tl;dr Go to Cove if you want to be talked down to, dismissed, and belittled. Go elsewhere if you…read morewant great service, a business that cares about their customers, and an organization that tries to meet their customers' goals.
I had spoken with Ron on the phone and indicated our priorities to him by phone: to be able to move quickly in the selection process, cover 2,000 sq ft, and do it within a reasonable budget. I even followed up with photos via email, so we could move faster in the process. When we came into the store though (at the agreed upon time, although Ron repeatedly told me I didn't need an appt), Ron was not immediately available and then, when we did start speaking with him:
- he talked about cost as something you had to make "palatable" (as if the concept of a budget is unreasonable or distasteful)
- we had to actually ask him to show us around the store because he was very focused on showing us only the most expensive vinyl -- which then turned out to not be applicable b/c it didn't come in stair treads. When discussing the fact that the vinyl would be for a basement, he should have asked about the entry to the basement and guided us appropriately to feasible options.
- someone else arrived to talk to Ron while we were there and he simply dismissed us, telling us that it would take multiple visits to make a decision, despite us being very clear about our time sensitivity.
- he refused to explain how the pricing would work while we were there, and what components would make up the total
- he never said "bye", "thanks", or even "have a nice weekend" to us when we left after 1 hr in the store
We were very frustrated when we left, given Ron's dismissal and his inability to understand and help us achieve our goals, and I called later in the day and spoke with Donna. Donna said she was leaving for the night and would call me back Monday or Tuesday and would also set us us with an additional sales rep, Doug.
Well... Donna never called me back. And Doug was as incompetent as Ron, extremely unresponsive (again, despite our time pressure), and just grossly smarmy with my husband (when my husband returned some samples) -- read: used car salesman vibe, not genuine interest.
After 1 week post-measurements, Doug let us know he had a quote for us (which he never provided in writing) and said it was for three bedrooms. When I asked about the fourth bedroom, he said he'd have to call me back and then when he did (several hours later)... the price suddenly went up a few thousand dollars. He misread their own measurements, quoted us incorrectly the first time, and didn't even include the full extent of the costs at that point (plus still no calculation for stairs).
When I let Doug know that we had received a quote elsewhere for similar quality products for several thousand dollars less overall, he refused to believe it, and told me I should bring those samples in so he could explain to me how they were lesser quality. He also asked if my other quote (despite me saying it was from a local company) was from Home Depot -- as if Home Depot was obviously lesser than their options (irrespective of the option selected). When I told him it wasn't Home Depot and was, in fact, another small local business, he flat out refused to believe that was the case. I tried to give them one more chance though and asked that, if they wanted the business, to look for options similar in style to what we had picked at Cove and propose something that might be more cost competitive. I suggested that we'd come back in and could review what he found together. After numerous days, he didn't respond so I sent an email summarizing our discussion. Ultimately though, he decided we weren't worth his time (because who should actually work to understand their customers' goals and help meet them?) and wished us luck with our "project".
No, Doug, Donna, and Ron -- good luck to you. You need the luck more. I've found a great local flooring company that actually wants our business and your disinterest in working with us led us right to them.
Update following the owner's response to my review: It does not shock me that the owner is trying to discredit my review by placing blame back on me (a move, where I'm living, etc.). None of those explain why Cove treated us poorly and refused to work with us, and are just a distraction from the core of the issue -- Cove is not interested in understanding customer needs and aligning to them in service of being able to successfully transact a deal. They also mention in the review below that they intended to show us alternate products, but that is a lie (and was already disproven in my original review) -- I had to ask for alternate products to be shown to us via phone, then via email, and ultimately received a reply from them wishing us "luck" with our project and dismissing the opportunity to do business together. They never prepared any additional products to show us, despite multiple requests.
