Complain about a product or service

Ellen's Futon

Fairfax, VA

James of Arlington, VA October 13, 2009

On 07-10-08 I went by the store to see what kinds of futons were available. I was going through a divorce at the time and anticipated needing a futon in the future when I moved out of the marital property. There was one there that I liked and I talked to the salesman about it. I told the salesman that I wasn't ready to make the purchase and explained my situation to him. I told him that at that time I had no idea when I would actually need the futon. The salesman said that since the futon was on sale, I should go ahead and make the purchase. He assured me that it would make no difference if I picked it up the next week, the next month, or the next year. He also assured me that whenever I did need the futon, if it was not in the store available for immediate pick up, the store would be able to get it in no more than 2 - 3 business days for my pick up.

I went ahead and made the purchase paying in full the amount of 1206.35. The salesman even noted on my copy of the sales receipt "Pick up whenever" and "2 solid pillows" which he agreed to throw into the deal and he initialled it. After finalizing the divorce and finally finding an apartment, I took my paperwork to the store to arrange pick up of the futon on 09-14-09. The first person I talked to said he didn't know what to do and that I would have to come back the next day and talk to the manager (Nick). I went back the next day and spoke with the manager, showing him all of my original paperwork, and he said he didn't know what to do. After I asked him who he needed to talk to to figure out what to do he made copies of the paperwork and said he would send the copies to the main office and have it researched.

I then checked back the next day and was told that it was still being researched. I checked back again everyday and after 2 - 3 days was finally told that yes indeed they had the paperwork and they did owe me a futon. I began this process almost a full week before I even picked up the keys to my apartment. Yes they owed me a futon, however there was a problem. They did not have the arms in the finish I had purchased. I was told that I could get a different finish or they could ship in the arms I originally ordered which would take a little longer. After looking at the other finishes availabe, I opted for the original finish that I purchased.

After several days, I was told that on a Tues. that my original purchase would be available for pick up on the following Sun. I made arrangements with a friend who owns a truck to help me pick it up on Sun. On Thurs. I received a phone call that while they did receive a shipment, it did not contain the arms I had purchased. I was told that they had no idea when my arms would come in. After several more days, I went back to the store asking for an update. I was told again that they had no idea. I told the manager that this whole process was dragging on way beyond the promissed 2 - 3 days and I was considering just requesting my money back and moving on. He said that he hopes it wouldn't come to that but if it did he would have to talk to his boss about what the procedure would be.

After the third weekend of having my apartment without the futon I had paid for more than a year earlier, I decided enough was enough and that I woul go into the store that day and ask for my money back. Before I had made it into the store, I received a phone call from Shawn Diamond saying that he anticipated having my futon that week. I explained my frustration with the whole process and told him that I had decided that I just wanted my money refunded. He kept saying that after the length of time that had occurred I could not return the merchandise for a refund. I had to remind him that I was not returning anything. He had my money for over a year and I had nothing. After a somewhat heated exchange he said that he would have to call me back. The next day he called me and told me that the best he would do would give me a 10% discount. I find this unacceptable. To me it seems like a breach of contract and I just want my money back.

The company responds:

llen’s Futons has been proudly serving the MD, DC and VA area for over 15 years, and we have built a very strong reputation for offering the highest quality products and the best customer service to all of our customers. So, we take every customer issue very seriously. In this particular case, Ellen’s Futons believes we went above and beyond to satisfy Mr. M while dealing with a unique issue outside the scope of our policy.

On September 15th 2009, Mr. M came into our store and wanted to pick up his futon set that he had originally purchased over 14 months ago on July 10th 2008. I informed Mr. M at that time that it would take a couple of days to research his sale with our corporate office since so much time had passed. Two days later, I called Mr. M to inform him that we located his paperwork and could re-order his futon set right away.

Upon re-ordering, we discovered that the color of futon frame that Mr. Moore wanted was on backorder, but it should be available in the next week or so. At this time, I offered Mr. M the option of changing the color of frame to any of the 3 other choices so that he could take his purchase home that same day. Mr. M declined the offer and stated that he was willing to wait for the original color on backorder when it arrived.

The following week, Mr. M’s order had arrived at our shipping warehouse, however we were told that the shipping container was being held over by Customs for inspection. When I spoke to Mr. M I offered my apology for this delay and explained that Ellen’s Futons was willing to provide him with a temporary futon, which could be delivered to him at no cost and used until his futon had arrived. Mr. M refused this offer.

A few days later, Mr. M told us that he wanted a refund for his purchase. We offered an additional discount to him for the unforeseen inconvenience. He refused this offer, and indicated that he wanted a cash refund. Because Mr. M had originally paid by credit card, we did not issue cash refund at this time. However, even though Ellen’s Futons believes we offered Mr. M every possible solution to accommodate his needs after a long time had elapsed from his original purchase, we gladly issued a refund credit to his credit card.

Thank you,

Nick, Manager

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