NEVER EVER purchase from la-z-boy, I warn you!! They have the worst service ever! The salesmen are not honest and manipulative, and they don't give you what you paid for. In November 2008, I purchased a 3-seated custom sofa (by custom, it just means I can choose the fabric of my choice from their spindle) for $1350, which I thought the price was reasonable at the time. But in the end of the invoice, the total was $1700 since the salesman (Peter is his name) keeps persuading us to purchase fabric protection and get home delivery, because we may scratch the furniture ourselves, etc, etc. I was still okay with the price because the quality of the sofa is high-end. However if you shop around in other stores, you will find the same quality at the same or lower price without the hassle and frustration that I'm about to tell you.
The sofa originally comes with 2 cushions and at the time of the sale the salesman also promised to “throw in” another 2 cushions, making it a total of four. He also told us that the cushions can be in a fabric/color of our choice different than the sofa. Once we’ve decided to make the purchase, he hurried us into giving him our credit card and personal info (address and such) to begin his paperwork for the ‘custom’ sofa, since he claim it would take a while to prepare paperwork, and mean while I can seat in the showroom to make my fabric selection. Sounds reasonable at the time.
So I made my fabric selection for my sofa and 4 cushions while my husband signed all the paperwork with the salesman. When he was ready to write down the details of the fabric selection, he then told me that the manager does not agree to “throw in” the extra 2 cushions anymore. BUT he promised he will give me free cushions with my next purchase (in the beginning I told him I would come back at another date to buy 2 occasional chairs to match my sofa to complete a set, so I was okay with the offer). However, he also told me that the fabric for the 2 cushions that come with the sofa must be in the sale color of the sofa now, unless I pay an additional $50 just to change the color for the pair. I was disappointed at the time, but he gave me a face saying his manager won’t budge and therefore he cannot do anything about it.
Fine. At last, I continued with the purchase of the 3-seated sofa including 2 cushions of the same fabric. But I told him to put the order on hold until I purchase my occasional chairs because I need to be 100% certain that the color for both can be matched as a set. He told me that I have until Wednesday to call him (my purchase was made on a Sunday).
On Tuesday, we’ve decided to go back on the following Saturday to browse for my occasional chairs, so we call the store and look for Peter, he was not in at the time. We told the lady on the phone that we want to put our original order on hold a little longer, so that we can finalize the color for the sofa AND the chairs that we are planning to purchase. The lady told me that she cannot find our order in the system therefore the salesman must have put it on hold already, so there is no problem for us to wait until Saturday to make any changes.
On Saturday we went back to the store, making our choices for the occasional chairs. When we are ready to make the purchase I asked about my free cushions, the salesman then told me that he can for sure give it to me, but needs his manager to sign the invoice who is not at the store at the time. He will put in the order first and phone me within a week to confirm I have my cushions when his manager comes in the next day. So I was okay with that. Also, on Saturday we never mentioned anything about my previous purchase assuming that it was still on-hold.
A couple days late, I called to confirm that the manager has now signed my invoice to give me the free cushions with my chairs and that I get a new invoice. Peter told me that his manager is not willing to give me the free cushions because he supposed have given a good deal on the chairs and sofa already. After reviewing what happened at the store, I find this salesman to be very manipulative; he was not honest, and very good with words to persuaded me to make purchases not to my satisfaction. I was very upset and therefore told him that I just want to cancel my order for both the chairs and the sofa. Of course he need me to meet him in person and cannot cancel over the phone. I went to the store the next day, he cancelled my order for the chairs, but would not cancel the order for the sofa. He claimed that he only gave me until Wednesday of the previous week to put the order on hold, after which he sent in the custom order to the factory, and the sofa is already in making. But I told him that I spoke to another lady on the phone, but of course they have no record of that call. I cannot do anything about it because I made the mistake of not recording the call and the name of the lady I spoke to (who knew it would be such trouble for such a big company).
So I waited a very long period (more than 10 weeks) for my sofa and TWO cushions to be delivery (I wonder why it would’ve took so long if he had sent in my order to the factory almost immediately). The sofa finally came WITHOUT ANY cushions and two scratched legs. I had to call the store again to request my missing cushions, it took many calls of speaking to different salesman, leaving messages and talking to the service department at head office (in Burlington) to schedule an appointment for a technician to deliver my cushions and replace the scratched legs. My husband had to request to work from home for the day to wait for the technician to come. So someone came and replaced the scratched legs at my home, and they brought in 2 cushions in this ridiculous brown color and random polka dots pattern (my sofa is solid velvet white). My husband refused to accept the cushions, the technician claim that he doesn’t know anything and we must call the head-office again to fix the issue.
Today is October 8th, 2009. It has been almost a year since my purchase, and I still have not received my 2 cushions which were supposed to come with my sofa. I do not want to go into the details of how many calls I’ve made speaking to Lorna at the service department to request my missing cushions, since it will be another 2 page long. Long story short, she keeps telling me that she must check with the store to ensure the color of the cushions will now match my sofa, but each time she claims she will call me back she DOES NOT. And many times you call the service department, no one picks up, it just goes to Lorna’s voice mail. I will now report this to the Better Business Bureau.
Again, I WARN you, NEVER purchase from this giant store, it’s a big scam.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $1,700.00