Stores, Furniture - Art Van Furniture, Jackson, Michigan - Simmons mattress poor experience with Simmons mattress purchase

Bad Customer Service at Art Van

Furniture, Other

From: Binu Cherian Email User

Date: Sunday, March 18, 2001 05:32 PM Sent To: Email User 3/18/01 5:29:00 PM Dear Business: a consumer posted the following e-message at Complaints.com. Please respond directly to the consumer, using the consumer's name and e-mail address (as per the From: field above). You may also wish to respond publicly on the Complaints.com site. Just locate this e-message posted in your business's conference and click on the "Reply to" link. (Note: a user registration is required before posting e-messages to the Complaints.com site.)

_____________________ I had a very bad experience at Art Van Furniture in Jackson, Michigan. On Friday, March 16th, 2001 at about 6:00 pm, a colleague of mine and I decided to check out the St.Patrick's Day Sale at the Art Van showroom in Jackson, MI.

We visited the showroom and I decided to purchase a Simmons mattress (from the mattress section) priced at $360 and a sofa (from the clearance center) priced at $329. I mentioned my decision to purchase these items to a sales representative Ms. Sharon Rowell. She then told me that she would bring me the paperwork in a few minutes.

We waited for over 20 minutes; but she did not return! I could see that she started dealing with another customer on the main floor. And, in fact, she started working on their paperwork; and in the process totally ignored me. I, then, approached her and asked her how much longer I would have to wait; and her reply was that it would take just a few moments.

I waited for another 10 minutes! When she still did not return with my paperwork, I lost my patience and approached the service desk, hoping to get a good response there. But to my dismay, that did not happen either. The Store Manager, Ms. Laura Thompson, to whom I talked, was very curt and not, in the least, helpful. I explained the situation very clearly to her, but her only reply was that she will speed up the paperwork (after already having waited for 30 long minutes)!! I suggested that she offer me some sort of a discount on the total amount of purchase, so that I can leave the store as a happy customer, in spite of the inconvenience caused earlier.

But she refused to do that or anything else as a gesture of apology for the inconvenience caused to me. When I asked her for her business card, she said that she did not have any!! It surprised me that a Store Manager did not have business cards! Even the sales representatives have business cards! What surprised me even more was that not once did the Store Manager or the sales representative apologize to me in any manner for what happened. I left the store without making any purchase – and decided never to return again. The complete address of the store is given below; Art Van Furniture, Inc.

950 N. West Avenue

Jackson, MI 49203.

PH: (517) 784-6700

Store Manager: Laura Thompson

Sales Representative: Sharon Rowell I am sending a copy of this message to Art Van Customer Service. It will be interesting to see if I get any sort of response at all.