There is no doubt I’m remodeling on a budget. Even before the house was mine, I was comparing the prices of necessities down to the penny. Keep in mind I’m trying to get the entire remodel complete on the Obama “first-time home buyer credit,” which takes 2-3 months to arrive in my mailbox. That being said, 0% financing is extremely important to me and my budget.
There was only one thing I really really wanted for the new house. My only splurge. It’s something I’ve wanted for years but never could justify spending: a sectional couch. About a month ago I was strolling through American Signature Furniture and came across a beautiful sectional for an incredible price (a total “aha” moment for you repeat readers).
It was such a good deal I couldn’t look away. I sprawled out on the couch, tested the length, estimated the number of guests that could all sit at once (6) and drew out a diagram for the best fit in my living room on graph paper. I was completely sold. Chris, the attentive and patient salesman, informed me that the couch was on backorder due to its popularity which was fine since I didn’t have the house yet anyway. But to lock it in at that price I needed to submit 10% down, with a guaranteed full refund for any reason. No problem. Oh, guess what else? He said I would get 12 months no interest. Perfect!
It’s been over a month. I’ve closed on my house and the living room is the only room in the house fit for furniture in its current state. I stopped by ASF after work with Lauren to purchase the couch, finally. Chris wasn’t in so someone else stepped in to help. To say that she was less than helpful is an understatement. We discussed the couch and she assured me of the guaranteed purchase price. As I handed her my completed ASF credit card application, she informed me that I needed to spend $1,000 to get the 12 months interest free. I told her Chris never said that, but she assured me that he made a mistake (she said that’s “a 101 mistake”) and I would still qualify for 6 months 0% interest. I mulled it over with Lauren and we decided that it was still worth the purchase.
The saleswoman ran my credit and informed me that I was approved. Wonderful. Then she added that I needed to spend $700 to get the free 6 months. W-wh-what? My couch is only $577. I’m not spending $700. I’m spending $577. She said that Chris should’ve told me about the $700 minimum for the deal. Woman, Chris is not here. YOU are here. YOU have now made the “101 mistake” by not informing your customer. I was livid. Lauren was shocked. Then the woman had the nerve to ask me if I needed anything else like a coffee table or an area rug. She knew what she did! And now she was trying to up-sell me!? She brought out the manager who told me there was nothing that could be done. I either had to spend the $700 or pay the $577 outright.
I did what any tightly wound 24-year-old girl would do in the same situation. I called my mom. She laughed and assured me that there will be another “perfect couch” and that I should just get my money back. That was exactly what I wanted to hear. They refunded me 100% no problem, so then I just needed them to go ahead and close out the account, you know, erase everything they just did. “No can do.” In a calm yet aggravated voice, I went toe-to-toe with the saleswoman who marched me to the customer service desk. According to them, nothing could be done.
At this point I should mention that when I first started buying for the house, a woman at Home Depot told me I would get 0% interest for 12 months when I opened the card. She was misinformed, it should’ve been for 6 months, but because she told me that the store honored her word. Why is Home Depot capable of making these arrangements and a store like American Signature Furniture isn’t? I’ll be writing their corporate office tomorrow. To be continued…
My Quarterlife Crisis 
Nice couch (but you will find a better one someday, there are many more out there.) And… where are the pics of your sales help from that day? 😉
I’ve been to that store, and had no problem at all. However, you just learned a “life-lesson”. Sorry. Something we all go through sometime. (the lesson, I mean). I haven’t read on — did you get to return the couch??
Never officially bought it. Just got stuck with the credit card, which I quickly canceled. What a pain!
To whom it may concern: If you had a bad experience, go straight to the store and make your comments, but, I don’t appretiate people like you make bad remarks with American Signature. I had the best service and the best furniture. Everyone that comes to my home say how beautiful and how comfortable your American Signature is. I don’t appretiate that you put a store down because an individual ruin your order. I bought my furniture at American Signature in Sunrise, FL (yes, in Sawgrass Mall) and I absolutely with my eyes close recommend them. They even sent me a thank you note for Thanksgiving. Wow what great service!!
I’m thrilled that you had a great experience! Since my experience with American Signature Furniture was so terrible, I have never and will never set foot in that store again, nor will I recommend it to anyone I know. Not only is that particular store (on Cobb Pkwy in Smyrna, GA) such a travesty, but when I called the “corporate number” all it would let me do is leave a voicemail. I felt like I was in Oz. Apparently the corporate office sent my voicemail to the store that gave me the grief, and I heard from that store manager a few days later. No one at the corporate office would even take time to respond to me! The disgruntled customer! Who does that?! The manager apologized that I wasn’t given proper information but she was “unable” to do anything about it.
You definitely shouldn’t take my post personally, but American Signature Furniture should. They should be more in touch with their consumers and better educate their employees.
I absolutely agree with Jenni B! She has every right to turned off. They should better educate their employees with their lending policies OR, at the very least, be able to undo THEIR mistake. While she received her money back, no financially savvy person wants an unnecessary credit application transacted unless there is a reason valid reason for it to go through….based on the information given by the sales person. Everyone should share their experiences, so others can make a balanced and informed, by the consumer if need be, decision.
The person who responded, loving AS, was more than likely a corporate person. So just ignore it and say what you feel……..
Jennib,
I manage an ASF store in SW FL and I just came across this post as I surfed on my day off.
Can’t agree with you more. One of my managers years ago said “I don’t care what you said or didn’t say to a customer, I only care about what they understood. It’s your job to make sure they know what to expect.” I try to live by that advice but it isn’t always easy to get everyone on the same page. lol. While I offer no excuses for the associates you dealt with in your local store, I can tell you that our owners care deeply about customer satisfaction. We as employees hear the message, “take care of our customers” all the time. Corp contact Is referred back to local stores because 95% of the time the local manager has not had an opportunity to speak to customer. If anyone isn’t satisfied with local help they are encouraged to email corp explaining the outcome and asking for more help. We want you to be a “life long” customer, not a one time customer. Sometimes we can’t control the bank that provides our customers credit or make up for associates that didn’t explain the details, but usually we can find ways to make a customer happy. I hope you ll give us another chance some day. We are one of the only large furniture retailers that offer refunds, while others say store credit only or charge customers cancellation fees. This speaks to our goal of satisfying our customers. Again sorry that we disappointed you. We are a very large family run business and every one of the owners say the same thing, the customer is to be taken care of always. I hope to have you back as a customer someday. We do provide great values and our intentions are good, but we do miss the mark sometimes. Thanks for your time.
“Missing the mark” is apparently also an understatement with these people, and I am also in SW Florida. My husband and I purchased a whole entire living room set for $1400….great deal, right? Nope. One month after getting it (January 2012) the furniture kept coming apart at the seams. ALL of it. They apologized and it took them quite some time to get a service tech to my house to restitch the fabric. Ok. Done, right? No again. Two weeks later, it started coming apart again, and a piece of wood in the recliner came undone, making it crooked. I found out when I called, after notifying them on Facebook, that the furniture was discontinued and we could re-select our furniture at the same price we paid or wait for it to be fixed. AGAIN, it took months. They FINALLY came back in September and did absolutely nothing. I had to call them AGAIN two months later and get an attitude. They came, they took my couch to repair it, it took a couple weeks. I was informed that when they brought the couch back, it would be another MONTH before they could get the loveseat since they are so far behind on repairs. Ummmm if I had known that a furniture shop had a month’s worth of repairs in their warehouse, I NEVER would have purchased furniture from them. We are sorry we did. This place has given me nothing but the run-around, the “We will call you back” and “you fell through the cracks.” Since once again, I have heard NOTHING, I am just chalking this up to them not caring about their customers or service. I’m done calling and getting upset. We will just buy furniture from somewhere else from now on. Horrible service and products. At least we learned a lesson.