If zero was possible, I would rate Ashley Furniture in Lakeside the biggest zero. As we entered on New Year's eve, we were greeted by a female sales associate (Samantha, I believe) who welcomed us and asked us what we were looking for. We told her we were looking for artwork and home decor items. She told us it was a good day for that since all accessories were 20% off. We happily went looking.
After a careful search of the store, we found a couple items and let Samantha know we wanted them. She began wrapping them and preparing the bill while we continued looking. We found a set of bar stools we wanted to add and after failing to find them in her catalog, Samantha walked to the back of the store with us to see which they were. Upon further questioning, we discovered these stools were not returnable and were told they were full price, so we opted out of buying them. We offered to purchase at a discount since they weren't returnable, but she declined, so we opted out of them and decided to take our first items only.
We returned to the checkout to find our bill for those items with only a 10% discount. We questioned that, and Samantha apologized that she "misspoke" but the discount was only 10%. We requested that she honor what she clearly told us and she insisted she could not. We requested to speak with the manager to get approval since that was clearly offered when we arrived. She sighed audibly, turned to confer quietly with a coworker, and then phoned someone from the front desk directly in front of us. She told that person (whether or not it was a manager, we don't know) that we were insisting on a 20% discount. A short few "yeses" and "nos" followed, and she hung up and said they would only provide a 10% discount. She again said she "misspoke." We asked if the manager was aware of her misspeaking, and she blatantly lied, saying she told him. As we had stood right in front of her and listened to her entire side of the conversation, we let her know that we heard her conversation and that she had not given the manager all the details. We then insisted to speak directly to the manager (second request).
Another audible sigh from Samantha as she turned to (we assumed) go get the manager. We observed her speaking with a man not 25 feet from us, the man then walked away, and Samantha returned once again to say that it would be just a 10% discount, and the manager would not speak with us. Her "error" was that furniture was 20% off and accessories were only 10%. (Note their earlier refusal to discount the bar stools.)
Needless to say, we left without purchasing what would have been close to $800 of furniture and accessories.
This was a terrible customer service experience with the absolute rudeness (audible sighs) and direct lies from Samantha, and the utter cowardice of the manager in coming to chat with us, regardless of the final decision. I cannot express my absolute disgust with this business, and I recommend caution if you decide to since the options in Show Low are limited. We ended up at Furniture Row, where we were treated fairly, noone "misspoke", lied, was rude, or displayed the cowardice of the Ashley's manager. And, we were happy to give them our business. read more
