Not so Faaaaantastic!!!

I am firm believer in taking care of the local economy.  I rarely eat at chain restaurants, I like to frequent local electronic stores such as Percy's and Vin's TV and during the summer I like to buy vegetables from the local fruits stands.  So when it comes to furniture in Central Mass, Rotman's has always been our selection.  Unfortunately, their lack of communication and customer service were not so great the past couple of days and it makes me thinking about never purchasing there again.

Last weekend my wife and I brought our daughters down to Rotman's to get my oldest (4 years old) a new bedroom set.  We walked around and she got to pick it out (sort of).  We purchased the set and the salesman set up Tuesday delivery for us (2/18).  Now, Tuesday comes and we are hit with a snowstorm.  We have broken down my daughter's room and a friend of mine needed the bed for his daughter, and he came and picked it up.  A risk we were willing to take.  The time they were to come was between 1-5 pm.  At 3:30pm I was leaving to go coach a basketball game, which was a different issue in and of itself, and my wife wasn't sure if the delivery guys were still coming.  I told her to call and see.  She got an answering service and the delivery office closed at 4:00.  Now if that doesn't sound foolish.  The delivery office called back before closing and confirmed that the truck was at the previous stop and they would soon be on their way.  She was outside with the kids in the snow and shoveling to clear a way for the deliverers. The delivery driver called at 3:45pm and left a message on our voice mail saying he would be there in 10 minutes.  My wife, still outside, saw them come to the end of our street, pause and then drive off.  She went inside and saw that they had left the message.  She immediately called the driver's cell, no answer.  She called again, no answer.  She politely left a message and asked him to call her back and explain what is going on.  Nothing.

Since the delivery department is now at this point closed she calls the main customer service number and they tell her now it can't come until next week.  Unacceptable!  The customer service rep puts my wife on hold and calls the driver and he miraculously answers the phone.  The driver told the rep that he did not feel he could get down the street and off with the snow because our street had not been plowed yet.  So now, my daughter who had been excited all day that her new bed was coming is inconsolable and had to sleep with her mattress on the floor (not completely Rotman's fault).

Yesterday morning I call up the delivery office the moment they open and I get a lovely girl named Britney on the phone.  She tells me that the delivery will now not come until tomorrow (today 2/20) because that was the first available date.  I vented my frustration and said the first available date was yesterday (2/18) and that they had dropped the ball and it's not my problem when the first available date was and that I wanted delivery today (2/19).  She tells me she needs to talk to the delivery manager and would get back to me.  I responded with "Please have him call me directly as I would like to get a quote for an article I am writing about this on telegram.com's blog site".  Within minutes, Britney calls back and explains to me the exhaustive efforts that they did and that it would now be delivered today (2/19) between 4-8pm.  I politely thanked her and we hung up.

Guess what did not happen between 4-8pm yesterday? At 7:35 pm last evening the "striker" (delivery man) called and had an extremely nervous tone on his voice as he delivered the news that the truck was stuck in Webster.  He was extremely apologetic and I could tell he legitimately felt bad because he told me that I was the call he had dreaded most to make.  Poor guy, I let him loose and thanked him for the call.  I went downstairs and broke the news to my 4 year old.  This time she took it in stride.

I must say that not delivering when they were supposed to because they were afraid of getting stuck and then not coming the next day because the truck got stuck makes absolutely NO sense to me.  I get that the weather the past couple of days has been nasty and I would like to give these guys the benefit of the doubt.  But you deliver furniture, in the Northeast, during the winter, it's going to happen people. They need to be better prepared, this isn't Atlanta (sorry, low blow).  

I'm not upset that they couldn't deliver the bed because of the weather, I'm truly not.  I'm upset that we had to chase the information.  Not one person was forthcoming with what was going on and the information was only available when I demanded it.  It was as if Rotman’s missing a delivery was not big deal and that it was OUR fault that they had made this mistake.  I don't care what business you are in, that is unacceptable.  

Unfortunately for Rotman's they don't get the hometown loyalty any longer.  They didn't lose my business this time but next time we will be sure to shop around.

3D

Take it from me, because you don't want to ask the wife on this one.