Scammed!

EDITED AT BOTTOM, 9/4

It's official, we have been scammed by a going out of business sale. I can't believe it. I can't believe we got had by this jerk-off. I am beyond mad, beyond p'd off, beyond everything imaginable sane about this. I can't believe people do this to innocent consumers! Here's what happened:

In getting ready for baby, we realized our furniture, how wonderful it is and how much we loved it (yes, past tense), there just isn't any room in our living room to accomidate baby stuff like a bouncy, a swing, maybe some toys, etc... so one afternoon as we were leaving Sam's Club in Appleton, we saw Bassett Furniture Direct was having a going out of business sale. We thought, what the heck, let's check it out, maybe we'll find a good deal for a small sectional to fit in the corner of our living room. Of course, we happened across the most perfect sectional and also found Tom his dream recliner, rocker, glider, swivel chair. The sectional was fabulous! It had an amazing pull-out bed for overnight guests, and it was going to fit perfectly in our very small living room, whilst giving us room for a swing, etc baby stuff! Yeah, so we placed the order and were told 3-8 weeks for delivery. They weren't selling floor models, plus the sectional we needed the pull-out bed on the left facing side instead of the right so it would fit, and I didn't like the fabric Tom's dream chair was in, so I picked a nice chocolately color to complement the light mocca sectional. The sale was made on June 9th.

What is today's date? Oh yeah, it's September 3rd, almost 4th. It has been nearly 13 weeks and we do not have our furniture!!! At 9 weeks out, I started calling the store, but only to get a recorded message stating "...if you placed a furniture order, we will call you when it comes in.... for other inquiries, please contact us at sales at bfd wisconsin dot com..." Now, I didn't know if it was sales at bfdwi or bfdwisconsin or bfd-wi or what the heck, so I emailed all the options many times.... I informed them I was going to contact the BBB and a lawyer due to no delivery and lack of communication from them. I proceded to call Bassett Corporate office, but they couldn't help me because I the furniture we bought is made by Klaussner, not Bassett manufactured. How the heck was I supposed to know Bassett only sold Bassett manufactured furniture?!?!!! UGH! So I called another Bassett store to see what they could help me with. That is when I learned each store is franchised, so they are not affiliated with one another. Also, I learned that when that owner went "out of business", he actually sold his store and assets to a 3rd party liquidator who proceeds to bring in other furniture and sell that along with the store's floor models. No wonder we couldn't buy floor models of what we had picked out (even IF it corresponded to our living room and fabric tastes). Yeah, so $3,040.80 later - WE HAVE BEEN SCAMMED! That nice lady at Bassett in Schaumburg advised me to contact the BBB.

That is what I did, I submitted a claim to the BBB on August 22nd. The confirmation email states Bassett has until September 5th to respond to my complaint/claim. At this point, I don't want the dam furniture, I just want my money back so I can go spend it at a place I trust, like WG&R. As it is right now, I have no couch to sit my 6 month pregnant butt on, no couch to lounge my 6 month pregnant back on, and no couch for my 5 year old doggie to sit on to watch out the window! Ok, I'm more important than the dog, but you get my point. Yep, we sold our current furniture because we were worried about what we were going to do with all this furniture when ours finally came in. Tom's chair sold right away. Then the couch, loveseat, coffee table and end tables sold about 3 wks ago. So two weekends ago, Tom and his buddy Darren went to my parents house to pick up two glider chairs so we had something to sit on in the living room. Tom had brought in his black glider swivler chair (the ol' ShopKo special) back when his rocker recliner sold father's day weekend. The only good thing about all this is I had a chance to steam clean the carpets, which was nice to not have to move huge furniture around.

On with the drama.... My mom calls me tonight on my way home from work telling me that there is going to be a story about Bassett furniture's going out of business sale. So I rushed out of Wally's world and on to my in-laws to pick up the dog and catch the story. Sure enough! SCAMMED! The Post-Crescent also had the story in the newspaper today. According to this report, at least 25 people have put in claims to the BBB, the newschannel tried contacting the owner and even went to his last known address only to find nothing. Sure, he got his money from selling to the liquidator and took off, skipped town! A-hole! Man, am I ever beyond p'd about this. I can't believe we got scammed!! How would you feel if this happened to you?
And you know my real dilema is.... I've got to get furniture in this house before the baby comes. I certainly don't want to live 24/7 in my bed cuz it's the only comfy place to plop down after giving birth, to do feedings, to do anything. Anyways, we do have a claim in with the credit card company. Good thing it was charged! The credit card company is pursuing Bassett for failure to deliver paid goods. They have 30 days to investigate. After that 30 days, we should get our credit back so we can go buy/order new furniture.

Lesson Learned. And please, I hope you learn something from this too. NEVER BUY FROM A GOING OUT OF BUSINESS SALE unless you can take the goods home with you then and there!!

EDITED TO ADD TO NEW FINDINGS, 9/4:
We are getting temporary credit back on the credit card, so this Saturday we are going to WG&R Furniture to find and order a new couch/sectional, Tom's dream chair, and an end table (unless the couch we find has an ottoman). I also called the BBB this morning and since the owner has not been tracked down by the state yet, there is nothing BBB can do, especially since the business is closed. None the less, I am putting in a claim to the State Consumer Protection agency who works with the State Disctrict Attorney. This case has turned to legal legislation, so it's serious business. I just hope they track down that owner and he gets put in jail, along with the 3rd party liquidator he hired since they are not returning phone calls or answering the phone at all. Crazy! I can't believe we are invovled with this. At least we are getting credit back so we can order new furniture.