The Brick Experience - HORRIBLE Customer Service

[hoyles]

I have a series of emails back and forth from me to The Brick, but they refuse to acknowledge their ridiculous policies and stopped emailing me back.

After sending three unanswered emails to The Brick's Head Office, and waiting three WEEKS for a reply, I'm posting my experience (to avoid any legal shit) as a warning to others to avoid The Brick.

In a nutshell, I ordered a couch set from The Brick, and as I was moving to a new home and couldn't take it right away, I left nearly a 50% deposit (which was requested from me) to hold the items until my moving date. My moving date arrived, and I receved a phone call from my rep to come out and finalize everything and it would be shipped the next day - awesome. When I got there, I was told that my set, the set I had on hold - with deposit - was "just sold minutes ago to a customer paying cash". Ready to shit a tennis racket, I asked how/why this was done, especially after calling me to come into the store, and I was told it was their "policy" for customers paying cash on site.

So basically, you can go to The Brick today and make an order, leave their requested deposit of $500 or so, they'll call you in a week, say it's in, come pick it up... and when you get there, it was "just sold" to a third party paying cash. (So why take a deposit??) Customer Service explained their brutal, bullshit policies to me, and tried to offer us "a price" on a more expensive set that was a day and night difference from the one we wanted (different size, color, style)...

I sent my email to The Brick, CC'd Regional VP - [email protected] - and the store location - [email protected] - and the best they could do was give me the canned explanation that customer service did, saying a deposit is effort and expense paid in vein and does nothing at The Brick.

Pretty long set of emails below - they're posted for anyone interested in the details and the garbage replies from The Brick. Cheers.





Oct 2 - Mike Hoyles to westrvp, cne, kenny, jen.pearson, diane.alahakko., carla, Ross, peg_leg19, Renard, John, dhoyles

Hello,

My name is Mike Hoyles and I am disappointed to an extent where I will never return to any Brick location ever again, and will serve as an advocate to warn any and every person I encounter for the rest of my days.

Last night marked my 3rd (and final) dealing with a Brick location, where ordering an item(s) -- and holding them with a deposit -- proved to be nothing short of a text book demonstration in futility. (If you care at all, strike 2 was a few months back when a bedroom set - that was promised in 2 weeks - turned in to 66 days . For your records, 1 week /= 33 days.)

I've recently purchased a new home. This house is a considerable step up in size from our previous location, so we have several empty rooms.
Knowing this well ahead of time, I went to the Brick location (3451 SUNRIDGE WAY NE - CALGARY, ALBERTA - T1Y7H5 - Phone: (403) 726-6200 - Email:[email protected]) weeks in advance.

We picked out a couch set that we liked and told the sales lady (Nicole - who did remain courteous throughout this ordeal) that we would not have possession of our new home until September 30th.

She told us this was not a problem, but did warn us that the style set which we selected could be sold out by the time Sept 30th came around - fully understandable, and I would not expect any retailer to hold any item(s) [for free] for weeks on end.

Wednesday, September 30th, finally came around and we took possession of our new home. That very afternoon, I received a phone call from The Brick (Nicole), saying everything went smoothly and our set was there and ready to be delivered. Kudos to Nicole for having scheduled in a reminder call and for keeping an eye on our items.

As I was literally driving the moving truck when I took the call, I explained to her that we would not make it right away, but that we would happily come in the following day - to which she said "No problem".

We left work early on Thursday, October 1st (yesterday), to make it to the Brick by 6:00pm.
Upon arriving, and paging Nicole to clue up our order, she explains to us that (pieces of) our order was just sold to a customer - who was paying cash - less than 24 hours after we were called to come into the location.

My direct question, and reason for sending this email, is to ask you in particular, Regional VP of the Western Locations, what sort of company policy is this?
In terms of a retail, customer-service-oriented business, please describe this policy to me so I can better understand.

In a nutshell, my experience tells me that Customer #1 can come in, select an item for delivery, and pay the --> requested <-- deposit to hold the item.
(Otherwise, please give me your best definition of what a "deposit" means at the Brick. For my current understanding, please see #2 - http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/deposit)

Meanwhile, Customer #2 can come in with cash-in-hand, and select the exact same item(s), but instead of being told, "This item is currently sold out, we have another shipment coming in 2 weeks", (as per most companies that care about customer satisfaction) he is given the item(s) from Customer #1's order, despite the deposit being made to reserve said item.

Then when Customer #1 (having left a deposit X number of days previous) comes in to pick up their item(s), learns it was sold out from underneath him - and in my specific case - this happened after receiving a phone call specifically asking me to come in. As previously stated, I don't expect any retailer to hold an item for 30 days, and if I had received a phone call two weeks ago saying the last set had sold out and we would have to wait for the next shipment, that is fair and understandable. However, having received a phone call less than 24 hours prior, AND scheduling an appointment to drop by, AND even setting a delivery date - only to arrive and find out it was sold to a cash-in-hand customer for a quick buck (to meet Month End, no doubt), it is highly unacceptable and utterly atrocious customer service. Simply brutal.

(For the record, this particular location is a considerable distance from both my work and my home, and in 5:00 traffic, it took a full hour to detour there and another hour to (leave empty-handed) and get home.)

The transparent efforts of your Customer Service personnel, who tried diligently to prevent us from receiving our deposit back - combined with vague explanations and canned apologies - were considerably short of satisfying. Simply stated; 'Sorry we sold your items after calling you in and setting up a delivery date... Quote: "We'll give you a price on something else, if you like."

Thank you, but no thank you. After clarifying everything with Nicole, our TV Stand would be unavailable until Oct 3rd; the Ottoman is unavailable until the 15th; and our couch set - the item sold out from underneath us and root of the issue - was estimated at, quote, "2 weeks or so". Epic.


As a personal favor to me, I would truly appreciate it if I could receive an email back from you or someone of equal status at the Brick, with a genuine and articulate reply regarding my concerns.

I honestly do not want to see an email from Bob in Customer Service with a canned transcript from Section 2B of the Customer Service Handbook re: Upset Customer - Copy/Paste "I apologize for any inconvenience incurred..." etc.

Anxiously awaiting your response,

Mike Hoyles

PS - If you're wondering why all the CC's - I took a quick poll and found some immediate friends and family members who are currently/soon in the market for household furniture of some sort. Thought this might interest them.




If nothing else, this email at least made its way through 100s of CC'd email addresses and they were good enough to copy me and all The Brick emails as well.

One example:



Oct 2 - Ryan Watson to Christine, jaret.watson, Megan, Albert, Yves, bipin.p.satava., Gail, Danny, Nathan, Mark, Brad, lisle, matthew, westrvp, cne, me


I will be buying a place within the next 6 months and will need new furniture. After reading the email below, I can assure you that when it comes time to shopping around for my furniture, I will not step foot into a Brick store.

Thanks for the heads up Mike. I will help you spread the word of the poor service.

Regards



3 days later, Sunridge Manager Brendan Toupin replied with:





Brendan Toupin to me / Oct 5

Good Afternoon,

I would be happy to address your concerns. I can be reached at the Sunridge location until 6pm today, and will be back in the office Thursday morning. Please contact myself at your earliest convienience.

Thank you,




.....thanks for clearing that up Brendan. Never stepping foot inside a Brick store again. I replied.






Oct 5 - Mike Hoyles to westrvp, cne, kenny, jen.pearson, diane.alahakko., carla, Ross, peg_leg19, Renard, John, dhoyles


Hello Brendan,

Thank you for your reply to my email - I'm pleased to be contacted by a manager.

At this point, due to my work schedule, email is the preferred method of contact. I do not have time to play phone tag and cannot make it out to Sunridge by 6pm any weekday evening without leaving work early and getting home very late.

Back to the issue at hand, there isn't much additional information that I can provide, outside of my initial email, for you to address my concerns. I was basically shocked to the Nth degree to learn that after being called out to your store to finalize my purchase, my items were sold out from underneath me. One thing I failed to mention in my initial email was that my sales rep literally told me, quote, "Your items were stolen from me." I also went home that same evening to a message left on my machine from earlier than morning, actually talking about month-end coming up and how, quote, "We're taking more products in so we're looking to push products out the door."

In the past, I've listened to hearsay about the raw competitiveness at the Brick amongst employees due to your commission program, but this was a first hand experience and just added to my dismay that one rep would underhand another rep. Apparently, a new customer wanted an item already on hold, and being a cash-purchase, your other rep literally took or "stole" from my rep's order (MY order), despite the customer (ie: me) being en route to the store. You must agree that this is not a sound business practice. It is also not the first time such incident has occurred.

The worst part, as my experience that day was one surprise after another, was your customer service team trying their best to retain my deposit and peak my interest in other products. I had already played that game and selected items that matched my predetermined living area, colors, space, etc. Being offered a discount on different, yet slightly more expensive items (that I did not want), was pointless. If I made a deposit on a new truck and later learned it was given to someone else because he was paying cash - how does offering me a discount on a more expensive sports car resolve the situation? I needed the truck. See where I'm coming from?

I'm wondering what kind of cut-throat sales tactics and policies are instituted at the Brick and what kind of customer service is being practiced. I know for a fact that I could walk in the door right now, and in 60 seconds be approached by 4 different people all asking me how I'm doing and what can they help me with. There is a point where customer service becomes sheer bombardment and customers become overwhelmed. Sales rep #2 apparently doesn't know that Sales rep #1 was speaking with me 15 seconds ago and that I said "Just looking, thanks".

Fact of the matter is that I highly doubt my experience will influence any kind of policy change whatsoever and I'm certain that the Brick does very well in regards to sales and bottom line numbers at the end of the year. How else could you be operating for over 37 years with more than 100 locations country-wide?

However, if my email serves as nothing more than another printed letter on your desk, so be it. It will at least serve as warning to anyone/everyone I come in contact with for the next 50 years. So far, I've actually received a surprising response from the very short list of people I sent my original email to. This past weekend I must have received upwards of 10 separate replies, all CCing additional people (most of which were people I don't even know - friend of a friend of a coworker, etc).

My question remains solely about your policies on customer service and for you to explain to me exactly how this happened. Your customer service personnel aptly summed it up for me that frankly, a deposit does nothing at the Brick, and putting an item on hold is basically efforts in vein - you will still sell them out from underneath a customer to give to someone else. This is what I need clarified.

Other than this, Brendan, I have nothing more to be addressed. I appreciate your time in tending to this matter.

Also, in case I have failed to make it evident thus far, I am not concerned with a "deal" on another set or any other product discount. I will not be returning to the Brick for another purchase. Period. Not so much as a coaster or batteries for my remote. Offer me my items for free, a $10,000 Brick Card, you name it - not happening.

For your records, I purchased all the items I could not have at the Brick, plus a 50" TV, at Leon's this past Saturday. My total was $3516.40. While I cannot control others, I know of at least $3516.40 that won't be spent at the Brick.


LEON'S FURNITURE CALGARY (http://www.leons.ca/shared/store/StoreLocations.aspx?State=AB#top)
6825 11 STREET SE
CALGARY, AB T2H2S1
(403) 253-0191

This is not a scare tactic of any kind, I'm not threatening that you'll lose my business and that "you better make me a sweet offer, or else". I'm gone. Purchase made. You can have a copy of the receipt if you like.

For anyone else reading this email, Ben @ Leon's was fantastic - and I made sure to fill him and a few other staff members in on my Brick experience.

Still anxiously awaiting a reply regarding my customer service concerns,

Mike Hoyles




This finally prompted a fast and genuine reply basically explaining that The Brick CEOs failed middle-school English and are unfamiliar with a deposit versus a raincheck.





Brendan Toupin to me / Oct 5

In reply to your question about policy with The Brick, we have a holding policy of seven days from date of invoice for our customers. For this holding of product in the distribution centre to take place the product must be set for pick up or delivery within that seven day timeline, and the invoice and customer account must have a zero balance due. Any invoices set outside of that time period when product is in stock guarantees current pricing and promotion, stock would be dependant on the requested delivery date. If the product is not in stock at our distribution centre, the customer invoice is reserved to a purchase order by date of invoice.

I apologize this information was not throughly explained at point of sale, and will be discussed at length with your sales associate. It should have been made clear when the stock arrived that the invoice should be paid that day to hold stock, and this arrangement could have been done over the phone.

Again I will look into this matter and am available to answer any other questions you may have.

Once again my apologies for the service you received at my location, it is definitely not our intention to miss inform our valued customers.

Brendan Toupin
Store Manager
The Brick Group LP
Calgary Sunridge.
[email protected]




Since I was still CCing everybody, I got a message from my brother in Ontario with similar service received at The Brick:





Oct 5 - Darrell Hoyles to me, btoupin, cne, westrvp, kenny, jen.pearson, diane.alahakko., chad.tymko, carla, Ross, peg_leg19, Renard, John, Steve, dhoyles, rwatson

Hey Mike, unfortunately this is typical "The Brick" service. I have had similar happen to me and heard many horror stories from others. They have no concept of time or care how they screw people. Most of their sales staff are running around like chickens with their heads cut off trying to get sales & commission and have no respect for each other.

I myself will never shop at The Brick again. I was pretty upset & frustrated last time I dealt with them & now your story tops if off. They are no longer on my list. Fortunately we have had a new Leon's recently open next to us so since you had great service there I to will give them my business since I am in the process of looking for a new bedroom suite. I have forwarded your story to over 12,000 people in the global address book at my work plus a couple of people that work for the Toronto Sun. It would be a good story to make the public aware of the way they do business.

Talk to you later
Darrell



He posted a summary with emails attached on a company-wide Intranet board to 12,000 people - awesome. He hopped on board the Leons train too, but just to be clear, I don't work for Leons or give a shit about anybody who does. I switched service providers because I needed my stuff ASAP now that I was moved in and wasn't spending a dime at The Brick.

My final reply to Brendan and still CCing all The Brick emails was Oct 6th - nobody has replied to me since - today is Oct 21st. By my math, that's 15 days. By The Brick's math, it's only been 72 hours. I even took the high road with my last email and didn't CC anybody.




Oct 6 - Mike Hoyles to Brendan, cne, westrvp

Brendan,

I appreciate the prompt reply yesterday. Unfortunately, I had to leave the office and couldn't write back until now.

I find it very disappointing that such a policy is in place, especially nationwide. Basically, if I've understood your email correctly, I was requested to leave a deposit strictly for pricing/promotion purposes - to secure the price, not the product - and seven days from date of invoice would mean the date from when the invoice was paid in FULL - meaning that making a deposit of any amount does nothing in terms of holding a product(s).

In my circumstance, the product was in stock roughly 30 days ago when I left my deposit, all the way up to the day of my phone call (less than 24 hours after I came into the store).

Regardless of an item being paid in full or not, I would trust that after making the deposit and even an appointment for me to drop by, a company as large as the Brick could handle a 24 hour hold placed on the products (again, from my initial point of view, considering I had left a deposit).

My issue lies mostly with having to come into the store only to find out my items were sold since taking the call. That to me, is purely unacceptable.

Nearly 30 days ago, I was forewarned about stock, and you need not discuss "at length" with my associate, Nicole, as she was as courteous and informative as need be, up until the phone call where 2 things did not happen: I wasn't offered the credit card option over the phone (nor knew anything about it until your latest email), and no hold of any kind was placed on my items after arranging our appointment.

(Now regarding the hold, as I am unfamiliar with the inner workings of the Brick, perhaps there was a temporary / 24 hour hold placed on my items and it was simply viewed with complete disregard by another rep and sold anyway - one of the two clearly happened. In which case, the rep(s) aren't to blame because the company has allowed such instances to occur.)

Either option having occurred is not acceptable from a customer perspective - make that multiple customer perspectives as this has gotten quite viral now and I'm yet to have a single person tell me I'm in the wrong - as nobody else would want it to happen to them.

If a deposit cannot guarantee a single minutes' hold on an item, then do not take a deposit.

If I walked into your store on September 1st and there is an item on for $799 versus regular price of $999 - why take my money in order to reserve strictly the price alone? I like to think I'm not that old, but are the days of a raincheck that long gone?

In my experience of purchasing just about everything a typical person would purchase in life, a deposit has held true to reserve an item just as a raincheck has held true to reserve a price (traditionally for out of stock items).

Since I was forewarned that 30 days was too long to reserve the product and that it could very well be out of stock by the time September 30th rolled around - this would warrant a raincheck for precautionary pricing/out of stock purposes, as my deposit clearly did neither.

I would have happily called on Sept 30th to learn if my items were available or not, having a raincheck, and upon discovering they were out of stock, would have settled for the next available delivery date - that's just life. Nobody likes being taken advantage of or playing the fool. I left hundreds of dollars at the Brick for nearly a whole month - for nothing.

Brendan, since the best you can do for me is offer apologies, discounts and have discussions with your staff - I'll have to escalate my concerns further as your are subject to these corporate policies, and that seems to be the root of the issue.

For the third time in succession, I am emailing [email protected] and I expect a reply.

Thank you,
Mike Hoyles




The latest reply I received suggested I forward it to consumer watch at CTV... but over the past 3+ years, I've seen Beyond trump anything CTV could do.
Anyone else experience this kind of crap @ The Brick?

[scat19]

Interesting.

So you bought your couch at Leons? I'd say time to move on :dunno:

However, I've never liked the brick myself, and I agree a deposit is to hold the item until such time the full payment can be arranged and pickup can be arranged.

[hoyles]

Moved on from the furniture. Caught up on their policy. :banghead:

If they're cool doing this sort of shit today, they'll keep doing it to other people tomorrow, and I'd like to prevent as many people as possible from getting shafted.

[jjmac]

Thanks for the heads up.

I just recently applied for a brick card and just received the card today, but I'll be cutting it up :D

[hoyles]

No worries. :)

Thought I'd check online for similar complaints, and searching for "The Brick Customer Service" and more than half of the first page are complaints...

Discovered Yelp.ca and wrote my post, linking to Beyond:
http://www.yelp.ca/biz/the-brick-calgary

Found a second post at the Heritage location:
http://www.yelp.ca/biz/the-brick-calgary-2

[Mitsu3000gt]

I've only had terrible experiences at The Brick as well. You walk in, and nearly every employee in the store is sitting on the furniture doing nothing. If you're lucky enough for someone to help you, they use high pressure sales tactics and I think I declined the extended warranty more than 15 times during the sales process. I bought my couch there because I had a bunch of gift certificates, but in any other case I would have steered clear. I don't recommend anyone to them either. My experiences are with the McLeod trail location and the one in Deerfoot Meadows.

[Tik-Tok]

I don't know why anyone would shop there anyways, since United Furniture Warehouse has the exact items at 2/3 the cost (the Brick owns UFW by the way).

A few years back, a friend and I had unknowingly bought the EXACT same coffee table, him at the Brick for $400, and me at UFW for $250, lol.

[FiveFreshFish]

Brutal. I don't know how The Brick has stayed in business all these years.

I've had a good experience with Leon's but it was only for a single chair.

[hoyles]

I was stupid enough to go back a 3rd time, after experiencing brutal shipment delays on my first 2 items. My gf told me that she went online and the set she liked / wanted was at The Brick.

We had the "remember the last time?" conversation, about 2 weeks turning into more than 2 months for our bedroom furniture (full set, 100% paid up front), so we said we'd take a look and if it was in stock - physically there in the store to sit our asses on - we'd consider it.

....and it was in stock. Right up till about 20 minutes before I got there to pick half of it up. Lesson learned. I may still contact consumer watch, see how much of a fuss they can make.

[Weapon_R]

Same thing happened to me on a television there. We bought an LG tv and a bedroom set a few months back. Since the bedroom set wasn't in stock, I had to come back in a couple weeks. I put a deposit and left, but when I came back the TV was sold to someone else.

We were pretty upset and eventually got another similar television at a heavy discount, but it was a pretty crappy way of doing business.

[Redlyne_mr2]

I bought a matress from them a while back. Now I get calls from them all the time inviting me to one of their random tent events. Do not give them your cell phone number lol.

[hoyles]

Yep, that's my entire reason for all of this - their shitty policy. They must realize that as a customer, if I went in today and found a bedroom set I liked (that you had on hold), it would be much easier to tell me right away that "This set is out of stock. We will have more next week." - than it would be to steal from your order and tell you when you get there to pick up your stuff that, "We sold the set you had on hold (with a deposit, no less) to some guy that came in this morning, with cash in hand."

[snoop101]

Well I didnt read the whole thread, but Brick and horrible have been going together for many of years. I been into the brick maybe 3-4 times and hated it everytime. I have never ever heard anything good about the brick.

[kenny]

I can't stand The Brick either. The prey on those that want decent furniture but can't afford what they want, hence the high pressure sales and "Don't pay until 2011".

I wonder how many people walk into The Brick and come out with shit they can't afford only to get raped by the 30% interest after the initial 2 year interest/payment free period expires.

I hear stories like this all the time, so you're definitely not alone. The google search results speak for themselves. So many people complaining about service there.

Found this thread on RFD: http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/brick-furniture-nightmare-542001/

[snoop101]

Originally posted by kenny
I can't stand The Brick either. The prey on those that want decent furniture but can't afford what they want, hence the high pressure sales and &quot;Don't pay until 2011&quot;.

I wonder how many people walk into The Brick and come out with shit they can't afford only to get raped by the 30% interest after the initial 2 year interest/payment free period expires.

I hear stories like this all the time, so you're definitely not alone. The google search results speak for themselves. So many people complaining about service there.

Found this thread on RFD: http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/brick-furniture-nightmare-542001/

You also need to read the fine print. If you dont pay off the item in full by the end of the free time period then they charge you the interest from the start. Its a bunch of BS.

[FiveFreshFish]

Originally posted by FiveFreshFish
Brutal. I don't know how The Brick has stayed in business all these years.

Originally posted by kenny
I wonder how many people walk into The Brick and come out with shit they can't afford only to get raped by the 30% interest after the initial 2 year interest/payment free period expires.
Ah, that's how they really make their money.

[hoyles]

That's true about their interest rates, for sure, but the best part is, we were going to pay cash.

We put a deposit on it to hold the item until we took possession of our new house because there was no way our condo was going to fit everything, and the arrangement was cash on the day we came in to pick it up, but someone had cash in their hands before I got there and they jacked stuff from my order to give this new guy my items.

[Mitsu3000gt]

Originally posted by snoop101


You also need to read the fine print. If you dont pay off the item in full by the end of the free time period then they charge you the interest from the start. Its a bunch of BS.

Not only that, but you also need to pay a fee upfront ($150 for me, didn't pay it, but it might be higher for more expensive items) to receive the "do not pay for a year" thing.

[legendboy]

isn't all this expected at places like the brick :confused:

[adidas]

A year or 2 ago my parents bought a set of tables for our living room. One of which had a glass top. The glass top broke one day due to our care or therefore lack of. When contacting the brick to order a new glass top for that specific table, they couldnt give us a price. They said that we had to pay for a whole new table in order to get the glass top.

[Davetronz]

I dealt with these cock-knuckles a few years ago when I purchased a bedroom set and paid for delivery and setup. To make a long story short:

- They missed the first delivery appointment completely. I had taken the day off work.
- They were 3 hours late for the second delivery appointment.
- The product was delivered by "Two Amigos" moving company which they apparently contract out for delivery and setup.
- The delivery crew didn't take off their shoes and tracked mud across the carpets in my new home.
- They dropped everything, in boxes in my living room and started to leave saying "Be careful when you're unpacking the stuff, some of it's pretty heavy and might fall on you, you might want a second person."
- I stopped them and told them to unpack the stuff and set it up as per my receipt. They claimed they didn't have tools. I provided them with a set of tools. They claimed they didn't set up furniture. I asked them why I was sold a setup/installation delivery package and told them to install it.
- They unpacked everything and damaged both nightstands and the dresser in the process.
- One of the installers decided to take a break and take a nasty shit in my bathroom without asking to use the facilities. Fuckers.

- They got about 30 minutes into installing the bed, stripped all the screws, broke a bunch of the wooden pieces and then couldn't figure out how to install the rest. They left as I was on the phone demanding to talk to the manager at the Brick (Heritage Meadows).

- After talking to someone at the Brick, they sent the guys back with more tools (a cheap crappy tire set from their truck). The guys attempted to properly install the bed again and failed, stripping more screws and fucking up the wood even more. They left again.
- I called the Brick numerous times, each being told there were no managers in, never receiving a return phone call.
- We eventually had to go into the Brick to scream in person. They claimed that there were no managers on staff. My wife started to walk around and tell customers about our horrible experience. Suddenly there was 3 managers on staff who wanted to take us into the office to talk. We refused and made them talk to us on the sales floor in front of customer service.
- They refunded the delivery charge and took some money off for the damages but they refused to replace the damaged goods because it wasn't "The Brick" who damaged the goods. They claimed they gave the stuff to the contractors in proper condition and they signed off on it.
The contractors waive all liability and damages. LOOPHOLE eh?...
- We caused a bit more of a scene and they eventually sent out a professional installer to fix the mistakes, touch up the damages and replace stripped hardware. While on-site he claimed that he has a full time job (also a contractor) fixing the mistakes of the cheap labor the Brick hires to do their deliveries and installs and that my story sounds very familiar.

- A week later the lights in our headboard stopped working. The Brick refused to help us with the warranty and said that parts were unavailable. After talking to the manufacturer myself I had parts on the way to me within 5 minutes. When I told the Brick of this, they claimed that they won't help their customers with warranty issues unless they purchase an extended warranty. HAHAHA

- We will never shop at the Brick EVER again and make sure everyone we know who is shopping for furniture knows our story.

These people are first-rate tossers. Never shop at ANY of their stores no matter how good a deal you think you're getting.

[yoda124]

I hate that sunridge brick.Went there last summer looking to buy a new fridge and the salesman was rude because I wasn't giving in to his pressure tactics.Went to Leon's and bought the fridge I was looking for.Great customer service + free delivery + another $100 off because the delivery driver noticed a tiny dent on the fridge barely visible.Something I would of never noticed.I'm definitely going back to Leon's in the future.

[Masked Bandit]

Gawd, I hate to sound like a broken record but last year we bought three pieces from The Brick to be delivered in a couple days. "It's all in stock" we were told. Well, a month later, we get a call saying all our stuff is finally in, when did we want it. The first appointment, one of three pieces shows up. I turn the driver away. The next day two of the three pieces show up, again I turn the driver away. I made specific arrangements with the store manager to have ALL THREE PIECES, OR NOTHING. Finally the next day at 10:00 pm, these idiots show up with three pieces, BUT ONE OF THEM IS WRONG! In the end it was a more expensive fridge than what I ordered / paid for so I told the manager what I had and that I was keeping it.

So if there are any people from The Brick that come across this thread, I want you to know that we have spent another $6500 at Leons since then and have another $5000 or so to go.

[hoyles]

Wow, after reading Davetronz's post, I'm actually happy someone jacked my stuff and I cut all ties and dealings with The Brick (http://forums.beyond.ca/st/282415/the-brick-experience-horrible-customer-service/) right then and there.

These stories are brutal. I'm yet to encounter a single person to take the side of The Brick (http://forums.beyond.ca/st/282415/the-brick-experience-horrible-customer-service/), and say they had any sign of a good experience during shopping/purchasing/installing any items, out of the 50+ I've told in person, the 250+ I've emailed/been connected with via email, and now the 500 or so that have viewed this thread.

Maybe The Brick (http://forums.beyond.ca/st/282415/the-brick-experience-horrible-customer-service/) needs to experience Beyond SEO! :rofl:

[hoyles]

My post to Yelp! was just yesterday afternoon and only 18 hours later, I'm on page 5 for "The Brick Customer Service" - http://www.yelp.ca/biz/the-brick-calgary

Interesting to get Page 1 for "The Brick (http://www.yelp.ca/biz/the-brick-calgary)", or have people find this thread first and foremost when searching for The Brick (http://forums.beyond.ca/st/282415/the-brick-experience-horrible-customer-service/). It would be a service to customers everywhere.

[Mar]

haha, The Brick is a damn joke. My roommate went in there to spend $3500 on some new furniture for the house we just bought in June. First she bought a $1000 mattress for next day delivery and picked out a $2000 couch and $500 coffee table they would have to bring in.

First - our move:
We were moving into our new house so she went to The Brick and asked them for 4 of their old used mattress cover bags that their mattresses come in from the truck in. They wanted $30 per bag! For a used bag! She needed them so she negotiated them down to $15 per bag then we went to U-Haul to get the truck and they were selling them new for $7 each. What a complete rip off.

second - the mattress:
This thing had a warranty and inside the warranty period she noticed the mattress was getting warped to shit and just didn't feel right anymore, there was something wrong with it. She took it off the bed, wrapped it up in one of the bags she bought from them and got it ready to go. Two guys come in from the truck to pick it up, remove the plastic and inspect every square inch of the mattress. They found a dot on it 1/10 the size of a penny and they wouldn't take it. They told her to clean it and call them again another day. WTF? The mattress is fucked, it's going into the garbage, but they won't take it because there's a dot on it. So she cleaned it and the next day they took it back, no doubt to put back out for sale to someone else.

third - the couch and table
She gets a call that the items are in for pickup and she's confused. No, she's waiting for delivery but they won't deliver it for free, it costs $100 extra. WTF? She just spent $3500 and they won't deliver it for her. She actually had to rent a truck to go get her furniture from the warehouse and then I had to lift it in the house and put it together.

The Brick is a joke man, don't ever go there. I won't even go in the building.

[Strider]

Originally posted by hoyles
Wow, after reading Davetronz's post, I'm actually happy someone jacked my stuff and I cut all ties and dealings with The Brick (http://www1.thebrick.com/) right then and there.

These stories are brutal. I'm yet to encounter a single person to take the side of The Brick (http://www1.thebrick.com/), and say they had any sign of a good experience during shopping/purchasing/installing any items, out of the 50+ I've told in person, the 250+ I've emailed/been connected with via email, and now the 500 or so that have viewed this thread.

Maybe The Brick (http://www1.thebrick.com/) needs to experience Beyond SEO! :rofl:

:facepalm: You're doing it wrong...
The Brick (http://forums.beyond.ca/st/282415/the-brick-experience-horrible-customer-service/)

[AndyL]

wow... search the brick (http://forums.beyond.ca/st/282415/the-brick-experience-horrible-customer-service/) sunridge on google, and beyond doesn't rate on the first 10 pages... though the top three are about complaints at the brick (http://forums.beyond.ca/st/282415/the-brick-experience-horrible-customer-service/) sunridge.

Guess there just must be that many dissatisfied customers...

[whiskas]

Moving into a new place soon and will be needing furniture. The Brick can forget about getting any of my business.

[rojhero]

Originally posted by Davetronz
- The product was delivered by &quot;Two Amigos&quot; moving company which they apparently contract out for delivery and setup.
- The delivery crew didn't take off their shoes and tracked mud across the carpets in my new home.
- They dropped everything, in boxes in my living room and started to leave saying &quot;Be careful when you're unpacking the stuff, some of it's pretty heavy and might fall on you, you might want a second person.&quot;
- I stopped them and told them to unpack the stuff and set it up as per my receipt. They claimed they didn't have tools. I provided them with a set of tools. They claimed they didn't set up furniture. I asked them why I was sold a setup/installation delivery package and told them to install it.


Sorry about going off track, but I just have to comment about this.

Two Amigos did the same thing to me when North American Van Lines contracted them to move and unpack my belongings. They wore dirty shoes into a new condo, showed up with no tools, and spent the whole time talking to me about the last customer they were with and how they didn't leave a tip. I ended up putting everything together myself because it takes a lot of patience to put furniture together and they sure didn't look like they had much.

The worst part of it is after they left, I found out they left a huge scratch in the elevator and the property manager had watched them do this. It took me three months and the threat of legal action to finally get them to fix it.

I will be avoiding Two Amigos and The Brick from now on.

[FiveFreshFish]

After reading these anecdotes, I will never have furniture delivered and assembled. DIY all the way.

[Mibz]

Originally posted by FiveFreshFish
After reading these anecdotes, I will never have furniture delivered and assembled. DIY all the way. Tell that to the hole I put in the back of 86max's couch getting it up the stairs.

[Lex350]

I don't deal with any of these crap outfits anymore. If I see a line of furniture I like I just contact the manufacturer and request to be a dealer.

[bignerd]

Haha couple of stories for you:
Purchased expensive natural finish leather sofa and love seat.
6 months late leather starts to take on greenish hue(was a caramel/natural tanned color). Call Brick-went back and forth trying to get someone to do something about this. Finally they are supposed to send someone out from their warranty department-no one shows up. Call back and forth some more.

Guy comes out, yeah looks unusual, will write up report and send it to the Brick. Weeks go by, hear nothing. Call Brick, they have no report etc. etc.

Go into Brick after more phone calls and no response. Sales man asks if we sit on the couch in jeans? Um yes, and other clothes too. Tells us it is our fault for sitting on the couch with jeans-it is the dye on our pants coming off onto the couch... Dont buy it, leather is discoloring in other parts where jeans would not touch.

Call again to get district managers name/number-find out to my surprise he will be in store the next day. Perfect, told them I will see him then.

Go into store, salesman goes running off to manager. Got them to take the couch back and give us a different one. They screwed up and gave us the cash price when we bought the first couch (lower) even though we financed it. When we returned it they gave us the finance price in refund to buy the new one (higher) and somehow still screwed up so we had a credit that we should not of had-bought stereo. Never bought anything from the Brick again.


Second story: Mom bought leather couch from Brick. Couch delivered has defect in leather. Couch is sent back to Brick but they have to order replacement. Replacement takes weeks to come in so Brick gives Mom a different couch to use temporarily. Mom has different couch for months because replacement has not come in. Brick credit department starts calling wanting payment on couch that was lent to Mom in place of one on back order. She complained and ended up keeping the couch they lent her which I think was also more expensive than the one she bought and paid for.

Will never ever buy anything from the Brick again. Just a hassle. I don't know how they stay in business.

[Masked Bandit]

I think this thread would get more attention if it was moved into the general section.

Mods?

[Nufy]

here's my experience from a few years back at

The Brick, Macleod Trail.


Went there to get bunk beds for my son for his bedroom.

Found a nice sturdy set and negotiated a price with teh salesman that was supposed to include mattresses.

After I went to the foothills to pick up the b-beds I discovered that the salesman had neglected to put the mattresses on the BOS.

Ok fine, went back to the Brick and contacted the salesman who was very apologetic and said he needed to get a manager to do a new invoice for the no-sale mattresses.

The manager wouldn't do it saying it wasn't included even though the salesman admitted to his mistake and told the manager that they were to be included.

In the end they wouldn't give me the crappy mattresses that were supposed to be included and I spent a full day driving back & forth to their warehouse for nothing.

At the end when I was told that it would be 4 - 6 weeks to get my refund I lost it.

As I got progressively louder in the cust service area they finally gave in and refunded my money.

The next day I went to another store and paid a lot more for the same style of b-beds.


Fucking shysters at the Brick will NEVER see a cent of my money again.

There are always options......

[Billy_Billions]

The Brick sucks - period.

I had a horrible issue with a mattress from the Brick.
I just had a couple friends buy some furniture from there and had problems from the day of purchase to to day they finally returned them.

Just a horrible fucking place.

[Weapon_R]

The Brick no longer has a return/exchange/credit policy on their site once you take the item out of the store.

[nickyh]

My dad purchased furniture on their buy now - pay later card. They had a promo for 6 months free interest, no payments, so when month 4 came around he had the cash and went in and paid off the card in full and thankfully kept the receipt.

Month 5, gets the statement showing a zero balance on the card.
Month 6, statement comes in - showing $XXX for the interest that accrued on the card. Huh? No interest, no payments for 6 months sshould mean just that especially after the card was paid in full in month 4, but not according to their crack pot policies.

Anyway, long story short, my dad +1 - the brick -1 (and an apology from the GM).

Never take on a South African with a temper and a very fine knowledge of the system in this country after working for a similar retailer for a period of time.

I've never stepped foot in the brick since then (10 years now) and never will.

[JZS_147]

I went there to buy an entertainment centre about 2 years ago. I went in, picked the one I wanted, asked a sales person to check stock, he said it was in stock in the color and trim I wanted, so i proceeded to pay for it.

After it was paid for, the sales person comes back and tells me there was an inventory error, and the product is actually at their warehouse, and that they also couldn't get it delivered to the store for me to pick up for at least a week.

total fucking bullshit, especially when i asked them to check if it was in stock BEFORE i bought it.

If i didn't need to replace my old one right away I would have just asked for a refund. But I needed to get one asap, as i don't really like my theatre amps and power conditioner sitting on the floor.

I end up driving to their warehouse on the other side of the city, only to wait an hour before getting my product, along with at least 10 other pissed off people.

That was my first and last experience with these clowns.

[02WhiteWs6]

I didn't read everything but from what I read, this is all normal. When you buy form the brick, expect to wait 2-3 months for your stuff. Expect it to be broken when you get it. Expect it to be delivered in three different shipments. All normal stuff. Leon's is no better. This is how the furniture industry operates. If you know this ahead of time you will feel better.

Now.. the shitty thing about the brick is they will do what ever it takes to stick you with the broken stuff. They will say things like " there is no note from the driver that it was chipped" We have no record of you reporting the damage within 8 days. etc etc. There is a whole warehouse full of people brainstorming and thinking up policies to stick you with broken junk.

I too will never shop at the Brick.

[kaput]

.

[superflychief]

When I was building my house 5 yrs ago, I went to the brick in advance and bought a whole bunch of furniture to furnish the entire house. I spent over 6grand. When it came time to pay for delivery, I asked if they would throw in the $60 delivery charge for free since I was spending so much. They refused but were more then happy to give me a deal on the furniture protection if I spent more money. What a joke.

[w_man]

I have bought a few things over the years from The Brick and haven't had any issues (including warranty). Probably because we have family friends who work there.

On that note, I once walked in to that heritage meadows location around 2-3pm and these 2 salesman were fighting about 1 guy taking another guy's customer ... now this wasn't a small 'making fun' in low voice fight ... RIGHT at the front doors ... at each other's face .. yelling fight .... with a manager standing there watching this.

I walked in and almost laughed once I figured out what was going on. The manager saw me notice the fight and finally walked in to try and get them to stop yelling but the sales people didn't listen and kept going at it.

Thought it was pretty funny and retarded ... if I didn't know anyone there and didn't get deals from time to time ... I'd never shop at a place like The Brick.

[austic]

I was feeling nervous about ordering from the brick after reading this thread i went to the Deerfoot meadows location to make sure i actually wanted the couch. within about 10 seconds of sitting on the couch 3 salesmen came running towards us from different angles trying to ask us how we were doing and started yelling over each other. After that we went directly to customer service and cancelled our order...

[quazimoto]

We've generally always bought our stuff from lazyboy. The sales people there arent as bad, well at least the one we have isn't. No complaints whatsoever for us.

[mr.13secprobe]

I should have read this first....

I bought a sofa on Boxing Day and it turned out that it doesn't fit our place.

It is still wrapped and boxed but Brick refused to accept the return by saying that they have no return policy.

Obviously a salesman did not mention any of those.
When I looked at their return policy on their website, it is very vague too.

"Returns, Deposits & Refunds

The Brick reserves the right to refuse return, charge fees if product is missing manuals, remotes, etc., or charge a restocking fee."


If the sofa was used or damaged, then I understand that they have a right to refuse...but seriously they wouldn't take back a fresh sofa which just moved from their wearhouse to my place....

Now I am going to have to start this same stupid gong show again to get my money back.

Can't never understand sales trying to lose a potential customer over one sale.

[Nufy]

Can we get this thread stickied ????

It should be taped to a sign on every entrance to Calgary.

I'd help pay for the fuckin billboard.

[Sykes]

For those looking for furniture/appliances, try looking at Dufresne. My wife and I bought our new kitchen appliances through them on boxing day and the service was top notch (and they had the lowest price too).

After we bought from here, we went around to other places to price shop, including 'The Brick'. Here's how it went:

Sales Rep: Is there anything I can help you with?
Us: No thanks, we're just looking.
SR: But it's boxing day??
Us: Haha... yeah, but we're just looking.
SR: Well, what are you looking for? Fridge, stove, dishwasher?
Us: Actually, we just bought our appliances from Dufresne and are just price shopping.
SR: Oh... *stares at us*
Us: Yup. *stares back*
SR: ... so you've purchased already?
Us: Yeah.
SR: *walks away without saying anything else to us*

My wife and I were pretty surprised, acutally, that this level of customer service was displayed. We were actually wanting to look at washer/dryer sets to see what they offered and - needless to say - didn't buy from them. We'll be going back to Dufresne for that.

[Rat Fink]

.

[TC2002]

This might not be as horrific as other stories you guys have posted, but it's a weird one at the Brick (Deerfoot Meadows).

This was a couple months back, but I went in with my fiance, looking for a couch set and maybe some wall decorations. This weird salesman kept following us around. He would stay oh... a metre or so from us at all times, peer in, ask if we needed help (even when we already said "no thanks"), then followed us throughout the entire store! When we would stare at him, making it obvious that we noticed him not giving us our space to shop, he would look around him, at the ceiling, floor, whatever, then continue to follow us. It was the weirdest thing. We couldn't even discuss our ideas with each other about placement of furniture, colours, etc. because he was hovering the whole time. We got annoyed and decided to make a game out of it. So my fiance went in one direction towards the fridges/appliances and I went to another part of the store. The guy got confused and wasn't sure where to go, so he sort of walked around in a small circle in around himself, looking in one direction, then the other, hovered around my fiance for a bit, then went and stalked me down. He eventually followed us near the door when he realized that we were leaving.

Weirdo.

We went to United Furniture, who said that they can order anything from the Brick at a discount anyway, and bought a leather couch set for an amazing price from a super nice and relaxed salesman.

[spikerS]

Originally posted by TC2002


We went to United Furniture, who said that they can order anything from the Brick at a discount anyway, and bought a leather couch set for an amazing price from a super nice and relaxed salesman.

same damn company. I just found that out last night.

if they are not the same company, than they share the same warehouse.

[v2kai]

glad i saw this thread. definitely no brick for me gf and i are looking for furniture at the moment and likely buy a place soon so at least i can avoid the headaches some of u unfortunately had to experience.

BRICK:thumbsdow

[TC2002]

Originally posted by spikers


same damn company. I just found that out last night.

if they are not the same company, than they share the same warehouse.


Yeah, I heard. But at least I had a great experience there with the sales guy @ United. Either way, I think I'm going to look elsewhere, regardless, for another set of couches for the bonus room.

[inline6turbo]

Lol some of these comments are so funny only because of how true they are! I never believed it was so bad but I had the "enjoyment" of going there yesterday.

The second I entered the store I was pounced upon by a guy named "Nash". Most annoyingly persistent salesman ever. I was looking for some furniture and what he was pushing me into was a good 30" longer then what I had planned, so I told him I'd have to go home and measure. He then INSISTED I pay 10% RIGHT AWAY to hold my purchase (that wasn't even able to be delivered until early February anyways) and if it doesn't fit, the 10% is refundable.

WTF? Are they that desperate to make a sale? Like geez buddy give me a couple hours to run home and check!

Then I told him I was going to look around a bit more because I had other things on my list other then that. He followed me. Hounded me. Told me I HAD to come back to him if I found anything else.

Sorry buddy. You freaked me out. And the Brick lost a customer.

**Edit this was the Deerfoot Meadows location**

[A790]

I've never had anything but good experiences with the Brick. Talk to Wayne Wren at Sunridge :)

[inline6turbo]

Originally posted by A790
I've never had anything but good experiences with the Brick. Talk to Wayne Wren at Sunridge :)

I'll take your advice... I realllllllyy wanted that set haha.

[A790]

Originally posted by inline6turbo


I'll take your advice... I realllllllyy wanted that set haha.
PM me what you want, I can get you a good price on it :)

[Tik-Tok]

Originally posted by spikers


same damn company. I just found that out last night.

if they are not the same company, than they share the same warehouse.

So you didn't bother reading the first page of the thread? Or the 7th post in?


Originally posted by Tik-Tok
I don't know why anyone would shop there anyways, since United Furniture Warehouse has the exact items at 2/3 the cost (the Brick owns UFW by the way).

A few years back, a friend and I had unknowingly bought the EXACT same coffee table, him at the Brick for $400, and me at UFW for $250, lol.

[codetrap]

If you want to have even more of an impact, post this on Redflagdeals.com. You'll get a lot of hits on that forum as well.

[whiskas]

A few days before xmas I saw a couch at Sears Home at their brentwood location that I really liked. They were having a deal on boxing day where the first 50 people in the store get a 25% off their purchase, so I had a salesman write up a quote sheet for me so that all I would have to do on boxing day is walk up to cashier to pay and get the discount.

So boxing day comes, I come an hour before the store opens, and there's a mob of people waiting. The store finally opens at 6am and everyone walks in.

I was expecting them to hand out coupons for the 25% off, how else would they keep track of the first 50 people? Instead they weren't handing anything out, I went up to cashier and handed him the quote sheet and after a few seconds he says he can't put the order through since the item stock numbers aren't recognized by the system.

I showed him on the showroom which couch I wanted and in what color. He brings out a binder where he tries to get the right stock number. Again, he's trying to put the order through the machine and it isn't letting him. He asks a few other people and they still can't get it in.

Salesguy: I can't get the machine to accept this item number, maybe if we wait for the salesman who wrote up your quote sheet he can get it to work.
Me: What can he do that you can't? You know what sofa I want and in what color that should be enough.
Salesguy: I already tried but it doesn't work, I'll go check when the salesman that wrote up your quote sheet will come in today.
*He comes back*
Salesguy: He'll be here in 4 hours, he should be able to help you then.
Me: Well what about the 25% discount? I want you to provide me in writing proof that I was one of the first 50 people in the store this morning and can still get the discount when the other salesman arrives.
Salesguy: Oh we'll be doing the sale all day don't worry about it.
Me: Can I at least get your business card?
Saleguy: I don't seem to have any on me right now, here have this instead.
*He writes his first name on a scrap piece of paper and gives it to me*
HE GAVE ME A PIECE OF SHITTY PAPER WITH "SAM" WRITTEN ON IT, WTF AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH THAT.

At this point I'm confused/surprised this salesman isn't JUMPING at the fact that I'm trying to give him a $2300 sale, so fuck this guy and fuck this store, I'm going somewhere else.

It's 6:30am at this point, my plan was to drive to the sears home location on glenmore/deerfoot near the ikea. I was going as quick as possible hoping when I make it I will still be one of the first 50 people.

I arrive there and the parking lot is pretty much empty. I walk through the doors and a nice lady gives me a coupon for 25% off. I'm already starting to feel better. I start roaming the showroom floor hoping they have the same couch I want. I finally find it and a salesman comes up to help me.

Salesguy: Can I help you?
Me: *pointing at the couch* I want to buy this in black.

SIDESTORY: I didn't realize until I got home later that I looked like an absolute homeless person when I was buying this couch. I woke up at 4:15am and didn't shower, brush my teeth, comb my hair or shave. I'm not a morning person so gimme a break. So I had a crazy hobo beard on my face, crazy messy hobo hair and I probably smelled like I just crawled out of a dumpster. Oh and I had also somehow managed to tuck my hoody into my jeans while I was getting dressed :facepalm:

Anyway, 10 minutes later, and after a very pleasant sales experience I had the receipt for the couch in hand and a solid delivery date.

So the moral of the story is that not all stores are the same. And also to stay the fuck away from the sears home in brentwood because it's run by mongoloids.

[copynpaste]

One of the installers decided to take a break and take a nasty shit in my bathroom without asking to use the facilities. Fuckers.

LMAO this made me laugh so hard.

But anyways the Brick is a total scam, they do anything to lie and cheat in their sales. Never believe a word they say. Why do people buy furniture from them? Theyre shit quality anwyays. Even IKEA has better quality stuff than them crooks. Even if I had a gift card there, i would never set foot in any of their stores - id sell the card at a 50% loss.

The Brick and Soundsaround are the 2 worst electronic dealers that need to be shutdown.

[Dolce123]

I made a purchase from the brick..... Ive had nothing but great service..... I personaly dealt with Brendan and he was great with helping me with my purchace...I read your comments and was quite suprised.
Have you had bad customer experience before..... I just made sure that as a consumer I knew the policies before buying....

Hey Mike if you get an e mail from South Africa saying you won a million dollars you might not want to answer that one..... Just advice...
Have a good night....:drama:

[J.M.]

Nice bump to a thread that died down 8 months ago

:facepalm::facepalm:

[Disoblige]

Seriously, I don't know how there are people doing retail as a living and still be terrible and unprofessional about it. It's so fucking easy to give good service and go above and beyond to make the customer happy.

Honestly, almost any reasonable thing can be done, as long as the salesperson wants to do it.

I understand if you're 16 and 17 and you don't give a shit about your job but I hate seeing these guys who are over 30, 40, even in their 50s who work 40 hours a week, year after year, and still suck ass.

But yeah, terrible 8 month bump :rofl:

[98type_r]

Obviously a troll, new account with only one post bumping an 8 month old thread. This is the same thing that happened to my Revolve Furnishing review thread.

[foreverchina]

WOW...I actually had this happened this year moving into our new home.
Basically bought 2 piece couch, 2 coffee table, mattress, tv stand, and dining table that was to be delivered on our moving date. Only the dining table, mattress, and 2 coffee was delivered. a week later the tv stand came....and another week for our couches.
Horrible experience! We paid full amount and was told that it would be on hold for us..just to find out that it was sold to someone else and it will take another week after another week.

The Brick is :bullshit: never going back to that place again.

[anarchy]

I've never purchased from the brick but I did buy my couch from United Furniture Warehouse (which is essentially the same thing, it's owned by the Brick)

I've had great service from them, bought the couch with warranty and was told if anything happened to it (even if i took scissors to it), they would try to repair it, and if they couldn't they would replace it.

True enough, i moved into my new place and decided I wanted a sectional, I complained about some cracks in my sofa and they allowed me to upgrade to the sectional and paid the difference.

Just thought I'd share my experience, but totally agree with earlier posts that great customer service goes a long way and it's the easiest thing to do.

[03ozwhip]

im getting posession of my new house at the end of the month and i bought from UFW and theyve been very good to deal with except for one thing. we bought a set of leather couches and apparently they were discontinued so we had to pick something else. we decided not to at this point.

that being said, we still have a tv, washer and dryer and a cheap faux leather couch for the loft coming on move in day. hopefully it all shows up.