OKLAHOMA CITY – Carolyn Merritt keeps waiting and waiting and waiting.
“This has been a nightmare,” she said. “This has been the worst nightmare I have ever had.”
She’s owed a clearance bedroom set from Home Outlet Furniture.
“I have no place to put my clothes. They’re in boxes,” Merritt said.
Merritt said she was refused a refund after being forced to change her original order.
Now, she’s wondering what happened to the $900 payment she handed over to the furniture store.
“I told him I was moving,” she said. “I really need a bedroom suite, don’t have one.”
The furniture store’s been hyping up it’s going out of business sale for months, and that’s what has some customers calling the In Your Corner hotline.
“That concerns me too that they’ll file bankruptcy or just shut down and be gone,” Merritt said.
Customer Jeff Bates has been waiting on his bedroom set since September.
“I have consistently going up there once a month, checking, checking, checking, [getting] different answers every time,” he said.
The Better Business Bureau gives Home Outlet Furniture its worst grade, and more customers are airing out their frustrations online.
We wanted to check out the liquidation sale for ourselves.
The gentleman who met us up front works for a liquidation company.
“A lot of customers have already been taken care of,” he said. “Everyone will receive their merchandise.”
Bates didn’t actually purchase his bedroom set from Home Outlet Furniture.
He signed up for the layaway plan at Furniture Max, a second furniture store that went out of business last year.
Home Outlet Furniture took over those layaway contracts.
Bates admits he was late on a few payments but settled up in full with Home Outlet four months ago.
“But, they took my money and they’ve never brought up an issue with that,” he said.
The spokesperson for Home Outlet tells the In Your Corner team Bates’ bedroom set is on the way.
“We’ve expressed to these folks several times, and we understand their frustration – we’re not responsible for manufacturer delays and, a lot of these cases, that’s what it is,” he said.
- You can score some major savings with liquidation sales but, remember, sales are almost always final.
- Merritt and Bates’ receipts clearly state no exchanges or refunds but, in their cases, they don’t even have the furniture they paid for.
“We’re giving you our money in good faith that you’re going to deliver,” Merritt said. “I understand having delays, but can you not contact us?”
The store is closing for good March 31, and ownership assures us the necessary arrangements will be made to get customers their furniture as quickly as possible.
- With a liquidation sale, read the fine print and pay with a credit card.
- That way, if things go south with the product, you can dispute the charge with your card issuer.