Yes, we are still fighting with this shit. This is the info I am planning to send to corporate, post on FB, send to the BBB, the attorney general, and take this information and CAMP OUT AT THE FUCKING STORE TOMORROW UNTIL IT GETS RESOLVED. I know it's long, if you have a life, please feel free to ignore it. IF you get to the end, tell me if you feel I am missing anything.
DATE: JULY 11. 2014
Ashley Furniture
Re: Sofa Purchase, Memorial Day, May 26, 2014
My husband and I went out in a torrential rain on Memorial Day because our last Ashley sofa had finally began to have some issues. It was time for a new one. We had purchased almost every piece of furniture for our house near Beaumont, TX at that store and were very happy with the quality and service in 2007.
We went to the store on I-10 in San Antonio near Vance Jackson and were helped by a very nice young salesman named Roy. Roy was good to us and we left feeling pleased with our selection. Delivery day arrived and our power recliner sofa was brought in to our living room and the power was connected. At first, it seemed fine. I decided to sit on it, very excited at the power recliner concept.
The new sofa recliner did not work. There was a “catch” and a grinding and it was nothing like the smooth motion that we had experienced in the store when sitting on the sofa and using the power recliner feature. After checking it and calling his dispatcher, we were told we’d have to wait a week for a new sofa or a repair person. When I buy a new piece of furniture, I certainly don’t want it to need a “repair”. We sent it back.
We were supposed to be contacted to reschedule delivery but we had to call ourselves. We were not happy with the additional 5 days wait time (we’d already given our other sofa away due to the notice we’d received to have it out of the way prior to delivery) but it couldn’t be helped. Second delivery of a sofa, was VERY possibly the same one. The second sofa had exactly the same issue as the first sofa delivered. When the delivery person even pressed on the arm, it would catch and grind and not fully recline. Dispatch again says that we must wait until June 19th for a repair technician or June 24th for a different sofa.
We have lots of other things going on in our lives. Family illness and travel that is needed to address those family members’ issues mean that we cannot sit around waiting for Ashley’s next available delivery. Again, we try to contact “customer care”. No solution is offered other than to go to the store to select a different sofa, possibly in stock, depending on the selection. I asked to speak to a manager and was transferred to the store where we originally ordered our sofa. After being transferred multiple times, being placed on hold for more than 30 minutes, it was suggested I be transferred back to customer care.
Not one manager, Aaron at Customer Care or the store manager at the I-10 Store at Vance Jackson ever came to the phone to ask how they could help us with our situation. I repeatedly asked to speak to Aaron and the SA store manager and no one ever tried to assist us or ask what they could do to salvage this terrible breach of customer service. Almost every representative we were transferred to, offered no solutions, saying sorry, there was nothing they could do to help. I have never been treated so poorly and the endless transferring, shifting from the store or customer care and back, simply inflamed the situation.
We will never spend another penny at Ashley Furniture Home Store and we will feel obligated to share this experience with our friends, family and neighbors to prevent this unfortunate treatment by Ashley from happening to them. This situation could have been salvaged by someone, a manager, a caring staff person, anyone who could have tried to offer a solution or even be slightly sympathetic. My husband and I have a combined 35+ years working in service industries and I would be ashamed if I or a co-worker treated a client or customer in this manner.
At 5:15pm today June 9, 2014, we walked in to a competitor store and by 6pm we had purchased a different sofa and they bent over backwards to make sure we could have it delivered tomorrow. Such a different experience for us versus the poor treatment we received at Ashley.
FURTHER UPDATES:
-After posting the above letter on FACEBOOK, I was contacted twice by the corporate office in San Antonio on the afternoon of Monday, June 16th, 2014. I believe the 2 gentlemen’s names were John and maybe Jason. Both apologized and asked what they could do to assist us. I responded nothing, we’d already purchased a sofa elsewhere and explained how horribly disappointed we were with the San Antonio Ashley Furniture Homestore experience. Before I hung up, I asked for each of them to MAKE CERTAIN, we were not billed for the sofa we didn’t get. I was ASSURED that would never happen by both parties.
-Wednesday, June 18th, 10pm EST. We had traveled for two days for an important family health situation. My cell phone rings and it is someone from Ashley Furniture wanting to bring out our sofa on Friday. I was exhausted and upset and informed the caller that this whole mess should have been cancelled and she assured me she would speak to her manager and it would be taken care of immediately.
-July 8th, 2014 We receive a bill GE Capital Bank/Ashely Furniture for $1080.69. I placed five telephone calls to the store trying to get SOMEONE on the line to assist me. I was transferred to a blind voicemail, when I asked to speak to a manager. No on returned that call. I called back and demanded to speak to a live manager. Andy, who stated he was a sales manager, came to the phone and said we would need to speak to “customer care” to resolve the matter. I decided to call the credit card company and at least start a dispute claim. When I spoke to GE Capital Bank, they stated a SECOND CHARGE was also pending for $1095. We are livid at this point. Dispute filed, but they encouraged us to contact Ashley to get this matter resolved. We stayed on hold with AF for over 2 hours. Finally, we reached Kayla at “customer care”. She assured us that they would check inventory and get this matter straightened out. I asked for the manager’s name- Blanca and was told that someone would call us back in 2 days to confirm that it was settled. No one called. I complained on-line to the corporate office at Ashley in Wisconsin, and 2 days later, I get a response that stores are independently owned and to call the corporate store number in San Antonio.
-July 9th, 2014. We call and after being on hold 48 minutes, we ask to speak to Blanca. She says they are still working on it, but someone will call us the next day. No call is ever returned to us.
-July 10th, 2014. We call the corporate number provided from the e-mail response when we contacted AFHS in Wisconsin. I get the receptionist, she asks why I am calling, I tell her and she forwards me to a voice mail for someone whose name I can’t understand from the message. I leave a message and never receive a call back.
As far as I can tell, this feels like intentional fraud. There is NO customer service, no AFHS response ever or interest in resolving our issue. I have used more than 300 minutes on my cell phone, repeatedly calling or on hold trying to speak to someone to get this mess addressed. As of today, July 11, 2014 there is still no resolution.
AND to add insult to injury, there is a banner about the AF stars and stripes sale on the top of this page. Also, Bill and Giulianna R. were peddling this shit on the t.v. when I woke up this morning. Fuck AF.
Post by jerseyjaybird on Jul 11, 2014 10:41:03 GMT -5
OMG, Pom. This is the kind of thing my DW would have to handle because I would not be able to have any further interaction with these fools that did not involve screaming obscenities.
OMG, Pom. This is the kind of thing my DW would have to handle because I would not be able to have any further interaction with these fools that did not involve screaming obscenities.
LOL. Yeah, we've passed that point. Mr. Pom, who trends towards nice and kind, is beyond the rational phase. He's been trying to drag me in the store for a couple of days. We will be there when the door opens tomorrow.
We had a similarly awful experience there too. They'll never get a dime more from me. Good luck to you. It was quite a game for us and in the end we were left with damaged "brand new" furniture and lies about a 30% discount that never materialized.
DH said lesson learned and we moved on after fighting them for a few months. But we did end up with furniture. That's BS to expect you to pay for no furniture.
Ugh this gives me flashbacks to my USAA fiasco. The mortgage process was a clusrerfuck right until the bitter end (92k double withdrawal, panic ensues). Our mortgage processor actually made me cry.
I'm SO SO SO sorry that you're going through this. But your letter needs to be about a tenth of the length that it is now. If *I* can't get through it, it's going to annoy the people you are trying to convince to be on your side.
It doesn't matter (to them) that it was raining on Memorial Day, or that Roy was "young." Delete value judgement and stick to facts. "On May 26th we purchased a sofa from X store. It was delivered on X day. The sofa did not work for Y reason. Leave out value judgments and stick to facts (dates,times, names, what exactly what said by whom at what time.
wow. I went shopping for a mattress at the beginning of the year and was swiftly ushered out of Ashley because I "only" wanted to spend a thousand dollars and they "didn't have anything in that price range".
Totally agree with VillainV. You'll do better with a more concise version that leaves out what feature you were excited about, whether it was raining, why exactly you were out of town, and your opinion about anything, including whether you were treated poorly. Obviously you were, but nobody's going to be convinced by you saying you were treated poorly, only whether the facts demonstrate it. They do, of course, but not if you lose your reader before you get to them all.
I hope you have some luck resolving the charges, and that you like your new sofa even better than the one you picked from Ashley in the first place.
I'm sorry this happened to you. DH and I went into Ashley once and the salespeople were so sleazy at the store we went to, circling us like sharks ... we walked out pretty quickly.
Since you've opened a dispute, can't you let your CC company take care of it at this point? Every time I've opened a dispute, I've been able to wash my hands of working directly with the company involved, only going through the CC if questions arise. I wouldn't waste any more of your time trying to make them do their jobs.
Totally agree with VillainV. You'll do better with a more concise version that leaves out what feature you were excited about, whether it was raining, why exactly you were out of town, and your opinion about anything, including whether you were treated poorly. Obviously you were, but nobody's going to be convinced by you saying you were treated poorly, only whether the facts demonstrate it. They do, of course, but not if you lose your reader before you get to them all.
I hope you have some luck resolving the charges, and that you like your new sofa even better than the one you picked from Ashley in the first place.
FWIW, I wrote most of this during the last big battle and I was pissed and emotional. I will take out the soft shit.
AND thanks to everyone who responded and those of you who provided info...to help get this resolved.
@mrsspunky I think you need to send me a bill for all the info you've provided my household this week. Love ya.
I don't tweet either! but I swear anyone I know who has a problem tweets and gets practically instant results! I have a twitter just in case I ever need to unleash it lol
I'm sorry this happened to you. DH and I went into Ashley once and the salespeople were so sleazy at the store we went to, circling us like sharks ... we walked out pretty quickly.
Since you've opened a dispute, can't you let your CC company take care of it at this point? Every time I've opened a dispute, I've been able to wash my hands of working directly with the company involved, only going through the CC if questions arise. I wouldn't waste any more of your time trying to make them do their jobs.
When I disputed it with the CC company, they sort of acted like we should make Ashley try and take care of this. I don't know. Part of me wants to quit trying to get their attention. But I can't until I get the $$$ resolved.
Totally agree with VillainV. You'll do better with a more concise version that leaves out what feature you were excited about, whether it was raining, why exactly you were out of town, and your opinion about anything, including whether you were treated poorly. Obviously you were, but nobody's going to be convinced by you saying you were treated poorly, only whether the facts demonstrate it. They do, of course, but not if you lose your reader before you get to them all.
I hope you have some luck resolving the charges, and that you like your new sofa even better than the one you picked from Ashley in the first place.
FWIW, I wrote most of this during the last big battle and I was pissed and emotional. I will take out the soft shit.
AND thanks to everyone who responded and those of you who provided info...to help get this resolved.
@mrsspunky I think you need to send me a bill for all the info you've provided my household this week. Love ya.
I think there is a lot of value in writing it all down. It gets it off your chest, ya know?
Post by explorer2001 on Jul 11, 2014 12:25:25 GMT -5
I'm currently shopping for new living room furniture. Goodbye decade old hand-me-downs.
Based on your experience, I'm not even looking at Ashley as an option. I hope they see that screwing with you is going to hurt their reputation and bottom line.
I'm currently shopping for new living room furniture. Goodbye decade old hand-me-downs.
Based on your experience, I'm not even looking at Ashley as an option. I hope they see that screwing with you is going to hurt their reputation and bottom line.
Wahoo, vote with your $$$. That said, I hope you get good stuff and a great customer experience. Tell me where you are going, we need to find stuff this weekend too.
It's too bad the Nebraska Furniture Mart isn't open in TX yet, b/c working with them has been a dream. The furniture for the baby's room were supposed to be delivered yesterday, and 2 of the pieces were damaged. Unfortunately, one of the pieces has been discontinued, and we've already been refunded for it. The other piece is going to be on its way to us on the 16th.
I'm currently shopping for new living room furniture. Goodbye decade old hand-me-downs.
Based on your experience, I'm not even looking at Ashley as an option. I hope they see that screwing with you is going to hurt their reputation and bottom line.
Wahoo, vote with your $$$. That said, I hope you get good stuff and a great customer experience. Tell me where you are going, we need to find stuff this weekend too.
At this point, we are scared of buying anything.
I haven't even figured it out yet. I'm still researching. So far the Room Store and Pruitt's are in the lead. Metro Phoenix has so many options it's ridiculous.
It's too bad the Nebraska Furniture Mart isn't open in TX yet, b/c working with them has been a dream. The furniture for the baby's room were supposed to be delivered yesterday, and 2 of the pieces were damaged. Unfortunately, one of the pieces has been discontinued, and we've already been refunded for it. The other piece is going to be on its way to us on the 16th.
Nebraska Furniture Mart is the best! We go to the big one in Omaha and love it. We got our entire living room set and bedroom set there, and they have been absolutely amazing.
It's too bad the Nebraska Furniture Mart isn't open in TX yet, b/c working with them has been a dream. The furniture for the baby's room were supposed to be delivered yesterday, and 2 of the pieces were damaged. Unfortunately, one of the pieces has been discontinued, and we've already been refunded for it. The other piece is going to be on its way to us on the 16th.
I think they deliver nationwide, for a price. One time we were there and a senator was shopping with his wife. The salesman told us "we deliver to D.C. All the time ". Sure you do!
Pom Maybe it's time to enlist your local consumer affairs reporter? Nothing gets a response faster than TV cameras!