Furniture MD1 — Local services in Kensington

Don't do it if you value your money, time, or furniture. There are better options out there.

I paid Steve a $200 deposit to repair two rocking chairs in April of 2023. It has been over 2 years and he still has not completed the project, despite initially promising to have them ready within a month. If asked, Steve will repeatedly insist he is planning to have them ready next week or end of month. This has been going on for 24 months.

For the best sense of this guy, check out the Yelp reviews for his shop here: https://www.yelp.com/biz/dinette-and-stool-warehouse-kensington

Here is additional local coverage of Steve's business practices. He is well known by the various consumer protection bureaus in the area.

"Montgomery County previously filed a contempt of court action asking the District Court to, among other things, prohibit Goldman from operating a furniture store in the County. This action is still pending. The additional charges came after the Division of Consumer Affairs made attempts to review the merchant's business records and to enter his warehouse per the terms of an agreement signed by the merchant in 1997.

Goldman has been operating a furniture store using the name "Dinettes & Stools Warehouse," located at 4119 Howard Avenue in Kensington. This store is not affiliated with Dinettes and Stools stores located in Herndon and Falls Church, Virginia. More than 70 consumers have complained to DCA that Goldman failed to deliver merchandise, refused to refund deposits, and misrepresented the furniture he sold." (https://www2.montgomerycountymd.gov/mcgportalapps/Press_Detail.aspx?Item_ID=9552)

"Montgomery County consumer-affairs officials have asked a Maryland court to shut down a furniture retailer that the county says repeatedly took customers' deposits -- sometimes $1,000 or more -- and held them for months without either delivering furniture or returning the money." (https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/2001/05/02/court-asked-to-close-md-furniture-store/e2ac83ce-ea77-4da1-9a7c-0709b921aa99/)

"In the end, though, the couple felt lucky to get their table at all because Lee's Dinettes of Falls Church was shut down just weeks later by the Virginia attorney general, who had received more than 100 complaints over more than a decade that the store failed to deliver furniture, wouldn't return deposits or misled customers.

State officials entered a consent decree with the store's owner, Steven Goldman, that barred him from doing business in the commonwealth for seven years. The Better Business Bureau of Metropolitan Washington gave the business an unsatisfactory rating because of the large number of complaints it received.

But that didn't stop Goldman. He simply moved his business across the river to Maryland and opened a store with a different name, Dinettes & Stools Warehouse, in Kensington. Authorities there say he is selling the same kind of merchandise as he had in his Virginia store and is being investigated for possibly engaging in the same sales tactics he employed there." (https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1997/03/15/shut-down-in-va-store-owner-opens-md-shop/5d8a5595-a317-42e4-ac6f-d8c1d3478c67/)

"A furniture retailer who was shut down in Virginia for violating consumer affairs laws and reopened in Maryland was fined this week for similar practices, and signed an agreement giving Montgomery County officials unprecedented authority to monitor his business."...

I used Steve for a couch repair back in January of 2023. The initial repair was for a sagging right cushion/squeaking noises when getting on and off the couch. I paid $180 for this repair. He came over and repaired it by using sister joists to fortify a broken joist. A month or so after the repair, I notice the couch was sagging again and the noise was coming back. I reached out to Steve who said he would need to come back out and see what’s going on and that if the initial repair was faulty there wouldn’t be a charge but if another the culprit then there would be.

I said alright, and gave him my availability.

He would not respond directly to my questions about when he would be able to come out time and time again. I text messaged/called him for 1.5 months with the lackadaisical response of “not sure of availability, keep you posted as soon as I know”… with no follow ups. I finally got him to respond after calling him with an aggravated tone and he then followed up with a possible appointment time. Again though, it never came to fruition and so I’m out $180 with a couch that makes more noise...

Steve was great to work with the first time around when he refinished my kitchen table & chairs. He did a beautiful job although he took 6 months, but I was in no hurry because my kitchen was being remodeled. When he returned the table set in Jan ‘23, he failed to bring a bench we had also ordered. (That should have been a sign to me. Six months and he hadn’t finished the bench.) Instead we added a top protector and some matching fabric for decor to the order. BIG MISTAKE! After endless contacts, we have yet to receive any of these items. It is now July of ‘23 and he continues to say it’s not done yet. I’ve reported him to BBB and he did not work with them. He takes no responsibility for the problem and refuses to work something out. DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THIS MAN! You...