In June my husband and myself visited the Family Savers office at it's then location of 3262 Landmark Drive in North Charleston. After we listened to the sales pitch we decided that since we'd recently purchased our first home, we'd need to acquire furnishings for it and wanted to save money doing so. We paid them $1599.00 to join and become Platinum members.
We attempted to order some living room furniture in May of the following year from Julie. The order was placed and we were told it would be in within 8 to 12 weeks.By December we STILL did not have our furniture and kept being told by Julie it would be a few more weeks each time we inquired about it. We requested a refund and they kept coming up with excuses why we couldn't get our money back and were very hateful to us. It wasn't until we contacted our credit card company that a refund was finally issued to us through the credit card company.
Thinking it was a one time mistake and giving them the benefit of the doubt, we decided to try to save some money by ordering furniture a short while before we left the state of SC for AZ. We visited their showroom in May and spoke with Adam in the catalog room. We told him we would be moving and wanted to order our furniture so it would be in before we left. He asked us where we were moving to and we told him AZ. He told us we could have it delivered to us in AZ at no additional cost and wouldn't have to worry about whether the furniture came in on time for the movers or not. He told us we would pay no taxes and no additional shipping to have it come to us in AZ. We decided not to risk having it come in after the movers had picked up our things and wait until we arrived in AZ.
After moving to AZ, in June of I went online to their website and viewed the links to various furniture manufacturer's and requested pricing on many different items. Their practice is to not give the customer any price quotes in writing and do it all verbally over the phone. You email them a price request and they send you back an email telling them to call them with the pricing info at a certain day and time. The prices are given to you with no breakdown of costs. I was unaware until my second order that I was actually going to have to pick up the furniture I ordered in SC, or pay an exorbitant amount to have it delivered to me in AZ. I spoke with Regina King about what Adam had told me and she said he was away on vacation at the time. She was very disappointed in him for telling me I wouldn't pay anything more in shipping to have it come to me in AZ and said she would speak to him as soon as he returned. I told her I didn't want him to get into trouble, that it could have been an honest mistake. I spoke with my husband and we decided since he was TDY in GA at the time that when the furniture came in he'd pick it up with a rental truck and drive it home himself. This ended up costing us over $1200 in truck rental and gas expenses. A cost we were told we wouldn't have to pay.
It was at this time that I was preparing to place the last order of furniture for my daughter's bed and spoke with Regina King again. I explained to her what I was looking for (a canopy bed) and she referred me to a Wesley Allen website. They are not listed on Family Savers website and I was unaware until speaking to her that the company even existed. I looked over the website with her on the phone while she recommended several different styles. I mentioned to Regina that it was a canopy bed I wanted and she advised me to click on a link that opened up another screen showing the canopy attachments. These were not visible from the main screen. I told her I would look them over more closely and get a model number for pricing and email it to her. I looked over the website very closely with my daughter and we requested pricing on a few different models.
Later, my daughter told me she'd decided on a different one altogether. So I sent another price request to Family Savers regarding that specific model number CBCRP1027 from Wesley Allen. I received an email back from them stating the price with the wrong model name mentioned. I then phoned Regina and told her of the mistake and she advised me that it was her mistake, she'd typed the wrong model name but assured me the price for the bed I wanted was indeed the same as she sent me. I placed the order for the model # CBCRP1027 (Interlude bed with canopy). This last item was not going to be in before my husband was to pick up the other furniture ordered so they agreed to have it ship directly to us from the manufacturer in CA.
The bed arrived on August 24th, and there were problems with the driver. He told us the freight hadn't been paid and we'd have to pay it to him. I told him I had my receipt where I'd paid Family Savers for the delivery cost and he said they hadn't issued payment to him. I called Family Savers and told them what was happening and they spoke with Wesley Allen who had shipped the bed and called back saying it had been handled. The driver left the bed (2 boxes) and then drove away. Two days later in the mail I received my receipt for the purchase from Family Savers for the bed purchase. I noticed that the receipt just said fullsize Interlude complete bed and the price was what I was quoted.
A short time later, we had finally purchased my daughters mattress and box spring and were attempting to set up her bed. It was at this time that we realized the canopy was missing from it. We went ahead and assembled it and contacted Family Savers by email stating part of the bed was missing and asking them to check into it. It took them several days to respond to me and then they only told me they were checking on it and would get back to me.
Not hearing anything for a week at this point I sent another email and told them my daughter was very unhappy due to the wrong bed being sent. Regina called me on December 15th to discuss what they would do about the bed. She told me that I got what I paid for. I said I had not received what I ordered and was given the pricing for. It seems that whomever placed the order for the bed, and priced it out for my request did not use the model number I gave them and instead quoted and ordered the wrong bed. She told me that if I wanted the bed I originally ordered it would cost me more money. Another $600 or so. I told her I had been given a price quote and ordered what they'd told me was the bed I wanted and the mistake was theirs to fix. She got very hateful with me and told me that I was just looking to get a bed for free. I was most insulted at this considering how agreeable I had been to the added expense of $1200 for having to bring the furniture from their store in SC to us in AZ. And I wasn't looking for anything for free. As far as I'm concerned I had already paid for it.
The mistake was that they quoted and ordered something that was NOT what I requested. Fortunately, I do have the emails saved where I requested the bed price and her reply to it with the pricing. It is very rare that they put any prices in writing until the order has been placed. Regina told me that she would have to speak to her boss, the owner, John Barbour about this and get back to me.
I heard nothing until yesterday December 20th when Mr. Barbour called me. He was extremely hateful and wouldn't allow me to get a word in edgewise. His first words out of his mouth was that he'd spoken to his attorney and this is what they would do for me. His offer was to pick up my daughter's bed and issue a refund for it. I told him I didn't want that, that I wanted the bed I had ordered and paid for delivered to me at no additional cost. The mistake was clearly theirs and only theirs. He said it was an honest mistake and I said, but it's one I have to pay for and it's not the first mistake because Adam had told me the shipping would be free and that already cost us an additional $1200. He then called me a liar. I said, "Excuse me? I am NOT lying ask Regina about this". He told me she was standing right next to him, that I was on speakerphone and she just said I was a liar. I informed him that I had even told her I hoped Adam didn't get in trouble over telling me that the shipping would be free and he said to me "You're just lying now, that never happened". He continued to tell me that I had gotten what I paid for. I said but it wasn't what I requested pricing for and ordered. He then told me again his attorney said they were under no obligation to make this right. I said I didn't agree with that and that I would be fighting this. He continued to angrily yell at me calling me a liar and I advised him that I couldn't talk anymore and that he would be hearing from me soon.
Apparently, you can request a price on an item and they can give you one. You can even order the item, and whatever they send you (even if it's not what you ordered), you have to keep it or pay more money to get what you originally wanted.
I have copies of emails and receipts and freight bills to back up my story. This sounds like fraud to me, or bait and switch. If this was truly an honest mistake they need to be professional about this and get us the bed we ordered and paid for and pick up this other bed all at no additional cost to us!
We also would like the cost of our membership reimbursed to us since we won't ever be doing business with them again due to their unethical business practices. No other result is acceptable to us.
0 comments