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So you think you have an account at Tepperman’s - it's not so? Be aware, if you go through the Tepperman's application process to take advantage of Tepperman’s "don't pay event" they are completely misleading with their definition of "an account" which is very disappointing for a local family business. You run the risk of lowering your credit score with unnecessary credit checks. We fully expect a company will perform a thorough credit check when you first apply to use this service or open an account. Then checks should simply be done based on exceptions that make you a risk.
Then they inform you they've opened an account with a $10K limit for you. Then they encourage you to use it by sending you flyers, emails and advertising. The reality is you do not have an account at all. Each transaction results in an application for financing, a credit check with Equifax and a hit to your credit report showing you have requested more credit.
The reality is you do not have an account in the way you've come to associate the term. At least with Home Depot and Sears they are above board with their don't pay offers and simply have you use your store credit card for processing. No credit checks and a very quick check out process. No stigma associated with applying for financing.
When we were standing in line at Tepperman’s for our purchase of a bed and dishwasher last month, the cashier asked out loud in front of other customers whether we were paying cash or purchasing on our account - that was unprofessional in my view, whose business is that anyway. When we arrived at the cashier, she asked us again, cash or account? We replied "account" - again. Then she began to ask my wife all sorts of questions they should have known and had on file for our account from our previous purchase of a sofa and love seat. My wife asked why they were asking all these questions. She replied we need to do a credit application. We said that we had an account. She said it was standard to do a credit application and credit check. When asked if we had an account, she said yes. So, what is the value of an account at Tepperman's - zero! They don't even reuse the information they should have on file. They make you go though the pain of a 15 minute check out all over again.
We think they carry name brands, have a nice store and very knowledgeable sales people; however this practice of referring to your account is misleading and has changed our perception of the store and their value to us. We are now dissatisfied shoppers of Tepperman’s and plan to use Sears first for all our future appliance and furniture purchases.
With Sears, our experience has been consistent and always received great service.in fact, within the last year the Sears store in London even provided us a replacement range microwave appliance for one that failed just out of warranty simply because we were a very good and long standing customer - how did they know that? They read the information they had on file and trusted us - unlike Tepperman’s. Maybe Noah will use this insight to create a better customer experience and keep a few more customers loyal to them.
By the way, we cancelled the dishwasher purchase because Home Depot had the same model for sale for $130 less. While they offered to price match, my view is they were over charging and Home Depot deserved the sale.in addition, we purchased the mattress cover designed to ensure full warranty on the mattress for $120 and found it at the Mattress Depot for $39 with the same features and warranties. We have not opened it yet so we will be returning it this week.
A London Ontario Customer
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
Thank you for taking the time to post your comments. I really appreciate your comments, and I’m optimistic that I’ll be able to clear up many of them and shed some light on the situation. I will include my contact information at the end of this post, and I hope that you’ll use it to contact me directly so that I can talk to you about the specifics of your experience.
I’m glad I noticed your post here, but in the future, should you have any frustrations with Tepperman’s that you feel haven’t been addressed properly, I encourage you to use the following resources to guarantee that your comments are reviewed:
a) Teppermans.com. By using our online form, you can send us questions, comments, or whatever you like. Our Customer Care team reviews all submissions daily, and ensures that customers receive a prompt response.
b) The Better Business Bureau’s of Windsor-Essex (Windsor; Chatham) and London (London, Sarnia). The BBB is an accredited, not-for-profit organization focused on protecting consumers, and their web-sites are very easy to use. They ensure that all communication is received by Tepperman’s, and responded to in a prompt fashion.
The most important reason to use either of the above communication tools is to ensure that your comments reach us here at Tepperman’s, and that we have the opportunity to review them and take care of you properly.
As it pertains to your particular comments, I’d like to respond to them properly. I’m going to respond in point form since there are a number of different comments, and I want to ensure I respond to each of them. I should point out that because I don’t know who you are, I may not be able to provide the level of detail that I could provide if I had the specifics of your account history with Teppermans.
Q: Is Tepperman’s misleading with our definition of an account?
A: Not at all. We have a DIFFERENT type of account than a Sears or Home Depot account. Tepperman’s accounts are structured as instalment credit accounts, not revolving credit accounts.
Q: How are Tepperman’s accounts different? How do the accounts work?
A: Let’s say you’ve been approved for a Tepperman’s account, and your “open to buy” is $10, 000. In addition, you make a $1, 000 furniture purchase today, and you make a $1, 000 appliance purchase two weeks from now.
- Each of those purchases is associated with your account, and your “open to buy” will be reduced by the total financed amount.
- Each of those purchases may have separate terms. For example, one might be a “90 Day Interest Free”, while the other might be “No Payments, No Interest for 1 ½ years”.
- Each purchase is tracked separately in our system, and because the terms are different, each purchase has a different “due date” and minimum monthly payment.
Q: Does each transaction at Tepperman’s result in an application for financing?
A: No. Your initial request to open an account will require you to submit a completed application. The only other time you might be required to complete a new application is if it has been a very long time since you last used your account.
Q: Does each transaction at Tepperman’s result in a credit inquiry through Equifax?
A: No. Tepperman’s typically sends inquiries to Equifax under the following circumstances:
- if you’re applying for a new account
- if you’re at your limit with Tepperman’s and are requesting additional credit
Q: Does a credit inquiry w/ Equifax automatically damage your credit report?
A: No. Equifax inquiries are not automatically damaging. It is my understanding that Equifax allows 3-4 separate inquiries in a 12-month period before there is any negative impact on your credit score. Further, there may be certain circumstances (mortgages, for example) where multiple inquiries within a narrow time period are not counted as individual inquiries.
Q: Is there any stigma associated with applying for credit with Tepperman’s?
A: None whatsoever.
Q: Why would a Customer Assistant at Tepperman’s ask if customers waiting in line were paying cash or purchasing on an account?
A: There are a couple of possible answers to this question.
- If it is a particularly busy day, we may have a separate “cash line” set up to help us manage traffic.
- As some customers may be applying for a new account, asking this question can help identify those customers. To expedite the process, we can provide them with an application form to complete while they’re waiting in line
Q: Why would we ask again if a customer standing at their station were paying cash or purchasing on an account?
A: The order entry process is different depending on the purchase type, and so the Customer Assistant would double-check at this point.
Q: Why would we ask questions that we might already know the answers to, when a customer is making a new purchase on an existing account?
A: We will often double-check that the information we have on record is accurate and up-to-date. It is very common for important details to change (contact information; employment information; marital status; etc.) and for your protection and ours, we have to ensure the accuracy of all account information.
Q: Why would we have requested a new credit application, when you had an account with us?
A: While it is impossible for me to say for sure without looking at the particulars of your account, typically it would be one of two reasons:
- Either it had been a fairly long period of time between purchases, or
- There were significant changes to your “profile”, possibly changes in employment or marital status.
- A third, less-likely but possible reason, is that someone made a mistake.
Q: Was Tepperman’s overcharging because we were selling a dishwasher for $130 more than the same model was offered at Home Depot?
A: No, not really. Were we more expensive? Clearly we were, but we haven’t reached 85 years of retail success through overcharging our customers. When it comes to the “price wars”, sometimes they win, and sometime (lots of times) we win. $130 seems to be a big difference in price for a dishwasher, so I suspect there is some additional information underlying the difference. That being said, good for you for finding such a good deal!
Q: Does Mattress Depot really sell for $39 the same mattress protector that Tepperman’s sells for $120?
A: Probably not. If you got all of the details from Mattress Depot for their product, and compared it to the details from our product, I feel fairly certain that you’d find some sizeable distinctions.
Q: What else can you tell me about Tepperman’s accounts?
A: There are a number of advantages to having an account with Tepperman’s.
- Tepperman’s credit is entirely in-house, from submission to authorization to bill payment, and everything in between. This means that your information is always protected, and is never sold to a third party.
- For people with no credit history who are looking to build their credit, or for people with some credit problems in their past who are looking to rebuild their credit, Tepperman’s offers a number of different programs designed to help our customers.
- Our credit terms are very aggressive, and our fees are often lower than those of our competitors.
- Our credit approval ratings are significantly higher than 3rd party credit companies like Citi, etc.
- Should a Tepperman’s customer fall on unforeseen hard times, we work with our customers to be part of the solution… not part of the problem.
Its quite clear that you’ve come away from your experience at Tepperman’s with a different perspective than I would have hoped for, but I’m optimistic that my answers have helped to clarify the situation.
It would certainly be my preference to discuss all of this with you in person, so please contact me directly.
Sincerely,
Noah Tepperman
[protected]/ [protected], ext. 1495
ntepperman@teppermans.com
Is there any college or university that isn't for profit?
Sorry, the above comment was for a totally different thread. For the record I LOVE Tepperman's and have never had ay issues at all!
Did you know at teppermans a "RTA" product is NON-REFUNDABLE, ! RTA stands for "ready to assemble". A lot of their products are that way...however, I just purchased a "RTA" piece of furniture and when I got home ready to "a" (assemble) the product...it is damaged...phoned teppermans in London, Ontario and they tell me it's a "RTA" and "NON-REFUNDABLE". Un-believable...I know... Only purchased it 3 hours prior! Well, after about ten calls to management, company complaint department (yes, they do have one and a very busy one to boot!) ...and salesperson ( no one called me back...of course). I did return it to another teppermans ( I guess they all dont carry the same policy!) LOL ..I purchased the product and four other matching pieces at another, better, more reputable store (yes...people...it was cheaper...ALOT cheaper!) .. And a one year in store warranty as well. I have spent a lot of money at "Tupperware" throughout the years...and this has been the worst experience over one piece of furniture. Live and learn...I always say...
The brick just inherited another customer who loves to spend!
Teppermans is seriously the BIGGEST scam! I bought a sections almost three yrs back. They don't send you any statements, so you have no idea what is being put on your account. I called today and asked how much my account was as I knew it was drawing near to pay them. Well turns out I owe them about 600 dollars more than what I should. They added on a life insurance for 10 dollars a month which is 360 by the tI'me we are done the no interest period. When I called to argue this as they said it was optional, and I wanted my refund/credit for this they told me they were too busy to look into it just now but someone would get back to me by tomorrow. Also, they added on a furniture protection in which I told the salesman no I do not want it and he was very pushy. So he said "ill put it on and if you still decide you don't want it call me, ill take it off. So that's exactly what we did when we got home. Called hI'm and told hI'm we do not want it. And now we find out he never took it off our account, and they refuse to do anything about it. So now I'm stuck with another 200.00 they wont take away because of their salesman. Worst customer service ever for sure. I will never go there, and I will not recommend anyone go there. They did the exact same thing with my, table i bought from there, and My husband ended up just paying it, and I just found my contract for it and it was way more than what we should have paid.. DO NOT SHOP AT TEPPERMANS!
Well i have to say i never dealt with a company that has very poor customer service! i bought over $10, 000 in new appliances and then bought a bench for a $198. when i went to unpack it, it was completely destroyed. i phoned there customer service, sent pictures and they said they could not help me that i destroyed it...wow...well trust me i have already told a least eight people and they won't be buying there...
We went and spent over 3k at teppermans (London) on a new sectional, coffee table, 2 end tables and 2 lamps near the end of July/beginning of august. the end piece of the sectional was delivered with a broken frame... so we called they sent a tech out, 3 days later they said they'd send a replacement out another 2 days later their guys showed up knocked over a hallway table which broke my sunglasses and delivered me the new piece... which has a noticeably different sheen to it and isn't as firm as the rest of the couch. I called and aa told it should shine up more with use but they'd make a note of it and if it still bugged me they'd send a tech out again. Its a couple weeks later and its no different so ill have to go threw that whole process again it seems... but it doesnt end there;
tonight while wiping some crumbs off my coffee table and much to my surprise the finish started flaking off the edges of the table! how can a 2 month old table that is hardly used be showing signs of were already and have the finish flake off?!? So again i get to waste my time going threw their rather slow process and since we bought the matching end tables im sure its just a matter of time before they have the same issue.
Long story short, furniture quality seems to be rather poor and over priced, customer service tho friendly enough is slow at best.
I wouldn't recommend shopping there, I've bought better quality for less at other local stores
I completely agree with Alexis' mommy - they tacked on additional charges and never sent a statement so how would we know!? Until I contacted them for my balance and we hadnt paid anything off, only towards this insurance charge. So frustrating!
I have just purchased a sofa from Teppermans. I previously purchased a tv only 6 months ago, but for some reason I still had to go through a credit check again. (In the year 2022) The last comment about having a credit check made with no good reason was in 2015 posted on here, so why after 6 years, has this still not been rectified ?
I will be shopping elsewhere in future as it appears that Noah has done nothing to change monetary systems within the company, and is still far from providing excellent customer service.