Originally Posted by
drcollie
This topic came up in a PM today with a customer, so I thought it appropriate to address it here. Its a topic that should be of interest to all who mail order furniture.
Everyone loves the lowest price. I do too, when I shop for things. That's pretty much a given. So then the question becomes why does Dealer A sell cheaper than Dealer B on internet sales? The easy answer would be that Dealer B is greedier and wants to make more profit. But that's not always the case. There are other factors at play. Those that shop for only the lowest price surely will find it after enough inquires, and its almost a game to see "how low can they go". But while they are busy scouring the internet to save an extra few dollars they may forget to check the reputation of that store that has the lowest price. Of course, reputations are harder to check on than getting a simple price quote.
I'd say 90% of all the internet sales I do go through the chain sequence of order/produce/ship/acceptance without a hitch. The other 10% require interaction in one way or another on the part of the Dealer to make sure the process goes smoothly and is satisfactory. If your order is in that 10% that needs an assist, is your low price dealer going to go to bat for you, or are you left on your own?
What can go wrong? Well, for example this past week alone I have two shipments where the Delivery Service dropped the ball and 'forgot' where the furniture was, I've had scuff on a recliner that was discovered after the delivery, another customer in California had his piece arrive and they left the back cushion out of the box (!!!!!), another who thought his cushion inserts were too soft and should have been fuller from the factory, and another customer who didn't like the way the mechanism felt on his recliner and was very unhappy with it.
Solutions? Spent three hours on the phone tracking down the two 'lost' furniture ships and held the hand of the delivery company while they found it and made plans to get it to the customer. Send out touch-up for the scuff and instructions how to deal with that, and if that doesn't work will get a new piece of leather for that footrest. Had the piece from California returned and the cushion was found in the factory after an all-hands alert to look for it, ordered a new set of cushion cores made 'extra-full' for the one customer, and for the last one, let him pick out a new recliner (different style) and the one he doesn't like will come back to my store as a floor model markdown.
Whew!
OK, so what's that service level worth? You decide as the customer. You pay your hard-earned dollars and you shop where you have the most confidence. I'm aggressive on price, but not THE most aggressive. You can find a lower price if you shop hard enough...and I've no interest in matching those guys, because their after-sale service is basically non-existent. I have to charge a bit more than the lowballers because I have to cover return ships, replacement parts, touchups and the like to make sure the buying experience has the minimum amount of pain possible if an issue crops up.
As Steve Oster once posted on the forum. "You can have the best price, or the best service, but you can't have the best price AND the best service."
What you want to do as a buyer/shopper is find that balance that's in your comfort zone. If you're a gambler, then roll the dice and go for broke - buy from the lowest guy you can find. Like I said 90% of the time your order sails through problem and issue-free. If yours come through like that, you're in business. If you like the assurance that everything will be taken care of quickly and promptly, then buy locally. All things being equal, no one can service you like your local dealer. If you want an aggressive price and good service (but realize you have lags due to shipping back and forth), then you go with a store similar to mine where they offer a great price but always back it up with Service.
This leads me to the next topic. WARRANTIES. Now the furniture business is not like the auto business. Car warranties are easy. Take it to any dealer, they fix it, and the manufacturer pays. This is how the furniture industry works:
The customer of the Manufacturer is the Dealer. The customer of the Dealer is the Consumer. Those are rigid lines, and that's why if you as a consumer call direct to the Manufacturer on a claim/warranty issue, you may get the cold shoulder and re-directed to your selling dealer. That selling dealer really is your contact point for claims and service. While the Warranty is written by the Manufacturer, and they are responsible for it, all Service work is through their customer, the Dealer.
Remember those low price guys? Guess what?!...they tend to disappear when issues occur because it costs money to service each incident, and they are more interested in making the next sale vs. running a warranty ticket which will cost some money to service. Here's where you read the horror stories on the forums of where the dealer ignored them, or made an excuse that it was 'not their fault' your furniture arrived as it did. You are being 'stonewalled' because there is no money to be made in servicing your issue.
Next you as the consumer get angry and upset. You call the Manufacturer and they refer you back to the selling dealer (Remember the dealer is their customer, you are the Dealer's customer). if you get no satisfaction from the dealer then you write letters, call the BBB, file a consumer complaint and swear never to buy anything from them again. The selling lowball dealer has simply waited you out.
Why do they do that? Again, its because it costs money to service warranty issues and touch-ups. I've seen some of these lowball operations make $ 200 over dealer cost on a $ 2,000 sofa. When that happens, and they took only $ 200, there's no money to pay to a freight company to pick up your piece and have it returned to the factory. There's no money to pay $ 50 to ship out a new set of cushions. There's no time to spend three hours chasing a lost order.
Do you have warranty rights from the Manufacturer if the dealer simply fails to help? Of course you do, but what you might not realize is YOU are responsible for the shipping both ways (in most cases) or must otherwise get the piece to the manufacturer on your time, and your dime. To send a recliner from Chicago back to North Carolina on a 2-way trip is going to cost you $ 500, for example. Some makers will pay the return ship charges, but not all. And none that I know of pay the inbound charge.
Your good dealer, however, will take care of that for you. If a piece needs to go back, or a $ 100 a visit touch-up guy has to go to the house, you as the customer never see that cost. The good dealer who cares about service absorbs that cost as customer goodwill, but he also has to make more than 10% on a sofa to be able to do that when the need arises.
Decide how much risk you can tolerate, and the service level you desire before you decide which dealer to buy from. Do your homework BEFORE you buy from them, not after. Good luck!
