My wife and I went to Ladlow's Fine Furniture in February to browse for new furniture for our newly purchased home. Although we just wanted to walk around on our own to just browse, the receptionist insisted for us to be assigned to a sales representative. The sales person was very pleasant and spent a lot of time with us and offered no charge for design consulting if we purchased an entire collection of household furniture from the store all at once. We told her that our new home was still in escrow and after the close of escrow we planned to do major renovations, therefore we wouldn't be ready to purchase new furniture for several months. She insisted that since we have ample time, ordering custom furniture would be a better way to go. We told her that we were on tight budget and wouldn't be able to pay large sums for the entire furniture order all at once. She stated that the owner of the store always allow his customers to pay in installments charged to a credit card or post-dated checks, for balances at the time of delivery. She said that they do this all the time and assured us not to worry about it.
Based on the above assurances we reluctantly started to work with the salesperson and proceeded to select colors, models etc. For an entire household of furniture. She made two visits to our new home recommending interior paint colors to match the new furniture.
After several months of picking colors, fabric and styles, we finally finalized the selection. The total price came out to over $34,000. As a precursor to initiating the monthly installments, Ladlow's asked for a 30 percent down payment in the amount of $10,000. I issued a $10,000 company check from my business and delivered it to Ladlow's on October 1 to proceed with the order. Upon delivery of the check, I once again confirmed with the representative that I will need to make extended payments directly to the store for the remaining balance as was agreed upon when I first put in the order. I stressed to the sales representative that I would only be able to issue the deposit check in reliance that I would be set up with a monthly payment plan. I was again assured with the same statement, "Don't worry, we do that all the time."
The $10,000 check was accepted by Ladlow's and was deposited to their account the next day and cleared our account on October 4.
During the entire transaction, Ladlow's has never presented me with a written contract with the terms and conditions of the deal. The entire deal was based on verbal presentations and assurances.
During our several visits to the store, we pointed out some reservations about some of the pieces that were included in the order, such as two paintings, a coffee table and couple of other pieces. The salesperson assured us that if we are not happy with any of the furniture, even after the order is delivered, the store would simply take it back for full refund, therefore we shouldn't really worry about anything.
In February I received a phone call from Ladlow's advising me that the furniture order was in and ready for delivery.
We went to Ladlow's and told them we would be ready for delivery in couple of weeks and now was ready to make arrangements for the outstanding balance. To my surprise the representative told me that she needed to talk to the management and I would now have to deal directly with the store manager to make any arrangements. She also stated that if we don't make the arrangements quickly the store would begin charging us a monthly storage fees and interest to hold the furniture any longer.
I received a phone call from Jim Otte, the store manager, advising me that I have to go to his office to fill out a formal credit application to be considered for extended payments. I went to his office and filled out a credit application under my business name (the business has excellent D&B commercial credit score) After several days, and after numerous telephone messages, I finally got hold of Mr. Otte. He told me that he spoke to the owner and now they wanted personal guarantee from me and my wife and the payments had to be $2000 a month and the owner would reverse the five percent discount that was given on the original sales order. I protested about the five percent but still reluctantly completed the credit applications for myself and my wife and delivered them to Mr. Otte. After reviewing our credit reports, he commented that we had excellent credit and he promised to get back to me. I called Mr. Otte several times over the next couple of weeks, and each time he did not call me back or did not return my messages, simply stonewalling me.
After being ignored for months, I started to get nervous and on June 1 I contacted my daughter, who is an attorney, to take over and deal with Ladlow's directly. After three weeks of email exchanges, she received a letter from the store owner, Mr. Dan Roark, that there would be no further negotiations and demanded the full balance. The letter also threatened that if the balance was not paid within three days, Ladlow's would charge us nearly $6500 restocking fee.
At this point, we are proceeding with a legal action against Ladlow's since we've run out of options. My attorney attempted to reasonably negotiate with both the General Manager, Jim Otte, as well as the store owner, Mr. Dan Roark, for me to make the $1000 per month installments as was previously agreed for the balance outstanding, but this was outright rejected by Ladlow's.
Presently, since Ladlow's refused to deliver the furniture order, we are suing them for our $10,000 refunded in full, plus six percent interest since October 1 and over $4500 legal fees accrued so far.
Ladlow's violated several Arizona laws:
1- Breach of contract.
2- Failure to provide a written agreement with my signature and full acknowledgement of the terms and conditions.
3- Misrepresentation of terms
4- Coercion to pay Ladlows a large sum of money as a down payment with no written agreement and by giving assurances of further installment arrangements and delivery of furniture.
4- Failure to deliver the merchandise as agreed.
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