What were you expecting to pay for delivery?

Two men have to be sent out. They make $12/hour or more with some benefits, so it costs the company about $18/hour per man.

There is probably 20 minutes of driving time to your stop, and the AVERAGE delivery of multiple pieces takes about 40 minutes. So just the cost for the man-hour of time is $36 or more.

Now add in all the other costs - the truck, the gas, the insurance, the overhead, that probably comes to $50. So $100 is not unreasonable. You may not like it because you're only buying two chairs, but they are figuring most people are getting larger pieces.

Anyone who advertises "free delivery" is paying these costs too. However, they have a higher markup to cover that cost.

Before you buy, do a Google on this company. Quite a few folks have some things to say about them. None of them very good.

morgator...When I went shopping for furniture, I was responding to an ad by this company. I hadn't shopped for furniture in over 12 years and the last time I did, evidently the cost of the delivery was calculated into the price of the furniture because there wasn't a separate fee for delivery. Of course 12 yrs ago, delivery costs were a lot lower too I am sure. So the answer to your question is that I wasn't expecting a delivery charge. Of course, once they brought it up, it did occur to me that the price of the chair was so low, that it was reasonable to charge a delivery charge, but since I do not shop often, $50 seemed right to me. I often find that I have sticker shock because so much time passes between my shopping trips.

Also, what bothered me most was the ethics of this company. I really feel like they deliberately promote this chair with an extremely low advertised price to get you into the store and then after you have decided to purchase it and only then, they hit you with the $100. delivery charge and another $100. 'protection' plan. They also charged extra for different colors. The advertised chair was only the low price if you got the celery green color. If you wanted the same fabric but red, cream, or khaki it would be $89. more.

And mzdee...you can consider yourself having done a good deed for the weekend. :-) I did Google them and my qualms
about this company were right on the money. This was valuable information for me because we really cannot afford to purchase things and have problems with them and a company that is deceptive. I am going to look elsewhere for a recliner.

Thanks! :-)

mogator, you are Spot On with the delivery charge analysis.

I figure $ 100 outbound per hour from my store with two guys and a truck. That's my actual cost, its not a profit center. Diesel is at $ 3.00 per gallon here in Virginia, and the truck gets 11 mpg with a tailwind. Insurance on commercial trucks is just ludicrous. Commercial trucks are very expensive to maintain and repair as well (A set of six new tires is $ 1,000, a brake job $ 1,200). My guys get $ 15 per hour, and a one-hour outbound trip is equal to three hours by the time we load the pieces, travel, setup and return. Right there $ 90 is used up on labor, and $ 10 for the fuel....HUH?? I NEED TO RAISE MY PRICES!

Prairiemoon2 : Customers have demanded stores offer fireball prices and pressured each and every store out there to cut margins to the quick. Stores have done so. There is no 'fat' left to give out freebies anymore. It becomes a simple matter of fee-for-service in today's environment. Delivery is a service you have to pay for and even if you only lived five minutes away from the store, it would still cost at least $ 50.00.

My delivery guys have been with me for over ten years. They are worth $ 15 an hour because they know the tricks to flawless deliveries and have seen/done every oddball door entry/banister combination over the years, and have never had an accident in our trucks. They don't put holes in your drywall or scrape your furniture going into the house, or run over your mailbox.

Like most things you tend to get what you pay for.

-Duane

Also, what bothered me most was the ethics of this company. I really feel like they deliberately promote this chair with an extremely low advertised price to get you into the store and then after you have decided to purchase it and only then, they hit you with the $100. delivery charge and another $100. 'protection' plan. They also charged extra for different colors. The advertised chair was only the low price if you got the celery green color. If you wanted the same fabric but red, cream, or khaki it would be $89. more.

Jennifer is my competitor, they've definitely taken money out of my pocket, and I wish they weren't in my market. However, from what you've said there is nothing wrong with their ethics in this case. Unethical means you are being lied to or cheated.

If you went to WalMart or Best Buy and bought a $400 TV, that only comes with a 90 day or one year warranty. Want the extended warranty? Guess what, you pay extra for that, probably $100 too. Heck, if you buy a $4000 top of the line Sony TV, you STILL only get a one year warranty. In my opinion, for $4000, that thing should last FOREVER. So is that really so different from paying for a warranty on a chair?

Think of it... a TV has no moving parts, millions are produced so the defect rate is incredibly small, and it gets used exactly the same in every house. Its on or off. A chair with moving parts however is very different. They don't know if its being used by someone who weight 150 lbs, 195 lbs, or 275 lbs. They don't know if you sit on it or throw yourself into it. They don't know if its used a few hours a week or 6 hours each day. And if a 275 lb man uses it for 6 hours a day it won't last anywhere near as long.

Delivery we've talked about. I don't know where you live, but here with gas at $3.00 a gallon and a skyrocketing cost of living (rising rents, insurance, etc), even bad help is expensive.

Charging extra for different colors? I'd have to see the ad to tell if its bait and switch. Did the ad say recliner choice of colors for $399? Or did it say from $399? If it said from $399, that's not unethical. You may not like it, but again, unethical means you are being lied to or cheated. And you can buy a cheap recliner at plenty of other stores.

Sorry, but I have to disagree with your definition of unethical. It does not simply mean you are being lied to or cheated. I double checked and just looked up the definition and it included the following...

"...not conforming to approved standards of social or professional behavior; "unethical business practices"
wrong - contrary to conscience or morality or law; "it is wrong for the rich to take advantage of the poor"

Beyond debating the definition of unethical, charging more money for one color over the other shows a complete disregard for what the customer needs and don't you think that if someone is on a tight budget and goes into a store and really really likes the red and because of their funds, they choose the dull green, how do you think they feel about the company who has chosen to sell furniture this way? It also could not cost more to make a red chair than a green chair if they are the same fabric, so to choose this type of pricing for some 'agenda' that the furniture store has over the needs of it's customers is just wrong. After finding this type of thinking and behavior on the part of this company, it did not then surprise me that there are many complaints about this company and it's products. This is the way they choose to do business. I felt immediately in the store, before knowing about all the complaints about them, that if this company will do business in this way, then what else will they do with things you can't see them do? I can honestly tell you, that I walked out of that store and didn't buy their product and I will find a company whose policies and way of doing business I agree with to spend my money with.

pm2

>charging more money for one color over the other shows a >complete disregard for what the customer needs.

>It also could not cost more to make a red chair than a >green chair if they are the same fabric

Sorry, but you could not be more wrong.

Manufacturers routinely - as in daily - offer deals in a particular COLOR of fabric or leather. Why? Simple...you as the customer want a deal - a big sale. So they give you one by going to a mill and buying a ka-zillion yards of a fabric, or leather hide at a particular tannery. Not in every color way, but in ONE color so they can get a bulk price. Then they have their workers sew them all up in quantity for a deal price to offer the stores. The retail customer has demanded this kind of fireball pricing, and that's the only way to get it.

Virtually every piece of Hancock and Moore on the Town and Country promotion is like this, so is Bradington-Young.

You do not know the workings of the furniture business, but make claims of being wronged and how it is unethical with your assumptions? There are enough of us here in the business that we can tell you how it works, but you have to ask!

-Duane

I think you did the right thing by walking out of there, because you should feel comfortable when purchasing something. I think this is something we can all agree on :-)

Duane, thank you for explaining the reason behind the different prices for different colors. I stand corrected. :-) I can see where in a competitive market, that is one way of providing a sale price, that you are correct, people are looking for. I'm sorry my remarks made you feel so 'misunderstood'.

Thanks mogator...yes, I remain happy with the choice I made. Even with new information about the reasons for charging more for one color over another, I still have not seen any evidence that this company is one I want to do business with.

Thank you all for your help. :-)