Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Brampton Hardwood Floors-- The Floor Hell


Businesses that are rude and offer poor customer service will not survive. Here is what happened to us

My wife went shopping for hardwood at Brampton Hardwood Floors, Brampton, ON and finding the right colour match at a good price, decided to buy. She was interacting with John, a salesman/ installer and pointed to the Maple Traditional variety and ordered 24 boxes. The invoice was drawn up by Vandana and the payment was made. Further negotiations were done to tie up the installation through John's team of installers. The installers showed up at our home on the pre determined day with the 24 boxes all labelled Maple Mill run. For those un initiated to floorings, the Mill Run variety is of a low grade and the boxes contained short pieces of the hardwood ( longer pieces provide a better optical value). The store had sent us the Mill Run variety whereas we had ordered the Traditional variety. When my wife questioned the installer team we were directed to speak to the Store. We spoke with Vandana who was aggressive and rude and literally hung up on us. That left us no choice but to make several 25 km trips to the store. At the store my wife was informed by Vandana that the Traditional & Mill Run categories were one and the same even though the samples on the walls were labelled separately for both varieties. Stepping away from Vanadana my wife spoke to a sales associate who confirmed that the Traditional & Mill Run were separate categories. She was just discussing these aspects with the sales associate when Vandana walked up and "told" the Sales associate that " there was no difference between the Traditional and Mill Run categories". The sales associate meekly withdrew. My wife then met the Store manager who initially tried to assist but when Vanadana caught sight of this she pulled the store manager to a corner and "updated" him the way she had "updated" the sales associate. My wife was then informed that if she wished to return the hardwood , she would have to pay 25% as re-stocking fees. The store manager who till then had been helpful , now seemed to have undergone a transformation and spoke very curtly and seemed to follow the "company line"

The bottom line
1. Brampton hardwoods was paid $ 2011 for 24 boxes of Maple Traditional Hard wood
2. We got 24 boxes of Maple Mill Run Hardwood
3. The return policy required us to pay 25 % as re-stocking costs i.e. $ 502
4. We ended up paying the re-stocking costs , being subjected to rude behaviour on part of Vandana and losing the day dealing with what was a simple mistake made by Brampton Hardwood which could have been rectified by the Store mgmt accepting their mistake and switching us to the Traditional category
5. Our forays into the market place to shop at other stores after this episode revealed that there had been others who had felt cheated in doing business with Brampton hardwood
6. Our message to Brampton Hardwood Floors: We had nothing against you and infact we brought our business to you & for that we recieved what I have narated above. You have not only lost a customer but other potential customers who are our friends and family. You should pause to consider this...