Whisper or Shout

January 31st, 2009 by Romelda

For over two weeks this month I have been trying to get some customer service from furniture SuperStore, The Brick. Back in September we were shopping for a headboard for our kingsize bed. We told the sales guy we had a metal frame, and did NOT want rails and a footboard….just the headboard. He showed us several models that came in king, and assured us that they didn’t require the rails and footboard.

 This is where I take it at face value that the sales guy would know what the hell he was talking about and trying to sell us – after all he is the only sales guys working on “Sleep Street” (they have the store all laid out like a neighbourhood with aisles being named for streets complete with a life-sized replica of a GreenPark Home all decked out right in the middle of the store). Note to self: don’t assume sales guy knows what he is talking about. I should have listened to my gut instinct when those pesky “red flags” came up for me – like when he had trouble finding the actual SKU numbers in the online database…well in fact he had trouble even logging on. Once he confirmed that the one we chose did come in King, I explained to him that because our insurance company was likely replacing two recliners we had purchased originally from The Brick, we would want to have the headboard delivered at the same time as the chairs. So, I agreed to put a deposit of $50 on the headboard using my debit card so they could hold the headboard – red flag number two came when we had to go to no fewer than five computer terminals to use a debit machine, as for some reason NONE of them worked – I believe it was operator malfunction. Then he had to print out the invoice, and yes, red flag number three came and slapped me across the face when he had to go to yet another terminal to get the damn thing to print the invoice. This whole process took over an hour. An hour for 50 bucks…sheesh.

So, in the end, the chairs were delivered right from The Brick to us and we had to have the headboard delivered just this month separately. The delivery guys arrived and took the headboard out of its packaging and I notice immediately that the feet of the headboard have only slat grooves for attaching rails and NOT holes for bolts. I am emphatic with the delivery guy stating that I think they have delivered the wrong headboard as the one we bought was able to attach to the metal frame of the bed, not for rails. The delivery guy shoots up a massive red flag for me…he says (in a middle european accent I can’t quite place) “it is right one – you drill holes for the bolts yourself.” Did I hear him correctly? I drill the holes myself? I ask him again “are you absolutely positive that it will fit the bedframe?” Again he assures me, yes. I say to him “because I don’t want to put a frame together and go to attach a headboard and find out it doesn’t fit, and have to deal with returning it now that the packaging is off and wrecked etc.” See, the fact I even thought about having to return it was my instinct screaming at me….“don’t do it, don’t accept the delivery. No one has to drill their own holes to attach a headboard, that’s ridiculous!” 

But I didn’t listen to the screaming. I liked the headboard enough and was reassured about three times by the delivery guy it would be fine, all the time rationalizing in my head that surely headboards are a universal size, and whether it was for rails or not, it would be a common size. You can see where this is going, can’t you? … Well, I am here to tell you that no, headboards are not a universal size. We go to put the headboard up to measure for the holes, and well damnit “I TOLD YOU SO!” screamed my gut instinct, right in my face, then it stuck out its tongue! About 2 inches too wide the headboard was. There was no way in hell it was going to fit. Piss me right off! I hate when I am right and don’t listen to myself!

Immediately, I call the Customer Service at The Brick. I get a nice enough person on the line, and I explain the situation…the explosion, the deposit, the sales guy’s incompetence and assurance it was fine, the delivery guy’s assurances, and the fact I now have a headboard that doesn’t fit, through no fault of my own. I explain that I need them to come and get the headboard. The woman on the phone says they can’t do that and offers me the following rhetoric several times… “The Brick has a no returns policy.”  Excuse me? A “no returns policy”? And that is my problem how exactly? I try to be patient and nice about the whole situation, and she gives me the same line again after I tell her that The Brick‘s lack of return policy has actually no bearing on the situation because I was sold something by The Brick’s staff who shouldn’t have sold it to me in the first place, so how is it that the same store can impose a “no returns policy” on a product I never should have been sold. I basically told her that there was only one solution that would be acceptable, and that was sending a truck over to pick up the headboard and crediting our Brick Card. She said she would have to investigate and speak with the sales guy who sold me the damn thing (what for I am not sure – he could barely run the debit machine – did she think he was going to recall the actual sale?), and call me back, which she promised to do the following day. Red Flag! 

About a week later I ended up calling customer service back – no surprise there! The original person is unavailable, so I speak with Mike. I explain the whole damn situation over again, and again I get the same “no returns policy” rhetoric, and again I politely and emphatically tell him that forcing me to follow a no returns policy because some sales guy sold me a product I never should have been sold was utter crap. I again requested they come and get the headboard, which was now taking up precious space leaning against the bedroom wall. He again said he had to speak with the sales guy. Red Flag!!!! To which I said “look, whether or not he remembers making the lousy sale is irrelevant…because I have a headboard which is useless and needs to go back whether The Brick likes it or not.” He assures me he is going to do everything he can and to speak to a manager, and of course, call me back with some answers. Red Flag!

Another week, and I again have to call them. I get Christina, who at this point is behind the eight ball from the outset and probably wishes she didn’t pick up the phone. I explain that this is my third call, and I am going to blow a gasket if she even mentions the “no return policy”, and they need to come and get this damn headboard out of my bedroom with the first truck out the next day of deliveries. She is brave enough to actually remind me of The Brick’s “no return policy” and acts rather shocked at my lack of service received to date, but she agrees to speak to a manager about picking up the headboard and will “call me back”. Red Flag! 

This time, I actually do get a call back. And Christina explains that against their “no returns policy” they will take the headboard back. I say “fabulous!, when can they come and get it?” She then informs me that the return of the headboard is conditional upon us purchasing a different headboard. What the (insert your favourite expletive here)? Red Flag! She calmly explains that unless there is a delivery of a new headboard out to my address in the computer they will not send a truck to pick up the headboard…essentially they want to send a truck to make a switch not a pick up. To this I nearly do blow a gasket. I try to explain to Christina that I have looked online for a king headboard that is not part of a rail/footboard set, and found nothing. She tells me they have “hundreds” in the store, and I should come into the store and choose. So, in order to get the headboard out of our place, we have to go to the store to buy a new one, and they won’t schedule pick up unless we buy a new one – talk about being held hostage. 

 We call friends to take us to The Brick SuperStore in Scarborough, where we’ve been instructed to go immediately to Customer Service, give them our phone number and they would get a “knowledgeable” sales person to help us find a headboard. We spend about 15 minutes waiting for service. We read some B.S. slogan on their back wall “Our commitment is to our customer.” Finally, a sales rep takes us to the bed displays, and we are shown three headboards that will fit a metal frame and come in kingsize. Wow, three headboards. Now, that’s choice! (two were the same model, just different finishes!) Neither were what we wanted, one didn’t come in the black/brown finish we needed and the one that came in a dark brown (still not the right colour) was poorly made and not at all the style we wanted. Ok, so now what? Back to the Customer Service (I use that word loosely) desk. Our friends continue to wait for us, patiently, as we’re running close to an hour in the store so far. We basically demand from the staff that we are not taking the one headboard which when we bought the first one we didn’t select, and that they need to schedule a pick up, take the charge off the credit card and let us get the hell outta there, returns policy or “no returns policy.” They really don’t want to. But we persist and they begrudgingly begin the process. It’s about time! This should have been done weeks ago…the day after it was delivered.

While Heather deals with the service rep about the charge on the card, my friends and I discuss how ridiculous this whole hour has been. We deduce that essentially everything one buys from The Brick is “as is,” and joke about the logic behind having an “as is” section in the store – it’s laughable. And, to top it all off, every single customer who walks in that store and buys something, is completely unaware that they can’t return what they are buying. The sales guy never made us aware of this lack of ability to return purchases. Nor did they disclose this fact when we purchased our red leather recliners from The Brick in Feb. 2007.

I concluded also that this “no returns policy” is precisely the reason that they have all those crazy price reducing sales and amazing deals and delayed payments with The Brick card purchases. It’s to get the customers into the store and then trap them once they’re sold on an item, and the poor unsuspecting customer buys the item and when they get it home and its not right, for example, that is when the “no returns policy” is disclosed to them. The Brick knows that everything they sell goes out the doors never to come back, no refunds to credit essentially – since they basically were going to force me into a purchase in order to return the headboard – it was a complete win for them. They rarely would ever have to refund a thing. Pure profit. Sure, they have warranty. But anything you buy from there, the first year’s warranty is actually the manufacturer’s warranty, and you pay for any extended warranty from The Brick – even more profit. The Brick essentially washes their hands of any responsibility.

Lesson learned, but at a big cost. Time, stress, frustration, and now The Brick lost us as customers. And hopefully with this warning and retelling of the experience with The Brick, it will stop many new unsuspecting customers from being lured into this trap. Shop elsewhere…no price deal or pay delay is worth the pain of the trap (or having to gnaw your leg off to get out of it) once it snaps shut at the check out.