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Report: #276075

Complaint Review: Bob's Discount Furniture, Corporate - Taftville Connecticut

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  • Reported By: Simsbury Connecticut
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  • Bob's Discount Furniture, Corporate 70 Jewett City Road Taftville, Connecticut U.S.A.

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Bob's Discount Furniture cancels the one-year warranty on your furniture purchase if you move! The furniture warranty requires an "in-home" inspection of the defective/broken piece. However, this service can only be provided at the original delivery address! Basically, they will not repair or replce your broken piece without an in-home inspection, so if you move, and then your furniture breaks, Bob's will not do the in-home inspection, which is required before they will replace your piece. This tells me that Bob's Discount Furniturte doesn't feel their product is sturdy enough to withstand a move.

I purchased a couch and loveseat in March 2007 at the Stamford store. I recently moved. My loveseat was in-tact when the movers brought the piece into my new home (and I know this because you have to physically inspect everything as the movers unload your possessions from their truck in order to file an insurance claim with the moving company). I am not trying to get Bob's to replace furniture that my movers damaged - that is why I had insurance for my move!

My piece is 6 1/2 months old and I have been in my new house for 1 month. I noticed one morning, 1 month after moving, that the middle support piece on the bottom of the loveseat was hanging and dagging the fabric down with it. Upon inspection, I could see that the staples were exposed. I felt under the loveseat and could tell that this piece of the frame had broken away (excuse me - Bob's customer service can't use the word "broken", they prefer "separated". I say, call it what it is - it's broken!).

I immediately called customer service. When I told the representative that I recently moved, she said, very matter-of-factly, "I can not help you" - just like that! When I asked to speak with a manager, I was told that "No one here will be able to help you". I told her that was unacceptable and that I wanted to speak with a manager. She finally gave in and put a "Customer Service Supervisor" on the phone who told me the same thing, "I can't help you". Ok then, give me to someone in your company who can help me.

The only thing this girl knew how to say was "I can't give you that information" - over and over again. I'm confused, you work in Customer Service, you have a disappointed and angry CUSTOMER on the phone and you aren't able to give out your bosses extension or phone number, or transfer the customer to your boss? I was told that the head of the customer service department DOESN'T SPEAK WITH CUSTOMERS!

I could see that this "Customer Service Supervisor" was not going to relent so I simply told her that I would stay on the line until she could give someone who COULD help me. And that is exactly what I did - stayed on the phone. Everytime she asked me "Is there something else I can help you with today?", I replied with "You can give me an extension, phone number, even the voice mail of the head of customer service". To this I received contradicting replies of "I can't give you that information" and "I do not know that information". I told her this was ridiculous - she doesn't know her bosses phone extension? Unbelievalble and unacceptable.

I was told to cantact Gaurdsman, since I purchased the furniture protection plan offered by this company. Of course, it will take a week to get the form, then I have to fill out the form and send it back and wait for someone to contact me.

In fact, Gaurdsman told me on the phone that the nautre of my call really should go directly to Bob's (exactly what I figured they'd say!) Although Gaurdsman's paperwork says they cover "accidental damage" including breakage, I don't expect to get very far with them. And, my piece isn't broken because of "accidental damage", it's falling apart on it's own. I fully expect them to tell me I need to contact Bob's directly.

I stayed on the line until she disconnected the call. Yes, you read that right, Bob's Discount Furniture Customer Service Supervisor HUNG THE PHONE UP ON ME!

The level of Customer Service was horrible! As a customer, if I am dissatisfied, I expect to be able to speak with a manager. At Bob's Discount furniture, you are not allowed to speak with a manager. At Bob's you are told that the customer service managers do not speak with customers!

I emailed "Bob" via his company's web site ("If I have not answered your question above [FAQ] please send me a message. I will respond as soon as possible"). We'll see what response I get, although I doubt it comes from "Bob" himself!

I am still not satisfied with the unacceptable terms of the furniture warranty. I will be making more phone calls until my piece is replaced. And I can guarantee that I will NEVER buy from Bob's Discount Furniture again. The prices are low for a reason - the furniture is truly cheap, in price and quality and it falls apart quickly. I'd rather spend twice as much from those name-brand furniture stores - at least they back the quality and workmanship of thier products - whether or not you move!

To be continued.......

Anonymous
Simsbury, Connecticut
U.S.A.

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 09/26/2007 10:46 AM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/bobs-discount-furniture-corporate/taftville-connecticut-06380/bobs-discount-furniture-corporate-warranty-is-canceled-if-you-move-terrible-customer-se-276075. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content

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REBUTTALS & REPLIES:
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#7 General Comment

The Author and Cyrus are wrong!

AUTHOR: CaseyW - (United States of America)

POSTED: Wednesday, August 08, 2012

The Author of this complaint and Cyrus are actually the ones who are wrong! When you buy ANYTHING that comes with a warranty, the papers for it will have many stipulations in it, often so many things

that no salesperson should be expected to go through all of them just so the buyer doesn't have to do their due diligence.

The gist of this complaint is that the author didnt like the terms of the warranty after she made the purchase and thereby agreed to the terms, and therefore wanted to complain.  When you buy something with a warranty, specifically furniture, you will most likely have a bag of papers attached to it, or a tag on it, that stipulates the warranty provisions.  If you fail to read this, or didnt ask specific questions about it, it is your fault if you find out you didnt like the warranty stipulations later on.

The basic gist is this: if you dont have it in writing, you cant complain when you dont get it.  If it is in writing, dont complain when you get it.  The customer is always right, unless they are wrong!



 



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#6 General Comment

You are flat our wrong!

AUTHOR: Cryus - (United States of America)

POSTED: Wednesday, August 08, 2012

You are flat our wrong! Period! Bobs should have honored their 1-year claim.

The main point is the sales reps don't tell you anything about the warentee till after you purchase the furniture. The sales reps don't go and say we will cover for any reason unless you move. In fact they go out of their way to not tell you such things. Even their so called goof proof does not cover moving. What is the point I ask you? 

Tell you what buy a computer and if it breaks after a month let DELL or HP tell you they won't do anything because you moved. How fast would you be screaming at the manufacture. 

YOU ARE DEAD WRONG and the CUSTOMER IS CORRECT!

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#5 Consumer Comment

Warranty Limitations/Exclusions

AUTHOR: Kenbuddha - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Friday, July 11, 2008

It's up to you to read and understand the warranties on stuff you buy.

I fix furniture. I know your furniture inside and out. You claim that you saw other postings from me. If you read what I wrote then that should give you an idea that, yes, I do know furniture. And I know the furniture industry.

Don't compare Ethan Allen furniture with furniture you by from a discount furniture store.

Don't think that you know solid wood construction from something that has veneer. The two different materials, solids vs. veneer, might be a function of style, ecconomy, achitecture or combinations of all three methods. Afterall, you mention veneers, like those are evil materials (been around for more than three thousand years), but your issue that brought you to this website is upholstery. Did I miss you mention "8-way hand tied coils" as a spring up method instead of "s-shaped springs" for support? Did you question the qualities of the different foams that are used in your furniture that are part of the support and covering systems?

Screws vs staples? In chairs? Guess what. The fine chairs from the Central Massachusetts furniture hub don't use staples, pins or screws. They use glued and fitted dowels. A fastener serves one of two purposes in chair construction, either to hold the pieces of wood in the joints in place while the glue sets and cures, or (worse) to actually hold the chair together. I'll leave it to your research to figure out which way a manufacturer should go given the price points at which particular chairs will be sold.

BTW, I only just happened to notice this website and whining posts like yours and one other caught my eye. I felt a need to chime in with "the other side of the coin". So much for your assumptions and betting skills. You had the right answer but gave in to your snide side instead.

If cheaply made furniture is sold at discount prices -- your words -- then that means that the savings are PASSED ON TO THE CUSTOMERS, not pocketed!

Reason is all about making sense. Like when a warranty says if you move then you're not covered. Like when a chair is held together with proper wood joints and glue, and not mechanical fasteners. Like when discount furniture is not built like a Bentley car, and yet the savings are passed on to the buyers. Maybe in my book the customer is generally right (not always right as the axiom used to say), and maybe in your book the customer is always right no matter how unreasonable your demands. But with big businesses and thousands of sales customers are not always right. The bookkeeping departments make those determinations and sometimes a customer may come out on the losing side of the fence, sometimes unfairly.

I'll write again because you missed the nuance of a simple point that had no nuance, the warranty is in plain black and white with no ambiguous langauge. I didn't write the warranty (I fix stuff, not put people behind eight balls), but it is what it is. You are fortunate you found some solution to your problem. The fact is the warranty is clear and you lucked out. That's not a customer service issue, that's a good will issue. You should be thankful. Read your warranty and try to feel the gratitude to the company that, despite its stringent warranty, ultimately tried to work with you.

As for me, when I'm fixing furniture I don't judge my customers, their complaints or their selection of furniture. You see, that is the true meaning of the start to customer service. It's also a sense of professionalism. I don't think I'll convince you of anything I've written.

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#4 Author of original report

Re: Warranties - Updated

AUTHOR: Anonymous - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Monday, May 26, 2008

Kenbuddha,

I was curious last evening why you felt the need to randomly reply to such an old post, and continued to wonder about it after I made my initial reply to you, especially since you felt the need to call me an unreasonable customer. I searched a bit on this web site and found that you also replied to another reporter who had a bad customer service experience with a different furniture company. I can only conclude that maybe you are paid by these furniture companies to seek out negatives and spin what consumers have to say to lessen the negative impact these reports may have on future customers. Or maybe you have a tremendous amount of time on your hands and just discovered this web site, so you're exercising your 2-cents worth. I'd place my bet on the former.

My report, and the Thomasville customer's report, simply show how poor the level of customer service has become. Retail sales people are all smiles and chatter when you are a potential paying customer, and my experience was that they became non-existent when, I, the customer, had a problem with the goods I purchased. Increasingly, the customer needs to be the one to search out who to call next when the customer service rep says they cannot help. My phone calls had to go up the ladder to the investor's in NY, and then I finally received a call back from someone at Bob's. Was this necessary? No, I simply wanted someone to fix my furniture, and no one wanted to take ownership - not the manufacturer (because, as I was told, they were located in TN, and how were they supposed to send a technician to me in CT?). In fact, the girl at Shamrock was told, straight out from Bob's, "not to get involved" and that "they would handle it", but no one called me, the customer, to tell me this. This added to my frustration with this company - and is certainly no way to treat a potential repeat customer. I guess they figured I would just simply go away if they kept ignoring me. This attitude only fueled my desire to get my furniture fixed. In the end, everything was resolved. But it should not have taken the course that it did.

Also, our sales person at Bob's knew that we had our house up for sale when we purchased the loveseat because we told her. She did not, however, inform us that the "lifetime service" available at Bob's - a key selling point they use to reel in customers - was available only at the original delivery address. And we clearly did not expect our furniture to fall apart in 6 months.

The other issue is that the furniture is shoddy construction from China. It's made cheaply, sold at "discount" prices, which leads to a big profit for the retailers. The customer is the one who loses. I now call this "disposable furniture" - perfect for the consumer who wants to buy a new couch every other year, not someone like myself who wants furniture that will last a lifetime. Did I expect my loveseat from Bob's to last a lifetime? No, but I did expect it to take longer than 6 months before it fell apart. A perfect example is my childhood bedroom set, my brother's childhood bedroom set, even my father's childhood bedroom set, which are all still being used today by various grandchildren.

Why? The wood is solid, there is no veneer, and the pieces are held together with screws, not staples. I recently bought antique kitchen chairs, over 100 years old, as solid today as they were when they were made. Why? Again, the wood is solid, the construction is solid, and the pieces are held together with screws (original screws, too), not staples. These chairs will still be around in another 100 years, probably with the original screws still in place. My Bob's furniture? I'll be lucky to get 5 more years before it heads to the landfill, without the original staples because they will have all fallen out by then. It's like the furniture technician told me when he removed the fabric from the bottom of the loveseat and we saw that the crosspiece - a major support piece for this particular piece of furniture - was no larger than a yardstick - "they do not make furniture like they used to". My furniture technician bolted a 2x4 in place where the yardstick had been. The rest of the loveseat will eventually fall apart around this one piece of wood which is now the only solid, quality part of my loveseat.

Just be aware that the day will come when you need to call on a warranty (or worse, an "extended warranty", those wasteful things that are supposed to "cover everything") and you'll be ignored, told that everything else is covered but the one thing you need fixed, or some other crazy reason why your warranty is no longer valid. Then, you too, will become "the height of unreasonable", as you say. This appears to be the new trend, get the customers money and then move on to the next customer to make another sale. Pass off warranties and service contracts and "goof proof" junk to third party companies and then you no longer have to take ownership for the poor quality you sell. It's a shame that this is how companies conduct business today, too many folks involved who all need to make a buck, and in the process cheapening out on the product delivered to the customer.

As for being "furniture neurotic", I have never had a problem with any piece I've purchased from Ethan Allen, and I've also experienced a fantastic level of customer support from this company in regards to a piece I ordered that the company felt did not meet their level of quality before it was even delivered to my doorstep. The company alerted me about the delay, that they were sending the mirror back and ordering me a new one. I had to wait longer than I expected, but that's ok because this company has shown me that it cares about what it delivers to its customers - quality comes first and they are representing their brand. So, I am a happy Ethan Allen shopper, with nothing but fabulous things to say about this company and their customer service. I would buy from them again, and probably will.

I wish you the best of luck as a consumer. You truly are lucky if everything you have purchased or will purchase meets your expectations, and if you always have and always will experience top notch customer service. For those of us who have not been so lucky - well, we've certainly become savvier consumers after our lessons learned!

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#3 Author of original report

Re: Warranties

AUTHOR: Anonymous - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Sunday, May 25, 2008

I find it very humorous that you feel the need to respond to my post of 8 months ago.

"Pout to the manufacturer"? - I did contact the manufacturer, they would not fix my furniture.

"The height of unreasonable"? - no, just a consumer that experienced horrible customer service from a retailer and was wronged by a manufacturer who referred me back to the retailer to fix my problem

"Bob's is out of the picture"? - not when the manufacturer refers the customer back to Bob for service.

The funniest part? I finally did get my furniture fixed - by Bob's technicians (due to a huge effort on my part)

"Leave Bob alone"? - you bet! I will never have to deal with Bob again because I will never purchase from his store again.

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#2 Consumer Comment

Warranties

AUTHOR: Kenbuddha - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Sunday, May 25, 2008

I don't understand how unreasonable a customer can be. Your warranty from Bob's was voided by your move. That stipulation is in clear and unambiguous language. If you have a manufacturing issue, take it upo with the manufacturer, Shamrock. Bob's is now out of the picture because you moved!!!

If you didn't like Bob's warranty then you shouldn't have bought the furniture from Bob's.

I find you to be at the height of unreasonable. Leave Bob's alone. Leave Bob alone. Go pout to your manufacturer.

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#1 Author of original report

Update; Bob's Discount Furniture; Warranty is Canceled if you move

AUTHOR: Anonymous - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Monday, October 08, 2007

After getting nowhere with the Customer Service Department of Bob's Discount Furniture, I called the manufacturer of my couch/loveseat. You see, the furniture is backed by a Manufacturer's warranty for one year, right? So, if Bob's refuses to help me because I moved, the manufacturer should step in, or so you'd think!

After many phone calls to determine the manufacturer of my furniture purchased at Bob's (because no one I spoke with seemed to know this information either!) - I was left with only a name, Shamrock. After some searching on-line, I managed to find Jackson Furniture Industries in TN, manufacturers of Shamrock furniture. I immediatley called their # and spoke with one of thier customer service reps. After 5 minutes on the phone with her I really thought I had found someone who was going to help me. Well, a week and 1/2 later, I am not so sure.

This customer service rep was going to speak directly to her contact at Bob's, because, as she remarked to me "I would love to send a technician out to you but I'm in TN and you're in CT". Ok.....but you are my manuacturer and my furniture does have a one year manufacturers warranty. I informed her that we would go this route, but that if I was not satisfied, I would be expecting Jackson Furniture Industries, as my manufacturer, to be taking care of my problem.

Fast forward 10 days and no return phone call. So, I dial up the customer service of the manufacturer. Get this, she spoke with her contact at Bob's who told her "not to get involved any further, that they would take care of it". Ok, and who was going to call me, the customer, and inform me of this? To which she replied "I don't know".

So now I have a furniture retailer who will not honor their part of the warranty deal because I moved; and a manufacturer who is caving to the pressure of "not getting more involved". Can this get any better? Maybe....

I managed to get Bob's direct phone extension (which is probably answered by an assistant, but hey....) So, I am now left waiting for a return call after leaving Bob a message. I've given him 48 hours before I change my mind and take further action to get my money back. I'm so disgusted I don't think I want the loveseat anymore.....

I'm ready to drive my broken loveseat right to Bob's corporate headquarters....I may have moved but I'm actually closer to Mr Kaufman!

to be continued......

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