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Hello, 

I wanted to follow up on my case and tell you what happened after my first delivery experience and how  Ashley furniture handled my case. I know it looks too much, and I agree with that. I shouldn’t have this much trouble just getting my furniture. I paid everything in full for brand new furniture with a professional service. But the experiences I had are far from being professional. Please read patiently and see how things escalate, how Ashley furniture handles them, and how a simple delivery could become a disaster. 

After sharing my first delivery experience, I talked to many people; store manager Angel, NJ home delivery manager Peter, NJ regional manager Alijah. I spent at least one hour with each of them. All of them listened to me patiently and seemed to be very understanding. They all said sorry and apologized for what happened and promised me to take care of this situation. 

Meeting with Alijah – On September 22, Wednesday

After talking to Alijah on the phone for about an hour, he wanted to meet me in the store. The next day I met him, and we talked about the following things.

-Alijah offered me a $1000 refund (and $1000 worth of free sofa upgrade upon my request). 

-The store manager Angel and Alijah promised me that they would talk to the delivery department to ensure that my next delivery would go without a problem. They said I would get brand new furniture with no defect. 

-Angel told me to wait five business days to get my $1000 refund. I told him that I still hadn’t gotten the $1400 refund from the first original order even after six business days had passed already. He told me he would combine both refunds and follow up with the accounting department to be sure that I would get my refund within 5 business days. 

-Angel and Alijah also promised that they would follow up with the emails I sent regarding the damages.

After meeting with Alijag, I met with Angel multiple times on the following days to decide on the second delivery date. He confirmed that the TV set, sectional, and bedroom sets are available in stock and can be delivered on October 2. Also stated that the dining table is not available and might be available mid-October. I said okay and accepted to get everything.

Unexpected delivery date change

Before the delivery date, I have received multiple confirmation emails, texts, voice calls, messages, and actual calls from the Ashly furniture’s delivery confirmation system. I replied to all of them and confirmed the delivery date as October 2. 

After all those confirmations, while waiting for the second delivery, I received a call on September 26. Someone from customer service called me and wanted to confirm our delivery date as October 4. I was in the middle of shopping, and since I had already confirmed this date multiple times before, I said okay and hunged up the phone. A few minutes after this conversation, I received an email showing my delivery date as October 4. Then I realized that the delivery date had been changed from October 2 to October 4. I called the same number immediately to talk to the same person, but it was someone else. I tried explaining the situation and correcting the delivery date. Still, they kept saying there was no delivery truck available on that date, and they couldn’t do anything to change it. I got frustrated and texted Angel. It was a Sunday, and Angel was off that day. He said he would fix this problem the next day. The next day on Monday, somehow, he changed the delivery date back to October 2.

Refund reminder – September 29

After completing the second five-business-day period, I still didn’t receive any refund. I sent a text reminder to Angel but got no response. I had to go to the store again to remind him. He said he would send a reminder to the responsible person and recommended waiting for 2-3 more business days. I had no option but said yes and wait.

Delivery attempt 2 – October 2, Saturday

The delivery team came around 3 PM. This team was very professional and careful with the furniture. I was expecting to get an entire bedroom set, sectional sofa, and the TV entertainment set in this delivery. Everything was supposed to be brand new without defects. Because this is what I was promised by all the people that I talked to so far. But this is what I got instead.

-Although all four sectional pieces were in plastic wrap, two had an issue at the bottom on their dust covers. The dust covers had a lot of dirt, and there were signs of wear, and at one place was ripped a little bit. I wanted to return those two pieces, but my wife insisted on keeping them, and honestly, I was so tired of everything. I said okay and agreed to keep that two pieces as is. 

-As for the TV entertainment set. Out of 5 pieces, two were not brand new(1 tower and one tv stand base). They were even the same pieces from the first delivery and had the same defects. Ashley furniture tried to fix them, wrapped them in a blue blanket, and sent them back to me as a brand new item. Thanks to the first delivery team, they left the broken piece in the parking lot. I used that broken piece to prove that these two items were the same from the first delivery. I kept the three brand-new items (1 tower, bridge, heater ) and returned the other two items. I returned them not just because they were not brand new or the same furniture from the first delivery. I returned them because the tower had a visible scratch on the inside wall and the TV stand was still missing the broken pieces at the bottom of it. At that point, I was so tired of everything. I just wanted to get what I paid for and move on. 

– The Bedroom set was good with zero issues. So this made us a little happier. 

Store visit to discuss 2nd delivery incidents – October, 3rd

I went to the store right after the 2nd delivery team left. I met with angel and explained what had happened earlier. He apologized and said he didn’t know why they would send us those defective items from the first delivery. He checked the inventory and said the TV stand items are in stock, and they can do another delivery on October 7. I agreed on the delivery date and left the store.

Unexpected delivery date change – October, 4th

Following days I had 6-7 multiple delivery confirmations for October 7, and I confirmed all of them as I have done before. Then on October 4, I got a call from customer service around 11:50 AM when I was at work. This person was a female who introduced herself as “Kay.” She told me that my October, 7th delivery had been canceled due to no availability. She said now I will have to wait until December. I tried to explain my case to her. I told her that the inventory was checked and confirmed by the store manager, Angle. Then our date was scheduled by Angel. Also, this date has been confirmed multiple times by Ashley’s delivery system. How come nobody saw this unavailability and confirmed the delivery date, and how come all of a sudden, this change occurred. She said she couldn’t do anything and recommended contacting the store with an attitude. Then the following conversation occurred between us. The discussion below may not be word by word correct, but it will give you the main idea.

• I asked her last name to refer her later on this report. 
• She said, “I can’t provide it to you because of privacy.” 
• I said okay and asked for her email address. 
• She said,” I can’t provide that information either.”
• I requested her to connect me to her manager.
• She said, “this is not a matter that requires my manager to be involved, so I can’t do it. “
• A second time, I asked for a manager to confirm that she didn’t want to connect me to the manager, and she refused it again.
• I told her that I would complain about this conversation and ask the manager for the third time.
• She said, ” go ahead and do it.”

Right after that phone conversation, I felt so frustrated and disrespected. I was at work, and I couldn’t focus on work after. I don’t want to give more details about my feelings, but you may guess how my time went at work after that conversation. I am sure you had one of those days before for different reasons. 

After work, I went straight to the store to talk to Angel to understand what was happening. After explaining everything that happened to me, he checked on my records in the system. After that phone conversation, he said a note was left saying that “delivery date not canceled, don’t do anything.” He also noted that “Kay” left a memo of our conversation and signed it as “km2”. 

Angel recommended not to do anything and wait until he checks on my delivery date with the warehouse. He also said he would report “Kay” regarding her unacceptable and unprofessional attitude towards me. I said okay and left the store. Later on, Angel let me know that my delivery date got set back to October 7 again. 

Fighting for my refund – Same day, October 4

Since I was in the store and still haven’t received the $2400 refund yet, I wanted to follow up with that. When I asked about the refund, I was told that there must have been a mistake, and they would call the accounting department and remind them. I told them I was tired of hearing it. I waited more than 13-14 business days and requested to talk to the person in charge by myself. They refused it, and I insisted, and I got refused again, but they said they would send me a refund receipt the same day or the next day. 

During this conversation, I got so emotional because of all these happening to me. My eyes got teary, and I was almost going to cry. I started stuttering, told Angel that I couldn’t take it anymore. I asked him to take care of this issue and left the store. At that moment, I decided to share my story as much as people I could. Instead of just writing a one-star google review, I planned to make a website, a blog to share my story, and maybe a place for people to share their stories. 

Delivery attempt 3 – October 7, Thursday

During this delivery, we received a brand-new tower and TV stand. They unpacked them in front of me and put them inside the house. While I thought nothing went wrong this time, they said they were done with the delivery and wanted to leave for another delivery without setting up our TV set. Then I found myself another in another problem. 

They claimed that setting up the TV station was the 2nd delivery team’s responsibility, and they were only here to deliver the two missing pieces.

I told them the other delivery team didn’t set up anything because the TV stand was missing pieces. We argued a lot, and they called the dispatch. After that phone call, I was unsure what changed their mind, but they decided to stay 15 more minutes to set up the TV stand. After they finished, they just left. I didn’t get to sign anything because they were upset that they had to stay and were forced to set up the TV stand. Once they were done, they just took off quickly. 

Broken pieces and phone call – October 7, Thursday

Little after they left, I realized that the 3 of the glass self holders were broken. I took the broken pieces and went straight to the store and talked to Angel. 

While I was on my way to the store, I got a call from Ashley customer service. It was a very brief conversation. She just said 

• Hello, I am calling from Ashley customer service. Did you receive a furniture delivery? 

As soon as I said “yes,” she thanked me and just hung up the phone. She didn’t explain anything at all! Since she didn’t take her time to explain why she called me, I can only guess that the delivery team didn’t get my signature, and she wanted to confirm on the phone. The way she spoke to me and her attitude made me think she was “Kay,” and she sounded like her too. 

After that phone call full of attitude and rudeness, I started to think that the whole Ashley furniture delivery department knew and hated me because I caused trouble. I felt so exhausted from all this unnecessary, unfortunate series of problems I have been going through.

When I got to the store, I had a short meeting with Angel and told him what happened during the 3rd delivery, phone call, and how I felt about it. He again apologized. Then I told him about the broken pegs, and we tried to find the replacement shelf pegs. He didn’t have any extra pegs, so we took 3 of them from the floor sample in the store. 

Broken and stuck shelf-pegs

I got home with those replacement pegs. I replaced two of them quickly. But, I realized that one of the pegs had been broken completely and a small piece of it was left inside the tiny hole where the peg goes in. It was impossible to take it out by hand simply because there was no peace to hold. I am writing the trouble that I went through here but, I had to find a drill and particular drill bit to take out that small piece from that hole.

Undelivered dining table and non resolved claims

We still haven’t heard anything from anyone regarding my claims regarding the damages from the first delivery and our dining table. Even though I sent multiple emails and Angel sent numerous follow-up emails, no one responded yet. I don’t know what else to do! They broke the building lamp and left a small hole on the wall in my apartment. 

As for the dining table, when I scheduled the second delivery on September 22, Angel told me the dining table was out of stock and available in mid-October. I called Angel on October 14 to check, and he said they still don’t have the table. It will be almost one month in a few days, and we still don’t have our table, and who knows when we will get it.  

Final thoughts…

• After my conversations with management-level people, I believed what happened at the first delivery was the delivery team’s mistake. And Ashley furniture would take this case seriously and take the necessary steps to solve it. What I realized is, what happened to me has been happening to a lot of people. My disaster furniture experience is just a minor customer issue and requires no special attention, no matter what happens. 
• The only professionalism you see is when you select your furniture in the store until you make the payment. After that, it might be the beginning of a series of horrible experiences. You need to be so lucky to get your furniture on time as promised without any issues. 
• In case of any problem, no one takes responsibility. Everyone points out to someone else, which leads to nothing at the end. Almost everyone keeps apologizing and throws uncertain promises.  
• Things are so uncertain; anything can happen anytime. You can never be sure about anything and make any plans until you see your furniture delivered in your place in one piece.
• Some people who work in the delivery department, including the delivery teams, dispatch, and customer service, are so rude, and they are ruining Ashley furniture’s remaining reputation.

Probably I will not walk by Ashley furniture’s door ever again if I don’t have to. I will also tell my story to as many people as I can. I am going to reach state and national-level company managers. I have already set up the website. dontbuyashleyfurniture.com Now, my goal is to advertise this website anywhere I see on the internet and social media. I will contact influencers, create a subtopic on Reddit, forums, ask for people’s help to spread my experience. Even I will try getting local news channels involved too. You see, now I am genuinely convinced that nobody cares about the customers at Ashley furniture, and I want people to know about my story and others through that website. I feel highly mistreated and disrespected and what happened to me is not fair. 

Welcome to the blog. You will read about my life’s worst experience ever.

It was so bad that it led me to create this website and share it with the public.

Here is the first part…

Hello,
I want to share my furniture delivery experience with you. I try to write it without any comments as they occurred and leave it up to your decision. 
I placed my order from the Ashley Furniture Fairfield branch on 9/11/21 in the amount of $8,551.15. I paid for everything in full. In my order, I had a complete bedroom set, sectional sofa, dining table, and TV stand in my order. You can find the details of my order in the attached file. Because of what I am going to explain to you now, I had to return all of the furniture and cancel my order. There are many incidents that happened during the delivery and I explained each incident separately.

• 1) The delivery truck arrived at 11:58 AM on 9/20/21 Monday, and they checked out my apartment first. Then they started unloading the furniture and carrying them into my place. While they were working, they were recklessly working. When I saw the bottom of the tv stand was broken, I warned them. They told me this came from the factory like that; then they started moving the sectional sofa. While they were carrying the sofa, they broke the lamp inside of the building. After this, I just told them to be more careful with the furniture. Then they called the dispatcher, requested someone speaking Spanish, and complained about the incident. I also wanted to talk to the dispatch and asked what they said. She said the delivery guys reported the pieces are big and they don’t go through the stairs. I told the dispatch there was only one big piece, and it was already in the apartment. The other parts are not that big and can easily be carried. I requested the delivery to be completed. The dispatch talked to them in Spanish, and they continued working. This was the first incident.
• 2) The second incident. When they carried the second piece of the sectional sofa. The driver started unpacking the sofa with a utility knife and cut the sofa by accident. I showed him that he cut the sofa and told him to be more careful because now I have to return the sofa and wait until the next delivery date. He insisted that the sofa came like this from the factory. I showed him the matching pattern of the cut and cardboard and he got convinced that he cut it and said sorry.
• 3) The third incident. When they moved the tv stand base in the apartment, they said it had scratches on the side of it. I told them it was okay because side stands will be covering it. But, while they were carrying one of the side-stands into the apartment, they broke the glasses inside of it. When I saw that, I started recording it and told them to be more careful. Their response was, “it came like this from the factory”. At that moment, I wanted all the tv stand to be returned.

• 4) The fourth incident. When they started opening the dining table’s chairs, they asked if anything was wrong with them. I told them those were not the same table chairs that we ordered. Then they said they brought the wrong dining table and would take them back. 

• 5) Meanwhile, they had already installed the queen bed and the dresses with the mirror. After all these things happened, I wanted to check on the bedroom set and found out one of the drawers was broken. After that moment, I got frustrated and told them to take everything back in the truck. I called customer service and reported what happened. I explained everything exactly the way I explained here, and they said they took notes of the incident.(Later when I visited the store, I figured all my statements have been altered and have been summarized as all the furniture came broken from the factory)

• 6) I asked the dispatch to tell the delivery guys to clear the broken window pieces from the stairs, and I also personally requested them to clean. (Later, I figured that instead of cleaning the glass pieces, they swept everything away and scattered them on the parking lot and the asphalt in front of the building. Since they could puncture tires, I had to take care of them and it took me 20 minutes to clean all those broken pieces.)

• 7) Also, when my wife and I were outside by the truck, because one of the furniture packs wasn’t secured well, it fell from the back of the truck and landed right next to my wife. Luckily nothing happened, but this could have lead to a more severe issue. 

• 8) While trying to solve these problems,  the delivery guys were constantly speaking Spanish to each other. When I asked them to speak English, one of them said “it is not my problem, that you don’t speak Spanish”. I had to use a Spanish transcribe app and trying to understand what they said. Although I could only take one screenshot of their conversations, I noticed that they were using profanity about me. I found this so disrespectful and felt so offended.
• 9) I was told to sign “Refuse” on the delivery papers by the customer service rep. since I didn’t accept the furniture. When I see the delivery guys packed and leaving, I want to talk to them and ask about the paperwork. They said nothing need to be signed and took off while I wanted to record them as proof. 

In this google shared drive, you can find video and pictures evidence of my miserable delivery experience. My wife and I had been waiting for this furniture for a long time. We ended up having no furniture but full of frustration, anxiety, disrespect, headache, time loss, and a plain sorry from Ashley’s store manager and customer service. I am a very reasonable person; I would accept and say nothing to a few unexpected accidents or minor scratches during delivery. But, having this many incidents is way too much for me. I have never seen an unprofessional service like this from a big corporate company before. This is unacceptable. Even the delivery guys work as a contractor for Ashley Furniture; I still hold Ashley Furniture responsible for everything that happened today. The store manager said he is limited to doing anything and recommended I escalate this matter. After reading all that happened to us today, I hope you can relate a little and feel what I am feeling now.
Regards.