I am writing this complaint letter not to seek any type of pecuniary benefit, but merely to express my extreme frustration with Marlo Furniture’s Customer and Delivery Services. Background of my purchase/delivery is as follows:

On July 13th, my girlfriend and I purchased a sleeper sofa, nightstand and ottoman from Marlo’s Rockville, MD store. The sales person who assisted us, Natalia, responded to our concerns about Marlo based on an experience 3 years ago with repeated statements of, “don’t worry baby, I’ll take care of you.” Based on these representations and the fact that Marlo would deliver our items on July 18th, we proceeded with our purchase. On July 17th, I received an automated call from Marlo Delivery confirming my delivery window as from 3-6 p.m. on July 18th.

On July 18th, I left work early so as to be home on July 18th at 3 p.m. At or around 5 p.m., I called Marlo and was told that my delivery would be imminent. As of 6 p.m., the delivery had not yet occurred and I received a call from Marlo delivery saying I should expect the delivery around 7:30 p.m. Although not pleased by this development, I was excited to receive my merchandise, and understand that deliveries are very often inevitably delayed. When 7:30 came and went without a delivery, I called Marlo Rockville and Marlo corporate. It took 45 minutes to finally talk to a live person, and I was informed that the merchandise was still scheduled for delivery and I should expect it soon. At 8:45, I received a call from Marlo Delivery stating that the truck had broken down and I’d need to reschedule. I tried to find out my options when the representative then hung up on me. I then tried to call Marlo Rockville and spent 30 minutes being bounced to voicemail after voicemail. I was so frustrated I then got in my car and drove to the Marlo Rockville to speak to a store manager.

I was able to speak with Martine Mazeas, the store’s Sales Manager. I explained to her my frustration with the delivery process so she refunded my delivery fee and promised me that she would take care of ensuring that I would receive the first delivery on Tuesday morning and that she would call me on Saturday, July 19th to confirm the details. I waited all morning for her call. At 1 p.m. I finally called to find out when I should expect my delivery. Since she was unreachable I called Natalia who said she need to find out what was arranged and would get back to us shortly. She did in fact call back within the hour, informing me delivery would be first thing, i.e., 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday, so I wouldn’t have to miss work.

On Tuesday, July 22nd, I received a call from Marlo Delivery telling me that my delivery time was 10-1 on Wednesday the 23rd. I was surprised so I called and emailed Martine. By the time I was able to speak to her, she assured me the system had us receiving the merchandise by 7:30 a.m.

You can now guess where the story is going – Wednesday morning comes and goes and no delivery has occurred. I leave messages for approximately 8 people in either in Marlo Rockville, Marlo Delivery or Marlo Corporate. One employee, Ms. Powell took the time to listen to my concerns and explained that the truck would not be leaving the warehouse until 1:00pm, but that we were the first delivery. She agreed with my feelings of frustration and offered me a 200 gift certificate to Marlo, which I declined saying that based on this experience, I highly doubt I will ever shop at Marlo again. She then offered a $100 refund, which I accepted. At this point, I have now spent all morning away from work waiting on this delivery.

Around 1:00, I received a call from Marlo Delivery informing me that they can’t find the couch and they asked whether I still wanted the other two items. I asked what happened to the couch, the same couch that they had ready for me on Friday and supposedly at 7:30 a.m., and am told they don’t know where it went. I am beyond frustrated at this point and place numerous calls, all to no avail. I tell Marlo delivery that yes, I’d still like the items and they need to find the couch.

The delivery personnel arrived at around 2 pm and told me that the truck they drive was never scheduled to leave until at least 1, so whoever told me 7:30 or 10, was grossly incorrect. That did not improve my mood. They do however tell me that my couch has been found and will be coming shortly. Three hours later the couch arrives. It is so damaged that even before I notice the damage, the delivery personnel ask me whether I want to accept such a damaged item. I of course declined.

I tried calling various Marlo offices about 10 times, without being able to reach someone and was so fed up, I figured I’d call the next day or drive there. The following day, after not receiving any type of call from Marlo, I called and finally was able to reach the ever elusive Natalia. Apparently Marlo’s voicemail boxes do not work, so any messages one leaves, do not get heard. That may explain why the messages I left the Marlo Rockville’s Store Manager, Ms. Weber were not returned. It does not however explain why the messages I left with the Marlo operator for Ms. Weber were not returned.

Natalia claimed she thought I had received the delivery and became very argumentative when I expressed my frustration, almost to the point where she was yelling at me. I asked if it was possible to receive the sofa the next day and she said she’d call me back. She called about 30 minutes to let me know they did not have this couch in stock so they would just refund my money. I should expect a check in 10 business days.

My conclusions are as follows: Marlo Rockville does not have an efficient answering system. If a live person does not answer when you press 0, you are sent to a random voicemail. If you do speak to someone, they tell you they will check into it and you never hear from them again. Marlo Rockville also has very little clarity into Marlo Delivery – there seems to be a fundamental breakdown between these two entities because the right hand never knew what the left hand was doing. Not only that, not a single person every really apologized or took any type of accountability for all the delivery problems. My final conclusion is that I will be vociferous in telling everyone I know who is looking for furniture that they should never, under any circumstances, consider Marlo. Coincidentally, when I told this story to my friends and business acquaintances, more than one person told me that they could have informed me how bad Marlo was with their purchases and that they share my sentiments.

In the end, it isn’t as much about the wasted time and energy I spent trying to get this couch, but rather about how at no point did anyone at Marlo take accountability for the problems that occurred or express any type of remorse about the situation.