Complaint Review: Furniture Showcase - Reidsville North Carolina

I see that all other posts have the company name as Furniture Showcase. However, when I purchased furniture from them, the company was called Reidsville Furniture. I know it is the same company because it has the same address as all of the other complaints for Furniture Showcase, except three in Raleigh, NC. At least one of the complaints for Furniture Showcase in Reidsville makes reference to the same sales person I dealt with. Also, the phone number listed in other complaints for the Furniture Showcase store in Reidsville, NC is 336-349-5800. The number on my invoice is 336-349-5400. But, there is no doubt, that Furniture Showcase in Reidsville and Reidsville Furniture are the same.

I purchased a sofa and loveseat from Reidsville Furniture on May 8, 2013. I am one of the lucky ones. I finally got my furniture, more than 5 months later. I placed the order by phone with Aaron Vester (another complaint has his name listed as Aaron Vesterfelt) because I had a problem placing the order via the web site. I put a 50% deposit down and then paid the balance 12 days later.

I originally was told that the store should receive the items from the manufacturer in 3 to 4 weeks, but when I received my invoice in the mail, it said 6 to 10 weeks. On June 6, 2013, I called the store and left a message for Mr. Vester to check on the status of the order. Another employee called me back and said that they should have the items by June 27th and the delivery company should call me about a week later.

By 7/15/13, I had not received a call from the delivery company, so I called the store back and left a message for Mr. Vester. The same employee who called me back in June called me back this time. He said that the notation on my account was showing that the items should be in by the end of July. I told the employee that he had previously told me that they should have the items by June 27th, and I asked him what the delay was. He could not advise and only said that it was now showing that they should have the items by the end of July.

The end of July came and went, and no phone call from either the furniture store or the delivery company. On 8/2/13, I called and left a message for Mr. Vester to call me. Three days later, 8/5/13, he had not returned my phone call, so I called and left another message. This time, instead of getting a message that they were busy assisting other customers like it usually said, the message said that they were in the process of moving their showroom to downtown Reidsville and would have limited access to voice and e-mail.

On 8/6/13, an employee whose name sounded like James Lawson left a message on my voice mail. The message said that the manufacturer doesn't have the items in stock but that they should have them by 8/12/13, and then they should be at the store 2 weeks after that. I was furious. If the manufacturer didn't have the items in stock, then what was supposed to have been delivered to the store, first by June 28th, and then by the end of July? My first thought was that they had sold the items I ordered to someone else.

On 8/7/13, I left a message for Mr. Lawson to call me because I wanted clarification on the message he left and an answer to my question in the previous paragraph. However, he did not call me back.

On 8/20/13, I called a left a message for Mr. Vester. My tone of voice was not very nice. I complained about the repeated delays and how no one was returning my phone calls. Mr. Vester called me on 8/21/13 and I really unloaded on him. I told him I had been given more than one date as to when the items should have been at his store, but those dates came and went. No one ever called me to let me know if the items had arrived or not, and that I was the one who had to call afterwards. I told him that I was tired of the repeated delays and I also told him about the message that Mr. Lawson left claiming that the manufacturer didn't have the items in stock. I asked him how they were suppose to have received the items I ordered on more than one occasion if the manufacturer never had them.

Mr. Vester said that each date I was given is what the manufacturer had told him. He said he contacted them and was told that they were having problems getting the material for the items I ordered from their overseas supplier. Mr. Vester promised to keep me informed of the status of the order thereafter.

On 9/4/13, Mr. Vester left me a message advising that the items should be available by the end of the following week. I took this to mean that the manufacturer would have them by that time.

On 9/18/13, Mr. Vester called and advised that they should be in at his store by 9/27/13. I asked him to personally inspect the items when they arrived to make sure they were what I ordered. When I had tried to place the order for the items via the web site in May, the photos of the sofa and loveseat were for a different SKU number than what I ordered. The photos were of a leather sofa and loveseat and the ones I ordered were covered in a chenille fabric. He said that he would go over to their warehouse and check the items when they came in. As a result, I was expecting my next phone call to be from him.

9/27/13 came and went, and no phone call from Mr. Vester or anyone else at the store. On 10/15/13, I called and left a really nasty message for him this time. Later the same day, he called back while I was out and left a message advising that he assumed I had heard from the delivery company. He said that he had contacted them and that I should hear from them by the end of tomorrow (10/16/13) and that he believed they said they wanted to deliver the items either on 10/23/13 or 10/25/13.

Mr. Vester never did call me and let me know that he had checked the items to make sure they were what I ordered. Since he said that he had assumed the delivery company had already contacted me, I assumed that they were the correct items. By this point. I was so tired of dealing with him, I did not call him back. I was going to allow the delivery company to arrive with the items and if they were leather and not fabric, I was just going to refuse acceptance of them and tell them to take them back.

I did e-mail the manufacturer and asked them if they were having problems getting the fabric for the items I ordered. The response I received was that there had been delays on various items including obtaining fabric for them, but they did not specify the items I ordered.

The delivery company did call me on 10/16/13 and scheduled delivery for 10/23/13. The sofa and loveseat were delivered, undamaged, on 10/23/13 and they were the items I ordered, but they didn't specifically address the items I ordered.

Like I said in the second paragraph, I am one of the lucky ones and I got my furniture. The only reason I didn't try to cancel the order after the second or third delay and request a refund, is because no other furniture store could even come close to the price I purchased these two items for. I just kept hoping that I would eventually get them, and not get ripped off and be out the money like so many other people who have posted complaints on this web site. Also, I believe I was told I wouldn't be able to get a refund anyway because they were special order items.

However, if I had known that I was going to have to go through the aggravation I went through to get the items, I think I would have paid a higher price for them if I knew that I could have got them when first promised.