From: Alissa R[redacted] <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, February 15, 2017 6:47:06 PM To: info Subject: Case ID: [redacted] In Response to Customer Complaint, Case ID: [redacted] I spoke with a customer regarding a bed that she purchased, for her daughter, from our Kokomo...
location. She initially called the Kokomo location and spoke with an employee that works there, whom instructed her to contact me at my Muncie location. When she called, we discussed the issue she was having with her full size bed. In her words, her daughter is in college and does not spend a lot of time at home. One morning, after spending the evening at home, her daughter woke up and told her that her bed had collapsed overnight while she was sleeping in it. I asked if the bed had been moved without being taken apart, or if it had been taken apart for any reason during the last eight months of them having the bed in their possession. She said no. I explained I was trying to understand how, after eight months of the bed being used, it simply fell apart and collapsed during a normal sleep. If it had been moved without being taken apart properly it could have cracked the wood somewhere and caused a weak spot. If it had been taken apart, maybe it wasn't put back together properly. She again said that the bed had not been moved nor taken apart. I explained to her that I had to determine, as with any warranty, if this was a defect from the manufacturer, or if this was an abuse/misuse situation. The customer was offended when I said this. I explained it is normal warranty routine and I meant no harm by asking more detailed questions. I was unable to get any other response from the customer other than it just fell apart/collapsed during the night while her daughter was sleeping on it. She stated that it is possible the bed did not break until now because it is not used frequently. I had her send me photos of the bed and asked her to include a photo of her proof of purchase as well. She told me that she is not sure if she has the receipt, but that she could try to locate it. She said she may be able to get the bank statements from when she made her payments. I explained to her that we cannot accept bank statements as proof of purchase, because they do not provide the necessary information needed to proceed with the warranty process. She did not understand so I attempted to explain to her that we carry multiple items from different manufacturers, as do other furniture dealers. A bank statement would prove that she spent money at our store, but could not tell us what she purchased and what manufacturer her purchased item was made by. Again, this made her upset. She asked me why I cannot look up her sale and find her invoice. I explained to her that we do not have a point of sale system on the computer that would make it easy for me to look up her purchase. We have hand written invoices and log books. We file invoices away monthly in file boxes and put them into storage. I told her that I do not always have access to them, and even the days that I may be able to look for them that it is a tedious task and takes quite some time for me to go through and I am unable to promise her that I can find it. We finished this phone conversation after agreeing upon her sending me photos of the bed, and she will continue to try to locate her proof of purchase to include it with the photos of the bed. I agree with her that I did not get back in contact with her in a timely manner. When I did get in contact with her, I apologized profusely for the wait. She asked why it took me so long to get in contact with her. I told her that I am short staffed at the moment. She continued to ask me questions as to why it took me longer than anticipated to get back with her. I responded again with I am short staffed at the present time, which is causing me to have to step away from my daily tasks so that I can help on the sales floor. I apologized again and I attempted to move the subject back to the real issue of her bed being broken. She continued with questions regarding my untimely manner in contacting her. "Why am I short staffed? Why can I not find employees?" Upon my failed attempts to get her to move from this subject, I did get frustrated. I finally said, "Ma'am, my current employees and myself are already working overtime. People are turning in applications, but most with little effort in presenting themselves professionally when they do so. I guess by watching the news lately it seems a good majority of the world out there is on drugs." (I do understand that was very unprofessional of me to say, which I acknowledged during the conversation and apologized for.) After my response, we were able to discuss her bed again. She had already sent me the email, a few days after our initial phone conversation. I opened the email while I was on the phone with her. I looked them over and asked her exactly where the bed was broken. I explained with the photos I received, it was unclear as to where the damage was. It appeared it simply needed to be reassembled. The mattress was no longer on the bed. All I could see was the headboard leaning against the wall, the trundle unit with a bunkie board laying on top of it, and a couple support slats laying on the floor at the foot of the bed. The footboard was not visible in the initial photos, and there was not a photo of her invoice-or proof of purchase. I asked her if she could send me more photos, including all pieces of the bed, the invoice, and a photo of where the damage was at on the bed. At this point, she was very upset with me. She began to raise her voice and suggest that I am just giving her the "run around" and I will not help her. She yelled at me "How is she supposed to know where the bed is broken?" She told me that I promised her that I would look for her invoice. I tried to calm her and remind her that I told her before that it is not that simple for me to find invoices. I do not have a point of sale system, or any computer system where I can search her name and pull up records. I told her I have hung up signs at each location regarding invoices and how important it is for our customers to keep their yellow copy of their invoice. Proof of Purchase if very important in warranty claims due to warranties being time sensitive. I need to know the date that she received her furniture. I then asked her if she kept her delivery note copy. She asked what that was. I explained that when my delivery team brought her furniture to her, and set it up for her, she, or someone in the house would of had to sign a delivery note. It is for proof of receipt of the merchandise. She said no, that she did not remember getting any paper like that. She then began calling me a liar and telling me that she cannot believe how I am handling this situation. She said she never seen any signs about keeping her receipts. She told me that I need to reevaluate my job because I have no business being a manager of any store. I kept apologizing to her and I told her it seems she has misunderstood most of the things that I have said during our conversations. I attempted to repeat the policies that we have. I continued to apologize any chance that I got. She wouldn't give me a chance to finish any sentence that I began to say. She continued to interrupt and yell at me. I said to her, "Ma'am I am trying to help you, please allow me to do so." She said no, she wanted to talk to someone else. I explained to her that we are a small business and I am the only person that handles these situations. She asked if there was an owner, I said yes there is, but my job is to try to help you. He doesn't even know how to do my job. After I said that, she began ranting and cursing, then hung up the phone. The next day, my employee in Kokomo called me to tell me that this customer was very upset and asked him if she could speak with him, instead of me. I told him that would be okay, but make sure she understands that you are only able to relay messages back and forth. I understood that this customer absolutely did not like me. I still wanted to try to resolve her issue. I asked my employee to have her send me more photos and her proof of purchase. She sent more photos of the bed, still no damage present, but told him that I was supposed to find her invoice/proof of purchase. He says that he told her to his knowledge we were unable to do that. She was upset with that, but we still attempted to fix her issue. That same employee went to her home a few days later, on December 20,2016 because she continued to say that she did not know where the bed was broken, so she could not provide us with a photo of the damage. I sent him because without a photo of the damage or a better explanation of what is wrong with the bed, I cannot send it to the manufacturer. He found a cracked leg on the headboard. It is the left leg, when looking from the foot of the bed toward the headboard. It is exactly where the leg attaches to the headboard. When my employee sent me the photo, I saved it, and then sent it to the manufacturer. Their response was: "the damage does not qualify as a manufacturer defect. When we see a crack in this location, it is usually caused by the bolts on the legs needing tightened and the bed being moved while still assembled." I was unable to speak with the customer again myself, due to her declining any opportunity to speak with me. I told my employee to pass on to her that the damage does not qualify for warranty. I told him that he could give her ideas on how to possibly fix the leg. She could take it to a furniture repair shop, or maybe someone could cut a piece of wood and paint it ivory to replicate the leg, then reattach it. I told him that I believe if she were to put some extra screws in around the existing ones, and tighten everything then she could still get a lot of life out of the bed frame. I told him to apologize to her and explain to her that we do not sell her additional warranties, that the warranty provided with the purchase is directly from the manufacturer. She was very unhappy with this response, and she told him that she will post her experience on the internet and turn us in to Revdex.com. I understand her concerns about the length of time that it took me to respond to her issue. In this case, it was my doing that took longer than it should. In some cases, with furniture, I have to wait on the manufacturers' responses. I understand the one instance that I was unprofessional with her about stating what I had been seeing on the news. I am very sorry that she is not satisfied with us, and myself. I do have to say that I did not say most of what I am being accused of, there is a lot that seems was misunderstood. My apologies if I did not make things clear for her. I did not state that anyone jumped on the bed, nor did anything else on the bed. I did state that I was confused as to how it collapsed during sleep. I am unable to return any money to her. She has had the furniture for nearly a year before this happened. I cannot replace her bed because it has been discontinued. I cannot get another leg because they no longer make them. I can suggest adding more screws from the leg to the headboard and make sure all others are tight. Also, tighten then from time to time, if they are pre-manufactured holes with metal threaded inserts in them, they tend to loosen over time with movement. Best Regards, Alissa R[redacted] General Manager Best Deal Home Furniture [email protected]
From: Alissa R[redacted] <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, February 15, 2017 6:47:06 PM To: info Subject: Case ID: [redacted] In Response to Customer Complaint, Case ID: [redacted] I spoke with a customer regarding a bed that she purchased, for her daughter, from our Kokomo...
location. She initially called the Kokomo location and spoke with an employee that works there, whom instructed her to contact me at my Muncie location. When she called, we discussed the issue she was having with her full size bed. In her words, her daughter is in college and does not spend a lot of time at home. One morning, after spending the evening at home, her daughter woke up and told her that her bed had collapsed overnight while she was sleeping in it. I asked if the bed had been moved without being taken apart, or if it had been taken apart for any reason during the last eight months of them having the bed in their possession. She said no. I explained I was trying to understand how, after eight months of the bed being used, it simply fell apart and collapsed during a normal sleep. If it had been moved without being taken apart properly it could have cracked the wood somewhere and caused a weak spot. If it had been taken apart, maybe it wasn't put back together properly. She again said that the bed had not been moved nor taken apart. I explained to her that I had to determine, as with any warranty, if this was a defect from the manufacturer, or if this was an abuse/misuse situation. The customer was offended when I said this. I explained it is normal warranty routine and I meant no harm by asking more detailed questions. I was unable to get any other response from the customer other than it just fell apart/collapsed during the night while her daughter was sleeping on it. She stated that it is possible the bed did not break until now because it is not used frequently. I had her send me photos of the bed and asked her to include a photo of her proof of purchase as well. She told me that she is not sure if she has the receipt, but that she could try to locate it. She said she may be able to get the bank statements from when she made her payments. I explained to her that we cannot accept bank statements as proof of purchase, because they do not provide the necessary information needed to proceed with the warranty process. She did not understand so I attempted to explain to her that we carry multiple items from different manufacturers, as do other furniture dealers. A bank statement would prove that she spent money at our store, but could not tell us what she purchased and what manufacturer her purchased item was made by. Again, this made her upset. She asked me why I cannot look up her sale and find her invoice. I explained to her that we do not have a point of sale system on the computer that would make it easy for me to look up her purchase. We have hand written invoices and log books. We file invoices away monthly in file boxes and put them into storage. I told her that I do not always have access to them, and even the days that I may be able to look for them that it is a tedious task and takes quite some time for me to go through and I am unable to promise her that I can find it. We finished this phone conversation after agreeing upon her sending me photos of the bed, and she will continue to try to locate her proof of purchase to include it with the photos of the bed. I agree with her that I did not get back in contact with her in a timely manner. When I did get in contact with her, I apologized profusely for the wait. She asked why it took me so long to get in contact with her. I told her that I am short staffed at the moment. She continued to ask me questions as to why it took me longer than anticipated to get back with her. I responded again with I am short staffed at the present time, which is causing me to have to step away from my daily tasks so that I can help on the sales floor. I apologized again and I attempted to move the subject back to the real issue of her bed being broken. She continued with questions regarding my untimely manner in contacting her. "Why am I short staffed? Why can I not find employees?" Upon my failed attempts to get her to move from this subject, I did get frustrated. I finally said, "Ma'am, my current employees and myself are already working overtime. People are turning in applications, but most with little effort in presenting themselves professionally when they do so. I guess by watching the news lately it seems a good majority of the world out there is on drugs." (I do understand that was very unprofessional of me to say, which I acknowledged during the conversation and apologized for.) After my response, we were able to discuss her bed again. She had already sent me the email, a few days after our initial phone conversation. I opened the email while I was on the phone with her. I looked them over and asked her exactly where the bed was broken. I explained with the photos I received, it was unclear as to where the damage was. It appeared it simply needed to be reassembled. The mattress was no longer on the bed. All I could see was the headboard leaning against the wall, the trundle unit with a bunkie board laying on top of it, and a couple support slats laying on the floor at the foot of the bed. The footboard was not visible in the initial photos, and there was not a photo of her invoice-or proof of purchase. I asked her if she could send me more photos, including all pieces of the bed, the invoice, and a photo of where the damage was at on the bed. At this point, she was very upset with me. She began to raise her voice and suggest that I am just giving her the "run around" and I will not help her. She yelled at me "How is she supposed to know where the bed is broken?" She told me that I promised her that I would look for her invoice. I tried to calm her and remind her that I told her before that it is not that simple for me to find invoices. I do not have a point of sale system, or any computer system where I can search her name and pull up records. I told her I have hung up signs at each location regarding invoices and how important it is for our customers to keep their yellow copy of their invoice. Proof of Purchase if very important in warranty claims due to warranties being time sensitive. I need to know the date that she received her furniture. I then asked her if she kept her delivery note copy. She asked what that was. I explained that when my delivery team brought her furniture to her, and set it up for her, she, or someone in the house would of had to sign a delivery note. It is for proof of receipt of the merchandise. She said no, that she did not remember getting any paper like that. She then began calling me a liar and telling me that she cannot believe how I am handling this situation. She said she never seen any signs about keeping her receipts. She told me that I need to reevaluate my job because I have no business being a manager of any store. I kept apologizing to her and I told her it seems she has misunderstood most of the things that I have said during our conversations. I attempted to repeat the policies that we have. I continued to apologize any chance that I got. She wouldn't give me a chance to finish any sentence that I began to say. She continued to interrupt and yell at me. I said to her, "Ma'am I am trying to help you, please allow me to do so." She said no, she wanted to talk to someone else. I explained to her that we are a small business and I am the only person that handles these situations. She asked if there was an owner, I said yes there is, but my job is to try to help you. He doesn't even know how to do my job. After I said that, she began ranting and cursing, then hung up the phone. The next day, my employee in Kokomo called me to tell me that this customer was very upset and asked him if she could speak with him, instead of me. I told him that would be okay, but make sure she understands that you are only able to relay messages back and forth. I understood that this customer absolutely did not like me. I still wanted to try to resolve her issue. I asked my employee to have her send me more photos and her proof of purchase. She sent more photos of the bed, still no damage present, but told him that I was supposed to find her invoice/proof of purchase. He says that he told her to his knowledge we were unable to do that. She was upset with that, but we still attempted to fix her issue. That same employee went to her home a few days later, on December 20,2016 because she continued to say that she did not know where the bed was broken, so she could not provide us with a photo of the damage. I sent him because without a photo of the damage or a better explanation of what is wrong with the bed, I cannot send it to the manufacturer. He found a cracked leg on the headboard. It is the left leg, when looking from the foot of the bed toward the headboard. It is exactly where the leg attaches to the headboard. When my employee sent me the photo, I saved it, and then sent it to the manufacturer. Their response was: "the damage does not qualify as a manufacturer defect. When we see a crack in this location, it is usually caused by the bolts on the legs needing tightened and the bed being moved while still assembled." I was unable to speak with the customer again myself, due to her declining any opportunity to speak with me. I told my employee to pass on to her that the damage does not qualify for warranty. I told him that he could give her ideas on how to possibly fix the leg. She could take it to a furniture repair shop, or maybe someone could cut a piece of wood and paint it ivory to replicate the leg, then reattach it. I told him that I believe if she were to put some extra screws in around the existing ones, and tighten everything then she could still get a lot of life out of the bed frame. I told him to apologize to her and explain to her that we do not sell her additional warranties, that the warranty provided with the purchase is directly from the manufacturer. She was very unhappy with this response, and she told him that she will post her experience on the internet and turn us in to Revdex.com. I understand her concerns about the length of time that it took me to respond to her issue. In this case, it was my doing that took longer than it should. In some cases, with furniture, I have to wait on the manufacturers' responses. I understand the one instance that I was unprofessional with her about stating what I had been seeing on the news. I am very sorry that she is not satisfied with us, and myself. I do have to say that I did not say most of what I am being accused of, there is a lot that seems was misunderstood. My apologies if I did not make things clear for her. I did not state that anyone jumped on the bed, nor did anything else on the bed. I did state that I was confused as to how it collapsed during sleep. I am unable to return any money to her. She has had the furniture for nearly a year before this happened. I cannot replace her bed because it has been discontinued. I cannot get another leg because they no longer make them. I can suggest adding more screws from the leg to the headboard and make sure all others are tight. Also, tighten then from time to time, if they are pre-manufactured holes with metal threaded inserts in them, they tend to loosen over time with movement. Best Regards, Alissa R[redacted] General Manager Best Deal Home Furniture [email protected]