Timeline:
Sunday, February 3: Visited Surplus Freight on Paxton Street in Harrisburg, PA. Chose a sofa and discussed the process of purchasing and having a sofa delivered with salesman John Everett. I inquired about the next day delivery sign that is on the side of the building (gigantic sign that can be seen way down the road). John indicated that he had ordered the sofa that I had chosen and they would be in on 10th of February and he could deliver it immediately after that date. John also told me that prices on all the furniture in the store would go up after February 7th because it is income tax time and people would be buying a lot of furniture. John advised me to put a down-payment on the sofa in order to hold the price, in spite of the advertisement I was holding in my hand that said, Free Layaway until you get your income tax check. I opted to put $25 down on the sofa and return on the 10th (when the sofa was to be in stock) and pay off the balance.
Sunday, February 10: Visited Surplus Freight on Paxton Street in Harrisburg, PA to pay off the balance on the sofa I laid away on the 3rd. During my visit I paid the balance of $714.88 on my sofa purchase not including a delivery charge of $60, which I was told should be paid to the delivery driver in cash. The salesperson, John Everett, and another man in the store told me that the earliest delivery they could schedule would be between the 15th and 20th. When I inquired as to why they could not offer me the next day delivery the store advertises they told me it is the busiest furniture season of the year and they could not arrange for delivery any sooner as they had too much furniture to deliver that was ahead of mine. At no time during this conversation did the salesman or the other man indicate that the sofa I was purchasing was not in stock and not at the store.
I was told that I would be called 48 hours prior to the delivery to arrange a time.
Tuesday, February 19: On the afternoon of the 19th, I contact Surplus Freight in Harrisburg to inquire about the delivery of my sofa. Since the next day was the last day of the window they gave me for the delivery of my furniture and I had not received my 48 hour notice, I wondered if the furniture was being delivered or not. My telephone call was answered by someone other than John Everett and when I gave the salesperson my name to look up the purchase he told me that the sofa was not scheduled for delivery until the 25th, thats why nobody has called you. I then told him that I was given a date range of February 15th-20th for the delivery and asked if someone had been planning to contact me to tell me that the date had been changed, to which he replied, not until the 25th. I then asked him why the delivery had been pushed back and he admitted that the sofa I purchased was not even in the store, stating, we dont have that sofa. I asked him to clarify that statement and told him that I had waited until the 10th to buy the sofa because it was supposed to be in stock at that time. I specifically asked, You sold me a sofa you dont even have? He indicated that he could not answer any of my questions and could not tell me when the sofa would be available because he had not sold it to me and told me he would leave a message for my salesman, John Everett, and John would call me back the next day.
Wednesday, February 20: I did not receive a phone call from my salesperson by 1:00 in the afternoon, so I called the store. John Everett answered the telephone and I told him I was calling for information on when I could expect my sofa. He told me that he had to look it up and placed me on hold. After 8 minutes, John had not returned to the call. I hung up and called back, stating that I had been put on hold and nobody came back to the phone. John then stated, Im kinda busy right now mam, Im going to have to call you back. I told him that I had been busy waiting for my furniture for 10 days and I would like to have some answers. He indicated that he was on another line, speaking to the manufacturer and would call me as soon as his call ended with information on my sofa. An hour and a half later, John called me back and told me that the sofa would not be in his store until the 25th, due to storms down south. He stated that he would call me as soon as the truck came in on the 25th and schedule a delivery.
Monday, February 25: I did not hear from my salesperson regarding my sofa by late afternoon, so I contacted the store. I was told that the trucks still had not come in and that they were expected on Thursday the 28th of February. John Everett stated that my sofa would be delivered the same day it came in to the store. I asked him to clarify explaining that I was having my old furniture removed prior to the delivery so I needed to be sure that the furniture was going to be delivered on Thursday. He assured me that the furniture would arrive on Thursday. John promised me that he would call me in the morning hours of Thursday, February 28th to schedule the delivery.
Thursday, February 28: I did not hear from the store in the morning hours so I called the store at 12:30 PM. I was told by the person who answered the phone that they had been unloading the first truck since 7:00 AM and had 2 more trucks lined up to unload. He indicated that he did not know what was on the trucks and that he could not tell me if my sofa had arrived. The salesperson said, we have ten trucks coming in today. I explained to him that my furniture was moved out of my house and I had been trying to schedule my life around the delivery of this furniture and needed an answer today. He put me on hold and John Everett picked up after a few minutes. John indicated that they were still unloading the first truck same story as the first guy weve been working on this since 7:00 this morning and then told me that they had 2 more trucks coming in that day (not ten!). John promised to contact me that by that evening and confirmed that my sofa would still be delivered on Thursday evening. I left work early to be home for the delivery.
Friday, February 29: I have no living room furniture in my home and there is nothing in my living room to sit on. The deliver did not take place on Thursday and I had not heard from the store all morning so I called at 12:50 PM to inquire about my sofa. The first time I called, the phone rang approximately 30 times and nobody answered. Eventually, it stopped ringing and disconnected. I called back and someone answered the phone. When I inquired about my sofa I was told that they were still unloading furniture and that they still could not tell me whether my sofa was on the trucks. The salesperson assured me that my sofa was still scheduled for delivery in the afternoon or evening of that day.
I left work early to be home for the delivery. I had not heard from the store by 6:30 PM and called to see if they were coming indicating that I had been waiting around and was afraid to leave my house in case they showed up. The person who answered the phone looked up my sofa purchase and told me that my sofa was scheduled to be delivered next. My driver is out on the road and when he gets back were loading up your sofa and delivering it next. My driver will call you before he leaves the store.
I was elated! Until 35 minutes later when I received a phone call telling me that my sofa had been damaged in transit and I would not be receiving it. The person calling said, I cant deliver this sofa to you, its all torn up.
He then made the most preposterous promise I have heard to date. He told me that he could have a new sofa express shipped to his store and could deliver it on Monday. I have been waiting for 19 days for my next day delivery and I am supposed to believe this guy can get me a new sofa in 2 days when one of those days is a Sunday.
At that time I indicated that I was not going to pay for a delivery fee after all the time I have wasted rescheduling work days and staying at home hoping the sofa would show up. The man told me I would have to hold on while he checked with his driver! He put me on hold and then came back to tell me, I guess that will be o.K. He promised to deliver the sofa on the afternoon of Monday, March 3rd. He asked if I would prefer before 4PM or after 4PM. I chose after 4PM. Assuming the sofa actually arrives on Monday evening, I will have gone 4 days with no furniture in my living room due to taking the word of this store. My guess is that they delivered all of the sofas like mine to other buyers and he didnt realize it until after he had promised that my delivery was next.
Saturday, March 01: I decided to make lemonade out of lemons and take advantage of having an empty living room by removing the wallpaper border and painting the room. I purchased paint and began working on the painstaking task of removing the border. At 4:40 PM, my phone rang with an unfamiliar number. When I answered, it was a delivery driver from Surplus Freight, telling me that he was going to deliver my furniture. Today! I asked to which he responded, Unless you dont want it today. I told him that I had been informed last night that the furniture had been damaged in transit and I would not get my sofa until Monday. He explained that a truck came in from Pittsburgh today and my sofa was on it. This solidified my suspicions that they had actually delivered my sofa elsewhere the night before and knew they had more coming in, so they lied to me about what happened to it. I initially told him that I was in the middle of painting my living room and thought I would go ahead and let them deliver it Monday, but then I thought better of it. What if they deliver THIS one to someone else and none come in on Monday. So, I told him to go ahead and bring the sofa I would figure something out.
My family was away for the day, so I had to move an extremely heavy stereo stand, a television and television stand into another room so they could bring my sofa in to the middle of the living room and I could cover it up with plastic while I finished painting the living room. I was, after all, at the point of no return with this project. I feverishly finished removing the wallpaper border and cleaned up the mess. Then since I still hadnt received the were on our way call, I began priming the walls. When I finished priming the walls, I went to find my receipt for the sofa to see what time the store closed. The receipt had 10-7 printed on it and it was now 7:30. I called the store and nobody answered (not even an answering machine). I then called the unfamiliar phone number in my phone from earlier. The man who answered told me that he was on his way to my home, he had to get gasoline and he would call me when he got to my neighborhood so I could guide him in. At a little after 8 PM he called and said, I just pulled in to Laurel Lane apartment complex. Since I had never heard of this place before, I asked, Are you in Elizabethtown? The man said, No! Elizabethtown is Monday! I told him that we had agreed that he would bring the sofa today and he said, they didnt put it on my truck.
I seriously expected Allen Funt to appear and tell me I was on Candid Camera.
If I actually have a sofa in my living room the right sofa undamaged on Monday - I will be absolutely amazed.
Sunday, March 2: Strangely enough after all this store has put me through, I did not call today to discuss the mess they made of things last night because I expected a call from them APOLOGIZING for this mess. The call did not come.
This has risen far beyond the level of poor customer service to the level of being scammed. I will contact my friend at the US Federal Prosecutors office tomorrow for advice on how to proceed if my furniture does not arrive on Monday afternoon.
Monday, March 03: For the third time, I left work early because the furniture store had given me a time of 4:00 or after for delivery. I was home by 4PM. I called Surplus Freight at 7:30 PM still have not received my sofa. I spoke with Mark, who put me on hold twice asked me who I had spoken to before I couldnt tell him who the last person I had spoken with was, other than the delivery driver on Saturday night. Mark then put me on hold again and came back to tell me that they were delivering my sofa tonight. I told him that it is after 7:30 and I was having a hard time believing that they would actually show up. Mark assured me that the driver would call me when he returned from the delivery he is on and that they will, in fact, deliver the sofa tonight. I asked Mark if he was the person who called me on Friday night and told me the original sofa had been damaged. He confirmed that he was that person. I asked him to confirm, again, that this delivery would be for free and he said, yes, thats right. I am convinced that they would not have delivered my sofa had I not called to inquire.
At 8:06 PM the driver called to ask for directions to my home. I gave him precise directions and asked if he was leaving now. He said that he was. Surplus Freight is a 20-minute drive from Harrisburg even with traffic but there wouldnt be traffic at this time of night.
Approximately 2 and a half hours after the call for directions came in, a big truck pulled into my quiet neighborhood at a few minutes shy of 10:30 PM! Two men came to the door and asked me to sign a delivery paper which I declined to do until I was able to inspect the furniture. Once the furniture was inside, I inspected it and signed the delivery paper only to find out that there was some assembly required for my sofa, and the men were only there to drop it off not to put it together. The sectional came in two pieces, with 10 legs (6 of one kind, 4 of another) that had to be screwed into place except there were no holes pre-drilled to screw them into. It was nearly midnight before I was able to set the sofa upright on its legs and go to bed.
This company took my money - held it for a month - coerced me into NOT asking for a refund by telling me that it would take weeks to get it back from their "corporate office" that they WILL NOT give anyone a phone number or address for - and cost me time off work.
0 comments