Rooms to (not) Go

What a day. After sneaking off two weeks ago to buy Bethany's furniture, I had struggled to get it delivered in a time frame that was convenient for us and the company.

We had purchased our couch, love seat, coffee table and end tables from Rooms To Go. Dealing with them today has proven to be a special kind of nightmare.

I had already waited almost two weeks to have the furniture delivered. We could have rush delivered it the same week, but the salesperson warned me that rush jobs require a full day of waiting. With my research agenda, I can't lose an entire day. So, we waited until the following week so that I could be assigned a four hour window for delivery.

I did not get to select the window, only the day. The window was actually not very convenient, as it run against the one scheduled event in my day, a 9 a.m. meeting on campus.

Long story short: Rooms to Go missed my delivery window by more than 8 hours. I waited more than 12 hours for our furniture to arrive, and then it only came because I created a political mess for the Dallas regional office.

Before the day was done, I had spoken to about a dozen employees of the company, had been lied to at least a couple of times and had received several conflicting stories about why my furniture was not delivered within the agreed upon time frame.

I plan to file for "inconvenience compensation" tomorrow, so here's the raw contact log I created while I was twiddling my thumbs at home:

Sept 3. – This was the day I purchased the items. The salesman could not guarantee delivery within 4-hour window for the next day or the following. So, I decided to wait another week to make sure that we could get the furniture in a reasonable time frame. I was told I would be contacted the day before delivery, to confirm the 4-hour window that I would need to be available.

I did not tell my wife about this purchase: it was supposed to be a birthday surprise.

Sept. 13 – I never received a call. That afternoon, I called in and found my delivery window in the automated system. I then called customer service twice to see if the window could be moved back. They couldn’t but the second agent told me that I would be placed first in line, so would probably have my furniture by 9 a.m. (but no guarantee).


Sept. 14, 7:00 a.m. – I was dressed and ready in my living room, since I had been told our furniture might be first on the list of deliveries that day.

8:45 a.m. – I called to make sure that furniture would not arrive between 9 and 10 since I had a meeting. I was told that it was against company policy for customer service to call dispatch until after the delivery window had closed. I asked what would happen if I was not present when the truck arrived. She said that I would have to wait 48 hours for a re-delivery.

9:04 a.m. – On the way out the door (late), I received a call asking if I was happy with the delivery. I said I was still awaiting the delivery. The customer service rep was confused: her system said our furniture had already been delivered. I said it had not, she said it should be arriving shortly since the drivers had already reported it delivered. She put me on hold to call dispatch (against company policy? She said there was no such policy). She said the furniture would arrive soon, and that if I was not around when the truck arrived, I would have to wait at least 48 hours for a re-delivery (which really means another week).

I skipped my 9:00 meeting to wait on the truck.

11:04 a.m. – I called to ask for status, since it was outside the delivery window. I was told that the truck had been packed backwards: I was supposed to have been among the first deliveries; now I was to be among the last. The representative said the truck would probably arrive within the hour.

11:15 – I was angry, so I went onto the Rooms to Go Web site and wrote a scathing email to the company. I explained the situation and what we had been expecting.

Noon – I called, trying not to sound like a jerk. An hour is an hour, and no truck had arrived. My wife had just returned and was wanting us to go to lunch (as I had promised). I stalled her. The customer service representative said that she had spoken to the dispatch, who had spoken to the driver. The dispatch said (second-hand) that there was one person in front of me, and that they would call an hour before the delivery was to occur.

So I asked my wife to be patient and promised we’d go to dinner instead.

12:08 – I received an email response from the support line. Really condescending, saying that I should have made myself available all day and that the four-hour windows were “a courtesy.” I responded rather angrily with the facts. No response.

1 p.m. – I called for a status check. The representative called dispatch and said the truck would arrive in about an hour.

2:30 p.m. – I called for a status check. The representative put me on hold to call dispatch. She said that there had been unknown delays (and that I should call back afterwards for “inconvenience compensation”). She said the dispatch would call me directly in a few minutes (no one called).

4:25 p.m. – The Rooms To Go dispatch called me to let me know that the last delivery before mine was complete and that the truck would be arriving in an hour.

5:40 p.m. – I called to see where the truck was. The customer service person who answered put me on hold and called dispatch. Dispatch said the truck was on the way. The customer service representative said it sounded like the truck would arrive within the hour and then let me know that the customer service line would be closing soon.

7:32 p.m. – After a quick Internet search, I found the phone number for the regional manager in Florida. I called him, and he called me right back. I told him who I was and he said he’d call right back after he got to a terminal (I think I caught him at dinner).

7:39 – The Florida regional manager called me back and took my order number and information. He said he was in contact with the Dallas regional office, who would call me soon.

7:50 – The Dallas regional office called me and apologized, citing a miscommunication. The representative claimed that the drivers were unaware I had a delivery window. He said the truck did have our furniture and was en route, to arrive in 10-15 minutes. I said we’d wait.

8:10 – The truck indeed arrived. We had everything in our living room by 8:20.

In my email, I had already explained that we would not likely be future Rooms to Go customers. Tomorrow, we will see what the company does to make it right.