We have guests coming this week and after 4 months in our new house we decided we needed a sleeper ASAP. Went here in the mid afternoon on a Sunday and it was packed with people shopping and bargain hunting. I knew exactly what I was looking for as we only needed a reasonably priced, nothing fancy neutral colored sleeper. All this with a $1000.00 budget.
As soon as we entered there's a Walmart like greeter saying hello to everyone but when asked if he could refer us to a salesperson he just shrugged his shoulders and pointed to the direction of 3 men wearing red shirts. Just go to anyone wearing a red shirt and they can help you.
I went to the first kiosk where there were 2 young men ringing up sales. They did not acknowledge me when I approached so I waited until they were done with their sales to ask who could help me. The tall one said they were both busy but would find someone for me.
Now I'm a pretty patient person so we walked around for about 10 minutes as the young man went from one section asking random sales people if they had time to help me. So it went like this: " Are you busy? Can you help her please? " Each sales person had a blank face with no expression and they shrug no. Repeat 2 more times. Until finally bingo he finds someone in the chair section.
All the sales man there were men that he approached and they all seemed rushed and when I got to salesman #3 he seemed a bit tired but was nice enough to help. So after describing what I wanted he said he never heard of anything like this imaginary sleeper sofa so he started to look it up on the computer. When he couldn't find it he asked me to look for it. I just looked at him and described it again and then asked him which section would the sleepers be for smaller rooms. He gestured the direction I should go and off I went.
Within literally 3 minutes I spot the sofa right in the main section. I debate the two colors of beige and grey and decide on beige. I don't know I have a thing for neutrals. Then in came the zinger, I tell him beige and that I need to see the actual mattress that comes with the sleeper. He looked at me like it was a dumb question. Luckily my hubby came to the rescue and agreed we had to feel it. This was a 4th sleeper sofa to come into our lives and we didn't want to feel " all spring, " like most of them did. So the guy asks my hubby to help him move the coffee table in front of the sofa and then pulls out the mattress. Voila, thank god because once I sat on it I felt " all spring. " The salesman laughs and says you can upgrade for another $120. I say fine, I need to feel it. We all move to another section of the store to find the upgraded mattress and my hubby and I take turns sitting on it. And of course, it was a world of difference. Not the best but it will do until we have a proper guest room. Sold.
So here's a little tip, when you buy and upgrade the mattress in a sleeper sofa make sure when the delivery place calls you that you insist on keeping the original mattress that comes with it. The reason is that you paid for it and all AFW will do is resell it to someone else. And that's what I did, when the delivery service called to confirm, I made sure it would be on the truck the next day and it was recorded on the notes.
Best thing about this experience wasn't the shopping sales experience but the two young men that delivered our furniture. Called 30 minutes before delivering, were polite and were in and out within 15 minutes. Pretty much made up for the Willy Lohman tired sales people I met at AFW.