Thoughts

I've been dealing with a furniture store here in MI with which I have not been too happy. They have very nice furniture, however, they run a poor business. (I wasn't going to do this, but you have a right to know...Klingman's Furniture)
Issues began over the stuff I ordered to presto-changeo my spare bedroom into my computer haven, errr...."home office."

As I was at work, my mom volunteered to hang out at my place and wait for the desks to be delivered. The company gave her the three (3) hour window of 11am-2pm for delivery. I was also leaving right from work that afternoon to head out of town, which bummed me out as I would not get to hustle home and see my new stuff before heading out. Turns out it didn't much matter as the delivery was not made until 7pm. If that is not enough, the two gentlemen who were delivering were (I am told) "scrawny" and unable to lift the furniture over the railing in my front steps so they had to come in through my garage and up my narrow back stairs. I feel the need to point out that it's a narrow back staircase as they took a chunk of drywall with them as a souvenir whilst maneuvering upstairs.

[More:]

The only saving grace came from the many complaints made to the company for this debacle. They rewarded my mother's patience in the matter with a $250 GC to their store. This was in turn given to me for use in acquiring lamp(s) or something to hang on my walls. I actually ended up finding a bedroom set I liked and put the GC to work on that. I was given a delivery date of July 31st for my bed frame and two nightstands. The week before it's due delivered, I receive a letter saying that they are able to estimate a delivery date of September 30, ignoring their initial date.

I placed calls to my sales representative asking her to look into the matter and see if anything could be done on my behalf (read: discount). She says she'll look into it and call me back. I week later I've heard nothing so I call the Manager. He tells me he'll look into it and call me back. Another week later I call and ask for the General Manager wondering where my return phone calls were. She actually promises to call me back not only with any price elasticity she would be able to find, but also a reason as to why my calls went unreturned.
Turns out, no discount for this guy, but they're sending me $100 to their store and are allegedly waiving the delivery fees. Whatever, I'll give my parents the GC. At least they did something about their terrible customer service because I had explained to the GM that they do have nice furniture and I'd hate to have a reason not to shop at their store.

So here's another one....(shorter)
I just got off the phone with an office furniture company who had delivered a large order to my office yesterday. We ordered thirteen (13) chairs and two (2) of them came damaged. Very simple, they take them back and replace them. The delivery guys were cool and were very nice about taking back the damaged goods and matter-of-factly told me to call back to their store today. By today, he said, the paperwork he would file on the damaged chairs would be processed and someone at the store could give me a timeline on when to expect the new furniture. As per his instructions I called the store. I explain to the gentleman on the phone the purpose of my call and he takes an impatient tone and says curtly that yes they are aware two chairs were damaged and that they have already been ordered. I told him I just wanted to know what the timeline was to receive the replaced chairs as I was directed by the delivery person. He said (still impatiently) that it will take 2-4 weeks for the shipment to make it back to us. I thanked him for his time and hung up.

Two very simple situations. Both, handled very poorly. I can't stand bad customer service.