StarFine Furniture & Mattress — Hotel in Galveston

BEWARE!

StarFine Furniture uses deceiving business practices to sell the furniture displayed on their showroom as if it were new.

This fraud seems to be spearheaded by the general manager (Justin).

We went all the way from Houston to Galveston because I saw online that they carry the brand of sleeper sofas that I was interested in (Luonto). We found an option of that brand but Justin directed us to see a “better option”: an American Leather piece which was much more expensive.

He offered us a relevant discount and a 6 months no interest payment plan. I explained that we could opt for this piece if the payment plan was for 12 months, to which he agreed.

At no point did he mention that he was selling us the sofa bed that was on display.

When the piece was delivered, I assumed they had taken the packaging off by the truck because they had to carry it up to the first floor. A few days later I noticed a stain on the mattress and that the sleeping surface was too hard for a whole night’s sleep, so it dawned on me that this might not be a new sofa bed, so I called Justin.

From the moment he answered the phone he knew who was calling, he was very aggressive, yelling and would not let me talk or explain my arguments. He went on to say that he would not accept the return of the sofa bed and hung up on me. Yes, he hung up the phone on a client.

The only argument he had was that this sofa bed was new because it hadn’t left the store. Anyone who has a basic shopping experience knows that an honest business makes a clear disclosure when they are selling you the product that is on display BECAUSE IT IS NOT NEW. This sofa bed had been opened, closed, reopened, who knows how many times and how many people had lied on it, turned and tossed to feel it.

Justin’s deceit and fraudulent sale is self evident, but here are two additional revealing facts:

The Luonto sleeper bed that we went to see had a stain, which made my wife show it to Justin and ask if they would deliver a new sofa. His response was yes, and that StarFine Furniture only delivers new furniture. He clearly understands that the furniture displayed is not new. When he proposed us to opt for the American Leather sofa bed (already with the discount and the financing), Justin asked if we needed it soon, because this brand offers a wide variety of colors. I explained that we needed it soon because we were receiving family in the next days. He would not have offered different options of color if he was selling the piece on display.

The bottom line is that this was a scam.

My wife and I are senior citizens and buying this sleeper sofa was not easy for us. It is reprehensible that people abuse in this manner and I hope that the owners of StarFine Furniture of Galveston are not aware of these fraudulent practices and can read this to learn how the employees are trampling on their business reputation.

And if you are looking to buy, it is better that you go to a reputable...

Bought a couple of mattresses for a rent house, for full over full bunk beds. We called ahead and were told they had a couple of mattresses that were relatively inexpensive, and in stock. When we showed up to get the mattresses, the lady that had told us they had the mattresses said they didn't have them out on the floor to be shown. It was kind of odd, because she also acted like she didn't have the mattresses she just told us they had 10 minutes earlier and proceeded to show us some fairly high-dollar mattresses....not something I'd put in a rent house. We asked about the mattresses we had called about, and she said I'm showing you mattresses.

We explained they were going in a rent house, and we wanted the mattresses that we had called about. Then she got all upset and very unfriendly, I guess the $500 we were going to spend was just not enough for 10 minutes of her time. I will say that the manager was very nice, I'm really not sure why she has a job. With an attitude like that, I don't see how she ever sells anything. I believe her name was Mia, although I couldn't understand her all that well over the phone. She was pretty rude on the phone too, and hung up on my husband while he was still trying to ask her a question. If you're wondering why we bought anything at all at the store, it's because they did actually have the mattresses in stock and nobody else on the island did. I would go back and buy more mattresses for my rent house; I would just use the different salesperson or maybe deal with the manager who was super friendly.

In addition, the gentleman at the warehouse were fantastic, they were friendly, helpful, it was a totally different experience from our salesperson...

After purchasing a lot of furniture from Tammy who has been helpful and friendly, I asked for a discount on a couple of items and she said everything was on sale. Everything is not a discount if the store has market down the entire store. The fact they said that they had marked it means nothing. Mark down from what ever they showed as the selling price. The margins are tremendous and I felt that we should get some consideration for the other purchases. We are building in Galveston and we have been purchasing furniture for about 8 months. Tammy said that we would have as long as we needed to leave it in storage until the house is ready. When I asked her to speak to manager she said he is right there. He was curt and somewhat upset about me asking for the money off. He informed me that he would not give a discount on the items and that they had stored the other furniture for a long time. I expanded that we were told that the storage was no problem, and we had paid for everything upfront. He then found one item that was ordered over the phone and we paid for it then. The manager was so happy to have been to be a tremendous a** and be the authority. Unfortunately he made me think that I would never have been in there if I had met him the first time. What an awful ambassador for this furniture company. This review will mean nothing to the company or the management team, as Galveston is growing and there are many new people that he can be superior to. As a side note we found the same items at a lower price in Houston. So when the phone doesn’t ring, you will know...