I wouldn't let her know of your dissatisfaction, per se, but rather try to find a positive way to let her know you'd appreciate it if she was more responsive. Tell her you've have been very happy with your purchases and glad she is there but the lack of responses and slow responses have been hard for you because it leaves you hanging and not knowing if you'll ever hear from her at all.

Is it possible for her to respond more timely in the future? That sort of thing. If you frame it in a positive way, she won't get defensive.

No one where I live returns calls. It's well known around here. It's so bad, in fact, that it's completely inexplicable.

Does this furniture dealer exist in some parallel universe circa 1974? You know, before the internet thingy that Al Gore invented and the really neat phone gizmos where you can text and email people and communicate in real time?

Did she send a letter to Broyhill using the fricking Pony Express?

Dear lawd!!!

tibbrix, you are a nicer person than me, cause I really would like to tell her off!

mimi, exactly my point. They are advertising on TV to drum up business but mean time she is driving it away with her service if she treats everyone like me.

You have more patience that me. I would have given up after not getting an answer in about a week, and probably be calling other stores and contacting Broyhill directly.

I'm East Coast like that ;-)

mimi, I really wanted a local vendor I could deal with. I have surfed the internet looking for ottomans and cant really find anything similar. Unfortunately I am in Canada so not many Broyhill dealers.

Can you order direct from Broyhill w/o going thru an actual store? I would be livid and 'gone off' after the first time she blew me off! Why are stores such as that in business if they don't want to accommodate a customer? I just don't get it! I hope you can find a way to get your red ottoman before Christmas w/o going back to 'that woman.'

Why bother telling HER of your dissatisfaction? Who is the owner of the store? I would contact that person and as a recent customer, express my feelings.

Sounds to me like she did work for you with a sectional and ended up not making enough profit to feel you are a customer worth her time. She decided your business does not pay. Let it go. Order direct. Move on.

call furnituresouth and see if they have it. Getting awfully close to holidays though.

patty, I looked on the Broyhill website, that is where I got the details to send her. You cant order directly from Broyhill.

gram, she is the owner of the store!

arcy, the price for the sectional she gave me is the price I paid, so it was nothing I did, if she didnt make enough money on it. There was no haggling of price. You would think if that was the case she would try to keep me as a customer and charge more for the ottoman.

meyerk, I didnt see on their website where they would ship to Canada

pal, that is exactly what my DH said. Also there is a lifetime warranty on the sectional, so if I had a problem I would have to deal through her so that makes me think I need to be on good terms with her.

I applaud you for wanting to deal with a local store. Because I over-extend on the whole 'benefit of the doubt' thing, I would go in to the store, approach the first salesperson- not the owner- and say "I have been dealing with (insert owner name here) but she is so busy lately. Can you help me with my last few questions and get this ordered? I want it by the holidays."

On at least the first shot, I believe in treating someone as I would want to be treated. I know I wouldn't want someone coming in and criticizing me and yelling at me, and in fact, when they walked out the door, I'd say, "Good riddance." But as one who has her own business, I have to be, and am, open to constructive criticism. I'm perfectly free to reject it if I want to do so. I might also appreciate it, as has happened many times.

Not returning clients'/customers' calls, though, right away (never mind taking two weeks to do so!) really is not a good thing, so think of it as though you'd be doing her a favor, which you actually would.

But leave the anger at home, at least on the first try.

Let it go., sounds like u got a good deal on sofa. If she was unresponsive @ prospect of making $, imagine how much more unresponsive she will b at prospect of losing a customer. Yelp it 2 get out of ur system

I always try to think about what I want to accomplish in a situation. Would complaining change her behavior? I'd guess not. Surely she knows people want prompt return calls--that's not exactly news--but she doesn't manage to do it anyway.

In this situation, I would simply stop doing business with her. The main reason to buy retail locally for me would be for the service. And she's proven that her service is terrible. So I wouldn't use her anymore for anything.

I would not go out of my way to bad mouth her, but anytime anyone brought up where to shop for furniture or asked about her store, I would let them know that she is unresponsive.

I have no reason to go back to the store, unless I talk to her about her service, because she doesnt deal with Broyhill anymore according to her. If I did go in I wouldnt be screaming or yelling, I am better than that. I was actually going to just email her my thoughts. After sleeping on it last night, I think I am going to let it go. I am contacting stores again around the area to see if maybe I can get something similar to the Broyhill ottoman. Probably wont get it before Christmas but as long as I can get what I envisioned I will be happy. I have based my whole color palette around a red ottoman so I NEED to get one!

Another way to look at it is, you get something (great savings) and give something up (timely responses). Not sure that's such a terrible thing. I'd wait two weeks for a response if it saves me a grand!

tibbrix, I waited a month for the price of the ottoman, and now she tells me she cant get it, it didnt save me anything but wasted my time!

This deserves an honest Yelp and Google review. Not a "take down" review, but an accounting of what you went through, and let others be forewarned and forearmed.

This is 2015 and businesses are plain lazy if they treat customers as you were treated, and not expect an unfavorable review.

I also think what you and others should take from an experience like this is to be the squeaky wheel when you need to be.

Since you have been communicating by email, I think I would be inclined to send her an email and let her know that you've been disappointed. You are likely not the only customer that she's disappointing, and she may not even be aware that her failure to provide timely responses is having such an effect.

Actually communication with her has been face to face and email. Something I didnt mention that I did send her back a reply asking if she had any other manufacturers who could supply the ottoman. I am going to give her until next week to respond which I know she wont and then I will send an email (I think) telling how how disappointed I am with her service.

Is she a little bit flaky and flighty? People I've known with that trait never seem to take timeliness as serious business.

LOL, she seems pretty normal when I talk to her. I dont know what her problem is, wish I would have starting dealing with either her DH or the sales associate instead of her.

I'm going to put something out there, because I don't know all the facts. However, from reading this, I get the sense that you have left these inquiries open ended with regards to a timeline.

You seem to be giving her an arbitrary amount of time to respond before you make your next move or before you will finally tell her that you're disappointed.

Have you told her what your expectations are/were with regards to responses and when your hard deadline is for receiving the ottoman?

If I wanted a piece of furniture by say, Thanksgiving, and I know that it generally takes 4-6 weeks for delivery, I would have set a deadline to get my information and pull the trigger. Otherwise, if that deadline wasn't met, I would have moved on.

It doesn't appear that there was strong communication of expectations and desires from the get go.

Thanks.

mimi, I didnt give her any timeline on the sectional which took 1 month for pricing and 8 weeks for delivery. The ottoman, I did tell her that I would like it before Christmas, this was said on Sept 22, she said then delivery would take 4-6 weeks plenty of time for delivery and then again when I saw her at Costco, I reminded her about the Christmas deadline. So yes she knew what I was expecting.

Didn't see this mentioned, but I may have missed it: perhaps this store owner has had issues w/ Broyhill & just hasn't been forthcoming about it to you?

carol, because of the Canadian dollar being so low right now, I think many stores here arent dealing with US manufacturers, but she had plenty of opportunity to tell me that and also ok she isnt dealing with Broyhill, but she could of offered me some alternatives, I think.

See I was wondering if Broyhill dropped her because she is just as bad about communicating with them. . . .

"I didnt give her any timeline on the sectional which took 1 month for pricing and 8 weeks for delivery. "

One month for pricing???!!!! Maybe that is why they no longer want to deal with Broyhill?

Maybe SHE dropped Broyhill because of their poor communication.

The sectional wasnt Broyhill.

Oh - so service wasn't very good wrt to the sectional either. Got it.

So apologies to Broyhill for my comment.

Service was good with the sectional manufacturer, got delivered on time and is great quality. The poor service I am complaining about is from the furniture store owner only.

Anyway I am working with another local store on a different ottoman, golly gee, I got a price within an hour of my email today, that is what you call service! I went in and brought home 3 red fabric samples. None are exactly the red I am looking for but I think I may have to comprise some.

Anyway I am working with another local store on a different ottoman, golly gee, I got a price within an hour of my email today, that is what you call service! I went in and brought home 3 red fabric samples. None are exactly the red I am looking for but I think I may have to comprise some.

*********

Now that's service! Would love to see the furniture all put together!

Another idea might be to visit a local upholstery shop and see if they can build an ottoman to your exact specifications. They may have more fabric options as well.

tish, I tried that, it can be done but they gave me a quote of $2550, waaaay too much for me for an ottoman. I want to keep it under $1k

Well couldnt help myself, I sent her an email, telling her not to bother looking for an ottoman for me, as if she was going to, because I found one at a different store, got price, and fabric samples in 2 days. I left it at that....i feel better ;>)