Ambiente Moderno — Local services in San Juan

This is one of those times where we “boricuas” say: “qué nos pasa Puerto Rico.” Was shopping with my wife for a living room sofa for our home today and while at Home & Patio Gallery ready to make a purchase decision (in the 000’s) wanted to quickly check similar pieces of furniture next door at Ambiente Moderno ringing the door bell at 5:43pm (they close at 5:45pm). There were plenty of people still at the store. Knowing that they were closing, I told the security guard (who was super quick to inform me that they had closed for the day) that I just wanted to quickly browse some specific piece of furniture. While that was happening another female employee quickly approached me to second the guard’s motion that they were closed. I told her that I just wanted to quickly see and compare a piece of furniture and that I would return the next day to make the purchase understanding that they were closed.

I found her attitude insulting as she also referred to the fact that her cashiers were counting cash (yes, operational & internal procedure but why should I care?) as if I were to rob the store. I almost went/felt on “apologizing” mode as if I was doing something very wrong. To my pleasant surprise, the store Manager, Sonia, came down the hall to welcome me to the store stating that she was in no rush and fully determined to make a sale (at the end I finished buying what I wanted at Home & Patio shop).

I am a Corporate Employee who have extensive sales & marketing experience in the Healthcare space and although I haven’t owned my own business, I’ve learned a thing or two about exceeding customer expectations. I’ve often observed that many local businesses, particularly when they thrive and grow consistently for many years, lose perspective of the fact that they do need to remain competitive despite the many years of past successes and that their people running the front end of their stores may make or break their sales growth/history in a matter of a few years, if not less.

My poor experience at this furniture shop today is the textbook example of why many local stores & restaurants go quickly out of business. Employees don’t realize that there are two fundamental things necessary to pay their salary: a product and a customer willingness and capacity to buy it. This is an example of one customer’s willingness to make a purchase (or two, now and in the future) been shattered in a matter of seconds by a negative customer experience despite the store Manager making a triumphant and genuine try at quickly turning the experience around!

Good luck Ambiente Moderno! If creating these experiences become a habit, you’ll really need a good share of luck to just maintain your business! ...

Do not buy from here! Purchased a sofa bed that was supposed to contain a queen bed, but upon delivery it was discovered the bed was smaller than a kids bed!

During checkout, we signed the 7-day return period agreement. Our receipt also shows the 7-day refund period. We contacted the manager immediately (Juan Carlos) to return the item, but he said the owner wouldn't honor the 7-day refund period because we purchased the last floor model. Well that was absolutely not told to us when we purchased the sofa bed.

So multiple mistakes (or knowingly misled?) by Ambiente Moderno and then they completely disregard their printed/signed 7-day return period.

We've now filed a chargeback with our credit card and filed a complaint with DACO....

I bought a bed and paid for delivery and installation. I was told delivery would be "after 12pm" after staying home all day during a week day, waiting for them, they arrived at 5pm and once they arrived, they told me "they can only lift furniture up 3 floors max". This was never disclosed at the time of paying for delivery and anyways, the way our apartment is set up, you only go up 3.5 flights of stairs to get to our unit. They still would not deliver and had to reschedule after waiting for them all day long. Other delivery services from competing luxury furniture stores have delivered to my home in the past without any complaints or...