The Great Indoors- Managers not so great

I went to The Great Indoors Store located on 16331 Shady Grove Road, Gaithersburg, Maryland on 26th of July, 2009 and bought a piece of dining table with chairs and slip covers etc. Total price charged to me was $ 1044.15. I was being told that shipment will arrive within a week. Well, first shipment arrived and dining table was damaged so they took everything back.

They tried delivering it again after a week and this time again, dining table had huge scratch on face of it and was returned.

I have been calling the store during all this time and have talked to delivery manager( Mr. Freddy) as well as Manager of store Ms. Laura.

I got a call from the store yesterday requesting me to come and see the only piece they have in stock before they try to deliver it again. They promised me that they will take utmost care to deliver it right this time. I went to the store to see the table and they opened the box in front of me. I was shown a piece that again had damages on top of the table. Instead of telling me the truth and offering me to see another piece, Ms. Laura offered me 10% discount( which was increased to 20% later). I should have been told the truth that they do have another piece(s) in stock but I can take this one at 20% off. I thought that I don't have another option and will have to wait for 3-6 weeks for next delivery.

They delivered the table today i.e., on 14th of Aug( After 19 days) BUT again the base was damaged. They took the base back and promised me that it will be replaced today itself. Since I didnt hear from anyone, I called the store and was offered by Ms. Laura that I can cancel the order instead. I went to the store personally to check and Mr. Gudjo( a sales rep) offered me his help. He asked me if I need any help and I asked him if he has any of those tables in stock. He confirmed after checking his computer that they do have 3 pieces in stock. I asked him to confirm and he instead asked me to come in the pick up area if I am serious on buying and he actually brought a brand new piece of table( packed in the original packing) as well as base. I requested him to call Ms. Laura so I can understand the situation. Ms. Laura arrived and started arguing about why I went behind her back and talked to a sales rep. She called me a dishonest customer and asked me to leave the store and told me that she wanted delivered chairs also back and she is not going to sell the table to me.

I thought Sears and The Great Indoors is all about Customer experience. I bought my Washer Dryer from Sears for $ 2500 two years ago and was happy with my experience and last week only I bought grass mower from same Sears. But today's experience was complete disaster of the Sears reputation at the Great Indoors. I continued requesting her to give me the right table and instead of listening to me, she instead kept asking me to leave the store to hide her dishonesty in the first place. I am totally disappointed by this experience and feel insulted. If her staff is more smarter than her, she has no right to be a manager.

I thought being as a customer I have full right to buy the piece of furniture in good condition but I guess at the Great Indoors it works otherwise. When the manager of store can lie and instead of offering apology for her wrong statement made earlier, can rather start a fight with the customer and insult also, then I am pretty sure that you don't need credit crisis to force the business to shut down. You just need managers like Ms. Laura in each store to help you close your business as nobody will walk in again after this kind of experience.