An acquaintance of ours suggested we buy our furniture from him, a salesman for the Roomstore. He'd get us a "good deal." We shopped around and found the best deal, then went to his store.
He immediately upsold the wife and doubled our price range, but hey, that's a salesman. No grudge against the Roomstore. But I tried to put my foot down when he added not one, but two warranty charges.
First, I tried to talk the wife out of the warranty altogether. She's had good with them, though, so I gave in. The salesman, after telling us that "pets don't like leather", and "it takes 300psi to puncture leather", had changed his tune and said the warranty was vital because anything could happen and this takes care of it all. No questions asked. I suggested it wouldn't cover negligence, say we spilled something on the couch. "Oh yeah, that's covered!"
Why two warranties? One covers the couch and one covers the love seat and chair. Lots of double talk about why one warranty wouldn't cover it.
These warranties added about $300 to the final price of $3000.
The next day, the wife had thought it over and worried the warranty charges were excessive. No one, not the manager, not a single person would even discuss it. Only the salesman can remove the warranty because it's the majority of his commission. Hmm... So THAT'S why he pushed it so hard.
Well, it came down to them talking about lawyers if we didn't want the warranty, so we relented. I just hoped if we had to use it, it would be worth it.
Any guesses?
About 3 months later, we were happy with the furniture; except the leather cushions on the love seat were severely distressed. They had cracks and "scratches", just generally heavily worn with no explanation. These marks were the length of the cushions, 3 feet or longer. We called Roomstore.
They sent out a contracted repair technician. He looked it over and said he could re-dye the leather, but it wouldn't help. He suggested asking for replacement. I asked what he thought the issue was and he said he didn't know, ask for replacement. He said he would file his report and call Roomstore in 2 days.
Called Roomstore and asked for status. They said the cowardly tech, who had lied to my face, filed a report saying our cat had scratched the cushions and the claim should be denied.
Our cat, our white and gray cat that had been in the room when he showed up?'Yeah, that's it.' The one we in no way hid, afraid he'd see it?'Yeah, that's it.' Our DECLAWED CAT?!'Uh, what. Uh, well...'
And what about this "everything's covered" speech I'd heard from the salesman?'That's between you and him, it's not covered.' What?! He's YOUR salesman!'We cannot be responsible for anything you misunderstood or he misrepresented.'
At this point, I started talking about fraud, and moving up the command chain. Finally, a manager agreed that if I could prove my cat was declawed, he'd replace the cushions.
About 2 weeks later, a Roomstore "technician" came out and took about 1,000 pictures of my love seat. I kept asking if he wanted to see the cat, and he declined. I knew I was screwed at that point.
From that point on, no one admitted to our agreement about the cat. The salesman was never available. The only discussion revolves around their "proof", pictures of cracks and scratches on my couch that are longer than my declawed cat's entire body. And, of course, they supposedly welcome a lawsuit.
Since then, I have seen protesters outside various Arizona Roomstores; I have heard many horror stories much worse than ours. I realize this place feeds on customer turnover, the word isn't out on their scams.
I just don't understand why they willingly lose customers in this manner. Certainly, the resolution to my problem would have cost them much less than the $300 they heaped on my initial bill. They have lost numerous chances to screw others as I get the word out in my neighborhood and online communities.
They suck.
Dave
Mesa, Arizona
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