We purchased a sofa and chair on a Sunday afternoon, both pieces were in stock. According to Gardner White's delivery schedule, they were only able to deliver to us on the following Friday. The salesperson made a point of explaining that if other people purchased the same pieces in the meantime, and they were ahead of us on the delivery schedule, that they would get the furniture, and we would be out of stock. It makes no sense to me, from a customer service standpoint, that you would stiff the customer who had already paid and had been waiting longer - it's not like we have any control over the delivery route. Apparently this happens to people who purchase items that are in the sales flyer that are in greater demand. Luckily our pieces weren't so popular, and arrived on schedule.
I am just putting this information out there so that other buyers can be aware of the risk. Although our experience wasn't bad; this policy could be a problem for others. Buyer Beware.

February 1, 2010 – We went to Gardner White Furniture Store in Canton, MI to shop for a mattress set. We were greeted by Jim Baumstark, sales associate. We advised him that we were looking for something very specific - an ultra plush/soft mattress set. Our current mattress set was about 10 years old, sagged in the middle, and lumpy. After meticulously browsing their showroom selection and "testing" various mattresses, we selected the Simmons Rozelle. We selected this model specifically because it was an ultra plush/soft mattress.

February 13, 2010 – The mattress set was delivered in the evening. We immediately noticed that our mattress was much firmer than the mattress set displayed in the Gardner White showroom.

February 14, 2010 – We went back to the store and went to the customer service desk to advise them that the mattress that we received was too firm. The customer service sales associate told us that new mattress sets typically take a few weeks to “settle” into their desired firmness/softness levels and temperature, and to "walk" the mattress out. This seemed reasonable to us, so we decided to try their suggestion.

We spent the next five weeks attempting to “walk” the mattress out, and give it time to “settle” into the softness that it was ultimately supposed to be. During those six weeks, and despite our best efforts - the mattress has not gotten any softer at all. It is still extremely firm. And surprisingly, we noticed there is now a sag or depression in the middle of the mattress (which ironically does not affect the softness level at all). We would expect some sagging after several years of use, but certainly not after only six weeks. This is clearly defect and a quality issue.

February 22, 2010 – We called Gardner White once again and complained about the quality of the mattress set, despite having tried their suggestions. They arranged for a technician to come out to our home and inspect the mattress.

February 25, 2010 – The technician performed the mattress inspection and would not address the “softness/firmness” issue. He did mention that the depression in the middle of the mattress was only 1 inch, and therefore within manufacturer’s parameters.

February 25, 2010 – Having strongly disagreed with technician’s findings, we called and spoke with store manager, Dwane, regarding our mattress issues. He advised that the technician had not yet officially filed his report, and that there wasn’t anything they could do until the technician did so. He expected the technician to file his report on the following Saturday.

February 27, 2010 – We received a voicemail from the Gardner White technician that the report had been filed, and that there wasn’t anything they could do to help us. We called Gardner White and spoke again with the store manager, Dwane, who reiterated the technician’s findings. We were given these options:
1) Wait until the official 60 days after purchase date (2/12/10), and exchange the mattress set for another. We would be subject to a $59.99 exchange fee, plus 10% restocking fee. *We refuse to pay these outrageous fees to replace a mattress that is defective. *
2) Have another “third party” company come out to inspect our depression issue. If the “third party” comes out and determines there is more than 1 ½ inches in depression, then at that time the mattress would be deemed defective, and they would replace it for us. However, they will NOT address our “softness/firmness” issue – as this is “subjective” – and therefore they are not able to help.
*Although both of these issues are important and warranted, the most important issue to us is the “softness/firmness” issue. If the “third party” cannot repair the “softness/firmness” issue, then we do not see the point in bothering with this option.*

A few other relevant FACTS:
• We purchased the Guardsman Mattress Protection Plan with our set (noted on invoice)
• The Gardner-White website mission statements says:
Buy with confidence.
At Gardner-White we guarantee that our prices are the lowest in town. If you find the same furniture with the same terms for less we will refund the difference. We also guarantee our products against manufacturer’s defects for at least one year.
These are just a few examples of our commitment to our customers. Because at Gardner-White, providing you with great furniture and great service is what we do.
http://www.gardner-white.com/about_us/mission.php

In summary, we purchased a mattress set from Gardner White Furniture Store in Canton, MI. When it was delivered, we found the set to be defective. Upon seeking help from the store to rectify the situation, we realized we may have fallen victim to the store scam of “bait and switch”. Either the store intentionally misrepresented their merchandise on the showroom floor; or we received a defective set – for which the store will not take responsibility for. In either case, unscrupulous business practices are being used here, and we intend to stand up for ourselves in order to make this situation “right”. Ultimately, we are not looking for our money back, we are not looking for a different model mattress. The outcome we would like to see is to have Gardner White replace our defective mattress set with the same make & model without the defects.

I purchased a living room package on 1-2-2010. I also purchased and had explained to me the extra stain safe warranty. I told the salesperson many times over that I would be moving in a few weeks' time. He even told me to tell the delivery people about anything I did not want unpacked so that it would not get ruined during my move. Bottom line, he knew I would be moving. After purchasing the furniture and setting up a delivery date I was handed a folder holding my paperwork. Apparently, my warranty info was written on the inside of this folder, but the salesperson neglected to mention that any IMPORTANT info was on the inside of this folder (the warranty becomes void if the furniture is moved from original delivery address.) We moved a week or so later. There are a couple spots now that I have just noticed (after inspecting the furniture after moving), on one of the sofa cushions, that are thread-bare, and there is a large abrasion on the arm of the sofa. I contacted Gardner-white to find out what could be done about the defects in the fabric. I was THEN told about the warranty issue, and that it was not their problem that I did not realize my warranty info was written inside the folder I was given. They have been very rude, and in so many words called me stupid for not realizing the warranty info was written in the folder I was never told to look over. After contacting them the first time, I was told I could speak to a manager but that one was not currently available to take my call and I would receive a call back promptly. I waited an entire day, and had to call them back myself. The manager had even more of an attitude with me and told me that it is their policy that sales people do not, what-so-ever go over warranties with customers. I am being penalized for a sales person not doing a good job. It's common courtesy and good business practices to cover IMPORTANT INFO with a customer upon making a big purchase. Had I known all this before setting a delievery date, I would have waited until I was moved to have my furniture delivered. I was also told upon my first call, that at a fee of $50 I could have someone come out and look at the damage to the sofa and that I would be charged regardless of whether the could fix it or not and any replacement parts would be my responsiblity for which to pay. Then I talked to the manager and he told me that, yes, they could order me a new sofa cushion at my expense, but I was out of luck with the arm of the sofa as they would have to replace the whole sofa to fix it and could not do that now because I moved. All of this could have been prevented if the salesman had done a good job in the first place and had told me there was important warranty info in the folder I was given. The rudeness and condescending attitude of the people that work at this furniture store are unbelievable. Everyone has an attitude. I know they were hoping I would not call back to speak with a manger because as soon as I gave my name and order number the tone of the voice of the person I was talking to became annoyed. I told her I wanted to speak with a manager as I was promised, and she still tried to lecture me. I finally got the manager on the phone and he had attitude with me immediately. Upon further research of this store, I have found this is a common issue with this place of business, and feel they certainly do not deserve an A+ BBB rating.

On August 30, my husband and I went into the Gardner White furniture store on Hall Road. We spoke with the salesman Jose about a particular couch. We must have taked with him for about an hour and wanted to make sure that the couch that we liked was durable. We were very undecided about this couch and he assured us that the fabric was extremely durable and that the company that manufactured this couch was a well known company for the quality products and assured us that it came with a great warranty.

On August 31 this couch was delivered to our home. On September 13 not even two weeks later, my husband was lying on the floor by the couch and saw that there was already a wear whole in it!!! Upon further inspection of the couch, we found another wear whole that was very small, but obviously would get bigger. We immediately got in the car and drove to Gardner White. the woman behind the desk was extremely rude to us and basically told us it was our problem. We kept complaining and then jose appeared. When he found out we were there to complain about our furniture, he literally put both hands in the air and stated that we would have to deal with someone else on the issue. Finally, a manager came out to speak with us. We were told that someone would come out today to take a look at it and see if it was fixable and we were led to believe that if it was not fixable, they would just send us another one.

Well, we received a call from the company on our voicemail stating that the report came back that the couch was unfixable and that again it would be our problem and it would only be fixed "at our expense"! After hearing this voicemail we both went over to look at the couch again and found ANOTHER whole in it!

My husband spoke and talked to someone who was really rude to him and then finally was connected with Connie. She is basically telliing us that it will be up to the manufacturer to deal with this that if we would have called within 48 hours they could have done something through Gardner White, but not now. I find this funny since after reading other complaints I find that someone was told three months.

This is horrid customer service and absolutely unacceptable! You would think that they would want to make their customers happy and would do whatever they could to satify us to keep us as future customers and to gain more customers from great word of mouth. However, this is not the case. I guess they would rather lose us as customers and lose future customers since my husband and I plan on telling everyone we know not to go to this store. We are now stuck with paying over $1600 for a couch that is a piece of *** and we haven't even received the first bill yet!!!

In November, 2007 I paid over 3, 000.00 for a Living
Group from Garnder White by June, 2008 the cushions begin to desegregate with little or no use of
this furniture. I called the Warren store, And I told
sorry there nothing they could or would do about it.
I am now forced to purchase form cushions from other
sources. BEST ADVISE TO NOT SHOP GARNDER-WHITE.