My wife and I bought a bedroom set from these people. We were given a time frame for delivery, but were told to call them in two days for a specific date. Two days later, our salesperson (Ralph) gave my wife a delivery date for the following Thursday. Great! She then asked Ralph when the delivery would be made. He freaked out saying that he didn’t know. Tony, the Manager of the Paramus store got on the phone and he said that he didn’t know what time the delivery would be made. We understood a specific time couldn't be given, but morning, afternoon, evening, night would be helpful. "I don't know," Tony shouted to my wife. Moments later, my wife called me at work hysterical. She was crying so hard, I could barely understand her. She said that this guy Tony was beyond rude to her. I then called Tony to offer a suggestion. I would give him my neighbor’s house and cell number and to have his delivery guys call him three minutes before they arrive at my house as he lives less than three minutes away. When Tony got on the phone and I mentioned the word ‘delivery,’ he started screaming at me! I couldn’t believe it! He acted exactly as my wife described to me. I calmly explained that I did not call to be combative and asked that he not scream at me. Once I got out what I had to say, he said fine, he could do that. We were all set for our delivery.

A day later, we received a call from their corporate office calling to schedule an appointment for delivery. What! I explained that we already made an appointment, but Helen (ext. 336, Customer Service) said that that an appointment never should have been made, that's her job. We were never told why our delivery was set up for Thursday. I asked Helen to contact the store and see what was going on.

A little while later, I received a call from Michael Smith, General Manager (ext. 338) at the corporate office (described himself as the "big cheese"). He said they made a mistake and to do HIM a favor a have it delivered the next day on Friday. I gave them the benefit of the doubt and agreed. He also agreed that Tony shouldn't have acted that way, “he must have had a bad day.” Michael appeared to be sympathetic to my situation. I told him that late afternoon, after 4PM, would be better for me. He was then able to make those arrangements.

Friday night, around 7:15 PM, they came for delivery. The armoire was severely damaged. The delivery guys said that the store could come in for service and fix the damage and make it appear brand new. I had them sign something indicating the visible damage. They left my house and went to their truck.

While they were still outside, I opened up the armoire to put in my TV and saw damage that only one would have to see with your own eyes to believe. I saw that the truck didn’t leave yet so I ran outside. I had one of the guys come back inside to look at the damage. He seemed just as flabbergasted as I was. On a separate piece of paper, together, we indicated the damage. He initialed each section of the damage on the diagram and signed the bottom. The way their customer service had been, I felt like I needed something in writing.

I then called up the store and spoke with a young lady who was about as helpful as a rock. She told me that if I refused the piece, I would have been charged a rejection fee. I was outraged. My wife called back and spoke with Sergey. Sergey PROMISED that the delivery of a new piece would be made that Monday between 9-12PM. My mother-in-law got to my house at 9AM and stayed to 12:35 PM. No one showed. I spoke with Helen (ext. 336) who said that there was no truck to deliver my furniture as it wouldn’t fit on the truck. No one ever called me. Complaining to her was useless. She just kept repeating the same words, "could not fit, could not fit, could not fit." My wife called Tony and Tony hung up on her. I called back Tony about hanging up on my wife - he ignored me. At the end of our conversation, he PROMISED the delivery for the next day. My wife was convinced that it wouldn’t come, but I was still hopeful.

Just to confirm, the following day at 7:25 AM, I left the "Big Cheese" a voicemail confirming my promised delivery date once again. Later on at work, I emailed Michael ([email protected]) to confirm the delivery. He never returned my call or email. I later emailed Helen to confirm this date promised by Tony. Helen called me back and said that I wasn’t scheduled for that day. I immediately called Tony in Paramus, but guess what? He wasn't in that day. How convenient for him. I initiated a dispute with AMEX, because dealing with Moda Furniture has already been a headache and it did not seem that it was ever going to get better.

After online research about Moda Furniture I just confirmed to myself that I wasn’t crazy. Apparently, this company is infamous for this. Rudeness, dishonesty, lack of communication and poor customer service was just a few words describing these people.

In 2004, the NJ Department of Consumer Affairs filed suit against them for unethical business practices.

Honesty is all I ever asked for.

My wife called the store at about 7PM when I got home from work. She spoke with a lady who couldn’t imagine was going on as they had this piece in stock. She said that she will see what’s going on and will call us back. We then received a call from Michael at the corporate office. He was trying his best to cover for his employees and their mistakes, but we weren’t buying it. He promised delivery that coming Friday. Promises meant nothing at this point, so I wouldn’t let my wife hang up with Michael until an email was sent confirming Friday’s delivery (at least I would have something else in writing for my AMEX dispute as if the delivery drivers signatures plastered all over the damaged furniture wasn’t enough). After twenty minutes on hold, Michael came back and said that he was having problems with his email. This didn’t surprise me as it was apparent he didn’t like anything in writing. I immediately contacted someone who would be near a fax machine and had him fax over the delivery confirmation. We did get the fax and the email came later on.

Our new armoire was delivered and it was unharmed.

Dealing with Michael was the only route that worked. However, he is very hard to get in touch with as he doesn’t respond to emails and his voicemail box is often too full to accept new messages.

We are happy with are furniture, but still traumatized by the horrible customer service we encountered. It was not worth it. Not one ounce of it.

I canceled the dispute with AMEX that I had started for my protection.

“A lesson learned is wisdom earned.”

Quentin