Below is the letter I wrote to the CEO.
Dear Jeffrey Seaman:
I am writing to tell you about the horrible experience we had with your company. My goal is to not simply complain in the hopes that something may come out of it for us, because quite frankly, you company has lost our trust. It is my hope that by writing this letter, you will make the necessary changes within your company to prevent someone else from having the same experience we did.
We initially had a good experience with Rooms To Go when we bought a kitchen table, chairs, end tables and a coffee table from your location at 2846 Medical Center Parkway in Murfreesboro Tennessee. My wife and I recently moved in from out of state and bought our first new home. We were pleased with the service we received so we decided to take our business to your company again when we decided to buy a curio cabinet.
We purchased the cabinet on July 28th, 2017 with an expected delivery date of August 9th, 2017. When our new cabinet arrived it looked terrible. The wood was dirty, the glass was filthy and had dried water droplets inside. The base of the cabinet had a piece missing exposing raw wood, two of the legs looked as though they had been sanded down, the area above the doors had several dents and the doors did not line up when shut. We pointed these issues out to the delivery driver who told us to call the 800 number and request a technician because there was nothing he could do about it. We called the 800 number as instructed and were told that it could not be fixed because of the exposed wood and that a replacement would have to be sent out. We arranged to have the replacement cabinet delivered on August 18th, 2017 between 10am -2pm.
I received a text message from Rooms To Go on August 16th, 2017 stating that our cabinet would be delivered between the hours of 4pm – 8pm. We then had to rearrange our plans in order to accommodate the new time all the while trying to be understanding and as patient as possible. On August 18th, 2017, the day our cabinet was supposed to be delivered, I received a phone call from your dispatch center around 5pm who told me that the delivery driver had hit some traffic and that they had to adjust our delivery time to between 6pm – 10pm. We then had to cancel the plans that we had delayed earlier in the day. As 8:30 pm rolled around, I grew concerned that our delivery may not arrive. I called the store and spoke to the sales associate, Matthew I, who sold us the cabinet and he told me that he did not have access to the delivery system. Matthew also told me that he had spoken to the manager, John E and asked that I call back the following day after 9am if there were any problems with the delivery. So, we waited another hour and a half, after waiting all day and canceling our plans and NO ONE SHOWED.
The next morning, I called the Rooms To Go location where we purchased the cabinet to speak to Mr. E and was told that he did not come into work until 12pm. Shortly after 12pm on August 19th, 2017, I drove to the Rooms To Go location where we bought the cabinet and asked for Mr. E. After waiting several minutes, we spoke briefly and he told me that Matthew had brought him up to speed and about the difficulties we had up to that point. Mr. E asked me to wait while he got to the bottom of what had happened. I sat in the showroom for an hour and a half (I actually timed it) before Mr. E returned and apologized for the wait. He explained to me that he had been in contact with the head of the delivery department and that our replacement cabinet would arrive on August 22nd, 2017 between 10 am – 2pm. Mr. E also said that he wanted to hear from me when the cabinet was delivered an offered to refund our delivery charge (he was the first to do this). Mr. E also said that I had his word that our replacement cabinet would be delivered this time.
On August 22nd, 2017, we again waited for the replacement cabinet to be delivered and once again our time was wasted. No phone call, no text message, no delivery. I then called the Rooms To Go location and asked to speak to Mr. E but was told that he was not working that day, which was to say the least surprising as he wanted me to call him when our replacement cabinet was delivered. This in fact, was the second time I was told to call Mr. E during a particular time just to find out that he was not at work.
After speaking to an employee at the store about the difficulties we were having, I was transferred to another manager John W. I expressed my extreme dissatisfaction with the broken cabinet we had received as well as terrible customer service experience we had received. I also explained to Mr. W that Mr. E had assured me that our replacement cabinet would be delivered. Mr. W apologized for the terrible experience we had had and recognized that Rooms To Go had violated the trust. Mr. W offered to credit our credit card for a portion of what we had spent on the previous furniture items that we had bought. I explained to Mr. W that while I appreciated that, we were not looking for a discount, what we wanted was the cabinet that we paid for in good condition. Mr. W told me that he would contact the delivery department and get to the bottom of the issue and that he would call me back. A short time later, Mr. W did call and said that he thought the cabinet might be delivered on August 28th, 2017 but did not have a timeframe. Mr. W said he would call me the following day after 12pm to confirm.
On August 23rd, 2017 after waiting for four hours to hear from Mr. W, I called the Rooms To Go location and asked to speak to him. I was told that Mr. W was not working that day but that I could speak to Mr. E. Once again, I was told to call and ask for someone who wasn’t working that day.
Mr. E explained to me that when I visited the store on August 19th, 2017, he had an email exchange with someone in delivery and that he thought that his email had been sent to other staff members but apparently it had not. Mr. E told me that he had “dropped the ball” and that he was very sorry. I asked Mr. E about the delivery date for our replacement cabinet and he told me that it should be delivered on August 28th, 2017 but that he did not have a timeframe. Once again it looked like we would spend the day waiting for Rooms To Go to fulfill their promise.
On August 25th, 2017, I received a text message from Rooms To Go confirming our delivery for August 28th, 2017 but no timeframe was provided. On August 27th, 2017, I called the automated delivery line and found out that our delivery was scheduled between the hours of 10am – 2pm.
On August 28th, 2017 at 1:45pm, the delivery truck arrived and two men promptly removed the broken, filthy cabinet that had been sitting in our home unusable for the last 20 days. As they unboxed our replacement cabinet, they noticed that the wood on the bottom was split. Obviously, we refused the new broken cabinet as an exchange for our existing broken cabinet and told the driver to take both back. The driver REFUSED stating that he had orders to pick only one cabinet. While the driver and I debated back and forth, the other delivery employee used a pen to color the exposed chunk of wood. He then told me that the cabinet looked fine and that we should just keep that one. No attempt was made to address the dents in the wood, the sanded down legs or the doors. I then explained to both of the delivery employees that we would not accept another piece of broken furniture and the driver responded by saying that his truck was full and that he would not have room to take both cabinets with him. I told the driver that I had been told by both Mr. E as well as Mr. W that if the replacement cabinet was not to our liking, to refuse the delivery. He responded by saying, “I don’t know what to tell you, but we’re not taking both with us”. I told him, “Fine but if you leave it here, I’m going to load it in my truck, drive this thing to the store and tell them to unload it and give me my money back”. After some apparent pondering, the driver said that they would load both cabinets and return them (I guess he had room after all).
After this terrible experience, I called the Rooms To Go location and again spoke to Mr. W who apologized for our experience and added that he would make sure that our credit card was credited for the return. I explained to Mr. W that my wife and I are both active on various forms of social media and that we would be warning everyone we could about the way that your company does business.
In conclusion, we moved from out of state and found a company we thought we could trust and we were wrong. We trusted that you would deliver furniture that was “showroom quality” per the purchase agreement and you failed. We fought through the quagmire of a so called customer service system where no one is accountable and you let us down. We were told to call during certain times just to find that the person we were supposed to talk to was not there or that a delivery truck was full when it wasn’t but found that you lied. As I wrote in the beginning of this letter, I don’t want anything from you, you have lost our business for life. It is my hope that you address these issues so other customers don’t have to endure the terrible products, lack of customer service and lies that we did.