My husband and I decided to purchase our furniture from Ashley Furniture Home Store in Avondale in March. We were enticed by the low prices and seemingly reasonable quality. Our sales person as average, not great. But we felt we were satisfied with our purchase.
Our furniture was delivered about 8 weeks later. Certainly more time than the sales associate lead us to believe. She, too, gave us the 4 week delivery timeframe. That is a lie.
Upon delivery, we noticed several flaws with the furniture. We purchased a micro-fiber sectional sofa, leather chair, end table, coffee table and ottoman. The delivery guys were and are nice.in both tables we noticed flaws and the leather chair had a hole in it. We requested that they be repaired or replaced. The delivery guys said I needed to call customer service. This is where the trouble begins.
I can no longer count the number of times I have attempted to speak to a representative at this customer service department. I believe I have tried calling them over 50 times since I received the furniture. They are completely incompetent and refuse to help anyone who calls them.
I reported the flaws in the furniture and they said they would send a repair person. The repair person adequately repaired the leather chair but we needed a replacement for the end table. Ashley Furniture attempted to deliver us a new end table no less than 3 times. We now have an end table that isn't damaged, but we did not receive the end table until September. It took 6 months to get an undamaged end table.
Begining of October our leather chair broke. This is not a simple problem because the frame of the chair is completely broken. I believe this is due to poor workmanship, as we have not abused our furniture. I called Ashley and had to go through the excrutiating process of trying to get someone on the phone to help me.
Let me explain the horrific experience in trying to call their customer service department at 602-442-7800. First, every time you call you are immediately put on hold. Some times you hold for 5 minutes other times you'll hold for 30-60 minutes, depends on what direction the wind is blowing, or it if is blowing at all. Most of the time you'll hold for 5 minutes and then you'll immediately be transferred to a voice mail box instructing you to leave a message and you are promised a call returned in the same business day.
I usually attempt to call this number first thing in the morning, hoping i'll get a return call first. However, 1/2 the time NO ONE will call back. So, I have to call again the next day and repeat the process.
Now, back to the broken leather chair. I reported the chair broken and was told that a new one would be ordered. Again quoted 6-8 weeks for delivery. I now know this is realistic. So, I have waited and waited.
It has been over 6 weeks, however the holiday is this week, so I attempted to call for an update. I went through the same process as describe above and left the message to call me on my CELL PHONE, not my home phone. But the person who returned my call FAILED to follow directions, so she called me at home, when I'm working.
So I tried on a Saturday to reach someone at 602-442-7800. I finally get someone to answer, instead of being automatically directed to leave a message. I was so irritated at this point, I decide to ask to speak to a manager, because I have wasted most of a Saturday trying to get assistance.
The person who answered the line claims that there are no managers/supervisors available and that all he can do is request that one call me back later in the day. Supervisors/manager only return calls at 4:30pm each day, he claims. I explained to him that is inconvenient for me and I want to speak to a supervisor now. He said that is impossible. I tried to argue with him and insist on speaking with a manager. He hangs up on me.
I called back immediately. I get the same guy. He hangs up on me again. I call back again. I get another guy. I explain that I want to talk to a manager and that I'm willing to hold until one is available. He puts me on hold. I held for over an hour. Then all of a sudden the line starts ringing and it rang for over 25 times and then the line went dead.
I was very upset at this point. I called the Avondale store and demand to speak to the store manager. I get to talk to Chuck. I explain to Chuck how frustrated I have been and I feel this is unacceptable treatment of customers. He doens't disagree, but really doesn't agree and he isn't really apologetic either.
I ask to get the name and telephone number of THE person who is in charge of customer service, not a supervisor or manager, but the person in charge. He said there are only supervisors in that department. I say there must be someone who they all report to.
He said yes, so he gave me the name of Jim Furstenberg (sp?). He said Jim can be reached at 623-209-2700. I have called this number many times and each and every time I get an automated system, NO RECEPTIONIST, at this supposed corporate office number. Very mysterious!
I have left Jim 3 message and he has YET to return my call. I have repeatedly asked him to personally return my call so that I could relay my horrific experiences to him and perhaps he could fix the problem. I would think that a General Manager would be concerned and want to address these kinds of issues, but apparently now.
I have again called to check on my chair. Supposedly the chair was due in November 18. However, I still have no chair and no one has called me to schedule delivery. Yes, I have checked on it again. I have tried to call the customer service department and also the store in Avondale. Now I'm being told that my chair won't be in until December 1.
I'm paying for a chair that I can't use. I have guests arriving for the holidays. I have been hung up on repeatedly by their representatives. No one within this organization seems to care and doesn't want to help.
It seems to me that Ashley Furniture doesn't care about creating long term relationships with their customers. It seems to me that they only want your dollar and then they are willing to throw you away. I'll tell Ashley that they will never get my money again. I will NEVER buy furniture from Ashley or manufactured by Ashley again.
They may be OK to deal with upfront, but once you have signed the dotted line, WATCH OUT!
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