What a disastrous experience. I ordered a new sofa that was on sale.
Less than a month after delivery, I noticed the back support bar jutting out and contacted Ashley. After several phone calls back and forth with the repair company (and lengthy on-hold experiences), two nice gentlemen came. They turned it on it's side and pulled back the fabric. There were several large pieces of broken wood. It was also clear the wood is fastened is by large staples - no nails or glue. It was cheap and a mess. The repair techs said they could see it was definitely damaged prior to delivery. They recommended total replacement.
Seeing what poor quality wood it was made of, I was certain I didn't want to simply replace it. I asked about a refund - and was told by three different people at the local store and at corporate that wasn't possible. I looked at other sofas for an upgrade and shopped with a friend who listened to the entire exchange. My questions were answered about sofa construction, leather, etc. I narrowed it down to one I liked that would be more than double what I paid for the original. Not fully certain I wanted to spend that much, I asked some questions. First, I was told that because I "activated the protection plan I bought" that I would have to buy another protection plan. I didn't activate it - it was clearly damaged upon delivery! Since the salesperson had to speak to the store manager to get an answer about that, I was disgusted with the manager's response. When I spoke to corporate they said that was incorrect - I would only have to pay the difference if the new protection plan was a higher dollar amount.
I was also told by the salesperson that Ashley accepted price matching. I was warned that when I browsed online I had to take shipping fees into consideration but there were few other parameters.
Well, I did that comparison shopping and found the new sofa I wanted for $300 less on multiple sites - from big to small retailers. When I called to provide those details, I was told they would only accept the match from "local" retailers who had a showroom. Or the match from the Ashley website (ugh - so lame when the same company competes). Well, I live in a small area with very few showrooms. There were no competitors with one locally. I can understand not accepting every online price match, but again - no flexibility whatsoever.
No discount at any point was offered by the local store for the headache, the inability to price match, etc. to keep me as a customer. Corporate provided me with a $50 gift card after speaking to a manager - she indicated that was the best she could do. I don't want to buy anything new from Ashley, so that card isn't worth much. I'm prevented from using the original couch purchase money on anything other than a sofa - another way they lock you in and limit flexibility.
Yet another way they lock you in - after the ability to reselect is put on your account, you have two weeks to make a decision. The corporate manager added a third week because of my frustration. Living an hour from the showroom and already feeling pressured into a decision, I was disgusted by this as well. You lose all of your money if you don't reselect in that window .
I refuse to give Ashley any more money. Instead of selecting something a little more expensive, I've ordered an exact replacement. I'll sell it myself, get a little cash, and buy something I really like from a more customer-friendly company.
Note: the local salesperson and both individuals I spoke to at corporate were personable and didn't seem shoddy. I'm just totally disgusted with their inability to resolve the situation in a way that was more customer friendly and took into consideration how awful it's been working with their company.
Update: when I was called to confirm the delivery, they had my old address from 7 years ago (despite the latest delivery being to my correct address). They re-entered it. Ten minutes later they called back to confirm again - and when I verified the address, they still had it wrong! Then, when the delivery folks arrived with the new couch, it wasn't in their work order to remove the old broken one. Required more phone calls. Eventually they got the ok to remove it. I posted a very short review strictly of the couch on the Ashley website (where the average review is 5 stars) and they rejected it (I had attached photos). Clearly they reject reviews that are less than glowing. This company is joke. read more