Ashley Store — Local services in Midlothian

On Wednesday, July 14, 2017, I proceeded to shop directly from an Ashley Home Furniture store. When I initially entered the store located at 10921 Hull Street Road, Midlothian, Virginia, the salesman stationed at the door neither greeted me, nor offered to assist me. I proceeded to the kiosk, and entered the necessary information for the sofa and loveseat I was interested in purchasing. The kiosk then directed me to complete my sale via a sales associate. The aforementioned salesman then proceeded to assist, but after a few minutes of entering my order, he obtained the ‘assistance’ of Pamela, ‘Manager.’ In order to “check to see the balance,” Pamela immediately asked for my Ashley Advantage credit card. I inquired of Pamela as to whether this was to verify if I, in fact, knew my own credit card balance. Ignoring my question, Pamela then stated my balance to me in the presence of store employees, and other customers.

Immediately after committing this offense, Pamela again--within the earshot of customers--advised me that my order required a cash ‘down payment’ of either the sales tax, or delivery charge. I then proceeded to explain to Pamela that I’d previously purchased and received furniture from Ashley Home Furniture via my Ashley card, without any ‘down payment,’ and I expected to do the same with the instant order. Pamela then curtly stated “a down payment is needed—it isn’t much, so how would [you] like to pay?” I confirmed via my credit card, and proceeded to leave the store.

As a ‘manager,’ Pamela’s behavior was deplorable. Her lack of professionalism and tact is unacceptable. Rather than explain whatever perceived circumstances she may have had surrounding my purchase, in the privacy of an office, Pamela flagrantly and presumptuously divulged my personal information in a dismissive and condescending manner.

While I understand Ashley Furniture’s concern in ensuring a customer’s ability to pay, Pamela’s ‘attempt’ in this area was not only unethical, it was rude--evidencing a glaring lack of ability in customer care and discretion. Inasmuch, as a third-time, returning, Ashley Home Furniture customer—with an excellent payment record—the conduct of this ‘manager’ warrants in the least, a written warning, and at the most, termination.

It is interesting to note that for all of Pamela’s earnest efforts to demean and ‘categorize’ a paying customer in the presence of others, she truly reflected a mentality that staunchly works against Ashley Furniture’s penchant for community ‘care,’ and as a member of the Chesterfield, Virginia, community, this experience will not remain unknown.

Furthermore, while Pamela’s apparent function is to ‘monitor’ customer financial credibility, her first priority should be in recognizing that each and every customer is to be treated with respect and dignity. Anything less, speaks not only to the representatives of Ashley Furniture, but to the company itself. Indeed, identifying that Ashley furniture is not ‘built’ upon furniture, but upon those who purchase it, should make it clear to ALL Ashley Furniture employees, that WHO—not what— is the priority.

Finally, as I enjoy my new sofa and loveseat—ordered on-line at Ashley Furniture, and delivered to my home without any problem or ‘down payment’—I ask you, Pamela, what role did you really play on behalf of Ashley Home Furniture: ‘manager’ . . . or moron?

Sincerely,

M....

It has been a horrible experience from the Midlothian Ashley Furniture store. I’m over here still waiting for a phone call to figure all of this out. Thanksgiving is this week and I still don’t have all my furniture. I can’t wait to tell all my family who is coming over to my house who will have no where to sit because of the missing Kitchenette and see my TV on the floor because the TV Stand is wrong. Worst experience ever. glad to see they care enough to take a moment to call an upset customer.

My experience: I ordered my items from the store and I add the extended protection. We go over the items and make me aware that a TV Stand I want is one back order but the rest of my order is to arrive. Perfect, no worries that works for me.

When delivery happens - I am told the Kitchenette I ordered was not on the truck, forgotten at the warehouse. I ask them if they can go grab that, no. Customer service says they will bring that when they deliver the TV Stand the following week.

TV Stand delivery - 2 issues -

1. The delivery guys bring my TV Stand in a box and tell me they aren’t assembling the item. I am taken aback. I tell them it’s supposed to be put together for me. All my other furniture I purchased was assembled during the last delivery. They call customer service. During the call I am told that this item is self assembled by the customer. I asked why wasn’t I told this during the ordering process? Luckily, I am quite able to assemble myself, but to me that’s not the real point.

2. We move on with the call and I ask them to just bring the kitchenette in and let’s get on with the delivery. They look confused. THEY FORGOT THE KITCHENETTE AGAIN!

Still on the phone with the customer service, she says ‘oh, it’s still at the store location. Do you want to go pick it up?’ I reply with ‘ma’am, I paid for delivery and assembly. Why am I seeming to have to do it myself?’ I start to get frustrated and resigned to the fact that I will have to do this myself. So, I ask ‘How difficult is the Kitchenette to assemble myself’ her reply is ‘oh, we don’t recommend assembling it yourself as it will void the warranty’…….

This has me pause, as she just told me the TV Stand was self assembled.

I ask ‘will putting my tv stand together void the warranty that I purchased?’ Her reply is ‘oh the TV stand isn’t covered under any warranty because it is self assembled’

Why wasn’t this explained at time of purchase?? Needless to say, I am beyond upset. But wait it gets worse from here.

Saturday evening I decide I’m gonna bust open this TV stand and assemble it over a glass of wine. I’m in build mode so not really paying attention to what’s actually in the box just following the instructions. After I get the basic exterior shown, I noticed that the color does not look good with my floors in my living room, which makes me question: why I even purchased this color anyway?

Then that’s when I realized it’s not the right TV stand! I scroll back through my sales person and I text message and review the invoice. I compare the invoice to the SKU on the box, which shows that it matches. I scroll back up through our text messages some more to see the screenshot that my sales person sent me of the TV stand that I wanted, which was correct, so how do I have the wrong TV...

I placed an order at Ashley about a month ago and scheduled my delivery a couple weeks after that. The delivery drivers arrived to my house and started setting everything up but then one of them told me that apparently the wrong slats had been ordered for my storage bed. Because of this, they left my boxspring and mattress on the floor as well as the storage drawers. Before they left, customer service was called and I spoke with someone there about the slats. I was told that they would need to reorder the correct slats and they wouldn't come in until about a week later. I was pretty upset about this given the fact that I am pregnant and nearing my third trimester. I obviously didn't want to have to sleep on my mattress on the floor and we had also taken the time to clear out the bedroom space and prepare for the delivery of our new furniture. When you order close to $2,000 worth of furniture, you expect to receive what you paid for so this was a huge inconvenience. Then to top it off, a few hours later, we noticed that the delivery drivers had actually backed into the brick columns at the end of our driveway and caused damage to our property. I reached out to the store that day to notify them of this and was assured that the damage would be fixed. However, it is almost a week later and I have not received any sort of resolution to this. We called them back today and we're now being told we will need to contact the trucking company and the actual driver will be responsible for paying for the damage. This has been a complete nightmare and the people who work at this store are seriously lacking in customer service. I have not been offered any sort of reimbursement, in store credit, etc. for this and I am highly unsatisfied with my experience. I have been trying to reach a regional manager or someone higher up to discuss this and can't seem to do so. Everyone refuses to return my calls. This is my third Ashley furniture purchase at this location and I can tell you without a doubt, it will most definitely be my last. I have purchased close to $5,000 worth of furniture from this store in just over 2 years and have never made a single payment late. The way I have been treated is absolutely despicable and...