BrandsMart USA — Local services in Kendall

I purchased a washer and dryer in 2018 at the Brandsmart store located in Dadeland in Miami, Florida. Along with this purchase, I was offered the warranty for 5 years. On the morning of February 9th, 2021, I woke up and noticed that my washer was not working. I immediately called the warranty department that was on the receipt and opened a "ticket." After giving all the information requested by the customer service representative, I was surprised when he told me that they needed to obtain further information from the Brandsmart store and the estimated time frame to upload the information into the system was 3 business days. This, to me, is completely unacceptable. Why should I have to wait for my information to be uploaded into the system to produce a "ticket" and then wait even more time for a call from a service representative to schedule an appointment. Back in the day, you would call the warranty department, give them your customer identifier, and they would immediately schedule an appointment. Let me emphasize that I am a promising healthcare worker in the middle of a global pandemic. I am required to clean and wash my uniform daily. I live with my daughter and an elderly lady who is bed bound. Therefore, I am required to do laundry daily because of her health conditions. It is really upsetting that whenever you go purchase anything at Brandsmart, they encourage you to purchase a warranty. However, as a well known company, they fail to explain the protocols and ordeals that one has to go through with the warranty department. REVIEW UPDATE: I am extremely upset again with the outcome from my first review regarding warranty with Brandsmart and my washing machine. After my google review, I want to say that the folks from Brandsmart responded quickly. I received a call from them and they scheduled a service repair. They explained that the service repair person would be calling me the night before between 6 to 8PM to give me the scheduled time when he will be arriving to my house. On the day prior, I received a call after 8 PM and the man told me that he would be coming between 10 am and 12 PM. Keep in mind, during the entire process NO ONE asked me what was going on with the washing machine nor what message I was getting from the washing machine. Nevertheless, I spoke to the repair person that night and told him I was getting a flash message from the washing machine panel (F3 and F7). To which I told him that I had googled the message and according to google, it was something wrong with the panel. Therefore, I wanted to make him aware of the situation and to make sure that he had the parts and equipment available. His answer to this was that he had certain parts in his truck and that he will see. The man arrived to my house this morning and he called me when he was outside. Mind you, I told the same person last night that I am at work, but my daughter was at home. He asked me what message was the machine giving me and when I told him F3/F7 he said ok I’ll see and that this is going to take about 5 minutes. Within 2 minutes, my daughter called me and told me that the repair man had left and told her that he had to order the part. I called him back and he told me he did not have the part and that he had to order it. He explained that today was Friday and he did not know when he would receive it, he estimated probably sometime next week. Then once received, they would have to call me back and schedule an appointment again for installation. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? WE ARE BACK TO SQUARE ONE! Never during this whole ordeal did someone ask me what was wrong with the washing machine, not one single person. Every time I spoke with the Warranty Department, they would say that they needed to get information from Brandsmart and an email had to be uploaded in their system regarding the Warranty and model of the washing machine in order for them to take any action. You would think that they would already have all the information and they would know if the parts were available or not. Now we are back to square...

Read if you live in a Condo or apartment: my wife and I needed a new refrigerator due to a power surge blowing out the compressor on our current one. As part of the HOA rules for delivery, we need a certificate of insurance (COI) for the delivery company. This is common for delivery in high rise condos and other professionally managed buildings. When we purchased the appliance we provided a standardized letter from the management company with all the information needed. The sales person took care to add extra notes and everything to ensure no issues with the delivery. Purchase was made on a Thursday morning and delivery was set for Monday.

Come Monday, no COI was sent to my management company. My wife spent ours on the phone with the delivery company, delivery was subcontracted to Ryder, in hopes of getting the COI sent to my management company with enough time to still accept delivery. In the end, my delivery was turned away due to a lack of documents from Ryder/BrandsMart. They never called 30 before their attempted delivery like promised. The delivery was “attempted” over an hour outside of the 9-12am window provided. When we tried to reschedule, the said the soonest would we Wednesday!

5/16/18 Update: After all the drama trying to get the refrigerator delivered, it shows up with a large dent in the door. Item had to be refused. They are now telling me that earliest they can deliver a new one is Friday (that makes it now 8+ days from the time of purchasing in store).

While chatting with the delivery person, they indicated that this was very common. They stated that the warehouse staff are known to be very rough and not careful with the items.

5/18/18 Update: Via yelp, I was contacted by a member of the customer service team. My original review was meet with the bulk email address and canned and standardized comment plastered to any negative review. After posting my update on 5/16/18 was provided with information to reach a specific member within the customer service department. I reached out to see what this person would be able to do. They were very polite and seemed to care for my situation, but long story short - they yield little power in resolving or making a situation like ours right.

Delivery scheduling does not seem to be something they can fix, modify, or correct with any agility. The idea of getting anything rushed or expedited by the next day is impossible. Schedules are set for the next day a good amount of time in advance.

I was provided a small return/reimbursement, a little over $100. Keep in mind this is on a $3300+ refrigerator (being sold at the same price as Lowes, Home depot, and many other big box stores - no "brandsmart" discount here). 3% off - huge thanks!

Fridge was delivered on 5/18 without issue. Happy to be done with...

If I could leave zero stars, I would.

Me and my wife chose BrandsMart North Kendall for one of the most important moments of our lives—purchasing appliances and essentials for our very first home together. After countless visits, we trusted this store. But what happened on our last visit completely destroyed that trust and exposed something much darker happening here.

We were shopping late in the evening, making large purchases for our new house. The staff’s rush to close actually pushed us away from spending another $1,000+ inside the store—but fine, that was their loss.

The real nightmare came afterward. We walked across the street to pick up a Panera Bread order (literally five minutes), and came back to find my car already being towed out of the BrandsMart lot.

I calmly approached the tow truck driver, identified myself as a customer, and instead of professionalism, I was met with hostility, shouting, and intimidation. He admitted they tow cars immediately after closing, and then “offered” me three options:

Go to the yard and pay $150.

Sign a shady paper and pay him $70 on the spot.

Or, the most unbelievable — just hand him a $50 bill “under the table” and he’d release my car.

This was nothing short of a shakedown. A mafia-style scam operating right outside a supposedly reputable store.

I refused to be bullied. When I mentioned confirming with nearby officers, he became aggressive—so much that I had to put my family’s safety first. Luckily, another tow operator (who was at least honest) explained to me that they have a contract with BrandsMart and are even paid bonuses for every car they tow.

Things escalated until police intervened. A second officer ordered the tow operators to lower the cars immediately, making it clear that what they were doing was illegal and that continuing would land them in jail.

Let me be crystal clear:

This wasn’t just about towing.

This was an organized, unlawful scheme, happening under the roof (and likely with the knowledge) of BrandsMart management.

Customers spending thousands of dollars here are being harassed, intimidated, and shaken down in their own parking lot.

I came here to invest in my home, and instead discovered corruption tied directly to this store. I will never return, and I strongly advise others to take their business elsewhere unless they want to risk being extorted in the parking lot after spending their hard-earned money inside.

BrandsMart North Kendall, you’ve lost my trust forever.

I will make my personal mission to expose this scheme, I will never forget my wife's tears in this day. You will pay for the emotional abuse and harassment....