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I sure wish I would have read this before I shopped there. I purchased a bedroom set for my son at Kids & Teens Rooms, which is a part of Carolina Dinette Co. I was told I would have it three weeks ago and I am still waiting. I have called four different people on at least 5 occassions and have not received return calls. I have to keep calling to get a response and then when they tell me that they will call me back they never do.
Right now they still don't even have the furniture to send me and are waiting for the manufacturer to return their call from a message that they supposedly left for them yesterday. Meanwhile I have another retailer who has the items in stock and can guarantee delivery to me within 2 weeks, but I am afraid of not getting my money back from Kids & Teens. UGH! I also tried to speak to the customer service manager, but he is out for the day. So, I asked for the owner who is also out today. Per the customer service representative there is no other individual in the company that has any authority to resolve my issue.
It has been two weeks since I posted this and I still have no furniture. I filed a complaint with the BBB (and then found out they have 40 complaints or so in the past 36 months). I also filed a dispute with my credit card company because Carolina Leather / Carolina Dinette / Kids & Teens rooms is not willing to refund my money even though they did not inform me that basically all furniture is consdiered special order and non refundable until I received my receipt in the mail (when it was too late to cancel anyway)--I ordered over the phone-- there is no signed contract. Customer service could care less that I was not informed of their policy; they are sticking by it.
The credit card company has issued me a temporary refund because they are in agreement with me based on the statements that I made to them and the receipts that I sent to them. Unfortunately, Carolina Leather has 45 days to reply to tell them that they did not give me the furniture within the three weeks that I was promised it.
Oh and by the way, I also left a message with their VP well over a week ago and have not heard back.
FWIW I was wandering around Bassett at Concord Mills and found a piece I liked on sale for $999, asked how much it costs for delivery and it was like $189 to Raleigh. So, I figured I would just come to the Raleigh store and try to get cheaper delivery, and the same exact item was also on sale here for over 150% of the price in Concord. I kid you not both the original and sale price were more than twice as much in Raleigh than in Concord.
The Raleigh store is an independent franchise and the Concord one is company owned. I guess the Raleigh store can charge whatever they want.
It has been two weeks since I posted this and I still have no furniture. I filed a complaint with the BBB (and then found out they have 40 complaints or so in the past 36 months). I also filed a dispute with my credit card company because Carolina Leather / Carolina Dinette / Kids & Teens rooms is not willing to refund my money even though they did not inform me that basically all furniture is consdiered special order and non refundable until I received my receipt in the mail (when it was too late to cancel anyway)--I ordered over the phone-- there is no signed contract. Customer service could care less that I was not informed of their policy; they are sticking by it.
The credit card company has issued me a temporary refund because they are in agreement with me based on the statements that I made to them and the receipts that I sent to them. Unfortunately, Carolina Leather has 45 days to reply to tell them that they did not give me the furniture within the three weeks that I was promised it.
Oh and by the way, I also left a message with their VP well over a week ago and have not heard back.
I would bet money that they'll close down soon. This is always how it starts. They probably don't have the money to place your order. They probably used your deposit to pay their rent and employees. The best you can hope is that enough other people will place deposits that they'll actually be able to afford to place your order.
Good thing you used a credit card. I don't like buying furniture these days from places that don't accept credit cards. These places shut down all the time and I'd prefer to have that protection. Which means I either buy stuff on craigslist or the flea market that I can take with me when I pay for it, or I go to Pottery Barn.
I don't live in NC, but I worked in furniture stores for years, so here's my 2 cents. First of all, most furniture comes from China, even the "Made in the USA" brands. If you buy an Italian leather sofa, the leather was probably shipped to China for assembly. (Hey, even American flags are made in China!) That's one reason it takes so long to get a special order. My recommendation is to always buy something in stock that can be scheduled for delivery. Even if it's sitting in a warehouse in Calif, a smaller store might have past due invoices or a credit limit or need to fill up a container before the order is shipped. I can't tell you how many times I told a customer "4 to 6 weeks for delivery" and 3 months later it was still on the dock in the the warehouse in California. Once I placed an order that would normally take 4-6 weeks to arrive, but I quoted 12 weeks just to be careful. I figured that if it came in early, my client would be a happy camper. Well, 5 months later the couple was screaming at me and my boss wouldn't let me refund their deposit. I don't know if they ever got their stuff since I quit!
What kind of quality you want depends on your personal use and how long you plan to keep it. I realize our area has a lot more foreclosures, but you can save a small fortune by looking in the paper, on Craig's List, or by going to auctions & consignment shops. Starla has the right idea.
I don't live in NC, but I worked in furniture stores for years, so here's my 2 cents. First of all, most furniture comes from China, even the "Made in the USA" brands. If you buy an Italian leather sofa, the leather was probably shipped to China for assembly. (Hey, even American flags are made in China!) That's one reason it takes so long to get a special order. My recommendation is to always buy something in stock that can be scheduled for delivery. Even if it's sitting in a warehouse in Calif, a smaller store might have past due invoices or a credit limit or need to fill up a container before the order is shipped. I can't tell you how many times I told a customer "4 to 6 weeks for delivery" and 3 months later it was still on the dock in the the warehouse in California. Once I placed an order that would normally take 4-6 weeks to arrive, but I quoted 12 weeks just to be careful. I figured that if it came in early, my client would be a happy camper. Well, 5 months later the couple was screaming at me and my boss wouldn't let me refund their deposit. I don't know if they ever got their stuff since I quit!
What kind of quality you want depends on your personal use and how long you plan to keep it. I realize our area has a lot more foreclosures, but you can save a small fortune by looking in the paper, on Craig's List, or by going to auctions & consignment shops. Starla has the right idea.
Thanks for the insight. I guess I am really naive. I was feeling a little bad thinking that it was just the manufacturer that they were waiting on. I guess it could be the sellers fault as well. Either way, I just hope that I am able to keep the refund that the credit card company issued to me.
I would bet money that they'll close down soon. This is always how it starts. They probably don't have the money to place your order. They probably used your deposit to pay their rent and employees. The best you can hope is that enough other people will place deposits that they'll actually be able to afford to place your order.
Good thing you used a credit card. I don't like buying furniture these days from places that don't accept credit cards. These places shut down all the time and I'd prefer to have that protection. Which means I either buy stuff on craigslist or the flea market that I can take with me when I pay for it, or I go to Pottery Barn.
After seeing that they average over 1 complaint a month I am surprised they are still in business. Actually, I was a little surprised that they weren't more responsive to my complaint. They totally blew me off. The BBB gives them something like 2-4 weeks to respond. So, I figure they will likely just drag the complaint out with them until the last second in hopes that they can get the furniture to me. The good thing is that my credit card company told me that since they promised me the furniture in three weeks all they have to do is confirm that they did not get me the furniture in that time period and I can keep my refund. Although they have 45 days to confirm that, Visa said that I can reject any attempt to deliver the furniture at this point and still get my refund; again since I did not recieve it in the timeframe promised.
Of course shopping for furniture depends on what you're looking for and what you're looking to spend. This month we were looking for a microfiber sectional and a bedroom set for our guest room. We went to no less than 20 places looking at furniture.
Even though we were warned against buying a couch there, we got our sectional at Rooms to Go. We don't expect it to last forever (we have two small children) and it was exactly what we were looking for. The price was a little more than we were hoping to spend, but we used their financing and it was delivered in two days. They weren't willing to negotiate, regardless of whether we financed or not. Had we been looking for something other than a microfiber sectional, we probably would have bought it elsewhere, due to what I have read about the longevity of their sofas, but it was the only place where we found what we were looking for. We've been using the couch for a few weeks and are very happy with our purchase.
We almost bought a sectional from Carolina Sofas, but I was unwilling to pay upfront for special order furniture when the store was clearly advertising a liquidation sale. They had a fantastic selection of fabrics and colors, and had a pretty decent selection to suit all tastes.
For the guest bedroom set, we got it at Ashley furniture. For what we were looking for, they had the best prices, quality and selection. We wanted to stay comfortably below $1k for the bed (headboard/footboard/rails) and dresser with mirror. We found a set that we really liked at Badcock Furniture on 42, but the quality of the dresser was worse than Ikea's cheapest. When I said this, the sales guy admitted that they lose a lot of sales on bedrooms because of the dressers. The Ashley in Clayton had a better selection of floor models to look at, but couldn't deliver the set when we needed it. The one in North Raleigh was more than happy to get it to us on time, so they got our business. We chose not to finance this one and got a 12% discount, which was their current promotion. Again, they wouldn't bargain with us. The set was delivered as promised, and we're happy with it. My only complaint would be that the bed is higher than the floor model was, so we actually needed to get a step for it.
My SIL got a fantastic set of leather couches at Big Lots for a great price. If we were into leather and not looking for a sectional, we would have bought the same set. They've had it for over a year and, with two small children and two large dogs, it still looks brand new. And it is very comfortable.
We almost bought a sectional from Carolina Sofas, but I was unwilling to pay upfront for special order furniture when the store was clearly advertising a liquidation sale. They had a fantastic selection of fabrics and colors, and had a pretty decent selection to suit all tastes.
I saw this sale too. I find it interesting how they can have a liquidation sale to reduce their stock, yet all of their orders are considered special order and noncancelable.
I purchased from Carolina Sofa and Basset in mid-November and still haven't. I put the two orders into dispute (approx $6000 total) with Amex shortly before Christmas when I started to get the feeling I might never see the stuff. I think their sales people are perfectly aware of what is going on but still willing to lie to get a commission.
Customer service "manager" Peter Davis does not return phone calls and then lies further when you finally reach him ("the owner is working with the factory to try to get your furniture to you before Christmas."...yah, right) When asked to speak with "owner" was blown off in a rude tone. How does this guy sleep at night? This is terrible!
Any help from BBB?
Any resolution from credit card companies yet?
Anyone with inside info as to what is up with this company?
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