Rachel Farrell thought she found a bargain when she ordered a bed, dresser and mirror from Furniture USA for $835 in August. The bedroom furniture was for her 3-year-old daughter, Grayson.
She paid the Clemmons company a $288 deposit up front. Farrell was told the furniture would be delivered by the end of November. When it did not arrive, Farrell was told the delivery was delayed until January.
"I figured OK, one delay. It will be here the first part of January. That's fine," she said.
January came and went -- so did February.
"[There] was no word from them," Farrell said. "It still didn't come, and at this point, I was calling very frequently about it and most of my phone calls were going unreturned. By that point I'd had enough of the 'next week, next week.'"
Farrell called Five on Your Side.
Five on Your Side found Furniture USA has 55 complaints on file with the Better Business Bureau -- 32 were filed this year.
The BBB revoked the company's membership citing a "pattern of customer complaints" about "delivery times not being met" and a "lack of response" to customers.
After a call to Furniture USA, spokesman Dan Hollingsworth blames delay problems on a "bottleneck effect" caused by more orders than they expected and waiting for the manufacturers to send the orders.
Hollingsworth says Furniture USA did a "horrendous job" communicating with customers. Then he got involved with Farrell's case.
Eight months after it was ordered, Grayson's furniture arrived.
"I really couldn't believe it," Farrell said.
Hollingsworth says in the last few months, Furniture USA has more than doubled its customer service staff so the company can better communicate any delays with their customers. It is also offering the option of shipping partial orders so the entire order is not held up if they are waiting for one piece.
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