Complaint Review: Stainsafe

We purchased a sofa from Sofas 4 Less in San Marcos California and had it delivered in October 2003 to our new home. One month later, we noticed stains on a cushion that wouldn't come out.

Remembering all the great promises "sold" to me by the furniture company, we immediately called Stainsafe to have a tech come out and remove the stain. He tried and couldn't, and told us that he'd have another cushion sent out to us. At the time another cushion was showing stains and we pointed it out to the Tech who informed us that he'd order 2 cushions.

Well, Christmas and the Holidays all passed and we really didn't think about it (or get around to it) and I finally called them around May/June 2004 to simply see what was going on. They were surprised that I hadn't received the merchandise and would send an email to the manufacturer to see what was up. They asked me to call them back to find out the outcome. By the way, they had no record of the second cushion.

All in all, I've called the company several times to find out where my cushions are. I asked for a supervisor and I told her that the company policy of having the customer call in to see if their order was in was wrong and that THEY should be calling ME. She gave me her name and did follow through by telling me that they had gotten through to the company and had ordered the cushions. The reason for the delay was because they weren't sure if they could replace the cushions so they may have had to replace the entire sofa.

So I waited and called back a couple months later. The employee again acted surprised that I hadn't received anything yet and again asked me to call back in a couple days to see if his email had been replied to.

Now, I work in customer service and have worked for a furniture company. In escalated situations, it is the company's job to call the customer, not vise versa.

I called back 2 weeks later and politely asked about the status. The lady said that the furniture company hadn't responded to their email from two weeks ago. I told her that they should be doing a follow-up phone call to the company if they aren't getting answers to their requests. I asked for her supervisor politely to which she replied, "That won't do you any good. She won't be able to give you any more info than I can." I got mad and insisted...

The supervisor, Kim, got on the phone very nicely but told me right off the bat that she can forward me to their "Advocate" department that would be able to handle complaints, inquiries, etc., but that they aren't open now. I told her that I wanted answers and wanted her supervisor. She told me that she doesn't have one. So I rephrased my question by saying, "You don't report to ANYBODY?". She told me that she does, but that that person does not take phone calls. DOESN'T TAKE PHONE CALLS?!! I work for a MAJOR US company with over 300k employees. There is NOBODY in management that is immune to phone calls!

All in all, it's been over 10 months and I have gotten absolutely nowhere. I would suggest to anybody to NOT purchase the Stainsafe plan. It is a waste of your time and money!

Eric
Winchester, California
U.S.A.