The Brick/St. James St, Winnipeg

This is a copy of the email I sent to The Brick's regional vice-president in

Edmonton. I sent it on March 2, 2007 and never received a reply via phone or

email.

"I'm very upset with the service I've received at The Brick. I went in on

Jan 9/07 to buy a leather sectional and bought the Zennah 2 piece

sectional. When we went to make the

initial deposit, I felt like I was buying a car. I did not want the five

year warranty but it was pushed on me to the point where I felt like I

wasn't going to be allowed to buy the

couch without it. Also with the warranty we were told that his boss couldn't

let him sell the couch for so cheap unless he sold the warranty with it.

Everytime I said no the

salesman went to his boss and would try and get me to say yes with a lower

price. In the end we were given the warranty for nothing but I still didn't

want it and getting the

warranty for free was not my goal at all. It made me wonder about the

product I was buying and if the leather was going to split or crack in the

near future. We had agreed upon

the price of $2000 inc. delivery. On the invoice they put the price of the

couch less and put on there that I did indeed purchase a warranty and paid

for delivery because "head office needs to see that". I don't know if this

is normal practice or not but I left there with a bad vibe.

I was told the couch would take 4-6 weeks to arrive in Winnipeg. Near the

end of February I called the store and was told it was tentatively scheduled

to be here Feb 28. On Feb 28 I called again and was told it was tentatively

scheduled for March 6. Obviously by this point I'm not very happy with the

length of time I've had to wait.

Today when I looked at The Brick flyer, there is the Zennah couch listed as

"BICAST". At the time I purchased the couch I was told after questioning two

salesman that the couch was 100% leather. Your website indciates the couch

is "genuine leather". I knew going in the store that I wanted 100% leather.

If I knew the couch was bicast at the start, I would have looked at other

options, possibly in the same store.

I also wondered if the arrival date of my couch kept changing because the

sale was coming up and they would ship a larger

amount at one time? If that's the case, and based on the date I was given

of March 6 and the flyer going out March 2, I believe this could be true.

After I saw the flyer I went

immediately to the store to cancel my order.

The customer service staff didn't seem to care that I was cancelling this

order and when my credit card was refunded she didn't

apologize on behalf of the store or ask if we wanted to look at any other

couches. I will say that after this experience I will never shop at The

Brick again and have already informed my friends and family, many of which

live in other provinces, of this experience. I'm extremely disappointed

with the way this whole situation was handled and regret not walking out the

day I felt I was being pressured to buying an additional product which I did

not want or need."

Thanks,

Tania

Comment On This

A little off topic, however I recently purchased a notebook from them which arrived with different specifications then stated on their site! I am now dealing with their customer service to see if I can get a replacement or a partial refund as I can't use the upgrades I purchased with the notebook. We'll see how that goes, I expect a fair resolution since I am a long time Brick customer.

Comment On This

The brick has misrepresented itself to us on 2 difficult transactions. They have poor customer service and uneducated sales staff on their products. They are extremely pushy and use high pressure sales tactics that often leave you with a bad vibe after leaving. After 2 negitive experices we will NEVER shop there again! Cheap products and overpriced. The difference between bycast and leather is merged to make you think they are the same. They are not. After researching this we where very surprised at the differences and only genuine leather will last for years. By cast will not and only recommended for light use unlike 100%leather.

Comment On This

The same thing just happened to my friend in Halifax. The salesman totally misrepresented the product.