Complaint Review: Furnitureland South

In May of 2001, after talking to some family members, we decided to do business with Furnitureland South due to the fact that their prices were better than we had found locally. We called and spoke to a Carolyn Miller who became our sales representative. Over the course of the next couple of weeks, we decided to purchase a Berkline leather sectional with a sleeper sofa and a dual reclining sofa. It was very important to us to have these items in the sectional, and with the proper facing.

We placed the order on approximately June 1, 2001, and were told to look for it in Mid-August. Fair enough. The first problem occured when the furniture arrived in North Carolina in August, but we were told we couldn't expect it until mid-september due to two reasons: 1) It had to be inspected and readied for shipping and 2) There wouldn't be a truck coming to Iowa until then. We thought both of these were a crock, but what could we do?

The furniture arrived at our house in mid-september (and in talking to the drivers, we were told that "trucks come to Iowa every week!"), much to our delight. Finally! We had a sectional...but no! The first piece, the corner wedge, was carried in. It looked fairly good. Okay. The second piece, the sleeper sofa, which was actually a two piece unit, came in, and had visible frame damage on the back. It was obvious that it had happened prior to shipping as well. So then the third piece came in, the love seat. When the drivers unwrapped on our back porch, it was quickly evident that it was the wrong color. We had ordered a tan sectional, and the loveseat was a canary yellow! Great! So, the drivers proceded to pack up the loveseat and the back (just the back) of the sofa sleeper for the trip back to North Carolina. We were supposed to pay the balance due on our account (over $1300) but thanks to a cashiers check snafu, they didn't get the full amount. We were told we would be contacted about the neccessary repairs and re-order and that was that.

So we waited....and waited....and waited. Finally, after about three weeks, I called and left a couple of messages with our customer service rep, Frances Holder. Ms. Holder never returned our call, and come to find out, I think eventually quit around this time. Finally, I just started calling numbers at FLS hoping to get someone to answer. At one point, I referred back to someone, it may have been Ms. Holder, who told me they couldn't reorder the loveseat because they had to wait for a factory rep to come and look at it. I said, "How hard is it to tell that it is the wrong color?" and then was told that, "Well sir, the nature of the product is such that sometimes leathers don't match exactly." WHAT? I said, "I am not an idiot, I know about such things, but one part of my sectional is tan, and ONE PART IS YELLOW!"

Anyway, finally around mid-October, I spoke to a Mr. Rudy, who actually had some intellegence and he seemed to get everything reordered and the process jump-started. Great, I though, we will finally get some furniture. Well, after being told it would be mid-December, the furinture finally arrived in mid-January. The sleeper came in the house...looks good! Then the loveseat, the dual-reclining loveseat came in, and lo and behold, it isn't a dual-reclining loveseat after all! It is just a single recliner! Well, after a few calls to FLS that morning, we found out that Berkline DOESN'T even make a dual reclining loveseat for a sectional! I was incensed! We got Carolyn Miller on the phone then, and she proceded to tell us that "you never even mentioned wanting a dual-reclining loveseat!" That is just not true! From the very beginning, we were VERY clear about what we wanted, and now were being told it wasn't available! After going around and around with Ms. Miller and a Holly Gray, we decided to send everything back to FLS and get our money back. Of course, FLS will NOT give us all of our money back, they insist on keeping 33% of the total bill because "you made the mistake, not us". I am sure that that sectional has already been re-sold in NC for the full amount we "paid" for it, and they pocketed the deposit money.

The bottom line is this...We were misled originally by Ms. Miller, screwed around with for 7 months, didn't get what we wanted, and then lied to by Ms. Miller when we tried to get some satisfaction. I filed a complaint with the BBB, but have heard nothing back from them. This company, in my opinion, is not a reputable company, and until I get ALL of my money back, I will not let this issue rest.

Doug
Des Moines, Iowa

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