Big Sandy Superstore — Local services in Haring Township

Awful experience and terribly disappointed with Sandys. I wanted to stay local as I looked for an armoire so I decided to check out Sandys. I found the perfect one and was extremely excited to have found exactly what I was looking for. The sales rep was very nice and helped get the order set up and explained that I’d have to wait because the item was on back order for 2 months. I was totally fine to wait, but asked if I could have the piece on the floor. He said it was display only so I waited. After around 6 weeks with no word on the back order I went back to the store to get a status. I walked to where the armoire was and it was gone. The store manager checked and said it’s still on back order and is showing available and they would have someone contact me on the 15th with an update. I asked about the missing armoire and they said it was sent to another store for display. The 15th comes, no word. I waited a week after the 15th to be generous as I know with covid shipping as been delayed. When I went in I spoke to the operations manager. After she gets the information she needed on my piece and talked to the store manager, she comes over and says they didn’t realize I had an order with them for that piece! On top of that the piece I ordered is now discontinued and the piece they sent to the other store is promised to someone else! Seriously! At this point I’m livid and trying to keep a calm composure. I paid in full for a piece they had on the floor, but sent elsewhere, then promised to someone else when they don’t even have the competence to track their orders in which case they would have known there was an order sitting there from two months ago for the same said piece which is now discontinued! Are you kidding me! The operation manager said she would call first thing on Monday morning to see if she can get it special order and will call me back in the morning as soon as possible. If I don’t hear from her to call and ask specifically for her. Monday morning comes, no word. Monday afternoon comes, no word. I call after work at 5 and the operations manager gets on and I inquire about her call and from her tone she acts like she didn’t even know what I was talking about. Then she says she will check. Next thing I know a guy gets on the line. It’s the guy that sold me the armoire! I wanted the manager and she, the manager, passed me off to her sales rep! I calmly and politely explain the situation to him and all he says is the piece is discontinued. Nothing about the possibility of a special order or following up on the piece. I let him know I saw several sites with stores still selling it and ask if he can reach out to them to have them deliver it to them. I even give him one site by name. His response, “that’s interesting”. He says he will look into it but after hanging up and waiting several hours for call back I realize that no matter how hard I try to give this store an opportunity to redeem itself it’s not going to happen. I call the next day and the operations manager answers. I ask her for a refund and she gets this snotty tone while I politely get her the information for the return. She doesn’t even mute the phone when getting my card and I can hear her talking to someone else that I want a refund, which I thought was very unprofessional as someone who has also worked in a retail profession and as a manager. The staff needs desperate training on customer service, maintaining and tracking orders and inventory, communication and following up with customers. Sadly, they will no longer get any of my business at Cadillacs Big Sandys. PS I did get...

Actual store location was fantastic, a little smaller than the Art Van's I am used to but the associate (now looking at his card, pure sleep manager) we spent time with Matthew was nice and not pushy at all. I knew what I was coming in to look for and he let me look around. I ordered three items, a bedroom set, a couch and a dining room table and chairs for delivery. We ordered the items on 6/09 and two of the three items were expected for delivery on 6/18. I received a call on 6/16 to confirm the order from the warehouse in Mt. Pleasant. I spoke with an Emily about the times that they would be arrived (supposed to be on 6/18 between 12pm-3pm) I asked her if there were any other times that could accommodate a working individual since my whole day would pretty much be ruined since my staff is training in Gaylord right now. She stated that no that this is how the routes of the trucks work up here and this was the time that they could come. (The last time we had a couch delivered by Art Van near metro-Detroit, they were extremely accommodating and WORKED around our schedule so I was a little shocked at that). So I said I would take the 18th, because the next expected delivery date would be 6/26 (which is when my dining room table is supposed to be delivered). So 2pm roles around today, and I call the shipping department and I ask just to make sure that they are still coming today and the lady I spoke too was Nancy (very pleasant) said that they were running a little behind schedule and that they would give me a call still an hour before expecting to arrive. Okay awesome, so they are going to be a little late I thought. I receive a call at 3:19pm from a lady at the Mt. Pleasant shipping center (I forgot her name) saying that unfortunately the truck has issues and needs to be towed so it will probably take an extra hour to 2 1/2 hours and I laughed and I asked her if they will still be delivering my items today and she reassured me and said yes. It is now 5:25 pm and they still have not delivered my items and I have not received a call from anyone. I am a little disappointed in the way the delivery service of ArtVan works in this area, considering I had a whole day wasted and I almost quite expect a call from them saying "sorry we can't deliver your items today, you are going to have to wait until next week". Other than that I do love the items I have bought from the company in the past and had a great experience in the store in Cadillac.

*EDIT

Delivery guys, showed up at 6pm, apologizing for the delay, very pleasant young men. brought my couch in, no problem, set that up. Proceeded to bring in my headboard and dresser with the mirror. They put together my dresser and mirror no problem then when they were putting together my headboard, the wood stripped and chipped. So now that both my whole day and that of the delivery guys is ruined they now have to come back again to deliver a new headboard. Who knows when...

My wife and I visited the Cadillac MI location on a Saturday to look at beds. We have never visited a Big Sandy's before and didn't really know what to expect. My initial impression(s) were good, looked like they had a lot to offer in various aspects of home furniture. We had a gentleman approach us to ask if we needed help, which we replied with the typical "we are just looking". The gentleman went and helped other customers, but did not push any sales at us again, which was respected. When we had decided upon a couple beds that we liked we were able to wave him over. He was very knowledgeable of the items he was selling and was able to answer any questions we had. Towards the end, he informed us of the special they had going (at this time it was anything above $2,000 - $3,000 gets 15% off). I decided to purchased a bed and frame and asked about availability. The store had exactly what we wanted in-stock and it could be delivered in 11 days. I was pretty shocked at this time frame as everything has been very delayed lately. He got us on the books for delivery and threw in a mattress protector for free, out of his commission on the sale.

I was impressed with the salesmanship and courtesy I received when shopping here. While it may not seem like much to most (the mattress protector was approximately $119 and the 15% saved us $450), the treatment itself was nice. Thank you to Matthew Keel for your customer service!

Since I have not yet received the product - will update after a few nights sleep - the store itself was great and the shopping...