Bob's Discount Furniture LLC Delivered wine cabinet with defective door. The furniture piece is discontinued. Only offered a discount on the piece. Offered no refund on extended warranty after learning item replacement and parts discontinued by manufacturer. Manchester, CT

On January 9, 2021, I ordered approximately $3,790 worth of dining room and living room furniture from the Bob’s Discount Store in Wilmington, DE.  I recently moved and delivery was scattered between February 27th and April 2nd.  I received the first wave of merchandise on February 27th, which included the Scarlett Wine Server.  Good thing Bob’s spends so much money on TV spots where he sits in a movie theater negotiating with their manufacturers for the best pricing and lead times. 

The furniture piece was bought for $399 including the Goof Proof coverage through Guardian.  This coverage is advertised to cover most issues including accidental damage.  The delivery crew assembled the cabinet with both doors closed.  The delivery crew was in a hurry to leave for the next delivery site.  I went to use the cabinet the next week and noticed that right door did not close after opening it.  I reached out to Bob’s Customer Care line to request maintenance to come out to assess the issue as this is a manufacturer’s defect.  I also purchased an additional 4 years of Guardian Goof Proof coverage.  After spending over an hour over text and phone calls, I finally reached some one to schedule an appointment to visit my home and the tech will assess the defect.  The earliest option Customer Care provided was 3/31/21.  This date is material to my complaint.  Unfortunately, the wait was ridiculous. 

Today, March 31st, I received multiple messages with the service window between 10:15am-12:15pm.  I turned out that the tech showed up at 8:55am much earlier than Bob’s Service Tracking system with GPS had provided.  This is common with Bob’s.  They are either much earlier or later than the 2 or 3 hour window they provide.  Make sure you do not make any plans the day Bob’s delivers or provides maintenance! 

A 20-year-old gentleman shows up and brought no tools with him into my home.  He takes pictures of my wine cabinet and the broken door.  He calls the Customer Care representative to explain that he cannot repair the cabinet because the manufacturer discontinued making the piece and there are no replacement doors available to repair the piece.  The maintenance tech handed me back my phone, left my home quickly and connected me with the Customer Care representative to review my options, or the lack thereof. 

My options were to receive a full credit and they come to pick up the merchandise with no replacement offered.  Take the defective piece with a 25% refund to a Bob’s Discount electronic gift card to buy another piece from a different line.  I asked the representative why they could not check their store inventory to see if they could exchange with a floor model.  I even asked for a refund on the Guardian Goof Proof coverage.  After getting nowhere, I asked for a manager to escalate. 

I spoke with Jennifer (Employee ID# 82114).  Jennifer was the Customer Care Manager.  I reiterated to her that I invested in several pieces from their Scarlett Dining set including a 9-piece dining room table set.  The option with the full credit does nothing for me because another piece will not match this set.  I asked about why she could not contact the stores for an exchange on the same item.  Jennifer explained that Customer Care does not contact the stores and that I, the customer, is supposed to do that to see if the store manager would approve this.  I asked Jennifer why she is so lazy and tone death that she would not remedy the situation for a customer that spent close to $4K. 

Jennifer reiterated that she could not follow along with my complaints and talking points.  Furthermore, I explained that the Goof Proof warranty that I paid extra for rendered useless because the manufacturer has no replacement piece or parts.  For example, today the door is defective.  What if a leg, tabletop, handle, or drawer break?  What good is a warranty without replacement or spare parts?  I demanded that Jennifer refund the value of the Goof Proof coverage then.  Jennifer replied that the customer has 30 days from the date of delivery to receive a full refund on the Goof Proof warranty through Guardian.  I responded with that is unacceptable and a convenient truth.  In fact, I pointed out that is Bob’s fault that I had to week several weeks to schedule their 20-year-old maintenance tech to show up without tools and take a picture of my damaged wine cabinet and make a phone call. 

If Bob’s Customer Care Department had better availability, I would have been within their 30-day period.  Instead, Jennifer asserts that I am outside the 30-day grace period by 4 days.  How convenient?  I told Jennifer that is theft.  It is bait and switch because I was sold an extended warranty that I will never be able to use.  After complaining more, Jennifer stated that she is simply giving me the information and my options.  I responded to Jennifer that will accept the 25% off the wine cabinet to remedy the defect and will file consumer complaints and a dispute claim with my bank for a refund for the extended warranty that I was misled.  Jennifer is a phone warrior that did not have any intention of resolving the matter by addressing both the defect and warranty issue.  Customer Service does not exist with Bob’s! 

I called the sales representative from the Wilmington Store and he tried to speak to the store manager and offered now remedy.  I even attempted to contact the store’s office and the phone never gets picked up.  I am left with no choice but to hit social media, consumer complaint and bank charge dispute options.  I tried to settle directly with Bob’s, but Jennifer and the store manager chose to strong arm.  I hope it was worth it. 

I demand and expect a refund for the extended warranty that I bought on the win cabinet.  Essentially, I will have to hire a furniture repair person to fix the door out of my own pocket because Bob’s took my money from the warranty and ran with it.  I am not making any money on this incident as Bob’s also chooses to refund via gift card, not credit back to your original tender (credit card).  The 25% refund on the wind cabinet was only half of the solution.  That does not resolve the warranty refund.