BigZeroLittleZero

Hey, everybody.

Just as every now and then I share with you the name of someone or a business that I have high regard for and invite you to consider their services, once in awhile I come across a company that warrants my letting people know to avoid them. In this case, I am inviting you to strongly consider never doing business with La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries – based on my own personal experience over the past ten months.

They engaged in highly deceptive and unethical sales practices with me last fall and this dragged on and on for the past ten months, with their deciding “there is nothing we can do.” I believe that La-Z-Boy Furniture is a business who had the chance to do the right thing – more than once – and in both instances failed miserably, and therefore, I am sharing my story and cautioning you not to do business with a company with their questionable business practices and business ethics.

Below are the details of my experience over the past ten months dealing with La-Z-Boy.

tj

My La-Z-Boy Experience: Sept, 2008 – July 2009

·         In Sept, 2008, Michele and I purchased $4000 worth of furniture from La-Z-Boy. We were incented to do so because of a $500 Gas Card promotion they were doing. The salesperson told us that if we made this level of purchase, they would give us a $500 gas card that would arrive in the mail in two weeks. We could use the gas card at any of many well known gasoline retailers. Based on this incentive, we went forward with the purchase.

·         The gas card did not arrive in two weeks (needless to say). It arrived in roughly 3 months. And it was not a $500 gas card – far, far from it.

·         It was a monthly program filled with tons of required labyrinthine paperwork undoubtedly deliberately designed to make 95% of customers give up from all the effort required to redeem your gas card. You had to pick one single gasoline retailer and IF you made $100 worth of gasoline purchases from that same gasoline retailer and IF you completed all the necessary paperwork AND IF you submitted it by the 19^th day of the month, you would receive a $25 gas coupon – which would arrive in roughly 4 weeks. And if you failed to achieve $100 in gasoline purchases in a given month, or failed to get the receipts mailed by the deadline, you forfeited that month completely. So if you did EVERY THING right to the letter, it would take you 20 months to get your full $500 worth of gas cards – a far cry from the $500 gas card I was told I would receive. I was led to believe it would arrive in two weeks and have the full amount. This was clearly a deceptive sales practice.

·         I did all the required paperwork – month after month for about 4 months. And I never received a penny. When I attempted to reach the gas card company that La-Z-Boy had partnered with for the promotion, they never answered the phone. I sent about 12 or 13 emails asking “when will I receive my gas card?” I never heard back ever.

·         Then in January, I did a Google search and found that the gas card company La-Z-Boy had partnered with was being prosecuted by the State of Florida for fraud. That company had also filed for bankruptcy protection. I called La-Z-Boy (henceforth LZB for short) and I got a nice guy in customer service who said how badly he felt, and would try to help.

·         LZB’s solution? They swapped out this gas card promotion with a new gas card promotion company. So I had to start the process ALL over. By now it was April, and I had made the furniture purchase from LZB the previous September. So I started all over again – the exact same drill – filling out the forms, submitting $100 worth of receipts from the same gasoline retailer…. And then I waited…. And waited…. And waited….

·         After two months of this, I began getting concerned again. So I checked the new gas card promotion company’s web site: No phone number. Hmmm. I sent emails – six in total – and never heard back. What a surprise. About two months into this program with this replacement gas card promotion company, I went back to their web site again and when I clicked on the FAQ section, there was a new announcement: This company had also filed for bankruptcy protection and was being sued by creditors. And they were counter-suing their creditors. It was a mess.

·         So LZB had gotten in bed with not one but two sleazy gas card promotion companies. They completely misrepresented the nature of the gas card incentive and the incredible hassle required to get the gas card redeemed. Their marketing partners both were filing for bankruptcy – one was being sued for fraud – and when I called LZB back about this second gas card promotion scam, the response was essentially “We feel really badly. But there is nothing we can do.” Nothing? Nothing at all? Not even “we’ll make it right for you by giving you a $500 credit towards future furniture” or something? Nothing. I asked repeatedly “Can’t LZB offer me anything for the ten months I had been dealing with this headache?” The answer repeatedly came back “We’re sorry. There is nothing we can do.” They refused to try to do anything as they felt the problem was not with them but with the two gas card promoters. Talk about not getting the basic premise of keeping the customer satisfied.

So I have filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau of WA state, and I would encourage you to share my experience with others and encourage them to spread the word that La-Z-Boy engages in deceptive sales practices, and when confronted with the problem, simply offers “we’re sorry” and nothing more. I will never do business with such an ethically-impaired company ever again, and I suggest you will avoid doing business with them as well.

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