The worst furniture buying experience we ever had. Please never buy anything from Al’s Country Furniture. This furniture store is located at 80 Wellington Rd 7, in Elora selling Mennonite Furniture. My husband and I went furniture shopping in October and liked the workmanship in the showroom of Al’s Country Furniture and they advertise that they make custom cabinetry on their website and tell you this in person. We dealt with one of the Co-owners Frank Verbakel who insisted we could have our buffet custom made to our measurements and that our table, buffet and bookcase would be delivered before Christmas. We advised him that the buffet would have to be altered in height due to a bulkhead we had in the living room. Frank assured us this wouldn’t be a problem and to call him with the correct measurement. As soon as we arrived home my husband measured and left a voicemail for Frank with the correct measurements. Then we waited.
Being practical we put down a deposit on our furniture with the rest owing on delivery and with the Christmas season fast approaching we were realistic and did not get our hopes up that the furniture would arrive in time . Frank surprised us with the table and bookcase in time for Christmas but the buffet was yet to show up. We decided not to call incessantly to find out where the bookcase was because final payment was still outstanding. Finally in late February Frank called and said it was ready and we gave him permission to charge our credit card for final payment. On the day of delivery Frank delivered a buffet that didn’t fit in our home. It sat 1 foot away from the wall because it didn’t fit under the bulkhead. Instead of taking it back when he saw it didn’t fit he took off as fast as he could. After 3 weeks of calling everyday leaving him messages he finally called back and came to pick up the buffet. Again we waited. Finally he called in May to advise the buffet was altered to fit but we now owed him $300 extra. WHAT!!! He said he never received our voice message with the measurements and decided on his own to go ahead with the buffet. Does that make sense to you? His charges comprised of $75 to pick up the buffet and $150 for the alteration and $75 to deliver it back. I told him if he didn’t receive the voicemail why did he go ahead and make the buffet and we weren’t paying for it. He never called me back. Finally my husband went to Elora with his trailer to pick up the buffet which was already paid for only to deal with Rick, Frank’s partner. Rick is a dishonest. He told me he would omit the delivery charges because it was partially their fault for not picking it up right away and that we only owed $200. How he came up with that price was a mystery considering Frank said the cabinet maker only charged them $150. Rick said he was tired of customers telling him it was always there fault...well wake up Rick maybe that’s because it is your fault. He kept giving us an analogy of buying a car. “You wouldn’t buy a car and if it didn’t fit in your garage go and return it?” I think he knew he didn’t have a leg to stand on and was just talking gibberish hoping we were stupid and naive. I asked him to reimburse us for the buffet and he said sure but it will be minus 25% for a restocking fee. I wasn’t sure if I was dealing with a small business or the Future Shop. The bottom line was they went ahead and made a buffet without the correct measurements and tried to make the customer pay more money for it. If Frank didn’t receive our voice message why didn’t he call us to get it? Isn’t that good customer service? Their customer service is nonexistent. We ended up paying him $100 and he helped my husband load it on his trailer. You’re a crook Frank and Rick. Frank I’m appalled at your lack of honesty especially knowing you’re a martial arts instructor teaching younger children about honesty. Buyer beware of this furniture store!
- Approximate cost of services:
- $5,400.00