Complaint Review: Cole's Furniture - Mount Orab Ohio

We tell customers that most orders come in between 3 and 6 weeks and the range of possibility is between 1 and 12 weeks. When I say "most," I mean well beyond half / 50% of the orders we place arrive from the manufacturer to our store within 3 to 6 weeks. Moreover, all but a handfull fall within the range of 2 to 8 weeks. We realize that if you are one of the small handfull of customers whose order takes longer than 8 weeks, knowing that almost everyone else gets their order in half the time that you got yours isn't comforting. For that we are sorry, and assure you that if there is anything we can do to get your order sooner we do everything within our power to get your order as soon as possible.

We do not base our estimates on our vendor's projected stock status report because it can change at any time. We are more careful than that allows. The report only projects up to 6 weeks out. That is because almost everything ships within 6 weeks, including back ordered items. However, despite what your experience in the industry or industries that you have experience with, our furniture vendors do not make promises or give absolute ship dates.

Nevertheless, we like to play it safe. That is why we over estimate delivery times. We base our estimates on the historical trends that we have seen with all of our past orders. It is extremely, extremely rare for orders to take longer than 12 weeks. That is why we give estimates up to 12 weeks. We also inform customers that we can only give estimates and cannot make promises because shipping times are completely out of our control and furniture vendors do not give firm ship dates or even firm estimated ship dates.

The bright side is that if you order from us, you are more likely than not to have your funiture delivered within 4 weeks. If you are among the half of customers that do not get their furniture within 4 weeks, you will almost certainly get your furniture delivered within 8 weeks. We greatly appologize to the very small handfull of our valued customers whose orders take beyond 8 weeks. Despite what is reported here, we will be glad to help if we can.

To respond to the response from the company-
First, Any company who orders ANYTHING, they know if what they are ordering is on back order or not, BEFORE order is placed. IF not they are not doing their job and providing bad customer relations telling customers false statements.
Second, Why tell customers it will take an estimated delivery date? Why not tell them what the actual
time frame is.

My wife has been a buyer for 20+ years, I have been a Manufacturing/Distribution Manager and we have never heard of any company ordering something and not know a delivery time frame. When orders are placed the system of any company tells you if it is avail;able or not. So why would a company order things without checking status? To get money from unsuspecting customers?

We were told it would be between 3 to 4 weeks but could take up to 10 weeks. Was also told another customer just ordered the same set and it came in within a week.We ordered a set in Feb. Now May 16th and told it may be another 2 + more weeks.So that would put our order at a time frame of 15+ weeks. So your estimate is way off or you need to do better when ordering.

If you order something for a customer, HOW?WHY would you not know if the item is back ordered.And how can an order placed, with no back order status, be placed on back order when it was not on back order when order was first placed.
I talked to Ashley Furniture distribution center where Cole orders their furniture and they say their system tells vendors the status of items and if they are ordering items that show back order and do not tell customer it is poor business.
So what is the deal with providing poor/bad or misleading information?

You should let people know if the set they are ordering is back ordered. Ashley furniture contradicts your statements which makes me wonder about your true customer service goals.

RE: complaint from Dennis in Grove City, Ohio We regret this customer's dissatisfaction. We will briefly address several key points relevant to the customer's complaint: 1. Paying the order in full at the time of sale is an action that the customer agreed to. We do not arbitrarily charge a person's card. 2. The customer chose Cole Furniture, a store that is a significant distance from his home, because we have very fair prices and friendly service. 3. Estimates on wait times are estimates only and are based on typical wait times. Every person placing an order is advised as such. 4. Customer pick-up assumes that Cole Furniture will assist the customer in placing the furniture in the vehicle. Most customers prefer the furniture to be wrapped so as to be protected in transport. If a customer prefers everything be unwrapped, they simply request that we help them unwrap it for inspection and then wrap it back up for transit. Again, the vast majority of people do not want to do this, so we leave it up to customer preference. Once a customer leaves with the furniture, however, the purchase is final. 5. This customer was always able to bring the chairs back for repair. He simply did not want to do that because of the distance. We regret this inconvenience, but his choice to buy from such a distance is out of our control. 6. The majority of this customer's complaint is about LA-Z-BOY, not Cole Furniture. He feels that LA-Z-BOY does not make a good product or provide good service. However, it bears pointing out that LA-Z-BOY has repaired his chairs according to factory specifications once already. Moreover, LA-Z-BOY makes an extremely well-built chair. They have 4 sided base construction (the only recliner to do so), total lumbar support in any reclining position (i.e. no gaps between the seat and the back when you recline), and many more features that you can read about at lazboy.com/ourfurniture/why_LZB.aspx. 7. As with the customer in Maineville, we do not allow returns on special orders as well as furniture that has been picked up and been in a customer's home. This policy is in keeping with industry standards and is very reasonable.

RE: complaint from Cindy in Maineville The information posted from Cindy in Maineville is inaccurate in some places and incomplete in others. This customer was given an estimate of 12 weeks for a special order LA-Z-BOY sofa and loveseat. Estimates are always that... estimates; they are not guaranteed delivery times because we are not the manufacturer and therefore cannot make a guarantee. The furniture came in at 13.5 weeks, which is merely a week and a half longer than the estimate - a very reasonable difference. At that point, the customer stated they wanted to cancel the order. We cannot and do not allow cancellations on custom orders, a policy that is clearly written on our invoices and explained at the time of purchase. (When a customer places and order for something that a business would not otherwise order, that customer is making a commitment to the purchase; this policy is normal operating procedure at every furniture store we know of.)Therefore, we let them know they would forfeit their deposit if they chose to not pick up the furniture, as they had agreed to at the time of sale and order. They then did a chargeback on their credit card. We had no choice but to contact the card and reverse the chargeback. The only time any Cole Furniture employee hung up on this customer was when the customer used foul language on the phone conversation. This happened one time. It's not reasonable to expect a person to listen to abusive language. At all times, we told the customer that the furniture was theirs for the taking, but they would have to pay in full with cash or cashier's check due to the chargeback history. They refused this option. We have been in business for over 30 years and have a reputation for honesty, fair prices, friendly service, and a knowledgeable staff. We regret this customer's dissatisfaction but were nonetheless surprised at the half truths they've chosen to post on this website. Despite their version of the events, we firmly attest that we dealt with them in a professional and fair manner just as recorded in our reply. Thank you for taking the time to read our reply. - Cole Furniture Management

Hi, I also dealt with Cole Firnuture in Mt. Orab Ohio on 06/15/06. I had to put down a 20% deposit for my order. I was quoted 6-8 weeks for my new furniture, and that estimate seemed to be right on. I got my furniture at 7 weeks. I was disappointed that I had to pay for delivery($39) but I am not as young as I used to be and can't move furniture alone anymore. I ordered a sofa, loveseat, and a dining room table. When my furniture was delivered the deliver people were very nice and even moved my garbage cans out to the street for me as they left!!! Then a day or two later I noticed that one of my dining tables legs were cracked. I called the company right away and they sent someone out the next day to look at it. I was surprised to learn that the man who came to check on my table was the owner. I live in Cincinnati and I am about 30 miles form the store so it surprised me that the owner would come out. He explained that he would replace the my table with a new one, and he did in a matter of 9 days. I called the store several times while I waited for my order, I never was hung up on nor did I find any employee to be rude. I had a great experience with this furniture store and was shocked to see this type of complaint against them. I had such a good experience I had to write a response that showed how well these people were to me.

I must agree with the original comments about Cole furniture. I ordered two La-Z-Boy 974 recliner chairs from Cole Furniture, 710 North High St., Mount Orab, OH., The time delays in delivery by this merchant and/or La-Z-Boy are a major element of my dispute. I originally ordered the two chairs at issue on February 20, 2006. The merchant charged the total payment of $1,387.75, against my charge card on that date. The merchant did not have the chairs available for me to pick up until May 15, 2006. I picked up the items at Cole Furniture on May 16, 2006. Upon unpacking the chairs on May 16, 2006, at my location, I immediately discovered some problems. These are large items and Cole furniture is almost 100 miles a 2 hours drive from me. I tried to prevail on the La-Z-Boy Company's customer service department to help resolve these problems. Not only were they non-responsive and not at all helpful, they were also rude and discourteous. They ask me to email them photos, etc., about the situation. After I did so, they did not even respond to my email. When I called them again, I was flippantly told to haul them back to the dealer where I purchased them. On my own, I located a La-Z-Boy warranty service facility operated by La-Z-Boy Showcase Shops. This involved me transporting one of the chairs to their warranty service facility for inspection. They examined the chair during the week of May 22, 2006. They advised me to haul it back to my location and hold it there until the repair part items came in from La-Z-Boy. They called me on July 5, 2006, to inform me that they had received the repair items for the two chairs. On July 7, 2006, I made a second trip to their facility to drop off a chair back and the two seat cushions. They replaced the defective fabric on the back of one of the two chairs and replaced the foam in the seat cushions of both chairs. I then made a third trip to their facility on July 10, 2006, to retrieve the repaired items. In spite of the best efforts of the warranty service facility, the chairs are still not right. The more dense replacement foam is an improvement but it does not fully correct the support problem where the seat cushion confronts the back of the chair. I am a person with considerable architectural and design experience. Out of total frustration with this insignificant matter, I tried a few experiments myself, to determine why this chair doesn't set right. The real problem lies in the overall construction quality of the chairs. La-Z-Boy first used foam in the seat cushion that did not have an adequate density to support one's body weight. Then, they used a small gauge spring and padding support system, in the lumbar support area of the chair's back. The combination of the two inadequate support systems will collapse to a point where it leaves one setting in a void between the chair back and the seat cushion. This void is especially pronounced when the chair is reclined. If one places a pad or throw pillow beneath the rear of the seat cushion, raising it a few inches, it provides a noticeable difference in the way the chair sets. It does not however, correct the inadequate springs and support within the back. To further verify my conclusions about the construction quality of this chair, I did a side-by-side comparison of it with a cheap $239.00 Value City recliner. While this several hundred-dollar La-Z-Boy appears larger and more decorative, the internal construction quality was no better and in fact a little worse, than the cheap $239.00 chair. In short, the high-end external appearance of this 974 chair is deceiving. The only thing high end about it is the price. It actually has a very low-end, internal quality. As a footnote: Just today, I did an Internet search for persons having similar delivery and quality problems with La-Z-Boy products. There was no shortage of similar complaints. On July 12, 2006, I faxed a letter and related documents to Mr. Alan Cole of Cole Furniture, in an attempt to bring a final resolution to this matter. I received no response to that fax. On July 20, 2006, I sent the same correspondence to Cole furniture by regular mail. Mr. Cole then called on July 21, 2006 and left a message for me. His message simply stated that this was a La-Z-boy warranty problem and he was not willing to accept a return of the chairs and issue a refund. Since originally accepting my order, Cole Furniture has abdicated responsibilities to perform in business-like manner. First, this merchant levied full payment against the card instead of a pending charge or a deposit. This was done weeks before actually supplying the merchandise to me. I then had to contact the merchant several times to obtain the confirmation statement/invoice they promised to fax to me. After finally faxing me the invoice, I had to contact them again to obtain a corrected version that was marked paid. After several weeks of not hearing anything, I began calling them about the status of this order. When the order finally arrived at their location, they did not bother inspecting the merchandise for damage. This, even though I was driving nearly two hours to pick it up. Upon arrival, their dock employees simply set these two large cartons on their loading platform. Without any offer of help, they watched me struggle to load them in my truck by myself. Since being notified about the problems with these items, Cole furniture has never offered to do anything to remedy this situation. Other than placing an order and taking whatever profit, this merchant has provided no service to me whatsoever. Obviously, I cannot truck two large items, two hours, back to a merchant that is refusing to accept them. The merchant and the manufacturer have contrived a no-win situation for the purchaser. The merchant says it is the manufacturers problem. The manufacturer says deal with the merchant. Frankly, I am through dealing with either of them. I am in the process of taking them all to court. D. B. Columbus, Ohio