The Brick
reviews and complaints

If you type in "Leons", "Bad Boys", "Future Shop" and the countless other corperate wide stores that exist you will find lists of complaints.

Unfortunately after reading the complaints of many of these people I learned something else. Everything they have experience is the company's fault..no one takes ownership of their own presumtions and the fact that they didn't take it upon themselves to educate themselves about their product before they purchased it. I just find it a little too convenient that everyone get to blame all these companies without taking any of the blame upon themselves.

I'd honestly have to lean towards some of what "corporate" said. There's all kind of potential obsticals when ordering from any of these stores. If you order something with far in advance there's a chance that you may catch them at a time when they're in the process of manufacturing more of your product. To top it all off what if the manufacturer needs more time to make your order. It ultimately comes down to the manufacturer and not the store. Anyone who works in the biz or has worked in the biz knows this to be 100% accurate.

The bottom line is this. If you need something for a future date. Order it ahead of time when there's stock available then get it right away and put it in storage if need be. You have to be open to the reality that if you put something on a post order date that they may be out of stock by the time you need it. So you have to be willing to bend a bit. The manufacturer makes these as fast as possible but sometimes everybody and their dog order an item so it takes some time.

That's another thing I notice..everyone complains about the time frame they get items in, but certainly no one complains about the price. And to be quite frank I feel people can be a little rediculous as to what they expect for the amount they paid. Both in service and quality of product. The term "you get what you pay for" definately still hold true.

Why can't people take it upon themselves to be a more educated consumer(e.g. electronics come with an instruction manual for a reason)? Sales consultants are there to sell..they aren't there to educate unless the customer takes it upon themselves to ask. I chose to respond to you over some of the other responces because you don't appear to make this out to be as much of a witch hunt as others.

Do you know anything about the sales industry at all? Although the manufacturer may be at fault for a late delivery, you purchased the product from a certain reseller. This is reseller is to work as your representative on your behalf to find out what happened to your product. As a reseller, a big part of what they do is to typically stock items and if they dont have stock should have a good idea on both lead times if the product was instock and needs to be shipped or if the item needs to be built.

From what I read regarding all these comments about items not arriving on time, or in the condition that they expect I would put the blame on the shotty sales people. Because they get paid on commission on bulk sales, they seem to get away from the service side. You clearly sound like you are a sales person for one of these companies.

Quote: " 29 days ago by Corporate 0 Votes
You guys have to understand the buisness. YOU the 1/100000 ( and dont get me wrong you are JSUT as important as one of them) But the company has no control over when they get the product. I date from teh manufacture ie. Linkwise furn co. or Haining Mai sofa inc. says well have them for you on April 1 so the company says well have it for you on april 15th. Explain to me how its the companies fault when what they purchased doesnt arrive? Same as you want me to explain how your furniture didnt arrive. I suggest next time you have a trivial problem such as this, call the store in questions wether it be the brick, leons, ashley and get the manufactures phone number. Or be more flexible...either one. "

You guys have to understand the buisness. YOU the 1/100000 ( and dont get me wrong you are JSUT as important as one of them) But the company has no control over when they get the product. I date from teh manufacture ie. Linkwise furn co. or Haining Mai sofa inc. says well have them for you on April 1 so the company says well have it for you on april 15th. Explain to me how its the companies fault when what they purchased doesnt arrive? Same as you want me to explain how your furniture didnt arrive. I suggest next time you have a trivial problem such as this, call the store in questions wether it be the brick, leons, ashley and get the manufactures phone number. Or be more flexible...either one.

SAME THING HAPPENED TO WE ORDERED IN JUNE AND WE STILL HAVE NO COUCH, THEY KEPT SAYING IT WAS ON BACK ORDER... AND I JUST FOUND OUT ON FRIDAY THAT SOME 1 AT THE STORE CANCELED MY ORDER... SO IVE BEEN WAITING, AND HAVE BEEN LIED TO, AND DID I MENTION IVE BEEN SITTING ON THE DAMN FLOOR!

WOW I HATE THE BRICK!
### THE BRICK SON'S OF ###!

Ontario Government of Consumer and corporate affairs- deal with them

I ordered a couch in November of 2005. At the time I was told that they had the couch in one of their other warehouses. Delivery date of a couch and mattress was supposed to be 1 week. The day of delivery they were supposed to show up between 9am-12pm. I took the morning off work only to have them not show up until 2:30pm with just the mattress. The delivery guys said the couch was on back order and to contact the Brick about delivery time.

I call the Brick and they tell me that the couch was a popular item and unfortunately they sold out and were waiting for a new shipment to arrive from overseas. I go into the Brick I purchased it at and talked to my sales guy and he tried to back pedal when I questioned him on why he did not tell me I wouldn't be getting the couch for a while. His manager then stepped in and basically tried to sell me another couch. The catch was, they had no other couches that matched the price of my original purchase. So they wanted to up-sell me on another couch.

I then went to another Brick in the city and noticed they had the couch I had purchased still on the floor. A salesman approached me and I discussed purchasing the couch. I got the same story about how they had none in their warehouse but there were couches in the other warehouses and I could get it delivered within the week. I told him I was not interested in waiting a week and his manager stepped in and told me that they actually do have a couple in their warehouse that were on hold but that he figured he could steal one of those and have it delivered next day as long as I did not walk. I then told him I had one on back order and laid out the scam they were pulling on me and he basically walked away and said that if I have one on back order I can not get credit on it to purchase the same couch from a different store.

Anyway, I canceled my couch, but 4 months later a delivery guy shows up with the couch to my door. I call the Brick and turns out they never canceled my order. I decide to keep the couch. Then a few months later I find out that instead of the 9 months 'no fees, no interest' deal I was given was entered in by the sales person as 6 months and I get a call from the finance people regarding my missed payments. I told them I only just received my couch and I should get no interest from the date of delivery. But no, they give you no interest from the date the Brick guy punches your info. into their computer.

All in all, the Brick was the worst shopping experience of my life. I will never make a purchase from them again and would suggest others steer very clear. I don't know why all these big furniture retailers treat their customers the way they do and how they continue to stay in business with their lack of service.

I had the same problem with the brick. We bought a corner sofa from the brick furniture store in Heartland Mississauga, and took their zero monthly payment plan for 18 months. My wife signed on an electronic board, and nothing was explained to us. Ten months later we realized that our brick bill was higher than what it was when we received the first bill. And, just like all the other comments on this site the brick produced a signed photo copy of some kind of payment protection plan which was never explained to us, and never made known to us. We never even received a copy of the payment protection plan. they claimed we signed. When spoke to the manager that was in the store, he said to same thing to us, "you should check your bill". My parents never shopped at the brick after they were scammed there, and now I will never shop at the brick again. It was my very first time shopping at the brick, and it will be my last time shopping there.

We had the worst experience dealing with this issue.
When we sign the paper, the sales man in Regent store of Winnipeg did not mentioned a word about the payment protection plan. The only reason we sign for the brick card was we want to take the advantage of 18 month no interest. We asked the sales men at least three times, is there any other charge come with the card we have not been told yet. He clearly told us no.
6 month later we found we were charged over 700 for this payment protection plan. We went back to the store to talk with the manager. He told us it is our responsibility to check the bank statement. The sales man was nice to us, he told us the reason he did not mention the payment protection plan was we signed the cancellation form along with the application. He will try to solve this issue. However, we never heard from him again. We made a complaint to the brick. What they got back to us was interesting. They told us the sales man changed his story. He said he only told us that because he feel threatened. Therefore, we have to pay.
This is the first time I was treated so unfairly in Canada since I immigrated to here 8 years ago. The store manager made some racist comments on the fact we are new to Canada. He said we need to "learn how things get done in Canada". I guess he has his point. This is a learning curve for us. What we learned from this is I'll never set another foot in the brick stores.

I hear you brother. I signed everything once I heard that it's "mandatory to sign up for the payment insurance plan but it can be cancelled with a simple phone call". Well after I phoned the number to cancel, I was told I had to fax my cancellation request into them in writing. After I did that, nothing happened, I got charged a $40 fee on my next statement. I went into the Brick asking why I was being charged and I was told that it was just a timing thing and it would be reversed on my next statement. After another month and another charge I phoned the number again asking why it had not been cancelled. I was told that they had never received my fax, therefore it was too late to refund my money (now $100 in these bogus charges) but I could cancel the plan going forward. I went into the store to complain and was told that the charges would be reversed, and now a couple of months later, still nothing.

All this on top of the fact that I had to return parts of the bed I bought five different times before I finally got a bed that would fit together how it was supposed to. I slept on the couch for a good 2 1/2 weeks.

I will never buy anything from the Brick ever again and I will discourage others from doing the same for as long as I live.

we are facing the same problem...they hooked us up with some payment protection plan and when we wanted to cancel it they can't do it over the phone yet they are able to offer it to you. they gave us a number to fax our request it's been 3 months since we did that but it's still charging us the insurance premium...what a rip off...once it's paid off...never dealing with brick again.

That's not true. It was added to my account even though I didn't sign. I went in and asked 8 months later for the original contract once I noticed the charge. They printed it out and said that I never signed anything. After fighting for it they refunded all my money. They will charge you even if you don't sign for it.

In response to your complaint about the “Payment Protection Plan” please be aware that this would NOT be added to your bill if you HADNT signed for it. If you go into a brick store they are able to print out your original credit application and show you the SIGNED COPY with YOUR signature. If you would like this to be cancelled simply go into the nearest Brick loaction, fill out a small form, and it will be cancelled THAT DAY.

Dont blame others because of your inability to ask questions about the papers you are signing.

They did the exact same thing to me when my wife and I bought our washer & dryer set. Not a single word about payment protection and it wasn't until months in to paying our machines off that we noticed this nice extra charge they had been billing me every month. When we called they explained that it's automatic when you electronically sign with their card. That's a lie and if not completely illegal it's at the very least incredibly unethical.

I have another write up to submit regarding the Brick in Wpg regarding these purchases but I'll submit it after it's completely resolved (we've been waiting for weeks for a "back order" on a small part for the $2500 washing machine I bought from them).

My Brick Card is now toast. I'll never set another foot in their stores unless it's to speak with their management regarding this current situation.

The last time I had service this p*ss poor was at Future shop nearly 10 years ago.

Lee

Supervisor name is KODIAK... Worst customer service ever...

I agree, I am dealing with the same situation... They kept rejecting the payment from my RBC account, I had to take a day off work to go and pay the amount in cash and now they are charging me a month of interest. I got on the phone and the supervisor would not let me speak and was extremely rude. Every time that I would explain what has occurred he would speak over me and would tell me to let him speak... He then hung up the phone.. SO UNPROFESSIONAL

Ayan
Interested to switch over to ‘Federated Canada’? Beware! There’s a distinct possibility that you’ll regret for your decision afterwards. Before stepping into it makes sure you should be aware of each and every clause in the contract before signing it. Besides, it looks like that positive testimonials on the WWW aren't real; apparently the people who have posted these reviews are fake Federated Canada customers. That speaks volumes about the organizational ethos. My recommendation for you is that make an informed decision after getting a complete surety on the terms of services and commercials.

So we bought appliances from the Brick last year worth over $180000 and paid off everything outstanding as we had the 12 month no pay program. After the 12 months I paid off everything for my sister and my parents card and just had $422 outstanding on my card which I called in early April to find out when its due.

The customer care lady told me it was due on April 28th and therefore on April 22nd I made the payment through online TD bank and cleared the amount. Next month, i get a statement stating that I've extra charges of $54.53 which I was so confused about. So I call the customer care number and talk to them, the girl who first helped me was horrible and spoke to me as if they don't have time to handle such issues. I asked to speak to her supervisor:

The supervisor tells me, We have monthly statements so that you don't miss your payments and call us back saying that we've late charges. Customers always like to call us back and say that we spoke to someone and they told us that its due later and make all sorts of excuses to delay the payment and lie to us.

WELL! I'm not sure how these bunch of low-lifers get a job like customer support which is uttermost important to a company. Anyways, so I said, there is a reason you have a customer care service and a customer care number to help out the customers so I'm not sure why are you trying to show me attitude that because you didn't check your statements, we cannot help you. Your employee screwed up and told me that the due date is 28th when it wasn't and thats why i made the payment accordingly or why would I not make the payment 2 days before when I paid up $18000 i owed you guys. The supervisor kept on arguing and trying to tell me that I'm a liar and customers just lie about these kinda things and we dont buy this kind of ###. I was so pissed to hear that a supervisor is treating me like this when his company approved me for a $18000 credit card loan.

I'm going to take this further and they wanted me to pay them a late fee of $52, I'm going to make them pay me much more for abusing a customer and accusing him of lying.

The supervisors name was LEO from the Corporate Office in Edmonton, Alberta and I would NEVER deal with the Brick again because of such poor customer service.

i worked for a diff credit card. i would think the process how interest is billed would work the same way as what happened to you..
so i would like to share my thoughts on this =)

correct me if im wrong..
i would safely assume that the balance 4579.54 is an "ongoing balance" (that's a term i always use =) and i would define this as: 2 mos or more old purchase; amount that came from prev month's statement; plus prev mos interest/ongoing interest; by this time you have forfeited your grace period coz u paid minimum balance last month instead of paying the full balance)

lets say the agent and you are looking at the same up-to-date statement dated june1 - june 30 2009 with due date July 25 2009 (let's say the grace period is 25days).

you called the agent july 8, *SOME agents would neglect to mention the interest amount from june 30 to july 5 (and this is the $117.74 interest that you mentioned above.)

and what i am saying is that most credit cards would calculate and charge interest every single day if there is an "ongoing balance".

from the time the statement was printed (june 30) to date you called the agent (july 8) there is already interest that yoou owe and this amount will be shown in your next statement..

hope i was clear enough? .. and hope that this was helpful =)
btw how much interest does the brick have? **planning** to open a credit card.. =)

I completely agree. It took me 4 weeks just to cancel the card!

i have had nothing but problems with the brick since i began my brick card

The Brick, or HSBC are a bunch of criminals. I would demand that this money be refunded to you.

Crazy Nazis

I believe this comment should be filed under the company name -Insta-Rent- ... The Brick and Insta-Rent are two completely different companies, simply located inside the same building.

In response to your complaint about the “Payment Protection Plan” please be aware that this would NOT be added to your bill if you HADNT signed for it. If you go into a brick store they are able to print out your original credit application and show you the SIGNED COPY with YOUR signature. If you would like this to be cancelled simply go into the nearest Brick loaction, fill out a small form, and it will be cancelled THAT DAY.

Dont blame others because of your inability to ask questions about the papers you are signing.

Another thing, although it is called the BRICK Card it does NOT belong to the Brick. It is given out by a Credit Lender, or in this case, HSBC so of course they are unable to do anything at the store level as they are unable to look at your personal credit information as it is a SECURITY VIOLATION. It is YOUR responsibilty as a consumer to ask the appropriate questions and understand what you are signing.

Sincerely,
A former Customer Serivce Brick employee

People should sue this company for doing dishonest business and never should go there.

They don’t have any customer service. Only customer service if any they have up until sale, that because their sales reps works completely on commission.

I am a very unhappy, dissatisfied customer. Let me start by telling you that I will never shop at any brick store again, and I will recommend my friends and family not to do so as well.

I purchased everything for my condo from the brick, my bedroom, den and living room are all furnished by items that I purchased in one of thir stores. However, there was disappointed from the get go.

A week before the delivery schedule I found out that the couch that I had bought was missing from my invoice, therefore I was left with no couch. I had to take time off from work a second time, to come in and pick out a different couch. I was also told that I would have help assembling the furniture since I live by myself and had no one to help. However, the gentlemen that brought the furniture left everything for me to do, even the big heavy bed.

There were a few items missing on delivery day, one of which they had left at the store for me to pick up. My question to the sales person was why would I have everything delivered except this one item? As a result, I had to come in a third time and bring the item home by myself. The other pieces, I was told I would receive within 2 weeks.The purchased date was late August and delivery date was September 20th. I have yet to see any of those items.

As a result, one of the items (an ottoman) has been discontinued and the floor model sold to another customer, and 2 lamps which were to arrive end of September are now arriving in December.
I would like to ask you, why would I purchase a lamp that I would not receive immediately? Why would I pay for an item that I will not have for 3 months? The day I made the purchases, I was told that everything was available. I was told I would receive all items on my delivery date (September 20) On one occasion when I called to follow up on the status of the lamps I was told that my whole order was cancelled and there were no lamps scheduled for me. I spent more than 45 minutes, with a less than courteous customer service representative on the phone trying to locate my order.

My frustration, is that the same lamps I have purchased, are available in the stores as a floor model. I am willing to even take those floor models, since I am tired of carrying a flash light around my condo! But every time, the person on the other side of the phone, with great attitude informs me that it is against company policy to give floor models away. I am surprised that they are not willing to compromise once, in the name of customer service and customer retention! At this point, not only am I missing an Ottoman, that no one has suggested to replace, but I'm missing 2 lamps.

I have no idea what to do...any suggestions?

Dear Donna,
I have had similiar problems with these idiots.Go to the Credit bureau in West Hamilton, they walked me through the process, it was painless, actually it felt very empowering to be again in controll of my own credit from these ###s!
Sorry, i can't find anything good to say about The Brick.
Lynda