In Ashley’s opinion you have no proof that your bought the power model. In you opinion, it was understood because it was the display model.

As someone who recently bought a sectional recliner, I am well aware that most models have a manual or power recliner. So if I bought the power recliner, I would have that clearly stated on the receipt with model number that matches the display or catalog. It’s been my practice that served me well. (We ended up with a manual recliner so as not to have to worry about the power breaking).

I always check receipts – even at grocery stores. 50% of the time something is wrong. Not their fault necessarily. Just an error in ringing up or wrong price in the system.

Never underestimate the power of a written document!

I’m glad it worked out for you in the end.

I picked up more skills there, than any other course I have taken. Skills I still use today in my Personal and Business Life.

One thing I learned is one does not have to by a hard ass to negotiate effectively. Nor does one have to resort to any special tricks.

Most people describe me as a nice, laid back guy. But in life things need to get done. I have found my “style” is to convince the other person/party that it is their idea to do something that needs to be done. That way they have taken ownership of the situation. I just gently prod them along, when needed, if needed.

And everything described in the article and subsequent comments, involve some type of negotiation when all things are considered.

Obviously you know this because you have all the details of the story and you were in fact there and witnessed the whole thing.

Second: Doesn’t mention how many customers were affected, but the shots of storage space clearly indicate that hundreds of customers’ furniture was left.

Third: “Action 9 has complaints from 10 customers and found an additional 17 at the Better Business Bureau and 27 complaints filed with the state. At least 27 families claim they were badly burned by Kathleen Caron and her travel agency, Elite Cruise Options.”

Fourth: This one is actually about one person, but she was literally harassed for a year-and-a-half, which is sort of in a different category I think.

Fifth: This seems like a different thing entirely. “Sunscreen melts plastic” is hardly a customer service problem.

I’ll give you the last one. It boggles my mind that a news story ran because a woman had a satellite dish left on her property by a previous owner, and she couldn’t figure out how to throw it away herself.

And there are also two sides to this story. I work in Customer Service, but I deal with retailers and wholesalers, not the public. Sometimes (this is not the case here, obviously) people want things they are just not entitled to. And if I can’t give it to them, I’m the bad guy. I’m not sure if this has gotten worse in recent years or if the Internet just lets us see more examples.

For instance: “I want my order bumped to the top of your queue, and to ship before anyone else’s, but I don’t want to pay extra for shipping.” We get that question all the time. If we say no, sorry, we can’t get one order out ahead of thousands of others, then we are “not providing good service.”

Luckily my company is very supportive, so we don’t get in trouble for this kind of thing.

Mind you, veneer is not a new concept. The supreme authority of wikipedia says it’s an ancient art. The dining room table that we got from my husband’s grandmother (ca. 1950s) has a veneer top with solid wood legs.

I have some great, solid wood Costco furniture that has a veneer top. I just have to be extra careful about putting glasses on it.

A great place to buy solid wood, non-veneer furniture is an unfinished furniture store. At the one near us, you can buy stock furniture in either pine, oak, or maple.

Edited – because I just realized you said World Market instead of Costco (that’s what I get for trying to do three things at once…). Yes, World Market does tend to sell solid wood. Our dining room chairs are from there and we love them. We bought them after much searching. Great price, great quality. They are some heavy chairs!

We were looking at Crate and Barrel. While I love their style and it seems to be built solidly, you are still buying veneer in most cases. We found one buffet that had a solid wood top.

Mainly for this reason (and because we’re cheap!) we buy at the antique mall. But that doesn’t help with couches, since I wouldn’t buy that vintage. Who do people think make the best, affordable couches?

My husband grew up in a town of 5,000. Not getting the right furniture might have made it to the paper.

So, based on their own perspective, both Tyler and Holly are right

http://www.koaa.com/news/alleged-fraud-victims-speak-out-in-auto-body-investigation/

The entire tone of your original post is very challenging and hostile. Other posts of yours are equally challenging and hostile. And the response you made to me is equally so.

I was taught when something happened to take a look and see how I contributed to the problem and what I could do to either resolve the current issue or at least see what I could do to avoid such problems in the future.

I see no indication that you have any such inclination, and this does suggest to me that you do, indeed, have an attitude problem, as supported by your posts on this thread. You might want to spend some time meditating on this topic.

I do believe there are still business people who give good customer service and expect it from their employees. I also think it is the responsibility of the customer to protect themselves by being clear about what they are expecting and what the business person is providing. You have to be a good customer in the sense of being clear and double-checking the details, and then being sure to thank the business after you received excellent service – you reap what you sow, right?

Thanks for this thought-provoking post, Holly.

As Holly says in the article, Ashley Furniture use duplicitous “bait and switch” sales tactics. Basically the sales staff intentionally sell a similar but lower spec couch, then sit back with your hard earned dollars in their Scrooge McDuck like coffers rubbing their hands in glee, waiting for the customer to take receipt of the wrong couch. Then when the customer eventually calls up customer service to complain, the phone staff attempt to up sell the customer to the more expensive unit.

Classic blatant rip off from big business.