Town and Country Leather Very delayed delivery on the couch I ordered from them. Austin Texas

Ah, where to begin!

More than two months ago my husband and I decided to look for some better furniture. We had moved into a new apartment, and our two existing couches (both bought used) simply didn't work in the space we had. We started looking around at sectionals at various huge furniture warehouses. We found one we liked, the Brandon sectional by Flexsteel. We looked around at local retailers and online. There was only one place local that carried the sectional, and their price was far above the online stores (25%), and charged for tax and shipping, which the online stores didn't do. We were also interested in buying a protection plan for the sectional as we've never owned leather before and feel more secure with the plan. 

 

We looked and found Town and Country online. We felt more secure ordering from an actual company with a storefront than from just a huge online warehouse. We felt like we would be treated more like people, rather than numbers, and like the customer service would be more personal. We told them what we wanted, the price we had found it for, and they said they would price match. However, we would not receive the white glove shipping, that would be an additional $200. I wasn't impressed with that so I didn't buy it, but I did purchase the sofa and the protection plan.

 

I called the owner to give him my information to complete the purchase, and he said that if he could work it out for his shipping company to pick it up directly from the manufacturer (instead of them shipping it to him and his re-shipping it to me) that it might be here in a week. He wrote on the receipt 2-4 weeks, which I was still fine with, but it wasn't what I was told. After two weeks without any contact my husband called them to find out where our sectional was. He was told that the couch turned out to be quite heavy, and he would do us a favor and give us the white glove shipping for only $100. My husband decided that would be ok, as it was getting close to our vacation time and he didn't want to have the house-sitters trying to move the couch into our apartment.

 

It is now more than a month later. I have not received my couch, nor do I have an estimated date for its arrival. I'm not sure if they originally had trouble getting the set, but I know that their shipping company received it around December 6th, and it was supposed to be delivered to the white glove company on the 8th or 9th, and would be to me on the 9th or 10th. That date came and went without word. Quite a while later we were informed that the set was damaged so Town and Country had contacted repair people to go fix it, that day we thought. A week later we learned that the repairmen had been there, finally, and said that it was beyond repair. Town and Country then ordered us a new sectional, again, and treated it as though they had done us a huge favor in ordering us a new set, and not delivering a set that was damaged beyond repair. Excuse me? I purchased a brand new set, not a used one from Craigslist. I fully expect the set to be in perfect condition when I receive it.

 

By this time it was a week before Christmas I have had a party come and gone, visitors come and gone, all of us left standing because there is no couch. Visitors left to sleep on the floor because there is no couch. And still no word for delivery date. We were told last week that they would contact the shipping company and the manufacturer to see about a delivery date, and told that the owner would call us last week. We called him last week only to find out that he was, in fact, on vacation for a week. That would have been fine, if he had been honest. Town and Country did not try to contact the until today, the 27th, at which time they learned that the company is in fact closed for a week. It has already been more than a month since I ordered the set, and it seems like it will be a minimum of another three weeks before I see the set.

 

At first I was very happy with Town and Country. I was happy that they price matched, with the price of the protection plan, and what seemed like good customer service. Since then however it has been increasingly difficult to get any information from them, and I find it rather condescending that they feel superior because they're not delivering me a damaged sectional.

 

I hope that this situation will be resolved well, and soon, and will update when that happens. For the moment though, it looks like it might be faster to cancel with them and order the set through one of the online companies.

 

*Update*

 

Our couch was FINALLY delivered on January 21st 2011, nearly two months to the day that we ordered it (Nov 23). The couch is fine with no damage, and is as we were expecting - comfy.

 

We were not offered ANYTHING to compensate us, not the $100 shipping refunded, not a discount, not the protection plan discounted or refunded. I recommend you avoid this company if possible.