I bought my first new couch when I got out of college in 1990. Since then, I have bought furniture from a dozen different stores .
I have NEVER had such a bad experience with purchasing furniture as I have with my recent purchase from the La-Z-Boy store in Brentwood, MO.
The loveseat and ottoman in this picture were ordered in the same color. Clearly, they are NOT the same color.
I ordered the furniture in October of 2012. In December, the ottoman was delivered but the loveseat was sent back to the manufacturer because there was a puncture in one of the arms.
Immediately upon the ottoman’s arrival, I knew that the color was off. I had ordered a dark brown, not dark beige. I don’t think the sample in the store was as dark as the loveseat in the picture above, but it was definitely darker than the ottoman.
I called the Brentwood store where I ordered the pieces and was told that the correct fabric had been used on the piece and I must just be remembering the color wrong. I didn’t have a swatch to compare, so I didn’t have a choice but to take their word for it.
I was told that the repaired piece would have the arm redone in the same dye lot but it would take just as long as it does when you place a new order. I was astounded but all of my fussing didn’t change anything. Since these were custom order pieces with a no return policy, I didn’t have any recourse. So I waited.
FOUR MONTHS later…not the 8 weeks I was expecting…I finally got a call to have the furniture delivered. At that point, I did push my delivery by a couple of weeks since I was just about to get new carpeting installed and figured it would be better to have one less piece of furniture to move.
Yes, I was shocked when the loveseat was delivered.
I want my money back so I can just start over with another furniture store. The only other recource that would satisfy me would be a 50% discount since I now will have to wait who knows how long for the furniture to be corrected…and who knows what color they will end up. I understand that there are minor variations in dye lot…but if you can’t produce a fabric that is consistant with the sample in the store, then you shouldn’t be using that fabric!
To make matters even worse, the Brentwood La-Z-Boy location was touted as a special store. I was invited to the blogger Grand Opening of the store and the crowd was told by bigwigs in the company that this store was about exceptional customer service.
They gave us a bunch of food and even had a band. All in the hopes of some good PR from the local blogger crowd. Guess what, PR goes both ways.
My advice…shop somewhere else.
UPDATE:
I did get a response from La-Z-Boy.
I actually was contacted by the corporate customer service department, and they wanted to do whatever it would take to make me happy. They offered me a 25% discount off of the furniture (not the 50% I requested) or to refund the entire purchase. If I took the discount, they would redo both pieces of furniture and make sure it was right this time. Of course, that meant I had to trust them AND wait for the furniture again for weeks…maybe months.
By this point I was so soured on the entire experience that I had gone out shopping to see what my other options were, and I found a small 2 piece sectional at Pier 1 that was half the cost of the La-Z-Boy pieces and was in stock, ready for delivery immediately. The Pier 1 stet would actually fit better in the room and would offer better seating options, so I took the refund La-Z-Boy offered.
At this point, they were bending over backwards to make me happy. The customer service rep from the Brentwood store who dropped the ball met the delivery drivers at my home when they picked up the furniture to make sure everything went smoothly. He gave me a $100 off coupon for any future purchase in hopes that I would give them another try at some point.
I do appreciate the efforts they made at the end. They told me that they were going to use my experience as a case study for how so many things were done wrong, and institute new policies to keep it from happening again. Still, I wonder if corporate would have gotten involved and I would have gotten the white glove treatment if I hadn’t blogged about this experience. Blogging and reviews are a powerful tool and companies pay attention. But they should give the same service to every single customer that has a problem. Maybe they do. But my guess is that it my case have been escalated to the corporate level if I wasn’t causing bad press.
Will I shop there again?
Not for custom furniture. Probably for lamps, artwork or decor. I’ve got a $100 to spend and I’m sure I can find something that will fill a blank space on the wall.
I just ordered furniture from their last week. I’m getting leather and odd pieces, rugs, lamps etc. thanks for you’re post.
I’ve been looking for a couple of chairs and was headed to that store this weekend. After reading this,no way will I be going there. That is ridiculous. Hope it gets resolved to your satisfaction soon!
I am so sorry you have had such a hard time with this. That just is not right at all! I hope that they fix it ASAP for you.
Wow. Just wow. I have been thinking about getting new furniture for my living room and having seen so much of a SM push from Lazy Boy and having lived close to one of their facilities, I had them on my list. Can’t believe its been SEVEN MONTHS and you are in such a place! I certainly would have broken down and written a post complaining too since you have obviously been back and forth with them quite a bit. I hope they see the error of their ways.
This horror story is unfortunately also happening to us. We ordered several thousands of dollars worth of Lazy Boy furniture in February at the Lazy Boy shop in Montgomeryville, PA in February. We were told that it would take six weeks for delivery. WE ARE STILL WAITING. The store makes all the promises in the world before they take your money, after that they simply wash their hands and say there is nothing that they can do and that it is up to Lazy Boy. This is a horrible business when it comes to caring about their customers. DO NOT make the same mistake, buy your furniture someplace else.
Bill – You need to call corporate and talk to someone there. Once I published this blog post and threw a fit, I suddenly got a phone call from corporate and then they bent over backwards to make it right. In the end, I took their offer for a refund and went and bought something somewhere else. They gave me a $100 gift certificate to use in the next year as a hope that I would give them another try. I didn’t need anything, but I did apply it toward a purchase my mom just recently made and she had a great experience.
Accidents can happen with any company…just don’t let it drag out like it did with me. Call corporate.
I wish corporate cared about what happened to me. Last month I was physically accosted by one deliveryman. I told him to leave and went I to my house, locking the door. After both deliverymen left, I found the last piece of furniture on my lawn and it was about to rain! The local store simply told corporate the the furniture was not delivered because my dog got loose. In fact, they refuse to respond to this email –
HQ is thereby condoning the inexcusable and unconscionable actions of the Louisville store.
1. While the dog did get loose, she showed no signs of aggression and the delivery men did not leave – they did not leave until one of them physically accosted me, in my backyard. As I walked away from this hostile deliveryman, I yelled at them to leave. What would have happened had I stayed and struggled with the deliveryman over the dolly? Would he have physically assaulted me?
Again, the deliverymen did NOT leave because the dog got loose twice – they left AFTER ONE OF THE PHYSICALLY ACCOSTED ME AND I WALKED AWAY AND YELLED AT THEM TO LEAVE!
Why wasn’t my furniture simply taken back to the warehouse?? There is no justification for a piece to be left on the lawn and absolutely no justification for me to be physically accosted. Nor, should I have had to take any of the furniture in myself.
Common sense and respect for the customer’s furniture dictates the deliveryman should have brought the furniture back to the warehouse- not dump it in my lawn!
Neither delivery man showed any fear. Both walked with me AND my dog. My dog never once barked or growled. MY FURNITURE SHOULD HAVE BEEN RETURNED TO THE WAREHOUSE AND DELIVERY RESCHEDULED FOR ANOTHER DAY, if the problem was truly that my dog got loose twice!!!
I feel victimized by the delivery man and again by both corporate and the Louisville, KY store because neither will address the fact that I was physically accosted. Not even any indication that it is unacceptable or even an apology.
Bought a lazyboy love seat and one side broke. Turned it over and saw that a side of the loveseat was made of press board and the other was wood. The press board side broken.
That’s tough. If it broke shortly after buying it, I would definitely contact the store. But if it broke much later, you are probably out of luck. The reality of buying inexpensive or moderate priced furniture is this can happen. Especially if people are heavy or plop down. If that’s the case, it might be worth spending more and getting solid wood. That said, I’ve gotten moderate to cheap couches for years and never had that happen so it seems like just bad luck.