I had a terrible consumer experience in the Ashley's Home Store Outlet in Salem, Oregon. Anybody that knows me knows that I do not complain a lot and that I have much patience for long lines and busy stores. But this experience takes the cake.
I walked in to the store hoping to buy a silk plant. I was met at the front of the store by a salesman named Ramon. He asked me what I was looking for and I told him. He asked me if I had ever been to the store and if so, if I recall the name of the sales rep I worked with before. After I told him "No", he said I could look around and if I found some thing I liked or had any questions to ask for him. I looked for about 15 minutes and found a beautiful silk plant. I grabbed it and walked over to what I thought was the sales counter, but it ended up being the customer service counter. Ramon saw me walking over and quickly made his way to me. He asked me if I was ready and I said yes. He asked me to come stand on one side of the large customer service area and wait. As I was waiting, I heard not one but three separate customers complaining about deliveries not showing up, their orders being incomplete, etc. I thought to myself, "well I'm only buying some thing and walking out the door, I should be OK." Boy was I wrong! About five minutes later, Ramon came over to me and said "can you just follow me to my terminal?" I grabbed my silk plant and followed him clear across the store to a small kiosk. Ramon took a code off of my plant and rang up the charges. I gave him my credit card, which he scanned and handed back to me. Then he asked me for my first and last name, and my phone number. A little odd, but I went along with it. What can it hurt? Then, Ramon asked me for a couple of signatures. I think I physically scratched my head! The first signature was acknowledging their terms and conditions. Ramon stated that although most of these didn't apply to me, they still needed my signature. I asked if I could read it, and he handed me his iPad where I read a long explanation of their terms and conditions regarding financing and deliveries. I questioned Ramon saying that these did not apply to me so why did he need my signature. He said it's store policy and even though it doesn't apply to me, they need my signature. I signed it. Then he asked for a second signature. This time I would be signing some thing and providing my license plate and vehicle information. Now, this perplexed me and I asked him "why." He went on to offer a wack-a-doodle scenario, and that getting this information is a way of tracking what merchandise is leaving the store, and with whom. I told him that I wasn't comfortable with that. Ramon said it was their store policy and that he couldn't do anything about it. I told him that it seemed silly that their theft problems made it very difficult for us well intended consumers to walk in and make a purchase. He said that I could speak to the manager and I said "yes, let me speak to your boss." Ramon and I, along with the beautiful silk plant in my hand, walked back to the large customer service area. I stood over to the side as I had before. It took another five minutes before Ramon could get the attention of one of the guys behind the desk to help me. I heard another customer complain about having to come to the store to take care of a problem. She was angry because she just sprained her ankle and had to hobble over to the store with her boot on only to be told that they couldn't help her. Ramon finally got the attention of the manager and asked the manager to speak with me regarding their policy. The manager looked at me and said "I'm sorry, that's our policy." I then told them that doing business with them is very difficult and that I wanted to cancel my purchase. Poor Ramon! He had to grab my paperwork and go stand in line behind the complaining customers to try and process my refund. I wondered why I couldn't just take care of it myself. I then quietly said to Ramon that he was a good sales person, professional and approachable, and that he should go get a job somewhere else. Ramon explained to me that the store used to be owned by Kelly's and that there were so many issues and customer complaints, that the Ashley's corporate office decided to buy the store and that they are simply just undoing all the problems that Kelly's had created. I then looked at the other employees behind the customer service desk and realized that they were all battling issues and we're just doing their best to get through the day. What a giant CF. read more