Complaint Review: BAY FURNITURE

I feel I need to clarify a few things.

Contrary to the above rebuttal, I was never expecting Bay furniture to make a special trip to my house to pick up two chairs that were too large for the room. They had furniture that was ON BACKORDER, to be delivered on December 20th. All I asked was that they exchange the chairs when they brought the rest of my stuff.

A win for BOTH the customer and the store, don't you think? Ron, the store manager suggested I put them in my car, and transport them back to the store myself and that he was not willing to wait to do the exchange. Now, really! These were heavy chairs, and I have a small car--how was I supposed to get them there? What a short-sighted solution. He had NO interest in the fact that I had several rooms (still do) to purchase furniture for--he would not interrupt frequently, and was very condescending and unwilling to view the problem from the customer's point of view.

I wish to say that David did resolve my problem once I got him involved (it took awhile) and, on December 21, was gracious to me when my hutch was delivered after being on back order.. I called him and told him the hutch was too tall for the room (understand I bought the furniture to go into my new house and I was not living there yet--so I misjudged.) I explained this to him and admitted this was my fault and asked if he was going to charge me the driver fee and restocking fee. His response was "It's Christmas" and that he would not.

I felt he kept the customer in mind and I really appreciated this gesture. It is Ron I had the problem with, who represented Bay furniture in VERY poor light. It is my opinion, and I have spent more than 8 years with a MAJOR hospitality company in their Corporate Guest relations dept, that he should not be handling customer complaints.

Thanks to Ron and to Mike for resolving this for me.

This is just a reply to Cynthia in Crystal Lake, Illinois

As a manager at Bay furniture it is my job to among other things to maintain and work within company policy. First let me state that we treat all of our customers the same. It does not matter to us if you are married, divorced, single, or as in this customers case widowed. Those policies are clearly stated in our Bay Customer Assurance Policy. A copy of which is given to EVERY Customer at the time that they make their purchase, with no exceptions. In this booklet it explains our 30-day price guarantee, cancellations, special orders and the length of time that they generally take to receive. It also explains our RETURN POLICY and that there is a restocking charge of 25% for merchandise that, at Bays Option, we are willing to except back. This restock charge is not on the entire order only on those items that this customer wished to return. Bay was not asking for a large sum of money as her rip off report would lead you to believe. Infact the amount that was asked for was a mear $100. This to cover our costs to send out a truck to with 2 men and the cost of fuel to pick up something that she ordered and was delivered to her at her reguest. Bay furniture did not invite this customer to shop or even to make a purchase from us. She did so and chose the products that she wanted, because we offered her both a quality product and a fair price. Her sales person did not twist her arms or even demand that she purchase armchairs, again the customer did this, as it is what she wanted. We do however understand that there are times when customers make errors in what they purchase. We offered to this customer to bring these two dining room armchairs back to the Lake Zurich store and there would be no restock charge. This was not acceptable to this customer. She was determined to have it her way and to hell with the company she bought from. We would pick up her error and send her two side chairs that were a lesser value and eat the additional costs. She also failed to mention that she also purchased a two piece china cabinet that was too tall for their space and that Bay once again excepted that error by the customer back on a no charge basis.

It is not Bay Furniture Policy to penalize any customer for an error. However, we do have to have a way to recover the additional costs that are incurred by the company.

As far as damage to her home, all that was required of this customer was to report that damage to the manager at the time she spoke to him. He would have with out any problem reported the damage to the delivery service we use, and they would have sent someone out to repair the damage. If that is what you as a consumer deem as a schlock outfit then I highly recommend you reevaluate what you consider to be good service. For over 70 years Bay has brought to the consumers of the Chicago and Indiana the best in service, selection, and quality for the money.