I've been a loyal Aaron's customer for several years and have purchased and paid off multiple pieces of furniture through this location. I've always loved the quality of the furniture and, until recently, the service as well. Unfortunately, my most recent experience with the store manager, Noelle, was extremely unprofessional and disappointing.
After a private family situation that damaged some of our previous furniture, I ordered a new living room set and bedroom set online. The day of delivery, the store called and said there had been an emergency and they would have to cancel my delivery and reschedule it for the following week. I explained that we could not go without furniture for a week and that we needed to find another solution. The manager, Noelle, then stated something along the lines of, "Well, I guess I'll have to deliver it then, even though I'm a woman."
When the furniture was delivered, my husband helped carry the heavier pieces so that she wouldn't have to -- he would never expect a woman to lift heavy items alone. After the setup, Noelle came in to have me sign the contract and delivery papers. While doing so, she began asking intrusive questions in front of my children, saying things like, "Why are y'all ordering this furniture before y'all move?" and following with, "We're going to have to move it for y'all so we can see where you live -- I feel like y'all could have waited."
During this same conversation, she also said several times, "I'm not supposed to leave the store. I'm not supposed to leave the store for more than two hours, but I came here to do this because y'all can't wait." This was said in a tone that came across as frustrated and condescending. Her comments were completely unprofessional and unnecessary -- especially given that my children were present and that I was already handling a difficult personal situation following a break-in.
Then, on November 6th, my husband received a call from Noelle stating that I had missed a payment and that if she didn't hear from me by the end of the day, someone would be sent to pick up the furniture. When I checked my account, I saw that my Easy Pay had not gone through because my card was temporarily locked. I immediately called the store to make the payment.
Noelle answered the phone, and when I began to explain, she interrupted and said, "Well, it's not going to let you make a payment online for the weekly -- you have to pay for the full month because you also missed last month's payment." I told her that my contract clearly stated that my first payment was due on November 1st, and that my furniture hadn't even been delivered until late October, so there was no "last month's payment" to miss. Instead of acknowledging that, she became increasingly rude and condescending, saying she would "fix it just this one time."
At that point to try and understand if maybe she was just having a bad day and that was the cause of her unnecessary lack of professionalism, I told her, "Ma'am, I don't know if it's just me or if it's you, but since I've been on this phone call you've been extremely rude, and I'm going to need you to dial it down." She shouted back, "No, that's just you." I then explained, "No ma'am, I don't think it is. You were extremely rude in my house when you delivered the furniture, you were rude during that entire process, and you're being rude again now."
When I mentioned that she had questioned me in my home about why I bought furniture before moving, she began screaming, "It is my business! It is my business because I have to move it!" Every attempt I made to calmly de-escalate was met with more hostility. Finally, I said, "Ma'am, you need to take this payment and be done." She processed the payment and replied, "Okay, let me process this so you can get on and have a great rest of your day."
I want to note that I've had wonderful experiences with other employees at this location -- Kat and a few others have always been professional, kind, and helpful. My issue is specifically with this manager's repeated unprofessional behavior and tone. read more
