On September 25, 2005, I ordered a roll top desk from Furniture Capital, Inc. (furniturecapital.com), based in High Point, NC. According to the confirmation letter, delivery would take between 5 and 8 weeks. On November 28, I contacted customer service to advise I had not yet received the item. The representative told me she would check and later called back to say the shipper failed to pick up the item from the manufacturer’s warehouse and it would ship on December 2. I was surprised that Furniture Capital would not have tracked the order to make sure it shipped on schedule. I was given the number for Sun Delivery and told to call the shipper for more information on the delivery. Sun told me it never received an order from Furniture Capital to pick up a shipment for my address. After numerous phone calls, the item finally shipped on Dec. 9.


The desk arrived on Dec. 19. I believed the item would be delivered in one piece but the drivers assembled it in my driveway. When it was placed in my home, I pulled down the roll top and saw a scratch on the front. Each time the top was rolled up and down the scratch became larger and deeper. The driver proceeded to cover the scratched area with a stain pen. I was not happy with the result and the driver loaded the item back on the truck. He told me it was policy to take damaged items back for repair. I was unable to reach Furniture Capital by phone. I sent an email and received a reply from Olivia, a Furniture Capital “Customer Service Representative, ” assuring me the problem would be fixed ASAP.


On Jan. 12, 2006, I sent an email asking for status and received a curt reply to call Sun. In other words, Furniture Capital did not know and did not care. Good customer service would have been to contact Sun, find out what was going on and get back to me. Sun told me the desk would not be repaired until January 20 but then it would have to be scheduled for shipping and indicated delivery date would be sometime in February. The desk was delivered on February 14. Eight weeks to resolve the damaged goods problem was not ASAP. Furniture Capital had no intention of providing any assistance to me.


Purchasing from Furniture Capital was a five month ordeal. I was very disappointed with the lack of customer support and follow up as well as the frustration of receiving damaged good only to wait two more months for repair and return. The returned item was also scratched and touched up on site. In addition, the keys were missing. I contacted Sun who, in turn, contacted Furniture Capital. The response, again from Olivia, was “tell the customer to go to an Ashley Furniture store, they have keys laying around and can give her one.” No, the store did not have keys just “laying around.” The store gave me a telephone number for the parts department. I called and ordered new keys. Again, the customer performs her own “customer service.” What a joke.


I wasted a lot of money on shipping and now have a second-hand desk in my home. Furniture Capital took my money and provided absolutely no customer service after the sale. I would have cancelled the order after the brush off on the delivery but Furniture Capital’s sales agreement penalizes its customers by charging a 30% cancellation fee. Worse yet, if I knew the desk was from Ashley Furniture, I could have bought it at a store two miles from my home for less and picked it up myself in two weeks. No wonder Furniture Capital does not disclose manufacturers’ names.


I sent a written complaint to Furniture Capital regarding the delivery problems and lack of customer service but did not receive a response. No surprise there. I sent a follow up email but again, no response. Beware of this company. Furniture Capital only wants to make a buck at your expense.