;
  • Report:  #209281

Complaint Review: Value City Furniture - Cheektowaga New York

Reported By:
- Cheektowaga, New York,
Submitted:
Updated:

Value City Furniture
800 Thruway Plaza Dr Cheektowaga, 14225 New York, U.S.A.
Phone:
716-894-0350
Web:
N/A
Tell us has your experience with this business or person been good? What's this?
We recently moved to NY and found that our existing furniture was too large for the new apartment. We went to Value City and found the perfect audio piers for our entertainment center manufactured by Sauder. We bought the piers, paid cash, and took them home. That same night, looking online for additional pieces in the same set which VCF did not carry, we found the identical piers for $30 less each than the VCF price. We called VCF in the morning, and were told that their policy is to refund double the difference when an item is found for a cheaper price. We took the items in, along with my laptop to show them the other store's price, and our receipt. The piers still were not opened.

Upon getting to the store, and showing their customer service the website, we were told they would not honor the price match policy because the site we found them at was not the manufacturer. In other words - because we were not buying from Sauder direct, they would not honor their own policy, in contradiction to what we were told on the phone about the other store not mattering as long as it was the same item made by the same manufacturer. We went round and round with the salesman, customer service, and the store manager and they refused flat out to honor their policy. We returned the items and bought them online, still at a cheaper price including shipping that they cost at VCF.

They refused to give me a phone number for corporate customer service, but I was able to get the number (not an 800# either!) from someone at Schottenstein Value City headquarters in Columbus OH. Calls to that number only allow you to leave a message, and someone calls you back.

In the interim, we decided to buy some lamps we saw there. We made the purchase on a Saturday and were told the lamps would be ready for pickup on Wednesday. Wednesday, no lamps. They gave my husband a story about each store only is alloted so many items, blah blah. My phone call to the store manager earned me a story that the lamps just missed being put on the truck. Totally different lines. He and i also got into it about the piers, with him now claiming they never said it had to come from the manufacturer, that they had refused because the items were not identical to the piers we'd bought from them. Another lie.

That afternoon, i got a call back from the corporate customer service. He confirmed that their policy is NOT about price matching with purchases directly from the manufacturer, and we should have been given the refund on the original set of piers we bought. He furthermore said items like the lamps are alloted to the stores, but the computer was showing the order for ours was never even placed - not over their allotment or a missed shipment.

He was going to address the matter with the local district manager, and get back to me regarding the matter, but i have not heard anything, nor do i expect to. Since i took my business elsewhere, and recieved an immediate, full refund for the lamps, there is no reason for them to contact me again.

Cindy

Cheektowaga, New York
U.S.A.


7 Updates & Rebuttals

Peter

Pony,
Alabama,
U.S.A.
Price matching and Sears ...

#2Consumer Comment

Tue, September 05, 2006

And yet people wonder why Sears and KMart are now "related." Hmmm... two companies with poor business plans with incompetent strategy... Enjoy taking advantage of Sears price-match policy while they're still around. Methinks their days are numbered.


Kelly

Detroit,
Michigan,
U.S.A.
Peter-- YES they do

#3Consumer Comment

Tue, September 05, 2006

Peter and all others. YES!!!! There is a store that will price match with an on line price. SEARS!!!! My family has done that several times. Especially with electronics. We have never had any problems. We bring in a print out of the item with the description and price and Sears has matched it every time. No problems. And they have always thanked us for our business.


Kelly

Detroit,
Michigan,
U.S.A.
Peter-- YES they do

#4Consumer Comment

Tue, September 05, 2006

Peter and all others. YES!!!! There is a store that will price match with an on line price. SEARS!!!! My family has done that several times. Especially with electronics. We have never had any problems. We bring in a print out of the item with the description and price and Sears has matched it every time. No problems. And they have always thanked us for our business.


Kelly

Detroit,
Michigan,
U.S.A.
Peter-- YES they do

#5Consumer Comment

Tue, September 05, 2006

Peter and all others. YES!!!! There is a store that will price match with an on line price. SEARS!!!! My family has done that several times. Especially with electronics. We have never had any problems. We bring in a print out of the item with the description and price and Sears has matched it every time. No problems. And they have always thanked us for our business.


Kelly

Detroit,
Michigan,
U.S.A.
Peter-- YES they do

#6Consumer Comment

Tue, September 05, 2006

Peter and all others. YES!!!! There is a store that will price match with an on line price. SEARS!!!! My family has done that several times. Especially with electronics. We have never had any problems. We bring in a print out of the item with the description and price and Sears has matched it every time. No problems. And they have always thanked us for our business.


Cindy

Cheektowaga,
New York,
U.S.A.
clarification

#7Consumer Comment

Tue, September 05, 2006

Peter - that is exactly what we did, as it states above : we returned the items and got them online through the other company. When we called VCF about the cheaper price, we were clear in specifying it was an online company, including giving the web address for the other items to the customer service person who told us to print it out and bring it in for the price match. The refusal to meet the price was not because of it being via an online company, but we were very specifically told by the store manager that they would only price match the same item by the same manufacturer if we purchased it directly from the manufacturer. Meaning, unless we bought direct from Sauder, they would not match the price. When I spoke to corporate about this in the following weeks, that was how they had it listed, that we wanted a price match for audio piers which were not the same as the ones we bought from them. In actuality, the piers were both made by Sauder, both with the same part number and identical in every detail. Sauder does not sell to the public, which would make the policy, as told to us by the store manager, impossible. We were also never given any paperwork that had their price match policy. The only policy was the one written on the back of the receipt, and it is about returning merchandise (how long you have to cancel or re-select items, the ways monies will be refunded, and in the case of furniture, that the fabrics cannot be treated with fabric protection). When I spoke with corporate customer service, i again was very clear that it was an internet business we could find a cheaper price, and that young man also said as long as it is the identical piece by the same manufacturer, the price should have been matched.


Peter

Pony,
Alabama,
U.S.A.
No stores will price-match an "online" price

#8Consumer Comment

Sun, September 03, 2006

If you read the price match policy closely, it applies to local stores and in this case manufacturer stores ... NOT online stores. No retail store ever honors online pricing, as of course buying something online is usually cheaper. After all, online retail establishments do not have the overhead expenses of physical retail stores. My question is, if the furniture was still in the box and you were at the store anyway, why not go ahead and return the furniture and buy them online? The only reason I can think of why you wouldn't have done this is because you did not want to pay for online shipping (which would have raised the cost back up to equal or more than that of VCF).

Reports & Rebuttal
Respond to this report!
Also a victim?
Repair Your Reputation!
//