| rev:text
| - The saga continues. As you'll read from my previous post, we've had some pretty bad customer service from Levin since January. So bad that I felt compelled to write Mr. Levin himself (snail mail) and email Laurie (PA Director of Sales), the boss of Matthew (who we had a bad experience with at the Robinson store).
I also left a voicemail with Laurie on Saturday when everything went down with Matthew at the Robinson store. I hadn't heard from her on Monday yet, and then we got put in yet ANOTHER confusing situation with a call from a customer service rep asking when I wanted my furniture picked up. We hadn't even discussed having the furniture picked up and returned! Bad communication again.
I was surprised to get through to Laurie, as she answered right away. I was finally able to hear the apology I had been wanting from Matthew about the miscommunication. She told me she understood my frustration and wanted to fix the situation.
I made sure to stress that all I wanted was an apology, a promise to take action against the bad customer service I received from Matthew, and to replace the table. I felt better about the situation after I talked with her, as she offered me either store credit to buy a new dining room set, or a full refund, even though it had been over a year since we purchased the set (extenuating circumstances obviously). Very nice of her to offer a full refund in my opinion.
But the thing that still to this day is bothering me is something Laurie told me. She said that they had discontinued the table and whole line because people had similar situations with it cracking and/or breaking like I had. She said they usually don't divulge that information to customers. I almost bought the same table to replace the cracked one. So they're selling tables that they know are defective still! Why would they let anyone purchase the last two faulty tables they had in stock? Just to make money?
That's when I realized that they had lied to me when I had asked Lauren (our original saleswoman at the store) if I was making a mistake by purchasing the same table again (because I liked it so much), in case it would crack again. She said you could never say whether a table will crack or not crack. So pretty much, you take a chance purchasing any wood table with Levin because they'll possibly sell you faulty merchandise? I don't blame Lauren, per say, because she was so nice throughout the whole process (it was Matthew who was not nice). I assume that's what they tell her to say.
So what would have happened if they would have let me purchase that table and it would have cracked yet again? In my opinion. why would you lie to your customers, rather than just plain tell the truth? I'm sure it happens to the best company's, where they invest in merchandise that's faulty, and realize it later. But the difference is, do they take the time to fix the situation, or just gloss over it and hope no one complains like I did?
I have to be honest, I was pretty torn. I really truly love the merchandise they sell. Up until now I had had a good experience with them. But this was such a horrendous experience, it was a tough decision. I told her I'd get back to her.
Laurie called me for the second time a couple days after we had spoken, even though she had said she wouldn't call again until I had made a decision about the furniture. She asked me if I had mailed Robert Levin a letter about the situation before or after we had spoken. I had mailed it before we talked, so there was no mention of me and Laurie speaking on Monday. She then told me, in her exact words: "Robert would have called you, but he's on the road right now and he wanted to make sure that I called you." Why wouldn't he just call himself when he was able to? I honestly would have liked to have heard from him.
Her calling me this last time just seemed strange. But it actually helped make my decision, to return the complete dining set and get a full refund of my money. If Mr. Levin felt it was so important to call me, he could have done it himself. After that, a received a lightning fast call from customer service for them to pick up my merchandise and issue me a check when they come to my house. Looks like the communication is clear now.
While I do appreciate they have given me a full refund on a set that was one month out of warranty, I find it shady business practices that they continue to sell that very table that was giving them problems. Plus, the very fact that it took me three months of go-rounds with the wrong people to get to the right person AND THEN be treated so rudely by the store manager, someone RUNNING an entire store, really just put me over the edge with them.
For that, I still have a sour taste in my mouth and do not plan on shopping at Levin again. It really is a shame. I know this might be a long shot, but I hope that they learn from this situation and become a better company. We'll see, only time will tell.
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