Kane Furniture, Casselberry, Florida
Complaint 244314 Details

On 2/27/13, I ordered and paid in full for a 7 piece leather sectional from Kane Furniture in Casselberry. Although the salesman checked and assured me that all of the pieces were in stock when I ordered the items, it was later discovered that 2 pieces would be backordered for a couple of weeks.
They finally arrived 3 months later. I tried to refuse the partial order when it arrived, so that all the items could be delivered at the same time and I could check that the merchandise was okay before signing off on it. I was concerned about taking possession and even using part of the furniture, in case there would be a problem with the backordered items blending in, being damaged, being a different color lot, etc. when they arrived.

The driver had me call the store and the man there said that was not an option...they had no storage place for the furniture. may not ever get the furniture, and there would be cancellation or restocking fees attached. He insisted there was nothing to worry about because of Kane's customer satisfaction guarantee, not to worry bec the rest of the order will be there shortly and they will do whatever is needed to make sure that I'm happy with it.

The last 2 items arrived 3 months later and were nonmoving sectional pieces, not the reclining power-operated chairs that I had ordered.

Kane's has refused to take everything back and sell me a sectional that they have in stock, because now they say I have used the furniture (which they would not allow me to refuse to do).

They also refuse to waive any restocking fee on the 2 wrong items which arrived 3 months too late, stating that it has been too long since the order was placed.

They also state that it is my fault that the wrong product number was put on the original invoice. Since I was sitting in the chair that I wanted and there was no product number on it, I disagree with this... I was very clear on the chairs I wanted and have 2 witness who went with me to vouch for this. The salesperson evidently made a mistake in the product number he wrote down; the manager told me that the price of the chair indicated that he wrote down the correct product number, however this is also plausible, since the salesman had gone to management and asked for an additional discount if I took all 7 pieces immediately.

At any rate, the way in which the management handled this simple employee product number error is unacceptable. In discussing this product number error, two sales people and the manager told me 3 different numbers for the upcharges to get the correct chairs with power reclining systems. There seems to be no fixed price...perhaps again because of the supersale that was going on the day that I bought the set, plus the additional negotiated price for immediate payment and delivery.

I offered to pay an additional upcharge for each of the 2 chairs in order to get this all behind us, if we could agree on a plan immediately, be sure to get the correct chairs ordered, and verify that they would be arriving within a reasonable time.

The only concession that the manager offered was to waive the $119 delivery/pickup charge for picking up the wrong chairs. Even though the 2 chairs came 3 months after I paid for them and this was not under my control, the manager stated that it had been long enough that he would have to charge a 20% restocking fee.

I believe a good customer service representative would have naturally had more empathy and understanding for the customer's unpleasant experience this time with Kane's... and wanted to reverse the negative impression that these dealings have created for a former loyal customer. He made the decision to maximize the disagreement, instead of resolving it, requiring much more time and money for the business and the customer. Perhaps it is not possible for Kane's to get the merchandise they have sold.

Desired Resolution:
1. Delivery of the 2 correct chairs that I purchased. 2. Removal of the 2 incorrect chairs, with no 'restocking' or delivery fees. 3. A mutually agreeable upcharge for the correct chairs, if indeed they were mispriced to begin with (unclear due to the special sales that were going on that weekend, as well as the additional discount negotiated at the time). 4. A reasonable delivery time for the correct chairs. 5. An agreement that Kane's will give full credit toward the purchase of an alternative, with no restocking fees, if indeed Kane's is unable to provide the above. 6. An understanding that Kane's will stop using their own delays as reasons to charge the customer more. It is not reasonable to divide the merchandise, require acceptance of partial deliveries, then charge the customer to resolve these company-caused problems.