Raleigh Couple Resolves Complaint Against Rooms To Go, Financing Company

Most people look for two things when they make a big purchase, quality andcustomer service. Several people who bought furniture throughthe same retailer say that is not what theygot, so they called Five on Your Side for help.

The complaints are against

Rooms To Go

furniture store and the finance company it uses.

Five On Your Side has receivedeight complaints against them within just the last twomonths -- 10 complaints total.The complaints involve everything from quality tofinancing issues.

After six months of watching Rooms to Go ads, Scott and Melissa Rouse got the right furniture for theright price.

"We had our eye on this set forquite a while," Melissa Rouse said. "We kept watching it and watchingit and we finally went in there and got it."

The Rouses bought the furniture in May of last year,from the store onGlenwood Avenue, by taking advantage of Roomsto Go's 14-month "same as cash" financingplan. But almost from the start, they hadproblems.

"It's just beenone pain afteranother," Scott Rouse said.

First, they were charged $29.99 for stainguard on a chair they hadn't even purchased.Worse, they say after repeated assurances overthe phone that the charge would be removed, theywere told they were too late, that they should have notified thecompany about the error in writing within 30 days.

But the Rouses' bigger problem involves thefinance company Rooms To Go uses to handle itsaccounts --

HouseholdRetailServices

, or H.R.S.

The Rouses made a $100 payment in January that was incorrectly posted.H.R.S. tried to fix it through a series ofconfusing debits and credits but only made abigger mess. As a result, $580 wasincorrectly added to the Rouses' account balance in March.

They say they have been going backand forth between H.R.S. and Rooms to Go eversince.

"Every time we talked to someone they'd say on thecomputer they could see it, they would take careof it. But they never took care of it," Scott Rouse said.

The Rouses' complaint is one of 10 received by Five on YourSide against Rooms to Go this year.They includeallegations of delivery problems, poor qualityfurniture, lack of customer service, and financing.

North Carolina'sAttorneyGeneral

has 18 complaints statewide on file against Roomsto Go. The Better Business Bureau reports 22 complaints about theRaleigh and Durhamstores.

5 On Your Side called Rooms to Go's home office inTampa. Chief Operating Officer Steve Buckleyadmits some complaints "got kicked around toolong," but stands behind the company's product and"customer service" saying it "is most important."

Buckley says he will review policy with localmanagers and with H.R.S.As for the Rouses, Buckley says the accounterrors are fixed.They just made their finalpayment and are now fully enjoying the furniturethey waited a long time to find.

Buckley also promised to personallycall each of Five On Your Side's complainants.He added that though they do not want anydissatisfied customers, the number of complaintsagainst Rooms to Go is small considering theamount of business the company does.

As for H.R.S., the director of customerservice also admits the Rouses' case was "reallypoorly handled."H.R.S is also looking into the two othercomplaints Five On Your Side received involving billing, andwill work with Rooms To Go to resolve those.

Editor:

Dave Renner

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