Call Kurtis: Noisy Rockers

Creaking... that sure doesn't help when you're trying to rock a baby to sleep. La-Z-Boy, where they bought the chairs, tried to fix them twice but the noises won't go away.

"When he's just about to sleep and you go to get up, and it makes a popping noise like that," says Jeff Carda, Elk Grove resident.

That noise has been keeping newborn Austin awake.

"It wakes him up, and you got to start all over," says Jeff.

Jeff and Amber say the creaking started within three months of buying the two recliners from La-Z-Boy in Elk Grove. They called La-Z-Boy. After all, they paid $99 for a five year warranty. The store took the chairs back, one at a time, to be fixed so Jeff and Amber wouldn't be without a chair.

"It's quieter when they bring it back but then within a month or a couple of weeks, it starts making noise again," says Jeff.

So La-Z-Boy serviced both chairs again but yet again the noises came back. Fed up, the Carda's wanted new chairs or their money back but the store said "no," although the manager offered to once again service them.

"It's like deaf ears.  It doesn't go anywhere... goes out to a black hole," says Ted Bradley, another La-Z-Boy customer.

The Carda's saw our story in November on Ted and Linda Bradley of Elk Grove who also complained about La-Z-Boy's customer service surrounding discoloration and marks on their leather sofas.  The company resolved the problem once we got involved.

"To me, they're showing that customer care doesn't really matter to them.  And after seeing the first complaint on the news and ours, it makes me wonder," says Amber Carda.

We reached out to La-Z-Boy owner Liz Reego, who told us squeaks are not covered by that warranty, but they wanted to fix the problem, even offering Jeff and Amber loaner chairs during the process.

After a series of emails with us, the company agreed to let the Carda's "select brand new chairs to replace the current ones..."

Amber and Jeff went to the showroom, but only liked leather chairs that cost hundreds more. Unwilling to pay the difference, La-Z-Boy agreed to a full refund of $1582.88.

In a statement the company owners feel they've "... truly gone above and beyond to satisfy these customers... " And they "now have two chairs that cannot be resold..." according to La-Z-Boy spokesperson Traci Rockefeller Cusack.

Amber and Jeff are glad to put this problem and hopefully baby Austin to bed. The store is talking about donating those chairs.

Amber and Jeff used that refund money to buy new recliners from another store.

La-Z-Boy Statement

As the owner of the La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries, I would like to respond to the Cardas situation. Of note, we have sold more than 250,000 satisfied La-Z-Boy customers in my family's 26 years of business in Sacramento. We employ 120 hard-working men and women in our six area stores.

The Cardas noted a squeak in their fabric La-Z-Boy rocker recliner. Although squeaks are not covered by the La-Z-Boy lifetime parts warranty, we quickly picked up each chair, one at a time, and worked to find and repair the squeak. Upon return of the recliners, the customers were satisfied. However, a few months later, the customers indicated the squeak has returned. Again, this is not covered by the La-Z-Boy warranty or our extended care program, but in the interest of customer service, being that these recliners at that time, were discontinued and not available to reselect, we offered to ship the recliners, at our personal cost, to the factory, one at a time, for rebuilding.

The Cardas would not accept this resolution and contacted Call Kurtis. I personally contacted the customers immediately and explained the warranty situation. However, we work tirelessly to ensure our customers are pleased, so I offered them a full credit on their original purchase price toward any new recliners. I also arranged for them to have a private reselect appointment with our General Operations Manager at our Elk Grove showroom.

During this visit, the Cardas shopped our showroom of more than 120 recliners, and decided they wanted upgraded leather recliners (instead of fabric recliners similar to the ones they currently have). These particular leather recliners were on sale, but still $400 more per chair (or $800 total). When the General Operations Manager explained that we would be happy to apply their $1582.87 credit toward these leather recliners, and that they would just need to pay the difference, the Cardas insisted we also cover the additional $800 as they were not willing to pay the difference. What was surprising is that these recliners are available in a fabric very similar to their original recliners, at a price that would fit in their credit without any additional cost. The customers refused to consider the fabric recliners saying that I promised them they could pick out any recliners in the store. As we have recliners ranging from $298 to $1498, I would never make such an offer; I was quite clear that we were offering them a full credit TOWARD new recliners. As we have more than 60 recliners that would fit within their credit, our manager was stunned at their unreasonableness when we had been so accommodating.

At this point, I was very discouraged with how the customers were dealing with us and told our General Operations Manager to pick up their recliners and give them a refund of $1,582.87. We also allowed the customers to choose their pick up date (about a week later).

My staff went above and beyond trying to take care of the Cardas customers. However, we felt that their request to have us upgrade them to leather (at our expense of $800 over their credit) was unreasonable. In the end, we not only provided a full refund -- after nearly a year of use -- but now have two chairs that cannot be re-sold but which can hopefully be donated to charity.

Just a couple of weeks ago, we learned from La-Z-Boy that that the exact style and fabric of their original chairs were again available for a limited time and we even offered them a complete reselect of their exact recliners and fabric. They have not responded. I believe we handled this situation professionally and fairly and, in the end, it's too bad that the customer chose not to be reasonable with us and won't have the comfort of a La-Z-Boy recliner.

Sincerely,
Elizabeth Gordon Reego
Owner