This review would have been negative stars, but this is not an option, so..
We found a sectional at Ashley.com that appeared to fit a tight space in our home and the online chat was amazing with their help, even providing us with a coupon, but we wanted to see it in person before ordering....
Enter Ashley Homestore in Pinellas. So, buying from an Ashley Homestore was a poor experience in diving back into the brick-and-mortar experience. The Pinellas store where we went to look at the sectional we had previously seen online, was not what we expected. No one at the front. No one greeted us. No one even acknowledged our presence until we were halfway through the store.
Finally, a Sales Associate, Caleigh W., spoke to us as we were walking past her. She asked if anyone had greeted us; not "Is there anything I can help you find?
However, we had the young lady placed the order later in the weekend, over the phone. She asked when we would like it delivered. We chose a date and asked her to send a PO before we would pay for our order. At that point, we did not even have a total. She emailed the PO and she had added on a fabric protection package and a higher price on the sectional pieces themselves. We had that corrected AND had her apply the coupon that CS Online sent to us. That as another warning sign we missed.
Not even 24 hours later, our FedEx account sent us alerts that we were getting a delivery. A large delivery. And they stated that it was from Ashley. We reached out to Caleigh W., who stated, in writing, that our items had not shipped yet. We contacted FedEx again and they assured that it was arriving in the morning. Guess who was correct? Caleigh W. was still sticking to her story even after some pieces were in our living room.
Once all the pieces (4) were here, 2 were a different color. Almost dirty/old looking. We sent pics and she forwarded them to her "manager". He agreed they were the wrong color but that we would need to bring them to the store and then go to the warehouse to pick up the new ones. We did not have any way to do that, which is why we had them delivered, otherwise we would have shopped elsewhere with Cash and Carry. We asked if they could arrange for the boxes to be picked up. He said no. Not sure what to do at this point as one of the boxes was huge, we reached out to Ashley.com who stated that because we purchased in store versus online, there was not a lot that they could do to help. They did what they could, which is assign us a case number. We had a neighbor help us load these items into a truck and drive them back to the store which had no loading dock, so we had to carry the items through the store and to the back in CS. It was ridiculous. No wonder people love online furniture shopping so much; it is so much nicer to be able to get the thorough email communication and seamless return order pickup! Got our drop off receipts and a "promise" that the sales associate would reach out to us with our new order for the replacement pieces. Crickets day one. Crickets day two. We called her. No answer. Texted. Emailed. Same. Then while we were working, she left a voicemail that was inquiring what we needed her to order. So, either she completely forgot, or she is really poor at her job. Either option, not good.
We tried calling her back, but each time we went right to voicemail and then she would text. One time she was sick, next it was her day off, next she was gone on vacation. Sent emails to Tamara Q., the store's CS but did not hear back. Sent a message on FB. Chatted online on the website.
Finally, having run out of options, we reached out to our VISA. This was the ONLY entity to have actually helped us with this situation. We sent them all of the information we had, including every single text, email, all PDFs and photos and said we needed to dispute the items returned in order to simply place the replacement order ourselves online. Needless to say, VISA was all over it. They pulled the money back for those items while it was being investigated. That is why we finally magically received the missing pieces. VISA MADE them fill our order.
The sectional itself is "meh" but we knew it was not the best quality going into it. It fit the space, like the suit fit Greg Brady (Johnny Bravo) LOL.
So, in going through all of this, we discovered that these "stores" are simply purchased Ashley Furniture franchises that have their own standards (or lack of) that they choose to live up to (or not). They don't seem to answer to the actual corporation. We also discovered that due to the popularity of online shopping, we can buy this stuff anywhere, and all have wonderful return/pickup policies, so we do not need to deal with an Ashley HomeStore again. There are great companies out there that actually want return business and want positive reviews (we found many, after the fact). Go find them online and stay far away from read more