Complain about a product or service

Marlo Furniture

"G., Esq." of Washington, DC, writes (5/9/01):
I purchased about $2,000 worth of Ashley bedroom furniture at Marlo in mid-April of 2001. I was told that it could not be delivered until May 5th as I needed a Saturday delivery. (However, I was told by the saleswoman, Christina Houghton, that I could have an individual named "Bubba", who she informed me does not work for Marlo, deliver my furniture earlier if necessary. I would need to give "Bubba" a check, independent of my purchase. Needless to say, I had serious doubts about giving any money to some guy named Bubba with dubious affiliations).

Also, I was told by Ms. Houghton that I would receive a "window" regarding delivery time. However, on Friday night, May 4th, some guy left a barely audible message stating that my furniture would be delivered on Saturday, but didn't leave a time. Now, the delivery people showed up at 4:30 on Saturday, although I was told by Marlo Corporate Customer Service that I was 8th on a list of 13 deliveries. (On the morning of May 5th, I called about the time of the delivery and corporate customer service stated that they no longer give times)!

Here's the kicker, the delivery guy, Adrian, tells me that he isn't supposed to assemble the furniture and said that this always happens ... the salespeople tell the customers this and it's not true. In fact, he said he had delivered the same bedroom set to someone else that morning and he hadn't assembled that ome either. (I paid $128.00 for delivery AND assembly. Also, Marlo disclaims liability under the warranty if you assemble the furniture yourself, which is a joke if you ask me, because, based on this experience, they wouldn't honor it anyway.)

After calling customer service immediately, while Adrian was still there, Mindy of corporate customer service stated, after looking up my customer code, that this particular Ashley set was to be assembled by their delivery people. She transferred me to Devin, an employee in the delivery department, and he also said they were supposed to assemble the furniture. He spoke with Adrian, but Adrian told him he wasn't putting it together. Devin then told me that he would have someone out before 12 noon on Sunday to assemble the furniture. Of course, no one called or showed up.

Upon contacting customer service on Monday 5/7, I was told that the service truck out on Sunday was only in Ellicott City, MD? I don't care if it was in Timbuktu, it should have been at my apt. before 12. So, I was held hostage all weekend for nothing! Carlita, of customer service, stated that she spoke with Kenny Larry, a delivery supervisor, who said that someone would be out on Tuesday to assemble the furniture, during the evening hours, to accommodate me. I told her that I work until 5:30 and it takes me a half hour to get home. They said that would be fine, and I gave them my cell number just in case. ( I don't see the problem with the time, as the guy didn't show until 4:30 on Saturday). Guess what happened ... when I called on Tuesday to confirm an arrival time of a technician to assemble the furniture, I was told by John of the delivery department that someone had forgotten to put my name on the list, so no one would be out on Tuesday! However, John confirmed that someone would be out on Wednesday, under the same arrangements regarding my schedule.

Well, on Wednesday May 9th, some guy calls me at work at 10:20 a.m. saying he'll be at my house in an hour! I tell him that I won't be able to be there, as I can't leave in the middle of the morning. (Who could do that ... not to mention this is a new job for me?) Not to mention, these guys were supposed to come in the evening! He says he knows nothing about that and that I'll have to reschedule, as he is going to Bethesda. I call customer service and get transferred to Devin. He tells me there's nothing he can do and Kenny Larry-supervisor isn't in. (No supervisor is ever in at this store ... customer service, delivery or otherwise! They are always not in yet, in training, they quit or they'll call you back ... which they NEVER do!)

He puts me on hold for 10 minutes and then I'm mysteriously transferrred to Tamera in customer service. She transfers me to Michelle ... who happens to be a manager! She listens to my story and tells me that Devin said Kenny Larry never promised any special time. I don't know how he'd know as the conversation neither involved him (this was arranged through Carlita) nor was Kenny Larry in while I was speaking to Michelle...or was he? Hint ... he won't come to the phone. Nevertheless, I expressed the fact that I have no intention on missing a single minute of my scheduled work day to wait at home for someone who either doesn't show up or doesn't do what they supposedly showed up to do! I have already stayed home all last Saturday and Sunday until 4:00 p.m.! Michelle tells me that she will have George, a service technician, come out on Saturday but that a time frame or "window" cannot be arranged. Although she, (as was Mindy), was helpful, since I can't depend on the people she directs to follow through, i.e. delivery and service techs, I made sure to let her know that I have no intention on paying for this furniture until it is properly assembled. Also, I expect a full refund of the $128.00 delivery/assembly fee, even if it is assembled.

If I have any kind of extended service warranty ... forget it ... it's history...I'd rather negotiate with the manufacturer or hire a carpenter myself! And I will NEVER EVER set foot in a Marlo store again, not to mention, if any ever asks me about my experience with Marlo or where to buy furniture, I will tell them (of my experience). Moreover, if this guy does not show up on Saturday, my husband and I will arrange to have this furniture returned to Marlo and I will then institute legal action to cover any expenses incurred on my part, not to mention for their breach of the sales contract.

Alternatively, G. could hire a carpenter to assemble the furniture, then sue Marlo's in Small Claims Court. On second thought, maybe she should call Bubba. How much worse could it get?

Carla of Bowie, MD, writes (5/9/01):
It all started on March 3,2001 in the Laurel, MD Marlo's Store. I purchased furniture for my family room, kitchen and bedroom. The salesperson (Sonny Do)that I dealt with was very helpful. I explained to him that my fiance and I just bought a house and we were going to close on March 29, 2001 therefore, there would be a change in address. He informed me that would not be a problem especially since they weren't going to get a shipment of the bedroom set I ordered and that as far as the change of address, all I needed to do was call back the Laurel store 2 days before the delivery date which was March 31, 2001 and give the customer svc. dept my new address and everything would be taken care of.

On March 28, 2001 I called the Laurel store and gave them my new address which I was told was now entered into the system. On March 31, 2001 I was expecting to get a confirmation call for delivery as time passed by I started to get worried so I called the Laurel store to find out the status of my delivery and was informed I would be getting my furniture and that it was on the Hyattsville truck. I almost had a heart attack because my new place of residence was Bowie. I told the person that my furniture was NOT supposed to be on that truck, that I had moved and given my new address 3 days ago and I was assured that the furniture would be delivered to the new address. Needless, to say I was IRATE to think I was about to move into my new home and my furniture was going to my old home. Well I was told that I would not be getting a delivery today.

A few hours later a customer svc rep called to find out how my delivery went and was I satisfied with everything. I informed the person on the phone that I never received a delivery because my furniture was on the truck for my old address and that I was very disappointed about the whole situation. Well later on the delivery manager gave me a call and apologized for the mix-up and said due to the fact that Marlo's had screwed up they don't normally make deliveries on Sundays but because I was inconvienced he would get a delivery out to me on Sunday and then he verified my address once again. The next day which was Sunday I received numerous calls from the delivery person in which he kept changing the time he would arrive well he FINALLY arrived at 5pm on Sunday.

Well he first proceeded to bring in the furniture for the family room which consisted of a sofabed and loveseat. He had the loveseat but somehow he said he FORGOT to bring the sofabed and so I would have to contact customer svc on setting up ANOTHER delivery date. Next it was time to bring the furniture in for the kitchen which they did but later on I found out they sent the wrong screws for the wine rack I ordered.

Now it was time for the bedroom furniture. The bedroom furniture consisted of a king-sized canopy bed, 2 night tables and a dressing table drawer. The night table drawers were the first things to be brought up the stairs, next they brought and set up the canopy bed. After the delivery guy (Donald) went downstairs to the truck he asked me to come on the truck for a second because the dressing table was SLIGHTLY damaged and that if I refused to accept it then they would not take it off the truck. Anyway, I got on the truck and was just extremely upset to see the "slightly" damaged dressing table which was actually VERY damaged so I refused the dressing table drawer and was told once again I would have to call the store to place another order and set up another delivery time for damaged furniture which was no mistake of mine.

Well at that point when I realized I was dealing with damaged goods I went back upstairs to my bedroom and checked out the furniture which they had already set up in the bedroom and the night tables were fine but when I took a look at the canopy bed to my surprise the foot board and head board were damaged along with the canopy poles so I brought this to the attention of Donald to which he replied to me that he would inform the store of the damaged bed and that someone in customer svc would contact me on Tuesday because they were closed on Monday (which was a lie because the next day when I called I was told they were open on Monday).

Anyway, no one ever called me and I had to go through the stress and aggravation of calling customer svc all day long to be told that as far as the damaged bed that was in my home they would have to send a svc tech out to inspect the bed before they could give me a new one and the next available appointment was not until April 14, 2001.

Now as far as me getting another delivery for the sofabed that the delivery guy donald forget that date was set up for April 13, 2001 and that was also the date they would bring me another dressing table. I was still pretty upset about the whole incident so I called the Laurel store manager on April 5, 2001, Aaron, who was EXTREMELY USELESS. Well on April 12th I receive a call to confirm the delivery date of the items due to me. Well needless to say once again they had my address INCORRECT so I had to once again give them my new address.

The next day I received the sofabed and they placed it in the family room. After they went back to the truck I went over to inspect the sofabed and to my disbelief they was a BIG HOLE in the sofabed. I just couldn't believe it, this was just RIDICULOUS. When the delivery guys came back I told them they were going to have to take the sofabed out because it was damaged. Fine when I went upstairs to check out the dressing table they bought in guess what? The dressing table drawer was also DAMAGED. This was the second damaged dressing table they brought to my home. I was FURIOUS!

I told the delivery guys that I didn't want it and their response to me was since there was a service tech comiing out tomorrow that they were going to leave it here and let the service tech look at it. Now that is just about the most ridiculous thing I've heard but I'm a petite person and there is no way in hell I could've moved the dressing table down the stairs by myself. I immediately got on the phone and called customer svc who indeed told me the same ****. Well the svc. tech came to the house on Saturday and said he doesn't even know why Marlo's wasted his time because the furniture definitely should've been returned because it was too damaged. He also informed me someone would call me from customer svc on Wednesday to set up a date for the even exchange.

Well at this point I was EXTREMELY ANGRY so on Monday I called the corporate office and asked to speak to someone and was informed to contact either Penny Dean or Brenda Sowell. I left a message for both parties and Penny Dean called me back and said she would try and get everything taken care of. Well the next day April 18th Michelle from customer service called me to inform me the bed and dressing table would not come in until the end of April. Well a few weeks later I received a call that the merchandise was in so I set up a delivery date of April 28th for the even exchange of the Canopy bed and dressing table and I also scheduled a pick up of the loveseat because I was just fed up and decided not to use their furniture to furnish my family room.

On April 28 the canopy bed was even exchanged and that went fine however, no one ever came to pick up the loveseat and I called all day and was told well the truck was still out so not to worry. On Monday April 30 I called customer svc to find out why no one ever came to pick up the loveseat I was returning and I was told by customer svc that the delivery person had written in their notes incorrect address. Now let's be real how many times do I have to give these people my address? The delivery people who even exchanged my canopy bed had the right address so why is it that the delivery guys who came to pick up the loveseat had the incorrect address. Marlo's never ceases to amaze me.

On Monday I also called Penny Dean at the corporate office because I still hadn't received an even exchange for the damaged dressing table that was in my house. Later that day I received a call from Mr. Norbert the operations manager in the Forestville, Md store and he informed me that because I needed a Saturday date for pick up the next available date wouldn't be until May 26, 2001. Yeah ok well fine...not like I had a choice so I said fine but the more I thought about it the angrier I got so I called Penny Dean and left her message informing her this date was not acceptable and that also no one informed me as to when I was going to receive another dressing table. Well later that day Mr. Norbert called me back and said he was informed that they would have to come and pick up the loveseat on May 5th and that they would also bring me another dressing table.

May 5th came and the loveseat was FINALLY picked up and then it came time for the dressing table to be brought into the house. At this point I was used to the crappy svc from Marlo's so I told the delivery guy I wanted to see the dressing table before they unloaded it off the truck because this was about the 4th delivery of this dressing table that I was receiving and with all the other deliveries the merchandise came to my house damaged. Well to make a LONG STORY short the dressing table never made it off the truck because as you guessed it was DAMAGED.

Now is it just me or is this downright RIDICULOUS? I jumped on the phone and I called Mr. Norbert back and all he could say was sorry. I then left a voicemail message for Penny Dean at the corporate office informing her of what went on and I also informed her I was contacting consumer affairs on this matter because at this point it's past ridiculous I have been more than calm with this whole situation. Well on Monday May 7th I called and left ANOTHER message for Penny Dean in the corporate office and I also left a message for her on Tuesday May 8th and have yet to hear from her. On Tuesday May 8th there was a message from Mr. Norbert stating there is going to be a shipment of dressing tables coming in THE END OF JULY. Okay so for an order that I placed since March 3, 2001 now have to wait until the end of July to receive it and who's to say come the end of July the dressing table they bring to my house won't be damaged.

Mary of Silver Spring, MD, writes:
On 2/21/01 I placed an order for a sectional and arranged a pick up date of 3/4/01. I was told the sectional was in stock and that I could pick it up from the warehouse in Forestville. On 2/28 I called the Laurel store and asked if, due to the threat of a blizzard on 3/4 could I arrange pick up the sectional on 3/3 and was told that would be no problem. I was told to call and arrange it with the warehouse, which I did. I was told the sectional was in stock and would be ready anytime after 6pm - that it would be brought up to the floor level at 6pm so when I arrived it would only take minutes to get the furniture.

My husband and I rented a U-haul and arranged to pay a friend $30.00 to help us pick up the furniture. We called on 3/3 to again confirm our arrival before closing time and were told "no problem". We drove 1-1/2 hrs to the warehouse and when we got there waited approximately 1hr-35 minutes for the furniture that was supposed to already have been bought to the warehouse floor, only to be told they did NOT EVEN HAVE THE FURNITURE IN STOCK.

Needless to say, we were not happy -- we were told by the workers that this happens often. The manager did call the Va. store to see if they had it in stock - they only had one piece of it (the gentlemen who spoke were Don Holsendoph and Jack Tribble)- my husband called the Laurel store manager, Mr. Tiegen, who seemed to care less.

We were told we could either cancel the order and get our money back or wait 6-8 weeks for a new delivery. Since we were having a dinner party the following Saturday and had already thrown away our old den furniture neither of these "offers" would work. When asked why we had been sold furniture that was not in stock the question was conveniently avoided. We took our friend home, paid him $30.00, returned the U-haul truck, paid $42.00 for the rental, and returned home 2 hrs later.

The following day we personally went into the Laurel store and spoke with Joel Tiegen. I told him I was very upset but was going to be as polite as I could. I believe I maintained my calm demeanor even with the ridiculous statements made to me, such as Mr. Tiegen's explanation was that "he could not depend on the computers." He then did a computer search and told us the sectional was in the Virginia store and he would deliver it to us "free" for our trouble.

I said it would not be "free delivery" because we already put money out for a rental truck and paid someone to help us, thus we were already out money and travel time in pouring down rain. We also informed him that no, it was not in Virginia, only a piece of it was because we had the warehouse personally check the day before. He ignored my statement and said "but it is there, the computer shows it" to which I replied "so, what you're saying is "the reason you sold me something you didn't have in stock is because you can't depend on the info the computer gives you, but you want me to accept that it is in Virginia according to your computer, regardless that I had a "human being" check it and was told only one part of it was there, and rely on your unreliable computer info?, to which he replied yes!

Mr. Tiegen added insult to injury and obviously took me to be a very unintelligent person,which I am not. I asked Mr.Tiegen if I could buy the sectional from the floor since we were having guests on Saturday and needed a place for them to sit, to which I was told "no". I then asked that he cancel this order, which he did. I then went to the front desk to clear the paperwork, to wit, the gentlemen who did he paperwork was there - he was surprised at our dilemna and asked if we were offered the sectional on the showroom floor and we told him we were told no. I suspect his question meant this could have been done if Mr. Tiegen so desired, but apparently he did not see fit to make Marlo's mistake right with us in any kind of satisfactory way. Further, according to Marlo's purchase agreement with us, if they were going to deliver the furniture and we were not at home to accept delivery they would assess a $29.00 re-stocking fee. Why then did Marlo not assess the same fee on themselves for selling me something they did not have, or offer to refund my expenses since clearly Marlo did not honor the written agreement they had with me by not having the furniture they not only sold me, but gave me a pickup date for?

Jean of Elkridge, MD, writes:
We purchased furniture from this company 2 years ago. A few pieces of the furniture were damaged, and so we attempted to have the damaged pieces exchanged. The pieces damaged are part of a master bedroom set and so we did not want to replace the damaged pieces with furniture from a different set. We wanted to keep the bedroom set all the same.

On several occasions I would call the company to set up a time and date to pick up the damaged furniture and replace it with new furniture. And on several occassions, they would confirm the pick-up the night before, and not show up. I would sit and wait, and not receive a cancellation call or rescheduling call. Marlo would blame me for not calling them in the morning to reconfirm.

I have contacted Managers in Sales, Customer Service, and Corporate Headquarters. Not one person has followed up on my situation, nor contacted me more than once. I believe only one person from their Corporate Headquarters returned my call. This is ridiculous. Why should the customer sit at home and wait all day for furniture that will not get delivered or replaced?

I've gone directly to the stores and am treated rudely and given the run around. At one point we were told that the style of the furniture we had bought was discontinued, but that they had reserved the piece being replaced for us. We have yet to see that piece of furniture. The sales person who sold us the furniture left the company a few months after we had bought the furniture. She never followed up on our purchase, and a another sales person never got in touch with us. We had to contact them. We always contacted them.

Jannette of Bristow, VA:
I have made numerous attempts with Marlo's Customer Service Department (January 12 - January 28, 2001) to resolve this issue. On two separate occasions when I have attempted to escalate the complaint to a Representative's supervisor, I was hung up on. Customer Service's degree of "service" extends only as far as referring all problems and concerns back to the Showroom, who in turn, claim they can do nothing, and transfer me back to Customer Service.

In the last 2 weeks, I have been bounced from Customer Service Department to Showroom - have spoken to the Showroom Manager, the Manager of Operations, and numerous Customer Service Representatives, and I have heard nothing but "I can't help you", "It was someone else's job to do that" or "Someone should have taken care of that for you". The staff must be following the direction and example set by Chris Stevens, Director of Customer Service, who apparently doesn't feel obligated to address customer complaints. I have left messages on 3 different occasions with his representatives and have sent him my complaint via e-mail - all have gone unanswered.

Problems with my account started immediately upon financing. I was left waiting for days while being told that my paperwork was being processed and that I couldn't pick up my furniture, even though it had been paid for, until the proper code was entered in the system. Five days later I received a phone call from Nell at Marlo's Customer Service Dept and was informed that my paperwork was never processed because "someone had neglected to get my signature" on the agreement.

Finally on January 12, I was allowed to pick up my dining room table. After having unpacked it and assembled it, I noticed that there were 3 large gouges in the table and that the base was split completely up the side. I had purchased the extra insurance and was told by my sales person that I would be completely covered for any damage to the furniture. When I called Customer Service, however, I was informed that the insurance did not cover the damaged merchandise and that I had to repack the merchandise and transport it myself back to the showroom for an exchange. I was told repeatedly that this was Marlo's policy and that it was clearly posted in the pick up area. (**This is not written anywhere in the agreement I signed, nor did my salesperson explain this to me, and when I returned on Jan 20th to attempt an exchange, I verified and pointed out to Paul Boroughs, Manager, that this "policy" was not posted anywhere in the pick up area)

On January 20, I returned to the showroom to attempt to exchange my dining room table. I insisted on inspecting all the boxes containing my exchange merchandise. Two separate tables were brought out and both tables contained the same damage as mine - all the bases were completely split up the side. Paul Borouhs, Manager, told me that they had no more tables in stock and would have to order another and that I would have to return later to pick up my exchange. It wasn't until I threatened to close my account with Marlo's and return the poor-quality dining room table,that Paul reluctantly agreed to arrange to have a replacement delivered to my home on Saturday January 27th. I was told that a driver would be calling to confirm the delivery time.

On January 27th I still had not heard from any driver, so I called the Customer Service Dept to verify that my furniture would be delivered that afternoon. I was told by Anita that "sometimes the drivers get lazy and don't like to call customers". Anita verified that the computer order indicated that my table was to be delivered in the comment section, but that the wrong code of "customer pick up" had been mistakenly entered and that there was nothing she could do. I was transferred to the Showroom and was instructed to ask for the Store Manager, who transferred me to the Manager of Operations, who transferred me back to Customer Service, who told me that only Paul could fix the problem, and that Paul wasn't there. Two hours later, after having left an irate message on Paul's pager, I heard from Paul, who claimed no recollection or knowledge of having ever helped me.

To date, I still have no closure on this issue -my merchandise has been paid in full for over 2 weeks and I have yet to receive my table. I have no confidence in the quality of product or service that Marlo Furniture claims to offer its customers. I would appreciate any assistance you can offer with this matter.

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