I was told of an advertisement placed in the Chicago Tribune by Harlem Furniture. It read "Nothing held back! Store closing! Up to 70% off! Everything must go.
When my husband and I arrived at the store on 2525 N. Harlem Ave.in Chicago, the signs in the store windows said the same. So, we went in and found a bedroom set that we both fell in love with. A high boy, dresser, mirror, two bed side tables, and a king head board and foot board. As we have a queen mattress set, I asked if we could switch the king for a queen head and foot board if we could find one in the store to match.
Our salesman, Eddie, said he would ask the manager (Roman Shakhtman). Eddie came back and said that we could, so my husband and I looked around and found one. Eddie then asked the assistant manager (Jose Arteaga) how to adjust the price. We were standing there when Jose said to charge $888.00, and $40.00 for the bed rails that came separately. Extremely pleased with such a great price, and in love with the set, we agreed to the deal and began to give our personal information, and set up delivery.
After being in the store for about one and one half hours, we headed to the cashier. There Roman Shakhtman looked at the sales slip and said "There's no way I'll sell this set for this price!" He then walked off with Eddie who came back to us a few minutes later, shrugged his shoulders, and said "my manager doesn't want to split the set. I don't know why he won't, but I can show you something else."
Enter the bait and switch.By this time my husband and I had figured out where each piece would go, the color to paint the room to highlight the furniture, etc. Emotions get involved, you want to go home with something. That's what they count on. So, Eddie showed us a set that was very badly beaten up, and said he would sell it to us for the same price as the one we had chosen — which was in good condition! No thanks, Eddie. Don't get me wrong, I understand that mistakes may happen, but this had that used car sale feel all over it!
Eddie continued to talk, trying to keep us in the store, trying to make a deal that would only benefit Harlem, certainly not the customer! No thanks, eddie! My husband and I talked with Roman who, as you might have guessed, was very apologetic, but not enough to make it right. He just couldn't, he said. Why not? Aren't YOU the manager??!! Guess you just don't want our business. If you're going to use the bait and switch technique, maybe you need to get better at it. Your act was pretty transparent!
We had purchased our living room set from Harlem about two years ago, and were satisfied enough to buy more from them. Never again. Too bad. We had two more rooms that needed furniture.
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