2/4/06--more adventures in home furnishings

So I'm sure you'll remember our last entry, in which I detailed our evening spent in search of a new television.  We also purchased a slightly larger entertainment center that evening, complete with assurances that it would be delivered on Saturday---the day before the arrival (we hope) of our new television.  Stay with me here...its quite a ride.

Just to recap:

So our salesman had told us that he would put a rush on our order, have the item delivered to us by Saturday, but that he couldn't give us a window of expected delivery.
(i.e., 7am to noon---noon to 6pm, etc)  We were told that he was going to put into the computer that the delivery would be the 8th (I can't remember why), but that because the rush was put on the delivery, it would come on the 4th.  He turns to the office manager to make sure this is okay, and I asked him who he was talking too.
"Oh, that's Rochelle....one of the managers."
"Oh.  Hey, Rochelle.  You know Danny Serrano?"
"Sure." she says.  "He's one of our managers in Pembroke Pines."
"He's been a friend of mine for years.  His wife and I used to work together.  Matter of fact, his wife came to our wedding but Danny couldn't come because he had to work."
"Oh yeah.....make sure this guy's order goes through for a Saturday delivery."

Its all about who ya know people.  Kim looked at me and asked what that was all about.  Never hurts to drop a name every once in awhile.  Our salesman then tells us that he would call us in a day or two to give us the details as well as hopefully offer us whatever window he could for when they would arrive. 

So then a couple of days go by....and its Friday.  And we hadn't heard from our salesman just yet.  So naturally the wife has entered pre-freakout mode, wondering if the entertainment center was still being delivered the next day.  She asked me to call the store and see what was what.

So the first time I called I got a young woman named Alisha.  She informed me that according to the computer we were scheduled for delivery on 2/8/06.  This was not sounding good.  Besides the fact that no one would be home, we wanted the thing on Saturday--the day before our television was being delivered.
So I called back.
And I got my future best friend for life---Toya.
Naturally, neither our salesman (Jonathan) or Rochelle were working that day.  Why would I think THAT would happen?  So I asked to speak to a manager but Toya said I had to tell her what the problem was so she could advise the manager.  I tried to explain
the problem that I had and how there must be some error with what the computer was showing.  Nope.  We were scheduled for the 8th.
"Well....I know that Jonathan isn't there.  But is there anyway someone could call him and ask him about this situation."
"No sir.  We can't call him at home."
"Look.  The salesman and Rochelle told my wife and I that we would be getting our item on Saturday and I don't understand why now I'm being told something different."
"Well sir, I'm trying to help you and now you're being rude to me."
(Huh?)
"Look, all I want to know is if my item is going to be delivered on the day that the salesman told me that it would be delivered."
"Well sir, you signed a contract saying that it would be delivered on the 8th."
"Yes, I know I did.  But I also assumed since the salesman told me that it would be delivered on the 4th that it would be delivered on the 4th."
"Well sir, that's what you get for assuming."

And she just had that nasty little snippy bitchy tone to her voice.

"Well, okay.  I want to cancel the contract.  Tell me how I do that."
"Just a second."

She came back about 10 seconds later.

"Okay, your order is canceled."

And I was amazed.  Mainly because I thought at the very least at that point that she would go and get her manager to try and facilitate matters....or smooth things over with an unhappy customer...or anything that involved do something OTHER than canceling the order and screwing the salesman out of his commission.

So then I called Kim and told her.  She suggested that maybe we could go to another store that evening and buy another entertainment center.

When we headed out to do just that, I decided that I wanted to make sure that our order had indeed been canceled and that we would be on the hook for two items, one from different stores.  So I called the old 1-800 number for the first store.  After being advised that the contract was canceled, I decided to try another tactic.

"Can you please tell me the name of the area supervisor please?"

I figured I would just skip my way up the old change of command to try and get some satisfaction.  I got the number and made the call...and was connected with her.

I began to give her the Reader's Digest version of what had happened, concluding with the fact that I had canceled the order and that I was on my way to her competitor to make a purchase.  She was very polite and apologized for the situation, telling me that if I had called her earlier that perhaps she could've helped me out with the order.
I thanked her, offered to her that perhaps Toya might need some further training in her phone skills and bid her adieu.

And then I went to the competition and made a purchase.  When I got home I had a message waiting--and I mean it was from about 10 minutes after I had spoken to the area supervisor, from my old friend Danny Serrano.

"I hope you didn't get him in trouble because you mentioned his name," Kim said.

This morning I spoke to Danny.  I was glad to hear that he hadn't gotten any grief over my phone call.  On the contrary.

"She called me and asked me if I knew you.  I told her yes and she explained what had happened.  She asked me who you were and I said....'oh he's not really anyone important.  Just a judge.'  (laughing) I mean to tell you there was 10 solid seconds of dead silence."
"She thought I was a judge?"
"Well...she did until I told that technically you WORKED for a judge.  It still made an impression.  Dude, why didn't you just come to my store?  I woulda hooked you up."
"Well, basically the woman on the phone pissed me off so much I canceled the order."

And we talked a little bit more.  Wished each other well and that was it.  I'm still waiting for my furniture.

And wondering if Toya has scheduled that phone skills class yet.

Later,
Jeff