Bait and Switch Operation and Poor Customer Service!!
Bob's Upholstery recently did a furniture re-upholstery job for me and I was extremely upset with their customer service and lack of pricing ethics. When I initially inquired about the cost of reupholstering a sofa, chair and ottoman I was given a price of $1200... which was higher than other similar businesses nearby, but the quality in the store seemed good and I feel very strongly about supporting local family businesses. I was willing to pay a little extra. A few weeks later, after finding fabric at another store, I came back in to handle the paperwork. I was then given a price of X... which was slightly higher, but again, I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. I paid a deposit fee of half and made arrangements for them to pick up the furniture. On the day of the scheduled pick-up, I received a phone call 3 hours prior to their scheduled time and I was told that because of forecasted rain, that they wanted to come and pick up the furniture "NOW"... since I wasn't at home at the time of the call, I offered to meet them in 30 minutes at my home. The woman on the phone was very rude basically threatening that they wouldn't pick up at all if I wasn't going to jump at that very moment to accommodate them. (It never even rained that day)
When they arrived at my home, the crew was very careful with my furniture and promptly loaded it into their van. AFTER they had my furniture in their possession, she changed the price to $2100. At that point, what is a person to do? They have my deposit of $700 AND my furniture. When I questioned one of the charges, she said that she would "get back to me". The chair had some damage to one of the arms, that was easily repaired, the couch and ottoman were in very good condition. Their paperwork clearly states that "All Charges are subject to change without notice"... CUSTOMER BEWARE!!!
I showed the charges to a friend of mine who works in the fabric and upholstery business. She was stunned at the fees that they were charging for the materials that they were using. The mark-up was ENORMOUS!! She told me that these charges were NOT customary in this business.
After 4 weeks time, I then received a phone call saying that they had to replace a piece of wood in the furniture frame and another $85 charge (for a piece of wood that probably cost them less than $10). When I inquired about the charges being so much more than I was initially told, they were extremely rude to me. When I inquired as to when the furniture would be completed, I was told that it should be soon and that they would call me when it was completed. I waited another week and received no call.
When I finally called the store a week later, I was told that they "thought' the furniture was ready and that they would "call me right back" .... 4 hours later when they did call, I tried to arrange delivery. Because I work full time, I requested a 4 o'clock delivery or a Saturday delivery, which are both within the posted store hours. I was told that there was NO WAY possible to make that delivery and that I was going to have to make other arrangements. (Let me say, that they were already charging me $125 for delivery that was less than a 15 minute drive from their store). When I asked to speak to the manager, I was told that someone might get back to me on Monday, but that it would be unlikely that any arrangements for delivery could be made. When I expressed my frustration, I was given a million excuses as to why they couldn't help out their customer. Never once did they apologize or offer to help make the situation correct. We ended up picking up the furniture ourselves. When we got it home, we found that two of the legs had been "stripped" and will need to be repaired. At the end of the day, they did a fair job on the furniture, but they charged me more to reupholster the furniture than I actually paid for the furniture, and I felt that I was treated poorly and unethically. read more