I purchased a dining room buffet and it came damaged. It also was a showroom piece and was charged full price. When i went to the manager to discuss this he would not make eye contact and refused to fix the piece. Also, their policy is NOT to refund money, but give store credit. The sales person lied and sold the piece as new. The manager accepted no responsibility, was indignant and did not try to make things right. Also, the corporate manager in Pompano would not come to the phone after calling several times to try and correct this situation. When asked about having a repair person fix the piece, they would put me on hold for long periods of time hoping i would hang up in frustration, so they did not have to fix the piece. One of the service people accidentally told me they do not refund money after the manager had promised to refund my credit card in full. Now i am stuck with thedamaged buffet or let them take and trust they will refund money. It is the worst experience i have ever had purchasing furniture. I will never purchase from them again and i will tell everyone of my very negative experience. Buyer beware. Dishonest people. Poor customer service. I wish i would have read the complaints first. I have never written in about a complaint before.

I am writing to dispute a purchase in the amount of $2130.00 for furniture that was defective upon arrival against Baer’s Furniture purchased on 12/9/07. The following are chronological details on my efforts to resolve this issue with the merchant who have not upheld there promises nor stood by their product.

1. Furniture was special ordered from Marty Brantley (Salesman) on 12/9/07 and was told the furniture would arrive in about 3 months. I expressed my concern about the quality of the product before making the purchase and was assured that their product is of highest quality. Per Marty, “if anything were to go wrong on arrival in 3 months, it would be replaced no questions asked”.

2. Furniture arrived on 4/16/07 and upon inspection, was defective upon arrival. The sofa recliner’s mechanism seemed bent. It did not work correctly and would not allow both recliners to open smoothly at the same time (See below). This was conveyed to the delivery crew and was told that it would not be an issue for replacement since it was defective on arrival. In addition, the furniture was missing a fabric protection kit that is part of my furniture protection warranty that I purchased.

3. It took approximately 1 month of aggravation to get my missing fabric protection kit thru numerous phone calls with Marty at the local Baer’s furniture in addition to contacting Baer’s headquarter (800-543-2092). Instead of replacing my defective furniture “no questions asked” as promised by Marty before the purchase, they opted to send out a repair person. This took about 3 phone calls just to get the repair person to come out around end of April 2008. The “general” repair person came out and had no clue on what the problem was and stated “I think it’s the kick panel but I’m not sure”. I waited patiently and was told the kick panel would take 3 MORE months to get here and received a postcard from Baer’s stating the same thing.

4. I had to keep calling to check the status of the part. Finally on 7/3/08, I received a phone call from Baer’s headquarter telling me the “kick panel” is in. I made the appointment with the repair person for 7/15/08 and took the day off. After patiently waiting 3 months, I was told that they ordered the FABRIC instead of the kick panel mechanism and that this would solve nothing per the repair person. This type of customer service is unacceptable. I lost a full day of my salary for the appointment with no resolution.

5. I contacted Marty on 7/16 and told him the issue. I demanded to Marty to give me a new piece of furniture or refund my money. He called me back and told me his manager is out for a few days. I followed up again with him and he said to give him a few more days which I did. He did not call back again. I followed up once again and was told he left on vacation for 2 weeks without working on my issue. On 8/16/08, I contacted the store and talked to Jackie Heck (General Manager). Once again, I told her I want a new piece of furniture or refund my money for the purchase. I also decided to follow up with Jackie in person at the store the same day and told her this is her last chance to make things right. She called me on 8/17/08 without any acceptable resolution.

It has been over 8 months since my purchase of this furniture and I still have a defective item from Baer’s Furniture. I do not wish to deal with them again and I am requesting my money back. This is the worse customer service I’ve dealt with from any merchant. I will also be filing complaints with the Better Business Bureau, Federal Trade Commission, Florida Division of Consumer Services, Florida Office of Attorney General, and Channel 9 Eyewitness News Action Reporter against Baers Furniture’s unethical sales practice so that this does not happen to future consumers.

Thank you,

John Truong

My mother in law purchased a living room and kitchen set at the store. 2 days later we got a call that the sofa was not available unless we took the floor model (no other discount was offered). The day before delivery they called to say the sofa table is broken. I asked to speak to a manager, they told me one would not be in the store until the next afternoon. I left a message on the owner's voice mail. Larry 954-946-8007 ext 320.

A call was made to the salesman about the sofa and how disappointed we were, he stated he didn't care if we took it or not, there were plenty of others in line for it if we didn't want it. Nice customer service!!!