furniture set and went home. They agreed to deliver it to Fort Sill OK without delivery for free since my husband is active duty military (wow we thought this was great and patriotic). They delivered the furniture, we looked it over and noticed that the leather ottoman/coffee table was damaged so we refused delivery and called the store to reorder. The next trip they brought the wrong ottoman (twice in a row), on their 4th trip they delivered the correct ottoman but it was severely damaged so we refused delivery. After many calls to customer service andstore managers (not one manager call was returned and we called 5 times over a 2 week period) we finally got the correct ottoman just on Monday November 5th and we ordered this set at the end of July (4 months later). So not only did they keep screwing up the order but I had to keep calling them to set up deliveries because they would have it in their warehouse and never call us to set up a delivery!!! I am writing to my local BBB and Ashley Headquarters. They did send us a $100 gift certificate but why would I want to put myself throught this AGAIN! If there is a lawsuit, let me know because this is awful to rip people off like this and still be in business. I even referred friends of ours 2 weeks after we ordered our furniture because they were so nice and helpful when ordering. Luckily our friends did not have any problems.
We, also, are currently dealing with an Ashley “nightmare” for a set we purchased at its Kennesaw, GA store. But our problem has been with the customer service department. We purchased a bedroom set at a lovely cost of $2,500. Upon delivery, I noticed that one of the nightstand drawers was warped and would not close. I immediately contacted customer service who stated that a new drawer was being order at that moment for a 7-10 day UPS delivery. A couple of days past the delivery date, we got a courtesy call from customer service inquiring if the drawer had been delivered. I told her, no, and she stated it was on the way.
So another week or so goes by. I contacted customer service to ask about the delivery of the drawer. It was then that I was told the drawer had NOT yet been shipped. I asked when could I expect it and was told “I’m not sure.” So I demanded to speak to a supervisor or manager, who was conveniently unavailable. I continued to insist, and the customer service rep placed me on hold to converse with the manager. She came back stating that she would contact me by noon the following day with an answer.
Okay, she did return the call, leaving a message that the drawer would be shipped out in 3-4 weeks, add on another 7-10 days for UPS ground. I was absolutely furious. I insisted on speaking with the manager and was told that he would call me back.
Two days later, no call. I contacted Ashley’s customer service, once again, inquiring about the drawer. I was told that it would be shipped the following week, instead of the original 3-4 weeks. I requested to speak with a manager to get confirmation, as their customer service reps appear to be in space and not on earth with the misinformation that was being provided. I got the usual “no manager is available at this time.” So I decided to file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.
I can’t say at this time how this matter will play out. But I have been told by the corporate office (oh yes, I called the big donuts) that the problem woud be resolved today, and a manager “the one who was never available” would be giving me a call. And if he neglected to do so today, he’s been advised that I am to recontact them.
I am from Canada, Regina, Saskatchewan. Bought a bedroom suite for my daughter.
The dresser, night table had scratches and scrapes on them. The chest of drawers was very damaged. They delivery people said that the straps had broke in the delivery van and some of the pieces fell and broke. I looked at the chest of drawers and it was damaged and said to take it back and I want a knew one.
The head board and foot board are in boxes and we looked at them and so far they seem fine.
Weeks and weeks later they brought another chest of drawers, which was again damaged and I said to take it back.
Now, today, this is the 3rd time that they brought the chest of drawers and they didn’t bring it into the house. They told us to come outside and look at the chest of drawers as it was damaged.
I could not believe this.
Before this, I spoke to the manager numerous times and asked him to please look at this piece before it comes to my house. He obviously did not.
Right now I want to send all pieces back and go somewhere else.
I called the store again and asked him I could speak to who was higher up than the Regina manager and the girl who answered said she could not tell me.
Any suggestions?
I just read all these posts, and all i can say is “wow!” It is true every store is locally owned and operated. I own a few Ashley stores in Ohio. It made me sick to read some of these posts, and all I can say is that I’m sorry, even though I don’t have anything to do with those stores. It amazes me that there are owners out there that would let their customers get treated like this. Please know that not all Homestores are like what many of you have experienced. Keep in mind that furniture stores in general have some of the lowest customer satisfaction ratings, second only to car dealers. This may be for many reasons. It can be the attitude of the owner or management, which trickles all the way down to the cleaning person. If their idea of customer service is poor and they don’t care about the customer, then neither will anyone else.
It also can be that furniture is not a block of metal that can be machined into an absolutely perfect symmetrical object. Each piece of furniture is individual, either wood or fabric that is not perfect. Obviously, if the furniture is defective, the store needs to take care of this.
The first question I would ask a customer who has a serious issue is, “what would you like me to do?” At first I think this comes across as a joke to the customer, because they don’t believe I will do what they want. But in fact I will do what it takes to make them happy. If it’s replacing the furniture, giving them their money back, discounting their furniture for problems they’ve had, whatever they want. Typically, they don’t want their money back, or to cancel their sale. They just want to be made happy, and to get what they paid for. Please don’t believe that Ashley furniture across the board is bad. It’s just not true. If it was, I wouldn’t own one. They are the best quality you can get at the price you pay. Not too many years ago I had a full line furniture store. We carried all the major brands, and sofas that would run up to $5,000 and beds that ran about the same. Even the high end furniture had quality issues sometimes. What it comes down to is how the store handles those problems.
Hello There:
I live in California and I have experienced similiar situatons with retailers. Both times I called in the state comsumers group and both times it was resolved in my favor. As a matter of fact one of the retailers is a larger chain like Ashley and several people complained. I later found out the state filed a law suit against that retailer. I suggest contacting your state comsumers group and filing a complaint. At the very least they will probably be your star witness if you file a civil law suit against Ashley. Many attorneys offer a free consultation, so I would talk to one or two after the state investigates. Perhpas consult one even before the state investigates. Best of luck…
I am so glad that I came across this site before I purchased a bedroom set from them. It sounds like this company does not deserve to get any business. Thanks to all of you for sharing your horror stories. I will tell my friends not to go there.
I also am very glad I ran across this site. I was planning on checking out the local Ashley store to look
for a bedroom suite. After reading the comments posted here I WILL NOT waste my time looking there.
Thanks to all of you for posting you problems, you have saved me a large potential headache.
the company i work for rents trailers in the oilfield. we furnish them with alot of ashley furniture – tens of thousands of dollars of furniture. so, armed with the company discount , off to ashley i went when it came time to purchase a mattress for myself. i went to the ft worth, tx store and purchased an $1100.00 queen/box spring set. first i was told i had to pay for delivery – i could not just go and pick it up. i said ok, paid, and looked forward to the delivery date. the day my mattress arrived at my work, i noticed the mattress name on the delivery ticket differed from the actual name on the mattress. come to find out, they sent me the cheaper model, yet identical looking mattress. i called the store and was told it would take at least 48 hrs before anyone would know what happened to my mattress and after that they would have to do an investigation. i asked for her supervisor and after much prodding i got a name and a number. i called the supervisor and she was very aloof, and rude and told me it would be at least 72 hours with an investigation to follow. i asked why not just deliver another mattress and pick up the imposter the next day? she said the mattress i ordered must be found and delivered. i asked her if it was the only one on the planet… it went south from there. i asked her for her supervisor’s name and number. she would not tell me, she became very combative. she asked me how i knew the mattress wasn’t the one i ordered? i said the tag inside the plastic shipping cover didn’t match the style i ordered. she said, so… you removed the plastic wrapping? i asked why? she stated once the plastic is removed, it’s an accepted shipment! i told her i had NOT removed the plastic, but viewed the tag thru the plastic. after more useless q&a i finally said thankyou and hung up. i thought about the conversation, and decided to call her back, i told her that she could not deny me the right to speak to her super. after badgering her for nearly 5 min she gave up her supers first name only and no ext # i told her if she didnt call me by 10:00am the next day with some type of resolution, i’d be a callin her super. the next day she called and said they’d located my mattress and would be by to switch them out. i wasn’t at work when they came, but i was told by one of my guys that all they did was pick up the “imposter” mattress. i called the store and they knew nothing. about 4 hours later they showed back up with a mattress that had CLEARLY been used. the plastic had been taped back up around it. i promptly refused the mattress, so now i’m out $1100.00 and NO matttress and no relief in sight! here’s to sleeping on the floor. i think they made a mistake with the delivery, and gave my mattress to the party of whom i got their mattress. i think that they had to pick the “imposter” mattress first in order to make the switch…i bet that was a hell of a scene! when i stay at motels i sleep in a sleeping bag on top of the covers, i can’t imagine paying $50.00 for a used mattress let alone $1100.00 !!! isn’t there a law against what they just did?
RESOLUTION!!!!!!! i got three words for you poor souls still having problems ashley… FEDERAL TRADE COMMISION! 877 382 4357. they took my complaint over the phone and gave me a reference number. this is what i was told, if you make a complaint they will “monitor” the situation. if enough people call in with similar complaints relating to the same company, they will investigate. armed with a reference number, i promptly called susan morris (super) at ashley 817 633 6838 ext 1416. she is the supposed super over sandra 817 633 6838 ext 1370, the first super i talked to, i left her a messege explaining that after leaving 2 previous voicemails at her extension with no call back i had called the FTC and now had a reference number for a complaint. 20 min. later the phone rang – it was susan morris – imagine that! i’ve had no less that 5 conversations today with these 2 people – sandra is no longer aloof… she’s down right nice! the correct bed WAS delivered today, (on a moments notice i’m betting) they were even early! the bed was sealed in plastic and looked new. my advice to anyone out there having problems is GET on it and STAY on it! it was 2 days ago things went wrong, i called the FTC at 9:00 am and i had my mattress by 2:30pm. moral of the story is the mere mention FTC seemingly gets results, so “ladies and gentlemen, start your dialing fingers!!!!!” goodluck.
WOW!!! I came across this site looking for discontinued Ashley furniture. Many years ago I purchased a bedroom set from Ashley but did not buy the matching nightstands. I did not have a problem with the store or customer service except for the fact that they did not inform me of Ashley’s policy of discontinuing a furniture line without notice. I liked the look of my bedroom set but did not have the available cash to purchase everything and did not want to charge the purchase to my charge card. I sincerely hope that each of your issues can be resolved in the favor of the customer. All of you seem to have a valid issue which should be addressed by the Ashley Homestore. This site has reaffirmed by resolve NEVER TO BUY ASHLEY AGAIN. Good Luck!!
I would suggest contacting your state’s Attorney General’s Office and the Better Business Bureau. Most Attorney General’s offices have a consumer complaint division, and will help to arbitrate the matter. The invoice should be binding – both the front and the back. Their “writing it up wrong” is their problem, and should be absorbed as such – it should not be made to be YOUR problem.
Contact the better business bureau as well as the federal trade commission. The more you complain to them and to others, the more likely they will do what you want.
Hi- I found this site because I was looking for the corporate phone number and it intrigued me:
I too went in to Ashley Furniture with my husband looking to purchase a living room set. We were quoted a price of 1200 ish and we thought wow thats a steal! So we signed up for the credit line from Ashley Furniture. After we were approved, the salesperson came back and said I’m sorry but the real price is actually 1500ish We were floored!!! We had found a set at another place, however since we just opened a line of credit at Ashley, we knew that it would be unlikely for us to get another line at another store. We live in PR, so there is a language barrier, so the salesperson said that the manager didn’t know english (highly unlikely but whatever) Either way we ended up getting our furniture, switched out the coffee tables for ones that matched (the ones set up with the couches did not match!!) and got a couple of vases for the mix up.
It is false advertisement in a way when they tell you one price and then it ends up being more.
Where I work, you make sure you give the customer the right price the first time, otherwise, they get it for the price you said and you end up kissing up to your boss.
Hi, i worked in an Ashley furniture warehouse for about a year before everyone was laid off. Since working there i have never once recommended, but rather condemned the store to anyone and everyone who asks about it.
A few of the worst things about the store are:
Our in-house furniture technician who worked with us had not worked with a solid piece of wood after 6 months of employment there.
Once everything is opened, built, and set up the be loaded and delivered the next day, it is all inspected. This is hardly quality control… fixing a scratch means using a paint “marker”. A chip, crack, or gouge means using a colored wax…. yes just a piece of wax. Another kind of wax is used for scuffs, tears and other thing on leather couches. The leather wax always made me feel horrible, wouldn’t it just come off on your clothes?
-Some of the less expensive furniture was made of very soft wood. There was a certain end/ coffee table set of which i built a considerable amount, i also remember gouging them completely by accident with only my fingernail while picking them up.
-There is no stock (other than mattress pads, and care kits….oh yeah… I’ll get to the care kits next). This meas that once you order the store orders your furniture. This also means that the person who ordered before you may get your stuff if theirs turns up scratched (or something of the like).
-The wood care kits will take the finish off of many wood products. (especially anything black)
-A certain warehouse only a couple hours from ours had over 400 thousand dollars in lost and damaged goods.
-Half of the loaded delivery truck would be items going out to be exchanged with items that were sent out damaged.
i would advise everyone to stay away from Ashley furniture. but if you are having problems with them complain.complain. complain. complain. i know people got refunds, money back, or money off. call, leave messages, go into the store and ask for the manager. call more. i know how much the two customer service lady (who worked at the front desk in our warehouse) hated their jobs because of how many people complained, and how many cheques the one lady wrote.
Max
Wow, I googled Ashley Furniture and I sure learned where I am NOT going to buy furniture! I actually bought Pheasant Run Pub Table and Chairs and the backs of the chairs have broken. I went to the store in Osage Beach, MO where I bought them and she said they no longer carry the Ashley Furniture Line. (Big Surprise!) So I am in the hunt for some good ‘ol Ashley Customer Service! I did get the # from one of your completely satisfied bloggers.
But Jeff, even 3 years later, I’m still with you. You should have just denied the credit card claim. I am pretty sure they would have backed you. At least it would have taken the $$ out of their account for awhile.
Wish me luck!……….Cindy
Well, I can say that my experience with the Melbourne, FL Ashley Furniture homestore is much better than those described there.
When we ordered our first batch of furniture, we needed to cancel a couch and replace with a love seat. Since we had to measure, he gave us 24 hours to cancel, wrote it on the receipt, AND HONORED IT!
We’ve ordered twice since. Yeah, we had a few broken lampshades, and they had to come back to put the beds together, but my salesman Ted and the other staff at the store have been superb!
From my experiences, I would recommend Ashley Furniture.
Dear Jeff,
We too have had a sad experience with the Ashley Homestore in Chula Vista CA, Recently, Too Bad we only found your blog while trying to research how to contact the corporation and get a resolution. The suggestions on here were very helpful. I also reccomend the BBB Attorny Generals office, FTC and your local Senators. Below is the letter I am sending everywhere. I hope it helps others.
I am writing to report a problem, both with the sofa I purchased from the Ashley Homestore, in Chula Vista CA on 4/29/08 and the extended warranty sold to me at the same time. I have had several conversations with the manager Daniel Lopez on Saturday April 4,2009; in which he indicated there was nothing he could do to assist me, either with my repairs or the falsely sold extended warranty. (other than to provide me the Ashley Industries Corporate phone number) He made promises to call me back on Monday April 6th. Unfortunately, as of today, he has still failed to do. I also left a couple of messages for Robert Myers at his Homestore in Chico CA, on both April 6th and 7th. I have not had a response back from him either. After 2 confusing conversations with the Consumer Affairs Division by phone, this letter is in response to those instructions. I have couple issues, which I hope to get rectified in a timely manner.
First, I need repairs made to the leather sofa I purchased on 4/29. (See enclosed Invoice and Ashley extended Warranty Card)
Customer number item number 2923381 REG number CA29719
Extended Warranty plan XLW-Sofa 5 year coverage plan. However, we did not pick up the sofa from the warehouse until 5/29. It remained in its factory wrappings until November 2008 due to an unexpected military move. This means the sofa started falling apart after less than 5 months of actual use.
The first repair it needs is to a broken, leather covered, 4 inch wide 3 foot long piece, attached to reclining footrest between the sofa and the bigger padded footrest. The second repair it needs is to a small circular hole in the leather fabric just below the footrest.
Second, I was extremely disappointed to find out the Ashley salespeople in the Chula Vista Store, deliberately mislead my husband and I into purchasing both the $797 sofa and the $119 extended warranty. Specifically, based on their assurances, that “Ashley Homestores’s are a national chain, located everywhere in the country and both service and the warranty would be valid no matter where we moved”. As a long time Military family this was the deciding factor in our purchase. In fact, until this week, we intended to purchase the matching love seat and chair with ottoman, even taking the time to verify they were still available at an Ashley Homestore 160 miles away.
Imagine our dismay, when I pulled out the paperwork from the purchase, only to find out, one condition which voided the warranty, was moving out of the local area. We did feel really dumb trusting the salespeople. However, I felt really upset, after getting told by Daniel Lopez the manager of the Chula Vista Homestore, that each store is a franchise and since we moved out of his franchise area, there was nothing more he could do, but push me off on Corporate.
I did ask him to refund the pro-rated difference on the 5 year warranty. I pointed out, we had just discovered the extended warranty had been sold to us under false pretenses. Especially because the salespeople knew it would be useless if we moved. We do regret not having pre-read all the paperwork and felt that eating 1 year of the 5 year warranty was lesson enough. Definitely, in light of the sofa having been in actual use, for less than 5 months, before it started to fall apart. Does salt in the wound ring a bell? I did express several times to Mr Lopez, that the pro-rated credit to my charge card would be a goodwill gesture to keep my a loyal Ashley customer and prevent me from making complaints to the people listed below. He still decided there was nothing he further he could do, since we moved.
As I went online to collect information for this letter and it’s follow up, I was further dismayed to find out just how many customers (almost 100) have left complaints online. (It was easier to find complaints than the information on the company) In today’s times these business practices seem risky to me. When a consumer purchases a vehicle warranty in California, the details have to be explained thoroughly and they have to sign in 3 places, they understood the details of the extended warranty. Even then, they have the option of canceling the warranty for a pro-rated credit. I hope to hear from you and/or Mr Robert Myers, soon, to resolve these matters. Otherwise, I will not only be motivated to contact the list below with this letter, but equally curious to learn what CA lawmakers response may be to this military family’s sad experience with the Chula Vista Store.
Sincerely,
Kathleen and Fedele Fiorito
Good News! Tammy from Ashley Corporate Called me the next Day! They are honoring all my requests! Thanks Jeff for your forum and Thank you Tammy from Ashley’s for delivering on customer service!
the Fiorito’s
I am a sales manager at an Ashley in West Texas. I am sorry about the troubles you have had. While policies described are accurate, I think the lack of clear communication is the clear culprit. Things like this can happen quite easily…missing a digit on the sku# of the item, writing down a different item looked at earlier and not realizing that the wrong one is being rang up. It sounds like they had a completely different sofa on the invoice in the first place–which was $70 less. Mistakes happen, they should have just been completely honest about such an easy mistake to make. So you know, the Ashley’s in my area all have the customer and sales person initial by each individual item on the invoice, and all of the policies on the back. Many honest mistakes have been caugh this way, before the customer pays their hard-earned money to the store. Thank you for your patronage, and hope your future experiences are much better ones.
Douglas Eberman
I too have had had a terrible time with Ashley Furniture in the Houston area. Their Customer Service is an absolute nightmare. Its been two months and we are waiting on our furniture to be delivered even though the billboards advertise “Next Day Delivery”. They kept wanting to do partial deliveries and we have previously had one very bad experience with PDs, so we said NO. Fingers (whom I believe they bought out) apparently considered a partial delivery a “complete” delivery and thus customer service was nonexistent when we tried to complain about the missing pieces. Now Ashley wants to do the same thing. They have scheduled several “partial deliveries” we did not authorize-and would notify us via a message on our answering machine that a delivery was being made on such-and-such date. When we called to cancel the delivery, they would say they our previous complaints and calls were not listed on their records. As one person stated above, you virtually agree on something with one rep, when it doesn’t happen, you call them back and they have no record of the prior conversation. I managed to get hold of one of the supervisors whose promised to have a store manager call me back. No call – despite three messages- not to mention the numerous ones to the customer service department!!
I am so weary of repeating the same story over and over (AND OVER) to yet ANOTHER customer services rep – only to find out that even if they did show any sympathy they had NO restitution process, nor does anyone above them care enough to call back and try to make their store promises good. They just appear to have no interest whatsoever in standing behind their products and service.
So IF someone in Ashley Furniture actually cares enough to read this site, then why can’t they give a 10% discount to people who do not get their furniture delivered on time- and lets just say maybe two weeks to a month after the expected delivery date people should get 20% off, etc. Maybe after they start LOSING money they might just care a bit more about their customer service problems. At the very least, they might start linking in their contracted delivery dates to ACTUAL DATES when the furniture is in the store and ready to be delivered.
Two months and counting… and STILL waiting for a bedroom set.
WOW! I guess I am not alone! I bought a condo full of Ashley Furniture which was delivered timely and in good condition. However, we were pressured to buy an extended warranty which covered 5 years and all defects. One year later, the material on the living room furniture is very worn and the frame on the sofa kills your legs while sitting. We called MFS (Montage Furniture Services) who said these were manufactory defects and to call ASHLey! Ashley told us because we used MFS who used chemicals to shield stains, we had voided the warranty! So we pay extra for a warranty that voids our warranty???
We are in the middle of a problem that we hope to have resolved, but it looks bleak so far. We purchased $4,000 worth of furniture from Ashley, beginning with a day bed for our young daughter that had a pretty good price of $270 — or so we thought.
The furniture was delivered yesterday, and the deliverers were not able to put together the day bed because a piece was missing. Not that they were going to deliver it later, BUT THAT THE NECESSARY PIECE WAS NOT ORDERED. My wife asked the delivery people if she should still sign the paperwork, and they said “yes, because our list is complete”, which is correct. Se then asked for a copy, AND ASHLEYS WILL NOT GIVE YOU A COPY!!! NO COPY, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. You sign, they take it away.
I called the local store and explained the problem, and I was placed on hold. A manager got on the phone and explained that the salesperson had made “an honest mistake” and that we would have to purchase the extra part for about $150. WHAT??? I had a special 52% off discount, so he worked some numbers and said that the cost would be about $85, and delivery in another 3 weeks. He insisted that they would not take the hit and had to make some money on the extra “sale”.
UGH! So THEY make a mistake, and we realize that we would not have purchased the day bed for $370 (and certainly not $420). I am going to call tomorrow and ask them to take the bed back. If they want to charge me a restocking fee I will be very angry.
So at Ashley’s, you can order an item, have the price handed to you, sign an agreement and pay that price, then be asked to pay additional to have the product function. Gooooooooooooooooooooooo Ashley’s!
I am sorry you had to go through that experience. I think you should have placed a complain with the attorney general , the BBB and the Federal Trade Commision, Also take them to the small claims court to get back your money back.
I just bought some furniture at Ashley in Orlando but found out thet it is slightly big for my family room I am thinking about trying to negotiate an exchange. The contract mention cancelation and returns but does not mention exchanges. I do not want to cacel or return, just exchange for a smaller couch and recliner which is what I purchased. I spent $1,500 on a good quality leather couch and recliner. I think that the consumer law says that your are allowed three months for an exchanged.
I hope you enjoy your furniture
From Mikey Mouse land MT… 🙂
Was thinking about buying a living room set from Ashleys before this thanks for the heads up. will not ever purchase anything from Ashleys.
Just added a link to your site from mine, great blog.
Thanks!
Problem somewhat resolved, but still not feeling any warmth from Ashley’s.
The summary of my description from Nov 26 is that we purchased about $4,000 worth of furniture and the day-bed could not be put together because a primary component was missing. I paid almost $300 for three pieces of wood (two painted sides and a back… I kid you not) and they forgot the base that holds it together. Original price was about $550, definitely not worth it.
I called and asked that they send the required piece, they asked for $150. I refused, and they came down to $80. The manager was terse and not very friendly, and although admitted it was an honest mistake, did not seem to want to make a customer happy… FOR A MEASLY $80 after we spent $4,000.
They agreed to a return of the product without a stocking fee. The problem is that they still refused to budge on simply giving me the part they missed. The only bright spot is that the original issue was not the store’s fault, but the central office’s programming. Even the sign on the daybed was wrong, and they admitted all of this.
The only thing that was better — The managing person at the store at the time of my return (not the terse manager I first spoke with) wanted to help, was very sorry, told me the entire history of the problem, and tried to make me happy. They still wanted $80 so the bed is theirs.
I am so greatful that I found this site. We have an Ashley Furniture Homestore right here in our home town and my wife and I were about to go into the store to purchase a complete bedroom set. Luckily, we had gone into the store a few months ago and found the set we were looking for, only to find it has been discontinued by searching their website. Searching on the internet for discontinuned Ashley Furniture, I stumbled upon this site. THANK YOU!!!!
You should of contacted your CC company and filed a fraud complaint against the merchant. This may be a typical “trick” they use to get more money out of people. No need to spend more money, you send a copy of the contract to the CC company and they investigate for free. If they feel you were wronged they credit it back and they just deduct it from the merchant.
This is crazy. My mom purchased a bedroom set for me as a wedding gift, and paid them over 50% upfront and when we came in to pay the remaining balance and schedule a delivery date, they told us that it had been discontinued and that they had a big sale and sold the floor sample to someone as well.
This was the only one I had wanted and I had my heart set on this exact set. Now, the refuse to refund our money and on top of that will only allow us to pick out something else within the store if we first, PAY THE ENTIRE AMOUNT OF THE ORIGINAL INVOICE FOR ITEMS THAT WE WILL NEVER RECEIVE, AND SECONDLY, ONLY IF THE ITEMS WE CHOOSE ARE EXACTLY EQUAL OR GREATER IN COST OF THE ORIGINAL INVOICE!
Why should they not refund our money? Or at the least, allow us to apply the money we have already invested towards something else in the store? They actual expect us to honor our comittment and pay the entire invoice, even though the furniture we selected has been discontinued and is unavailable!!!
Plano, TX Store
Wow… this certainly does not put a nice light on Ashley stores. I was just in there eyeballing some stuff to re-do a room as well. I’ll certainly keep these first hand stories in mind from now on.
This does not surprise me…Can anyone help me??!! I purchased a sofa last week from Ashley in Lake Havasu City Az. I paid the tax at signing amount of 90.00 and submitted my credit application with the assumption that all would be well. Three days later they shut down for good!!!!!!!! They have my money and my sofa and I can not get ahold of anyone!! I am sure that they knew they were closing, the partner store had just closed 1 month prior, yet they took my money! They even said they would keep the sofa for a month while I was moving!!! Promises promises…. I called corporate, they say it is individually owned and gave me a number of a gentleman whos voice mail is full and not excepting anymore calls!! I am so sad over this…. any help please let mme know! At least they are out of buisness and not able to rip innocent people off anymore…
OK, my problems with Ashley haven’t been as bad as others but thought I’d mention some of them. So here’s my Ashley experience in Manhattan Kansas. I purchased a bedroom suite. When it was delivered, one of the large bed posts was damaged. Ashley did agree to replace it and did so in a timely manner. But the ironic part was that they brought the entire post to replace when it only needed the top screw on end cap. I had my bed completely torn apart for the repair when that wasn’t necessary at all. With this same purchase, I had a much larger dresser than previously, with a huge mirror. It completely overpowered the room. When I spoke with them about the possibility of returning it, I was told to remove the mirror and store it—that might help. What a helpful suggestion! Ha—just what I wanted to do—store something I just purchased.
On another occasion I purchased a table with 2 high bar stools. There were available without ordering so could be picked up the next day. Later I decided to purchase 2 additional stools. When I ordered them and went to pick them up at the dock, they were in a thousand pieces in a box. When I inquired about assembly, I was told there was a charge for that but the sales person never mentioned it and the first two stools were fully assembled. Eventually I ended up paying for having them assembled. Each time you went to pick up something at the dock, there was a large dog asleep behind the counter that got up and paced the floor. I am a dog lover but was never sure why this particularly unfriendly looking dog needed to be part of the furniture pick up process. I have since done business in Topeka 60 miles away at a more reputable business.
I wish I had found these before I ever set foot in an ashley furniture store. I paid in full for 2 mattress sets on July 6. Delivery was set up for July 10. I called customer care to find out what was going on and was told delivery was not set for July 10.. then I was told the mattresses were on another truck that had not delivered that day and would be delivered July 13. All deliveries have been phoned to me by a New Brumsfel TX number. Then on July 12, I get a call from customer care saying my mattresses are not in stock and should arrive this week and they will be delivered this Thursday. I have called the salesman– no returned call. The store manager… no returned call. I did listen to the mattress manager – he would not allow me to talk.. he just talked no sympathy or solutions. The mattress manager did not even know the store manager’s last name. I called corporate number found on this page and talked to customer service and consumer affairs… neither were helpful. It is an hour drive to the store but I guess I am going to have to go and throw a tantrum…. maybe they will respond to that. I am tired of getting no sleep from sleeping on the floor!!! I will NEVER buy from Ashley again…. I am telling everyone i know and all of you that I don’t know.
I WANT TO THANK JEFF FOR WRITING HIS REVIEW ON HOW HE WAS TREATED 4 years ago. Sounds like you have saved alot of people from losing their hard earned money here’s my little story in a nut shell. First part has nothing to do with ASHLEY Yet. My husband and I recently got burnt on a purchase of a van. Bought it from a local person who has it for sale. We had it 10 weeks and transmission went out 250 miles away from home while on vacation. We found a local car dealership nearby that quoted a price of $1650 for new transmission. so we got a rental car finished our vacation and headed home. 6 weeks later we met the repair man halfway and picked up our van. It ran fine the 100 miles home. I drove it for 3 days putting only 500 miles on it and transmission goes out AGAIN. Called repair shop and guess what……. They have closed their bussiness. Meanwhile our other vehicle had a cracked head and leaking externally from the head. $1200 later it still not running properly . The guy who fixed it tried to commit suicide 4 days after giving us our van back. We now have spent nearly $3000 and still no vehicles to drive. SO NOW IM DRIVING MY MOMS EXTRA CAR AND HES DRIVING HIS PARENTS EXTRA CAR. So we now have decided to start checking reviews on items were interested in buying or checking the BBB, which leads me to my point…..I. found some very pretty living room funiture we liked and was checking reviews. So glad we decided to start checking saved us from losing more money now . Thanks again to all those who wrote in to tell abt their problems
I guess this is a good thing running into another Christian who has had a similar problem with Ashley’s Furniture. I am pretty frustrated and trying to hold myself together and not doing something that would appear to be unfruitful and unloving to those in the world who do not know our Lord. Well, this is a good place to air it all out!
It all started when we purchased a dining room marble bar height table with corner bench and stools. We also purchased leather recliner, love seat and couch, coffee table and end tables. This was our first set of new furniture since we were married sixteen years ago, so I was pretty excited we were able to do it.
The first thing that happened is when they delivered my marble dining table, the pen that I used to sign the receiving form leaked all over my hand and I even got it on my nose and a couple drops of ink got on my brand new unsealed marble table. Was this a good thing? It could be because I was not told that it wasn’t already sealed and needed to be before using it. So they did right by me and replaced it even though we had etchings on it from food stains, etc., already! One good thing that happened.
But since then, the bench seam completely ripped out, the coffee table was defective, which it took four months to replace, and one day after receiving the new coffee table and after having to move it across the carpet a few feet, I almost fell over the table with everything sliding to the flood, and noticing that the leg fell off!
They delivered me my recliner defective which it took a good while to replace. Its been one frustration after another with very poor quality control and service and the person sent to examine the defective furniture did not know how to care for the wood furniture and had told me something to use that just smeared it. He didn’t know that it had a clear coat over it and needed a special cleaner, and he didn’t even know what kind of sealer to use for the marble.
I know we are to be patient and kind in everything we go through, and this is really pushing my limit. Now God knows how long it will take having a torn up bench and a coffee table with no leg! My old furniture was in better shape than this!!!!
I see that it would be a waste of expense to try to take legal action because they probably are smart enough to work around any law suit with as many people posting complaints on the internet.
Any prayers for wisdom and patience for me would be appreciated along with favor from God and man!
Dear Jeff,
We too have had a sad experience with the Ashley Homestore in Chula Vista CA, Recently, Too Bad we only found your blog while trying to research how to contact the corporation and get a resolution. The suggestions on here were very helpful. I also reccomend the BBB Attorny Generals office, FTC and your local Senators. Below is the letter I am sending everywhere. I hope it helps others.
I am writing to report a problem, both with the sofa I purchased from the Ashley Homestore, in Chula Vista CA on 4/29/08 and the extended warranty sold to me at the same time. I have had several conversations with the manager Daniel Lopez on Saturday April 4,2009; in which he indicated there was nothing he could do to assist me, either with my repairs or the falsely sold extended warranty. (other than to provide me the Ashley Industries Corporate phone number) He made promises to call me back on Monday April 6th. Unfortunately, as of today, he has still failed to do. I also left a couple of messages for Robert Myers at his Homestore in Chico CA, on both April 6th and 7th. I have not had a response back from him either. After 2 confusing conversations with the Consumer Affairs Division by phone, this letter is in response to those instructions. I have couple issues, which I hope to get rectified in a timely manner.
First, I need repairs made to the leather sofa I purchased on 4/29. (See enclosed Invoice and Ashley extended Warranty Card)
Customer number item number 2923381 REG number CA29719
Extended Warranty plan XLW-Sofa 5 year coverage plan. However, we did not pick up the sofa from the warehouse until 5/29. It remained in its factory wrappings until November 2008 due to an unexpected military move. This means the sofa started falling apart after less than 5 months of actual use.
The first repair it needs is to a broken, leather covered, 4 inch wide 3 foot long piece, attached to reclining footrest between the sofa and the bigger padded footrest. The second repair it needs is to a small circular hole in the leather fabric just below the footrest.
Second, I was extremely disappointed to find out the Ashley salespeople in the Chula Vista Store, deliberately mislead my husband and I into purchasing both the $797 sofa and the $119 extended warranty. Specifically, based on their assurances, that “Ashley Homestores’s are a national chain, located everywhere in the country and both service and the warranty would be valid no matter where we moved”. As a long time Military family this was the deciding factor in our purchase. In fact, until this week, we intended to purchase the matching love seat and chair with ottoman, even taking the time to verify they were still available at an Ashley Homestore 160 miles away.
Imagine our dismay, when I pulled out the paperwork from the purchase, only to find out, one condition which voided the warranty, was moving out of the local area. We did feel really dumb trusting the salespeople. However, I felt really upset, after getting told by Daniel Lopez the manager of the Chula Vista Homestore, that each store is a franchise and since we moved out of his franchise area, there was nothing more he could do, but push me off on Corporate.
I did ask him to refund the pro-rated difference on the 5 year warranty. I pointed out, we had just discovered the extended warranty had been sold to us under false pretenses. Especially because the salespeople knew it would be useless if we moved. We do regret not having pre-read all the paperwork and felt that eating 1 year of the 5 year warranty was lesson enough. Definitely, in light of the sofa having been in actual use, for less than 5 months, before it started to fall apart. Does salt in the wound ring a bell? I did express several times to Mr Lopez, that the pro-rated credit to my charge card would be a goodwill gesture to keep my a loyal Ashley customer and prevent me from making complaints to the people listed below. He still decided there was nothing he further he could do, since we moved.
As I went online to collect information for this letter and it’s follow up, I was further dismayed to find out just how many customers (almost 100) have left complaints online. (It was easier to find complaints than the information on the company) In today’s times these business practices seem risky to me. When a consumer purchases a vehicle warranty in California, the details have to be explained thoroughly and they have to sign in 3 places, they understood the details of the extended warranty. Even then, they have the option of canceling the warranty for a pro-rated credit. I hope to hear from you and/or Mr Robert Myers, soon, to resolve these matters. Otherwise, I will not only be motivated to contact the list below with this letter, but equally curious to learn what CA lawmakers response may be to this military family’s sad experience with the Chula Vista Store.
Sincerely,
Kathleen and Fedele Fiorito
I paid Ashley furniture in full on July 5th for a queen size mattress set and a full size mattress set from Ashley Furniture in Humble, TX. After having 3 delivery dates set up and countless phone calls, I still did not have a mattress to sleep on by July 15.. they could not deliver the mattress I purchased. They even had me return to the store to choose an upgraded mattress at no extra charge…. but they still could not deliver so I finially cancelled the order and went elsewhere to purchase mattresses I was tired of sleeping on an air mattress. I finally got my money returned on Sept 24th…. I should have put it all on a credit card– I should have shopped somewhere else. I will never step foot in an Ashley Furniture store again… and you shouldn’t either. I talked to every level of management… I talked to people people in the corporate offices…. they all talked to me like I was the one who prevented the successful conclusion of this transaction. The store manager actually told me he was not aware of everything that goes on in his store especially in the finance area. (Gee why would a store manager know what is going on–especially with the money) It was a nightmare experience….that I will never repeat because I am done with them forever and if you want a good furniture purchase experience, you best not go there either. Ashley Furniture IS NOT YOUR FRIEND!!!!! They do not care about you. And they will blame you for all the problems…
Wow!! I was going to purchase a sectional today at Ashley Furniture in Mesa, AZ. Thanks for the info, I changed my mind and will keep looking. That’s too bad that a corporation would treat their customers like this. In the end, Ashley lost thousands of dollars because of your story, so even though you are out money for the restocking fee, Ashley is out thousands from potential customers… $4000.00 from myself! Thanks I appreciate you doing this!
We bought a mattress and boxsprings from Ashley Home Furniture in Greenwood, IN. Originally, the salesperson said we were purchasing the floor sample which was why it was on sale. When I went to pay for the item, I was told it would be delivered in two weeks although we live literally two miles from the store. Three weeks later, I contacted the store to find out why we hadn’t received the promised call about delivery and was given a specific delivery date one week later. I took off from work, never received that delivery call, and when I contacted the store, the manager told me the set was not on the truck from the factory as it was supposed to be. What? I thought we had purchased the floor model that was in the store. Long story short: we did receive the mattress and boxsprings approximately two months later, and although we like the bed itself, we will not shop at Ashley Home Furniture again.
Apparently when it comes to Ashley furniture it doesn’t seem to matter that state you live in.I am in Arizona I went and bout almost $2500 worth of furniture from them.One of the items was a bunkbed that cost me over $600.Now what I bought was a brand new undamaged bed.What I got was a significantly damaged ding and dent that has to be refurbished.I noticed it as soon as the delivery guys left and tried to catch them.I immediately called Customer service.they were rude and after several calls and despite me saying i wanted a new bed they sent a tech out.3 weeks later i am still waiting for the pieces to be delivered. I called them again told them i wanted a new bed they said if they want to wait for the pieces to be delievered and then for the guy to come install them and if i am still not satisfied “they will go from there”I told them i was not going to be satisfied because this isnt what i bought.i had my house warming with this damaged bed,the one piece that was delievered is a large box now sitting in my small place and I will also be going through thanksgiving like this.they said “well it sounds like your just not gonna be happy no matter what”I said no not when i paid for a new undamaged bed and what i have gotten is 3 weeks of a bait and switch.”ashley furniture is gonna go what Ashley furniture wants in the time they want to do it.
*sorry for the mispelled words I am so upset.More so by their attitudes and customer service
Just another rant in the long line of dissatisfied Ashley customers. Sure wish I had seen this list before I let my wife get online and shop for a new bedroom suite for our guest bedroom. Little did she realize that a Queen bed would not actually work in a 10 x 10 bedroom. Seems she forgot to measure! Having already gone to the showroom and purchased 3 days earlier, asked the wife what size bed she ordered, and was told the “Queen”. I said you better measure because there is no way a queen bed would fit in that bedroom. We called the local showroom to explain the predicament and to change the bed to a full size bed. They don’t make that particular bedroom suite in a full size! So, I said since the bedroom suite had not even been shipped, how about ordering a different full size bedroom suite? Yes, but there would be a 20% restocking fee! (HUH?) I asked how you can charge a restocking fee if the order hasn’t been shipped? “POLICY-Read the INVOICE!” No refunds and only store credit. After this line of BS, I really didn’t want anything from ASHLEY! However, I bit the bullet, lost $420.00 on a careless error, and attempted to use the rest applied to store credit to purchase the new FULL bedroom suite. This receipt shows 1/24/14. Have also had to add another $478.00 to reorder a smaller, cheaper looking bedroom suite. Have been given 4 different delivery dates, another just today for sometime around the end of next week! I am sure the explitives I used today will not help get this bedroom suite delivered any sooner, but with all I have had to put up with w/ASHLEY I really don’t care any more! I told them today, that if I had not received this order by 4/4/14, they would be hearing from my attorney!*
*Arizona vs. Ashley Furniture Class Action Lawsuit 2006
Update: 4/2/14 Ashley Furniture attempted to deliver the aforementioned bedroom suite today. However, the headboard they had ordered was a Queen/Full headboard and did not match the dimensions(51″) of the correct full footboard (58″W). They had to reorder the correct full only headboard. So, the entire order was rejected! Now, waiting for another 6 weeks for the correct headboard. Ashley Furniture-What the heck is your PROBLEM?
Jeff: Sorry to hear of your troubles because, like many people, I’m a big fan of good customer service, and always highly disappointed when companies fail to deliver on a very simple tenet of good business practices. However, I can also see where companies are placed in bad situations and branded even though they’ve really done nothing wrong. By that I mean there are many times when the customers’ expectations are simply not realistic for the situation, or they’re simply trying to force the company to rectify a situation in which the customer just doesn’t want to accept responsibility. I run a company that sells products to the public, and have dealt with my fair share of “complaints” that simply weren’t related to anything my staff did wrong. I could go on and on, but that said my experiences with Ashley Furniture in Florida have been excellent. I have never encountered any situation that wasn’t exactly as I expected. The items were as I expiated given the prices I paid. The worst I could think of was an occasion when I purchased a bed set but passed on the mattress because their price was too high. I was disappointed the sales team were unwilling to yield – even a little. But I can’t hold that against them or claim any beef against them, and I certainly wouldn’t bash them because of it. I simply found a location very close by that offered the mattress in the price range I wanted.
I am in California and made the horrible mistake of signing up for their “No Payments or Interest For 6 Months” 3rd party Genesis credit card offer. It turns out that what I really signed up for is no interest if I pay off the entire balance WITHIN 6 MONTHS. I had to make my first payment exactly one month after the date of my purchase, or else incur standard credit card late payment fees and interest. The whole offer that was made, which lured me into making a purchase from them, was a complete fabrication. Sure, it was my fault that I didn’t read the fine print on everything I was signing, but the salesman LIED TO ME. To make matters worse, on my next two statements, there were random charges made BY ASHLEY FURNITURE, one for $84.83, and another for $37.67, and I haven’t stepped foot into any of their stores or ordered anything online since the date of my initial purchase! This makes me think that somebody on the inside at Ashley Furniture is using the credit card information from their customers in some sort of credit card scam. I can’t believe that after all these years of being a horrible company, that they are still in business. What a joke. I seriously am considering going into the store that I made my purchase at on a Saturday, in the middle of a really big sale, when the store has a ton of potential customers inside of it, and bringing a bullhorn with me to tell everybody to run as fast as possible back the way they came in because they are being ripped off. “If anybody has made any purchases, back out now while you still can – rip up the contracts you just signed! Run! Run! Run! You are being scammed! Your furniture will fall apart within weeks or you won’t get the right stuff delivered at all!!!!!!” I am a very non-confrontational person, and have never even thought of doing anything that extreme, or potentially embarrassing, in my entire life! But it really stinks getting treated so poorly. That’s all I can say. Don’t ever do business with Ashley Furniture – they will screw you, just you wait and see.
–This is an ongoing issue, which I will update.–
My experience is with the Wichita Falls, TX location. We went in to the store and ordered a dining room set based on two main factors, a regular size, not bar height dining room set and a delivery time of 2-4 weeks. The next day I call in to inform them that the invoice states bar stool chairs and I nor the salesman had noticed that prior to our leaving the store. The CSR found the correct item #, told me they would update it after chatting with the sales rep.
Here we are 3 weeks in to the 2-4 week delivery time and I call back to check. Well, the corporate CSR tells me that the top is available and upon asking, she tells me the order stills states bar stool, height. I inform her that is incorrect and that I had called in the day after, since I could not that same evening when we noticed the error. She tells me they can order the correct item and it will take 2-6 weeks. I inform her I was told 2-4 weeks and I took the proper steps to correct the mistake one day later as soon as they were open, it is not my fault they ordered the wrong item.
She tells me that I can wait for the item or cancel, pay a 25% restocking fee and the remainder is a store credit. After some more discussion, not heated by either part, I ask her to cancel and I will fight the charges through court. She tells me ok and to hold, at least 6 minutes go by without her saying anything so I hang up.
I call back and after trying for some time I reach someone that connects me to the local store. There I explain the situation to Sam. I tell him that I can wait another 2 weeks max for my new item or I would be willing to take the floor model, at a discount, but I can not wait 3+ weeks since we do not have a dining room set. I gave him the correct item and he indicated that he would check if the corp location has the model I really wanted to send to them immediately or if they can work with me on the floor model. I reminded him that I will not wait more than 2 weeks, at this point, it was not my mistake.
MORE TO FOLLOW
We purchased my daughter’s bedroom set last May. Things were mismarked but our (Columbia, sc) store worked with our pricing and all were satisfied. We paid out balance zero interest July. Have not returned to the store because we were not in the market for furniture but today….we get a statement for $1000. It states we made a purchase in September! We checked our online account and there is no invoice number…no delivery date! It seems someone at the store committed fraud. Ugh!
I will never walk in an Ashley store.We purchased a dining room set and a living room set. We used the dining room table 2 times at Thanksgiving and Christmas because it was in a formal dining room. It got a huge zig zag crack in the table where you could tell it was a factory issue. The truth was the particle board and the laminate top was splitting apart. I was determined to get a refund or new table. After one year…YES one year of Ashley and I having it out. I was a determined I would not give in to this junky table. I have the repaired table and it only continued to crack to the point where I need a new table. How do you repair a table that is not even made of wood. It was a nightmare of hours and hours of calls to a customer service rep to another person. They told me that the owner of our particular store was anonymous and they were not allowed to give out any information about him. It was so bad my husband and I found the location of their warehouse and he went and tried to find out information there. It was a complete nightmare. Such a shabby business. I was told “Sorry you bought a table and now you don’t want to pay for it.” (I was asking for a refund because once I saw the quality I didn’t want a replacement table). I told them I don’t know who your normal clientale are, but we pay and have already paid for the table. It is just junk and want a refund. Ashley won at the end because my lawyer friend informed me I would have more in fees than the cost of the table if I tried to pursue it in a legal matter. Ashley probably knows that too.
Each homestore of Ashley is locally owned. If you feel they aren’t holding to corporate vpolicy absolute I would call guest service and someone will be able to resolve. The things they did are not normal to our standard ethic policy. Different people own certain areas. Our manager in Louisville ky would have told you something different. I am sorry you had a bad experience please call the guest service line if you are still having issues they may be able to help better.
Ya The same thing just happened to us with Ashley furniture but with a thousand dollars that they added to a line of credit we had through the store with only 100.00 that we owed them now its some how 1100.00 We are really mad. They said they had a system problem and decided they did not charge us enough. Originally we paid 858.22 out of pocket and 2133.56 we put on credit for only a week we paid it off all except 100.00 in the same month of purchase. So are grand total already was 2,991.78. So this month we got a call that they didn’t charge us enough for our two couches and so now they want us to pay 3,991.78 which is ridiculous for even what we purchased. I would rather them to come pickup the two couches than pay I feel we have been wronged and ripped off not to mention we never signed for the extra amount!!!!!!!! Seriously not even sure what to do at this point I want to almost get a lawyer because of the amount extra being so high.
Absolutely do not pay the 70.00 that was their error. Definitely do not agree to a 180.00 restocking fee. Contact your credit card tell them your situation. They will refund your money and go after the store. That’s one of the perks to paying with credit card. Tell them you would not have purchased if you knew it was 70.00 more to begin with. This happened to my husband years ago at a different store. The store said they made 200.00 dollar mistake. My husband refused to pay they took him to court. Judge asked him if he would have bought furniture for 200.00 more he said no. Judge said case dismissed. Stand your ground you have options.
Ashley’s furniture store DEFINITELY do NOT care about their customers! I went through the same ordeal except I paid all of the invoice upfront. 7 weeks later and numerous phone calls and extreme headaches. I finally have furniture delivered and it’s not what I chose off the sales floor. Sales person wrote the wrong model numbers on our invoice. How am I supposed to know what I chose and what he wrote down are the same when they don’t write furniture name just model number. I am still fighting over etc my $2300 back! Good luck to you!
You are not at all out of line. The contract was signed. You agreed to pay a certain amount & they agreed to charge a certain amount. Your request to either have them honor original price agreed and signed on or refund your money is very fair. You sound like a very honest and nice person. I highly doubt a $70 mistake is going to crush Ashley furniture. I’ve been waiting all day for my delivery and haven’t even receive a call. I find that to incredible rude of Ashley furniture. I’ve called their delivery department twice and stay on hold 16-20 minutes each time before giving up. I will be calling the store tomorrow.
I feel you should be given a full refund.
I’m currently going through my own situation with Ashley’s furniture, and I’m currently trying to find the best way to sort my problem out, but like many of these posts, I’m also having problems getting anything resolved. Was hoping to find a solution reading through these posts, but so many that I thought I would just post my problem, with hope of a reply.
So me and my partner agreed to buying $7000 dollers worth of bedroom furniture. But we only got finance accepted for $2000, due to only arriving in Canada a month before hand. So they agreed to giving is $2000 worth of the order and keeping the rest on order for us to pay off as of when we can. Moving on… we had a 4 week wait to get our products delivered, after the first week we got a call saying that the items we wanted had gone in to clearance. But that we were still getting brand new products, and would still get full warranty etc. Just the price of what we were paying had dropped by $600 dollers off the full price of $7000 and that it could get delivered sooner. So we happily agreed. We didn’t sign anything though. Except for the first time round when we first bought the products. But the receipt is for just the $2000 dollers worth.
So when the products finally got delivered, everything seemed to be fine. But as the next few weeks past, loads of things were starting to happen such as: cracks and flaking. So we rang up about this, to find out that these products were off the show room, and that they follow under clearance terms and conditions. So after making our complaints, after many heated discussions, we were able to get an exchange for new products but would have to pay extra. But would come with full warrenty. So we ended up agreeing to this, but we haven’t yet actually made the exchange, but we just found out that the products would not be giving full warranty and that we still have to abide by clearance terms. So we have been fighting to try and get them to cancel the whole order, not accept the exchange and for them to pick up the faulty products and give full refund.
We have been back and forth between the actual store and customer service but we have had no luck.
Is there anything that anyone could recommend?
Also to add if you buy clearance items, you are ment to go into store and check the product out before signing for it. But we never did this. We weren’t even asked to come into see the items. As we were told this would still be brand new product.
I agree, you were treated shamelessly!! 🙁
I’m having the same sort of situation with La-Z-boy of Lafayette. Bought a power recliner, it feels nothing like the one we tested in the store. it’s hard, the neck adjustment was too high and just pushes my head forward and down. The lumbar adjustment feels like a hard bar in my back (I tested all of these on the chair in the store and they were fine) I have arthritis and this chair is uncomfortable.
They told me in the store that it might feel hard at first it has to “break in” so give it time. After 5 business days I called them and asked to return it. They told me there would be a 50% restocking fee IF I EXCHANGED it for another chair. That I couldn’t return it after 3 days at all.
Contacted the corporate office and received the form letter saying I need to contact the local store. The store didn’t want to hear anything, just like above.
Extremely disappointing and they’ve certainly lost a customer!
I recently spent 15000 dollars at Ashley furniture and most of it came when it was due. I am missing half a sofa and was told it would be here a couple weeks later. Now they tell me two more months. WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO W HALF A SOFA? I only took it bc we had no where to sit n could of delbt a few weeks but not 2 months.
I recently ordered dining chairs from Ashley on line. I had assistance with several questions on their chat. I was assured that their furniture went through rigorous examination to make sure everything was in order. And they assured me each chair weighted 24 lbs each. Imagine my surprise when two boxes came, each weighing 24 lbs. and showed the furniture was from Safavieh furniture! I called immediately and was told they would be contacting me by email to set up pickup. Two days later I got an email saying I was responsible for shipping back! Then they told me I could donate the pieces to Goodwill and send them a letterhead from Goodwill and they would refund my money. I have tried to get someone to put this in writing as right now I don’t trust them at all. Will be contacting their home office. All I can say is – stay away
I agree with you completely! I have worked in retail on & off for the last 20 years. I say stand up for yourself!! Noone else is going to.
You’re not alone. I’m considering filing a lawsuit for a refund on furniture I haven’t received. They’re horrible. Customer service is a joke. I’m contact the BBB and my local congressmen.
Just cancel the check. That’s what I did. I knew all sales were final but they said once u get the item. I went in last night and ordered it and do to their lies, I wanted to cancel the very next morning. Wasn’t even 24 hours but they said they would deduct $800 for restocking fee… But they had it in their local warehouse. This was insane to me. I had no choice but to cancel the check. It was so early on that my check hadn’t cleared yet. Not sure of the repercussion of it. Or if they can retaliate. Tell me your thoughts
I am heading into the store today to seek relief and these messages have me scared. I purchased a queen storage bed and dresser w/mirror three months ago. I was originally told that it may be up to six months before I would get delivery, but pleasantly (for a day) surprised to get a call that they could bring the very next day. The delivery drivers arrived and they were clearly drugged. They reeked of marijuana and when I asked them to move the truck closer so they wouldn’t track so much sand inside they ignored me. I was home alone so I tried to be calm and they agreed to walk on towels. They began to set up the bed and from the first moment I could tell it was going to be a disaster. I could hear them over tightening screws. It was horrible. After a bit one of the guys approached me and said that both the bed and the dresser were broken and that he couldn’t finish assembling. One of the drawers on the bed had a broken slide and the feet of the dresser had some hardware that wasn’t tight inside the foot and so the “feet” would not attach. I said then please take it back, and he said they needed to call it in. He had to use my cellphone because his didn’t work. He then put me on the phone with a lady who told me that I couldn’t send the furniture back without paying the delivery fee and a restocking fee myself and that if I would just allow a week that I would receive the parts in 7 days and they would send a “master craftsman” out who could make it perfect without losing money.
Fast forward a month later, still no parts have arrived so we went back to the store. The salesman tried to help and even confided that everyone who was delivered that same day had complained about the pot smell, some even sent back mattresses and couches because they reeked of it.
They put me with the office manager who called the “office” and said that all new parts had been shipped and that I would have them in just a day or two to please be patient and they would give me a discount for the inconvenience once they repair the furniture.
Now another two weeks passes and I call the care center myself. I’m told that now I can’t return it. It’s been too long but they will exchange the broken pieces and that Meeka will call me back soon. She can’t see where parts are either. So I have waited another three weeks. I hope going there armed with your stories and a copy of SC lemon law will make them listen and honor the sale and get me a new suit. I love this bed and dresser and it is awful to see it sitting on its side in the room because the feet won’t stay on!
I was wondering if I could reference your website in my complaint against Ashley Home store. Here it is 16 years later, and nothing has changed . Same exact complaints. Same exact results. They have swallowed up the little stores and merged with several large ones. Still, to this day, no media ,no investigations. They still have an A+ rating with the BBB. They blamed the delivery issues on Covid, but after reading the exact same complaints over 15 years ago made me realize that was not true. Something needs to be done. Thank you.
Sure. Feel free to reference my story.