Naperville man suing Ashley Homestore after delivery crew called 911 amid dispute over furniture
Chaos and confusion over a couch? A Naperville family has filed a lawsuit against a huge furniture company after the delivery crew called police.
Guns loaded, lights flashing, Naperville police walking through his backyard; the scene unfolded last June on Noah Jacob's day in the neighborhood.
"The kids are freaking out. They got scared. My wife got scared," he said.
Jacob said he called 911 to ask why Naperville police officers with guns drawn were swarming his new home.
"The 911 dispatcher, she said, 'Do you have a gun on you?' I said, 'No!' I was shocked. Like, that was so random," he said.
Police body camera video shows Jacob outside his house as officers told him to put his hands in the air, get down on his knees, and lie flat on the ground.
"I have never been embarrassed in my life that much," he said. "It was horrible. Like, I can't believe that I was treated that way. For furniture."
Before police showed up that day, a huge Ashley Homestore order with thousands of dollars worth of furniture arrived at Jacob's house – sofas, dressers, beds.
Jacob said they laid one of the couches on a stairwell railing, and he found out later they cracked the wall in the process.
Jacob spotted more problems – dings, scratches, and chips – despite the promise of a "white glove premium home delivery."
The new homeowner admitted he snapped on the delivery crew and kicked them out.
"'Enough is enough. I don't want this. This is not what I paid for,'" he said.
That's not all that Jacob said, according to the crew from Urlo Delivery Service Inc.
In body camera footage, the driver, who was hired indirectly on behalf of Ashley Homestore, imitated a gun being pulled on him.
The driver repeatedly told officers that Jacob held a pistol and threatened to kill the delivery crew if they didn't leave his house, so the workers called 911. A large police response arrived within minutes.
Jacob denied pulling a gun on the delivery crew.
"Absolutely not," he said.
The owner of Urlo was adamant her employees are telling the truth. They described the gun as a black pistol.
The police report noted that Jacob does own a black pistol, but he insisted it remained locked during the delivery.
An electrician working at the home at the time said he didn't hear any threats or see a gun.
Naperville investigators chalked the case up to a "he said, she said" situation.
"Every time I talk to people, there's your story, their story, and the truth is somewhere in the middle," one officer told Jacob.
Jacob was not charged with any crime.
The squad cars are long gone, but the drama is not. The father of four said his furniture delivery was never completed. He said one bed "doesn't have headboard that will hold the sides and footboards as well, so it's basically just parts."
Those parts have sat unused for almost a year.
Jacob's attorney, Aaron Rapier, sent a demand letter to Ashley Homestore months ago.
"Initially when we got involved, we actually thought it would be quite simple," he said.
The legal battle with the furniture giant escalated to a lawsuit this week.
"There's no hope. There's no solution. They wouldn't give me the furniture. They wouldn't take the furniture," Jacob said.
"We were getting the runaround," Rapier said.
An Ashley Homestore spokesperson said the company's involvement was "limited to selling furniture."
There was no mention of Urlo in Ashley Homestore's statement.
CBS News Chicago was directed to a different "third-party company" home delivery link that never answered questions.
"You can pay $18,000 for this furniture, but we're not going to deliver it all, we're going to damage your property, and we're going to file a false police report. Do you think any consumer in the world would do that deal?" Rapier said.
Why did Jacob decide to go public with his story about a situation he found embarrassing?
"I don't want anybody to go through what I had to go through, honestly," he said.
The lawsuit against Ashley and other companies involved asks for at least $50,000 in damages, but Jacob said what he wants most of all is an apology.
Urlo denied any wrongdoing in this case, even when it comes to alleged damages to Jacob's home.
Ashley said it is working on a resolution with Jacob.