Complaint Review: Ashley Furniture Home Store

I purchased a small media unit to hold my 31" TV in my bedroom, and at the time I asked the salesman if I could ask the delivery men to put the TV on top of the unit since it is too heavy for me to lift (I'm a senior citizen).  The salesman assured me that would not be a problem.  When the furniture was delivered, the TV was on a table beside the unit, and all they would have to do was move it about 3 feet. 

But...they set the furniture on top of the cable which was still attached to the TV, and when they moved the TV they pulled the part out of the back of the TV that the cable attaches to - and the TV has to be taken apart to see whether the part can even be re-attached.  I called three mobile services and got bids of between $120 and $140 to repair it, but was cautioned that it might not be able to be repaired if the board had cracked in the process of breaking off the part.

I called Ashley's Customer Service (?) office that day, and was just told over and over again by a very nasty woman, "That's why they aren't supposed to move anything that belongs to the customer."  I told her at least three times that I had asked the salesman about having the move the TV, and he said it was OK; and the delivery men did not tell me they were not supposed to move it either.  Had they not set the furniture on top of the cable, there would have been no problem.

When I got no help from customer service, I took pictures of the cable with the part broken out of the back of the TV still attached and drove the 10 miles back to the store the following day and talked with my salesman, who had told me to be sure to contact him if I had any problems whatsoever.  He left me seated and went to talk with "his manager," and shortly came back and told me the manager would contact me within 48 hours.  The next day someone from customer service called and asked me to take a picture of the back of the TV where the piece broke out of and e-mail it to her, which I did. 

By the end of the week no one had contacted mefurther, so I spent two days trying to reach customer service again.  Left my number twice with their message that said they would call back the same business day.  I finally got ahold of someone 5 minutes before they were to close on a Friday afternoon.  She said they were waiting for a response from Toshiba as to whether the TV could be repaired and that they would get back to me shortly.  I took that to mean they at least acknowledged the problem was their delivery men's fault.

I waited another week without hearing from anyone, and again drove back to the store.  I was told the "manager" was out, and spoke with a woman named Linda at the cashier's desk.  She filled out a "request for customer service" form and said she'd fax it in for me.  I explained that I had contacted customer service several times already and was getting nowhere - and in the meantime I have no TV to watch.  I also told her that the day before I had contacted my credit card company and disputed payment for the piece of furniture.  She told me that if I hadn't heard from customer service within 24 hours, I should call her back.  I then just asked her if she were going to fix my TV and walked out

When I got home, I again called customer service and was told the person handling my case was not working today.  The person I did talk with put me on hold for close to 10 minutes, then told me it appeared they had not received a response from Toshiba yet.  I asked how long that usually takes, and she, of course, had no idea...but said they'd get back to me.  I explained that I'd been told that for two weeks now, and that I STILL have not been contacted by anyone.

The other problem is that the piece of furniture is not finished properly on one side panel and the "foot" is not attached straight.  I also filed a complaint about that and was told that a "technician" could come to look at it on March 9th (4 days less than a month after the delivery).

My comment to that was that they must really be making shoddy furniture if their technicians are that busy.  I have since found out that's very true!