The Brick - Dartmouth, Nova Scotia (Grand Opening)

[mulock]

Saturday Nov. 10th The Brick in Dartmouth, NS held a Midnight Madness event (part of their Grand Opening) whereby customers who were in the store between 10:00pm and 10:15pm would receive a $25 gift card to be used in-store. Customers were told they could combine gift cards together towards a single purchase (if they chose to do so). Plenty of potential customers attended, received their gift cards, and then started to leave the store with confused looks on their faces, mixed with disgust.

My friend had planned on buying a LG Stack Kit for his new washer/dryer combo and was told the gift card could not be used for that item. He was told the gift card is for furniture and mattresses only. This exclusion was not mentioned on the gift card or anywhere in the store. Anyhow the LG Stack Kit was the same price as all the other stores locally and online so he bought it.

He then noticed a a dining room set with 4 chairs (Suzette 5 Piece Dining Package for $399.95). "The bistro style Suzette Casual Dining Package combines old world style with contemporary design. A cherry veneer, round table, resting on a four branch pedestal, with feet is complimented by four chairs. The chairs are upholstered in a rich brown, high quality bi-cast leather. Ideal for casual dining in highly functional living spaces. Make this warm and inviting dinette set part of your homey décor." http://www1.thebrick.com/brickb2c/js...ump&navCount=2

When he asked if he could use the gift card towards the purchase of this dining set, initially he was told yes. Then the manager made an appearance and told my friend that he could not use the gift cards towards any sales priced item that had a line through the small print date on the price card. Keep in mind that this is a Grand Opening and practically everything in the store was sale priced.

The manager then began spieling off his sales mumbo jumbo saying that this was a solid wood table and that you couldn't go wrong buying it. He also stated that it is normally priced at $999. I heard this and said "Solid wood? The description says veneer. Veneer is not solid wood." Obviously this manager didn't know what he was talking about and when my friend and I began to walk away, the manager just went in the other direction.

As we were leaving the building, we ran into two other customers who also did not use their $25 gift card because of the exclusions on sale items. We began talking about our experience at The Brick and the utter mess of this promotion and how misleading it was. A third customer was coming up the stairs and she joined in with the conversion and the same confusion. She told us that she was told everything in the store had to be assembled at home and that she told the salesperson "I'm not assembling a table." In the end she said she had seen an ottoman she was interested in, so we all gave her our $25 gift cards($100 total plus her own $25 card) and she said she would attempt to use them. I responded with "Good luck with that."

This sneaky and conniving sales tactic with never-ending exclusions that are not obvious to the customers does nothing more than irritate customers. Obviously the manager at this particular location has no official sales and marketing education, otherwise he'd know what damage this promotion has just done.

[matrix82]

I have heard more bad stories about the Brick than good stories. A friend bought a sofa and had them deliver it, they scratched the leather all up during delivery (it wasn't wrapped in anything) and it was pushed through the door .

[icangarden]

Heard on the news yesterday that The Brick and Leons are joining together to form one company. Will be interesting to see if any good sales once this happens.

[sweet sparrow]

I have heard more bad stories about the Brick than good stories. A friend bought a sofa and had them deliver it, they scratched the leather all up during delivery (it wasn't wrapped in anything) and it was pushed through the door .

I'm sorry to hear about your friend, but does The Brick outsource it's furniture deliveries? If it does, it may be the fault of the delivery company and not the store.

One of our appliances (not from The Brick) was damaged during delivery and we were refunded a sum that I'm guessing was the cost of the delivery. It was packed and wrapped, but while cutting off the packaging, they gave the side of it a deep slice.

[SassyAshley]

When we moved just over 2 years ago we bought a large quantity of furniture at the Brick. It was nothing but a nightmare, before ordering our items we confirmed they could deliver the day we moved in (because we would not be bringing the furniture from our old house) we were told no problem. We made out purchase about a month or so before moved. On the Monday before moved (we moved on a Thursday) we got a phone call saying our furniture would not be delivered on Thursday but actually the following Tuesday. Why you might ask they only come to our area twice a week Tuesday anbd Thursday, so why did I not get my delivery on Thursday????? The truck was already full, we tried to stay calm and explain but were simply told there is nothing we can do you will have to wait (not even an I am sorry). So we moved all our furniture with us (sorry I was not sleeping on the floor without a mattress for 5 days).

The delivery finally came (this should have been a happy dance moment) but sadly my respect for the Brick only went down further. First off they showed up with only half of our items (apparently between our phone call on the previous monday and our delivery a week later our items had gone on backorder and even though we had an order which should have been holding stock they were shipped to someone else) and could not give us on ETA on when we might receive them. They than damaged the futrure they were delivering (a huge chunk missing our of a head board and a very large rip in a box spring) as well as damage to our house (took a crunk out of our wall taking a box srping upstairs, no not the one they ripped the other one, when they dropped the head board they took a chunk our wood floors and put a huge scratch in freezer). When we complianed to the drivers we were told not their problem and we had to call some number.

So call we did and that got us no where, they replaced the box spring but only after we lost it at them and they came and glued the chunk back into the headboard (Thanks but wow I could have done that and it would have looked better) and they refused to fix the floor. Why you may ask we had to provide them proof that they did it. We shows them the hole we showed them that the headboard corner fit into the hole exactly but our claim was delayed as we were told without photos proving their was no damage before the furniture was moved in they had to assume we had done the damage not their delivery people, same was said for the wall with a chunk missing.

I can now say we will never shop at The Brick again, they have no customer service and even when they do "help" nothing is really fixed. Like my freezer they have looked at, I lost count of how many times and still does not work right but it is now out of warranty so it is no longer their problem.