Furniture Galore
Reviews and Complaints

I had purchased a mattress and bedroom suite. The bedroom suite and mattress were ordered from the Frankston store and I was not given a Queen Mattress (as ordered) but rather a King Single. I notified Furniture Galore and I was told I needed to wait until the Monday so it can get delivered. Its now Tuesday (pick up was THURSDAY) and I am STILL waiting on the delivery, and no one can give me an answer to where my mattress is. Absolutely POOR Customer Service and even dealing with the Manager James has not been helpful. Infact, he told me the mattress would be delivered on the Monday in the afternoon. I followed up at 3.30 Monday (after STILL not hearing anything) and was told its on the way. Well its Tuesday 12pm, still no explanation. As the CUSTOMER I have never received such poor service. I will NEVER shop at Furniture Galore again and I will be sure to let all family and friends know that this company is absolutely terrible. Usually employed managers help customers and situations, this has NOT been the case. Goes to show, once you receive the sale and $ the carefactor for the customer is not there!

I bought a queen bed and mattress and put my order on 20th march, I asked sales person about the availability and he told me end of April but when he wrote down the order he mentioned to be in safe side lets make it mid May . I accept. Mid may passed and I called them the sales person told me about an unexpected delay and assure me I can receive it by mid june (to be fair he told he will deduct th e cost of delivery and I checked their catalogue at time and the bed I ordered was even less than what he gave me as discount for this delivery issue but I didnt complaint) . now I am calling them again the person who pick up tell me end of june, he doesnt even apologize and he is very rude. and when I ask how can I be sure about end of June he only tell me this is what he knows nothing more.

I wonder if there is any kind of law to protect customer from this kind of behaviors. I understand unexpected delivery but not more than 2 months and half from purchase time + this kind of behavior from sales person when they have my money and I am trapped.

Any suggestion? I think we need to stop this kind of behavior with some action.

Very poor customer service and delivery

Horrible, dishonest and incredibly rude. Wasted two months lying about delivery time and then couldn't give a refund for nearly two weeks.

Shout out to the manager of the Springvale store - a rude Scottish guy who belongs in a cage.

These people are crooks. And they are nasty crooks. The customer is never right and they really don't care if you are happy or not. Seriously, just go anywhere else.

I wrote this letter to their customer service department...
Dear Customer Service Department,
I have been dealing with your store at Hoppers Crossing with buying a bedroom suite. Customer service was happy and friendly at the time of purchase but since asking for a refund on a product that turned out faulty I have been treated with disrespect and made to feel like I’m the problem. I understand you have paying customers to serve but it isn’t right to delay service, or diminish the quality of service, to a customer who has already paid. I’ve never been in a situation of this nature or lodged a complaint before. I’m very upset. I don’t know who to speak to, what I can expect or if anyone even cares.
When trying to get my refund I have mostly been dealing with Trish, who has palmed me off by saying, she will call me when she can. I deal with customers too and I know persistent callers can be frustrating, I apologise for this but the matter needs to be dealt with, not put to the side. I don’t appreciate being accused of being “threatening” as I have not made threats or even used any foul language. My suggestion to go to the store was not a threat but a means of making it easier to sort the problem. I find phones can lead to miscommunication and it is easier to disregard a person when they are not physically present. I’m really not the sort of person who makes threats or acts in an uncivil manner at any time. I'm educated, not backward.
Had the level of customer service I received not been so poor I would have happily bought an alternate product to my original purchase. I’m gobsmacked that the store hasn’t done their best, or anything at all for that matter, to ensure a happy customer (even if the original purchase was faulty). Happy customers are repeat customers and they tell their friends.
***
I am writing to seek a full refund of $ for the bedroom suite, Kingsbury 4 piece, I purchased on Thursday ... My receipt number is ... and is under the name of my husband, ... The attending salesman was Wayne.
When purchasing the bedroom suite, it was made very clear to Wayne that we wanted a solid wood bed frame given that we move address frequently and over large distances. Lesser quality furniture does not meet the challenges of frequent uplift. Wayne assured us that the Kingsbury is a solid wood product and shouldn’t break over the course of moving like other furniture. Happy with the suggested quality of the product and price offered, we purchased the floor model (we were told this was the last one available).
The goods were delivered to our home address in ... on ... I set the bedroom suite up in the late afternoon of the same day according to the verbal instructions given (no written instructions were provided). The setup was extremely straightforward given the simplicity of the design. When I placed the mattress on the bed and sat down the right side beam snapped in two in the middle and caused the supporting brackets that attach the beams to the head/foot of the bed to pull away. I will point out that I weigh a mere 50kg and wouldn’t think someone of my size could break a bed. I am lucky this fault didn’t cause me any harm. I will also mention that upon inspection of the broken beam, it was evident that the beam was constructed of a layered board and not a solid piece of wood, thus contradicting the salesman’s assurance that we were buying a solid wood piece of furniture.
I immediately called your store to lodge a fault report but the business was closed (time was 1720h). I then proceeded to fill out a request for customer service, with an explanation of the fault, using the online function of the Furniture Galore website.
I called the next day, ..., to ensure the store staff were aware of the fault and could take action in a timely manner. I spoke with Trish, who proceeded to tell me that she didn’t understand how the bed could break given it was floor stock and had no previous issues. Her comment came across as insensitive and accusatory as no one could have reasonably foreseen that the bed was faulty. She advised me to send photos of the bed, which I did at ~1830h that same night. She also mentioned that she would lodge the fault and have it seen to; the most likely response would be to provide us with a new beam. A new beam alone will not fix the bed as the brackets have come out also. This is evident by the photos I sent through.
My husband had also called on Sunday (both of us were working and so hadn’t spoken to each other yet regarding the matter) to lodge a complaint. I understand no one likes an unhappy customer and I understand he gets fired up when unhappy. However, telling him that you have “already spoken to your wife” and not offer further information is poor service. Furthermore, when he called back and his phone call was being transferred, he could hear the staff talking about him saying things like “It’s him again. I don’t want to talk to him. Tell him I’m not here.” Again, this is very poor form. It’s little wonder he was angry.
I called again Monday ... to see where my complaint was up to. I also advised of my decision to opt for a full refund as the product exhibited a major fault, is under warranty and did not match my requirements as explained to the salesmen (not being solid timber throughout). According to the ACCC, these conditions deem the product not of merchantable quality and it is my right as the consumer to choose the method of remedy. I must also point out that it is an offense to enforce the conditions of “no refund” to the consumer and it is grossly inappropriate to suggest that it should cost me to choose a refund. I have obtained information about my consumer rights through a phone call to the ACCC and via the document “Warranties and refunds: a guide for consumers and businesses” as published by the ACCC.
I am upset that I have paid for a product that is unusable and is now taking up the space in my bedroom. My husband and I are sleeping in the spare bedroom which will soon be required by our guests, one of which is pregnant and she will not be sleeping on the couch! For this reason I ask that you please process my request for refund as soon as possible as organise the collection of the bedroom suite.
*Finally received advice that we will be receiving a full refund. Collection of the furniture needs to be organised and they expect me to take time off to do this - not likely! We learn two things from this -firstly, know your rights (the ACCC is fantastic) and don't be afraid to quote legislation. Secondly, don't EVER buy from Furniture Galore (the number of complaints I have read, and those recorded by the ACCC and CAV is alarming; they even received a mention of poor service in parliament!).

Customer service is ### and crap. They don't know how to talk to customers. Very disappointing with the way staff talk. Misleading information given to customers. Warranty is fake they don't cover anything. Customer service response you get after 3 weeks. Furniture galore should be shut down. Cheap products, bad quality product And The customer service is so bad that you don't feel like talking to anyone. I would never suggest anyone to buy any product from furniture galore as its not worth a $1 to spend on any of their products

If you want ordinary furniture and bad customer service all in the one package then Furniture Galore is your store. We ordered a 7 piece dining setting and picked a matching buffet and hutch. The day it was delivered we started to assemble. Here the problems start. A table leg split when being bolted on the the main structure. OK table will ahve to wait for a new leg. We put the hutch on top of the buffet and then go to add the handles. Poor drilling has resulted in missing chunks of timber on the inside of 4 doors (this had to have been seen at the factory). We ring Furniture Galore. Two weeks pass, we get a new leg, nothing to help with the buffet and hutch doors. We get told all sorts of stories from "a couple of days" to "eight weeks". Another phone call, again to the store manager. We have now had the furniture 3 weeks and have not been able to use it. We are told no refunds, they will fix the defects, end of story. That night I decide to attach the new leg. It is scratched, dented and there is a piece of timber missing, clearly not a new leg. I get straight on the phone and get the most "really don't care" attitude I've ever encountered. I offered to bring the "new" leg down to the store, an offer which was enthusiastically turned down. I mention that I have some brilliant photos of the defects and am involving local and state media. The next morning a phone call from the store mananger. We are getting a full refund (which we got today). In short DO NOT buy anything from Furniture Galore. They do not back up with any level of customer service. Our experience is that this holds true at both head office and local store levels. Also if you do get caught, DO NOT back down. Keep up the pressure and insistance and push for your rights to decent quality and service.

I feel compelled to advise others of the poorest customer service I have ever been subjected to by Furniture Galore, Cranbourne, and Furniture Galore head office. Initially, we put a deposit on a coach, after weeks and weeks we had no phone call. As we had waited so long our circumstances had changed and we approached the store to cancel. We were told by the worst sales assistant I have ever come across, a lady at the Cranbourne store, that as we had misplaced our receipt, they had no way of making a refund. I repeatedly informed her that we had looked everywhere and we could not find it, and was told that that is my problem. Upon asking for the sales assistants name, I was told in no uncertain terms that she would not tell me her name and that she would NOT give me the head office phone number because she believed I was going to make a complaint about her. I called my husband, who had to leave work, come and help me deal with this as I was shaking and my five year old daughter was asking me "why is that lady yelling at you mummy?" Again, we were told that, it was not her job to look for the invoice number, and that If I had have approached HER in a more pleading way MAYBE she would have helped me . My husband got the head office number, finally, and we had to stand there next to her and use our phone to call them. Head office was no better than Cranbourne, we were told it was her word against us and that they think she tried to help us and pretty much that was that. Then we were told that Cranbourne would search and they would call us in half an hour. Four hours later, no call, so I rang and enquired. "Oh, head office is searching, but cant find it yet, we went all the way back to July and there is no record." Heck no! So I rang head office again and they knew nothing of it and believed Cranbourne was looking. OMG. Finally, after enquiring why no one would listen to what we were saying about the disgusting treatement we had received, I was told again that she could do nothing about the sales assistant, and then after all that she took our details and guess what? She found it, which if she had have done in the first place would have prevented this disaster in customer service skills. Then furniture Galore decided that of our $500, we would only get $100 back. Furniture Galore or Robbers Galore? Come to our store, we'll treat you like dirt, and then take your money. Please come again...