Big Sandy Superstore — Local services in Ashland

UPDATED

We went here expecting to get a couple pieces of furniture. Instead, we pretty much outfitted our house. The sales people were attentive. The in-store experience was mostly smooth.

The problems started after that. We had to wait almost a week for our first delivery to arrive. Our order was broken into 3 deliveries over 3 weeks. The first delivery went smoothly. We got a sectional and washer dryer set.

The following week, our bedroom set came. It was supposed to be the entire set. I know we spent a lot of time and money at the store. But I was very clear that I wanted the WHOLE set. The headboard/footboard, nightstands, chest, dresser, all of it. We got the bed and dresser. I am not happy about the missing pieces. But according to the delivery guys, that's all that was purchased. I called the store and was promised a call back. I have not gotten one over a week later.

Finally we got the frame for our mattress. We got the adjustable temperpedic mattress. The guys said they tested everything and it all worked perfectly. I pushed the buttons and it all seemed to be good. But I didn't lay on it to test it. My husband came home and laid on it to test it. The legs wouldn't raise on his side and the head raised half as high on his side compared to the other side ( I was not on it during the testing). We talked about it and decided we didn't need that bit and wanted to return it. I called the store and got customer service. However, they said I needed to talk to a salesperson to find out what my options are..... isn't that what customer service is supposed to be for?? Anyway. The person I needed to speak to wasn't in that day so I have to call back until I can get her on the phone.

This has been an ongoing saga for almost a month. I'm not impressed.

** I never received the promised call about finding a solution. However, I did call back and finally was able to get in touch with the salesperson that sold us the bed and base. The frame we purchased for our bedroom is a platform bed. Because of this, the salesperson had to "special order" the base for the mattress (the bit that raises it up and down). And because it is a base for the bed, supposedly, it is not returnable. Also, if anything is special ordered, it is not returnable. So, BIG SANDY... if your customers purchase something and they DON'T LIKE IT, that's just too bad for them?We spent a large amount of money with you. If we decide we don't like a certain piece of what we bought, we should be able to return it within a certain time frame. We haven't had any of our furniture for a month even. The salesperson continually said she would send someone out to fix it, problems are rare, once it's fixed, we'll love it, she has one, etc. That isn't the point. We DO NOT WANT THE BASE AND WANT OUR MONEY BACK. But apparently, you won't even consider taking it back for store credit (this would mean you would still get to keep our money, but we would get something else from you that we would like better....) If I could give less than 1...

Biggest mistake we ever made shopping here. We drove 3 hours to purchase furniture here. Was promised free delivery and set up but it was when COVID hit and the furniture has to be special ordered and would take a few weeks. We were ok with that. No update from the salesperson. Then about 2 months went by we get a call from a lady saying furniture would be here soon. The salesman was no longer employed there ok we were fine. The furniture comes and was dropped off n the road it was raining had to call my husband to come home cause they said they didn’t put it in the house. (And we were charged for delivery) I couldn’t lift it. He lost pay and the furniture was tore all to pieces they wouldn’t take it back said I would have to load it up and take it myself. I call they say ok send pictures I sent pictures and videos at this point it’s been months we waited so I was told a manger will call again was promised replacement furniture waited months nothing. Would call and the guy called me by name the manager always on the phone but I didn’t tell him my name so he tells me they have caller id. So months go by and I only received a couple text and I told her we were past the point of being nice we tried to work with them. Still emails after email and text saying it’s ordered finally call a corporate number since I can’t get a district manager and they say no only a part was ordered. If I wanted junked out furniture I wouldn’t have paid as much as I did. We are paying for furniture we can’t use so no actual replacement furniture was ordered. So they lady says she will order it. Still haven’t heard anything but we are still making payments. This place is a joke. I am so glad we didn’t furnish the rest of the house here. So now I’ve talked to manager and corporate which they said it was being ordered that day I would really like a response from a district manager to discuss this further. So I basically have one side table we can use. I wouldn’t recommend buying anything here. We have plenty of furniture stores around us but the point was we tried to take business back to around our hometown. Sad that they don’t care they already got the commission off it. I never said it was their fault the condition the furniture was in but the fact their customer service is so terrible is what really makes me mad. Can’t even answer the phone and talk and your supposed to be a manager. I shouldn’t have to call 14 times a day. You should call and make sure it is ordered and on it’s way. We should have taken it back and sat it in the showroom. I guess I’m gonna have to go there to find out the status and while I’m there let the customers know what terrible...

I don't know why, but I never have been to a Big Sandy before this week! I just assumed it was too expensive for couches that we didn't want. But we gave them a try when we found out that they sold a couch that we really liked at another local store. I'm not bashing Ashley Furniture (AF), but they really missed the mark for us. We found a couch we really liked but needed it soon for when family comes in. AF said it would take 3-5 weeks to be here from North Carolina. (huh?) AF also said it's worth it, because we would get a special deal that would cover any problems for the first year and we wouldn't find that deal anywhere else. We decided to shop around. I googled the name of the couch, found lots of places that had it online and got the cheapest price I could find. Found the same couch at Big Sandy, and asked them to price match and they did!! It was about a $150 price difference. They had a better care package that included delivery. $99 for delivery, set-up and 3 year warranty, much better than 1 year. Plus if you didn't use any of the services for that first 3 years, you could turn that in to $99 store credit or turn it in to a 10 year warranty. Really good deal. PLUS!!!! on top of all that, they said we could have it in 5 days!!! Not even a week. It's already here, and I love it!

Why is this weird? Well, the couch is made by Ashley Furniture. Why would it take them longer to get a couch supposedly from a warehouse in North Carolina than it would a totally different company? (Big Sandy) I don't know, but I'm glad we got with Big Sandy!!

What's great is, I just randomly tried their online chat to ask about their price-match policy. I assumed it was a computer talking back, but later, a guy named Alex emailed me asking if I got the help I needed. I asked him about price-matching and he said he could help us out. I was emailing him on my phone while my husband was driving us around to different furniture stores. We went to a Big Sandy that was far away from where we live, but close to where we were shopping. Little did we know, but Alex was working at that exact Big Sandy!!! It was so cool and random! He did a great job helping us and waiting around for us to make a decision while our toddler shouted at the top of his lungs about the ABCs... I hope Alex got some commission out of this, because he made the contact with us through email and dealt with our craziness....

..but at the end of the day, Big Sandy gave us a cheaper price, better care package deal, and MUCH faster delivery than its competitors! Great...