Company information:
Baer's Furniture
303 E. Altamonte Dr.
Altamonte Springs, Florida
United States
Phone: 407-618-8000
baersfurniture.com
I am writing to dispute a purchase in the amount of $2130.00 for furniture that was defective upon arrival against Baer’s Furniture purchased on 12/9/07. The following are chronological details on my efforts to resolve this issue with the merchant who have not upheld there promises nor stood by their product.
1. Furniture was special ordered from Marty Brantley (Salesman) on 12/9/07 and was told the furniture would arrive in about 3 months. I expressed my concern about the quality of the product before making the purchase and was assured that their product is of highest quality. Per Marty, “if anything were to go wrong on arrival in 3 months, it would be replaced no questions asked”.
2. Furniture arrived on 4/16/07 and upon inspection, was defective upon arrival. The sofa recliner’s mechanism seemed bent. It did not work correctly and would not allow both recliners to open smoothly at the same time (See below). This was conveyed to the delivery crew and was told that it would not be an issue for replacement since it was defective on arrival. In addition, the furniture was missing a fabric protection kit that is part of my furniture protection warranty that I purchased.
3. It took approximately 1 month of aggravation to get my missing fabric protection kit thru numerous phone calls with Marty at the local Baer’s furniture in addition to contacting Baer’s headquarter (800-543-2092). Instead of replacing my defective furniture “no questions asked” as promised by Marty before the purchase, they opted to send out a repair person. This took about 3 phone calls just to get the repair person to come out around end of April 2008. The “general” repair person came out and had no clue on what the problem was and stated “I think it’s the kick panel but I’m not sure”. I waited patiently and was told the kick panel would take 3 MORE months to get here and received a postcard from Baer’s stating the same thing.
4. I had to keep calling to check the status of the part. Finally on 7/3/08, I received a phone call from Baer’s headquarter telling me the “kick panel” is in. I made the appointment with the repair person for 7/15/08 and took the day off. After patiently waiting 3 months, I was told that they ordered the FABRIC instead of the kick panel mechanism and that this would solve nothing per the repair person. This type of customer service is unacceptable. I lost a full day of my salary for the appointment with no resolution.
5. I contacted Marty on 7/16 and told him the issue. I demanded to Marty to give me a new piece of furniture or refund my money. He called me back and told me his manager is out for a few days. I followed up again with him and he said to give him a few more days which I did. He did not call back again. I followed up once again and was told he left on vacation for 2 weeks without working on my issue. On 8/16/08, I contacted the store and talked to Jackie Heck (General Manager). Once again, I told her I want a new piece of furniture or refund my money for the purchase. I also decided to follow up with Jackie in person at the store the same day and told her this is her last chance to make things right. She called me on 8/17/08 without any acceptable resolution.
It has been over 8 months since my purchase of this furniture and I still have a defective item from Baer’s Furniture. I do not wish to deal with them again and I am requesting my money back. This is the worse customer service I’ve dealt with from any merchant. I will also be filing complaints with the Better Business Bureau, Federal Trade Commission, Florida Division of Consumer Services, Florida Office of Attorney General, and Channel 9 Eyewitness News Action Reporter against Baers Furniture’s unethical sales practice so that this does not happen to future consumers.
Thank you,
John Truong
