Living Spaces Furniture Unfair Employment, Customer Rip Off, Fraudulent Sales This company utilizes unfair and demeaning employment process. They also use fraudulent means to sell certain products. Rancho Cucamonga California
I worked for Living Spaces Furniture for 2 months and in that time I realized that this company utilizes unfair and demeaning employment process. They also use fraudulent means to sell certain products.
I applied directly to Living Spaces for employment, they agreed to hire me if I would go through a temp agency first. So I did, they started me at $9.00 an hour even though I had previous sales experience, only to find out that all the others that were hired on with me started out at a hire pay.
Through the time I worked there I noticed that the salesmen and women did not have thourough training to answer alot of the questions that were asked by the consumers. Most of the time they would just make up lies to get the customer to believe that they knew what they were talking about. The customer would believe them and buy a product that really wasn't what they thought.
In one instance a customer asked a salesman what kind of wood was a bed that they wanted to buy was made of and the salesman said he would find out, he then came and asked me and I told him I did not know, he replied oh well I'll make something up. He told the customer that it was solid oak, later on I went to observe the same product and although it looked like oak I did some research, the product was merely pressed board with a veneer that looked like oak, not what the customer was told. Many customers think they are buying solid wood items and high quality furnitures which is not true, I saw it first hand and they merely make it look good when it is not.
As far as the employment process works at Living Spaces Furniture, they have people apply directly through them but send them to a temp agency so they won't have to pay fair hourly wages. Once Living Spaces Furniture gets a few months out of you and it comes time to hire you on and raise your pay they let you go and start the process again with another person.
Living Spaces Furniture rarely keeps someone hired on unless they sell well over $180,000 a month in merchandise and they always say that sales don't matter but that the customer is first, if this is so why don't they keep you unless you sell so much even if you help a myriad of customers and answer all their questions.
Through the time I was at Living Spaces Furniture I saw 23 workers come and go because they either did not sell enough or they were there before me so their time was up. The turnover rate at Living Spaces Furnitureis the highest I have ever seen. Living Spaces Furniture is so unfair, I asked that if I was ever going to be let go that if I could at least be given a notice so I can have a fair chance to find another job. On my day off I recieved a call from my temp agency stating that I no longer worked for Living Spaces Furniture, I had less than a days notice. Don't they know that people need to live too?
I sold $260,000 over the short period I worked for Living Spaces Furniture. I was paid $2900.00 for my work, which means they made at least $257,100.00 off of my time and they paid me pennies of that, I did not get any commissions at all for any of my sales. Many times I would see our same items at Living Spaces Furniture for the same or lower prices at Wickes or Levitz, I don't see any reason to go to Living Spaces Furniture when you can get the same or better quality items at the same or even better prices elsewhere.
Vince
Rancho Cucamonga, California
U.S.A.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Carl
Upland,California,
U.S.A.
I agree with Carl
#3UPDATE Employee
Fri, February 03, 2006
I am the other person that was hired at the same time as Vince and Carl. I have now been with Living Spaces for almost 1 1/2 years.
I agree that more product training is needed for the sales reps. I had to make an effort to educate myself on product knowledge and I now pride myself on having more product knowledge than most of our sales reps and the ability to give honest answers to our customers. The information is made available to all sales reps but you do have to make an effort to learn it. Vince did not want to make that effort.
We carry very good quality brands. Very, very few items are pressboard and we tell our customers upfront if they are interested in purchasing those items. Most items are wood veneers and solid wood.
I also know why you were not hired and it didn't have anything to do with your customer service and sales ability. But I will respect your privacy and not reveal the reason here.
I've been in customer service and sales for more than 15 years, in my experience both as a salesperson and a customer, Living Spaces provides the best customer service anywhere.
Carl
Upland,California,
U.S.A.
Vince's post is mostly BS
#3UPDATE Employee
Fri, January 20, 2006
(Let me preface this by stating that I am NOT a Living Spaces manager or supervisor and that ALL of the following statements are my own opinions (except where factual) and are NOT official Living Spaces communication.)
Hello Vince.
Vince and I were hired as temp workers on the same day and trained together. He knows who I am. I have been with Living Spaces for almost 1 1/2 years as a sales person (and I do deliveries, wherehouse, and customer pick-up when needed).
I am going to respond to his claims individually. Most are BS, some have merit.
Vince first complains that the 2 other sales people hired at the same time as he were paid more even though he had previous sales experience. What he fails to mention is that one other sales person hired with him had 20 YEARS of sales AND sales management experience (myself), and the other had at least 15, whereas Vince only had about 3. By the way, my temp hourly pay was $10.50 .
Vince next complains that the salespeople are poorly trained on product knowledge. I completely agree. Living Spaces carries a wide range of furniture and it is difficult to train 70+ sales people on all the wood and construction styles. However, salespeople are instructed to ask someone more knowledgable such as myself or a manager, they are NOT instructed or encouraged to lie to a customer, if they do not know an answer and can't find out they ARE instructed to tell the customer "I don't know".
Vince next complains about the temp hiring process Living Spaces uses. ALL Living Spaces new hires, regardless of department, are hired through a temp agency for around 90 days before being hired permanently. This is so they can evaluate the temp to determine if they should be hired permanently. I think this is fair. Over the course of 90 days a temp's work habits and customer service can be fairly observed and evaluated. If a salesperson is obviously worth hiring he/she will be hired much sooner, as happened with myself and about 10 others in Jan 2005. Living Spaces DOES NOT want to just hire and then fire temps over and over. This would just create a transient, inexperienced salesforce. The reason for the 90 day temp status is to have the ability to quickly fire an obviously bad temp worker.
Vince next states that Living Spaces "rarely" keeps temps unless they sell over $180,000/month. This is complete and utter BS. In my entire time at Living Spaces they have only EVER fired one salesperson for low sales volume, and his sales volume was so low ($60,000/month and less) because he was literally trying to avoid customers. I myself only sold $85,000 in Jan'05 and $85,000 again in Feb'05 and NOT A WORD was said to me by management, because I provide excellent customer service. Also, my average monthly sales are only $140,000, and I've been the #1 overall monthly salesperson TWICE and in the top 5 six other times. The emphasis at Living Spaces IS on customer service, the furniture sells itself. If you just STAND on the sales floor you're gonna sell about $90,000.
Vince next states that the turnover at Living Spaces is high. I agree, especially in light of the many good things this company has to offer. I personally believe that if the company offered a higher starting salary we would attract a better quality applicant and our turnover rate would be lower.
Vince next complains that he "asked" to be given notice if he was going to be fired. He fails to mention that he was NOT promised that he would be given notice. Vince, don't complain about not getting something that was not promised to you. And by the way, you and I both know WHY you were fired, and it wasn't because of your sales or customer service, which for the most part were good. The was a very specific incident for which you were fired Vince, I will not divulge the details here out of respect for you. You are a perfect example of why Living Spaces utilizes temp worker status initially so that they may IMMEDIATELY terminate a temp if necessary.
Vince then complains that he didn't make any commissions from his sales. There is a very good reason for that: because this is a NON-COMMISSION SALES POSITION, you doofus ! You knew that going into the job, don't complain about it now.
Living Spaces is the easiest, most stress-free job I've ever worked at. It's nice to work at a place where, from the owner on down, the emphasis is on customer service. Its the reason we are BY FAR the #1 sales volume furniture store in California, and #2 in the country, and after only being open for 2 1/2 years !