Compensation for missing furniture?

Question

My mother recently purchased 3 chairs, 1 ottoman, and 1 loveseat from a large furniture store in Wichita, KS for over $5000. She purchased them in full by mid-May.

Sometime in the second week in June, they delivered all by 1 chair. The chair alone cost $1000--just for comparrison sake. They said they would get it to her by the end of June.

By the end, of June, there was nothing. No call and no chair. She called again and an employee (who is no longer with them) told her that he would pull strings to get it to her by the end of that week. No luck.

It's now almost August, and after calling yesterday she discovered that her chair IS in. They won't deliver it until Tuesday, at the earliest.

After moaning to the manager, they offered her FREE DELIVERY as an incentive. Obviously that was assumed.

Now my mom is wondering what she should demand from this company.

What do you think?

She asked me, and I was stumped.

Two things:

1) Not custom. Leather couches that were in stock. Obviously not.

2) She only signed for what was delivered, and the chair was reported on the delivery sheet as missing.

Answer 1

Does she have a detailed bill showing what she purchased and what she paid? And when the items were delivered (except for the chair), did it show only those items delivered? If not and it showed everything and she signed for it, I'd say you're in a bit of a bind. But if not, is this store a local store or part of a larger chain? If it's a local store, call the BBB (Better Business Bureau) and find out if anyone has reported this store. She also needs to document each and every time she makes contact with them. Will the store refund her money? If not, I would consider making a police report and reporting the item as stolen. If this is part of a large chain, go straight to the top (find out who the President of the company is online) and make a call to the Corporate Office and file a complaint. Good luck!

Answer 2

Two months isn't a real long time if the furniture had anything custom about it. It's possible, even pretty likely, that the other items were already in stock and this chair wasn't.

Even giving her free delivery is probably more for the misinformation she was given in June, and to try to settle her down. It sounds like she will very shortly have everything that she is due. If you order any custom furniture, including a particular fabric if they don't have the item in stock in that fabric, a couple months delivery time is pretty standard.