Any comments on dealing with Conn's Appliances excessive charges on failed new electric rangetop cooktop replacement?

Answer 1

(a) I just want to add my complaint about Conn's Appliances to this to help warn people about this shady operation. I bought a refrigerator from Conn's and they forgot to send me the payment book. When it came time for me to make my first payment, I called them and asked them for the amount and to send me a statement. They told me they would send me the payment book. In the meantime, they asked me to make a payment over the phone which I agreed to do but the problem is that they went into my bank account and took not only the amount we agreed upon but something they called a late fee. We never talked about a late fee since it was their fault they did not send me the payment book. The point is I never agreed to any addition amount beyond the specific amount of the monthly payment. In the meantime, they reported me to the Credit Bureau as a late payment in spite of the fact that I agreed and made the payment. It seems they had some kind of internal mix up inside the screwed up Conn's operation where the right hand did not know what the left hand was doing or something like that. I have been disputing this with them for five months now. They refuse to admit they were wrong to go into my bank account and take more money than I authorized. I notified them to never go into my bank account again as I was rescinding any and all authorization giving Conn's any access to my bank account. They have retaliated by refusing to correct the bad marks they put on my credit. They refuse to admit they were wrong to take money I did not authorize from my bank account. I have had at least a couple of dozen phone calls with them and they are rude and disrespectful. They make all kinds of threats that stop very short of being illegal. They have called my house at all times of the day, numerous times to try and inconvenience me. They call on Saturdays and Sundays. They call early in the morning and late at night. They harass and threat by leaving messages on my answering machine that give the impression of being from "Conn's Corporate Offices" or from "Conn's Legal Department". In their message they lead me to believe they are going to work this issue out with me but when I talk to them they refuse to say specifically that they will correct and resolve anything specific. They use pressure tactics. They even sent me a bill saying I am being penalized by raising the total amount of the refrigerator up an additional $275.00. The past Sunday ("Sunday") they left a flier on my door threatening more legal action leading to repossession. They did this while I was inside my home hosting company. This CONN's APPLIANCES is a mean, vile, dirty, vicious and ruthless company. The name Conn's fits them perfectly because they ought to be behind bars somewhere. Now that I am researching complaints against them on the internet, I want to warn other potential victims to take these complaints seriously. Like they say, let the buyer beware when dealing with the cons at Conn's Appliances.

-Al Hebert

Houston, Texas

(b) Here is my letter to the Conn's Customer (cough) Service Department:

27 June 2008

To: Conn's Customer Service,

In April I was sold a lawn tractor at the Conn's location in Conroe, Texas. This tractor turned out to have been assembled in a faulty fashion, with an entire assembly left missing which would hold up one side of the blade housing, and which resulted in the housing and blades hitting the ground and snapping the belt which drives the blades. Luckily there were no injuries, or worse, due to your company's incomplete assembly of a large piece of power equipment.

I called Conn's customer service at a toll-free number that I was given when I called the store where I purchased the tractor, but for more than 6 hours straight the line at that number was busy. I then went online and looked up another customer service number. I found one in Houston, which, while a long-distance call for me, at least resulted in my getting to speak to a 'real person' after almost an hour of waiting for someone to pick up a phone there. I told the 'customer service' representative (I use the term extremely loosely as there was no service rendered) that I knew what was wrong with the tractor, I had the parts list and was prepared to give the list of specific parts missing to the representative to save a lot of time and unnecessary hassle, as I live in a rural area approximately 100 miles from Houston and 10 miles from the nearest town. The rep refused to note down any parts, or do anything whatsoever other than look at his computer and tell me the earliest date that someone could come out here - this was a date 3 weeks later on June 27.

Today is June 27. At 7:20 am I was awakened by a call from a man at your company who was supposed to come out here and fix the tractor that was assembled, by your company, without all it's parts. He immediately asked what parts were missing. I gave him the list, which the original customer service rep refused to note down, and the 'repairman' verified to me that he was aware that the customer service representatives 'always' refused to note down any part numbers or have anything to do with the specifics of a customer's actual problem. Again I am forced to use the words "customer service" in only the loosest of terms, but at least I am in good company if the several hundred complaints anyone can find online and the vast amount BBB complaints are any indication of how the majority of your former customers have been treated by those employees of Conn's who are supposed to be taking care of the people paying out a lot of money for product and service.

My issues are as follows:

a) your company assembled a large piece of equipment without all it's parts, causing it to not only break itself, but rendering it extremely dangerous as well. Putting it bluntly I could, and may well, retain an attorney and file suit for the danger to my family and I caused by Conn's.

b) your service department rep refused to discuss any specifics about my issue, note down part numbers, names, etc, and such behavior, as verified by your own repairmen, is standard operating procedure for Conn's

c) your repairman called my home telephone at 7:20 am - well outside normal business hours of any sort - and as I work at night a 7:20 am telephone call was certainly not appreciated - especially as the reason for the call was to get part numbers I had offered weeks beforehand but which were refused.

d) your repairmen, even though this was scheduled 3 weeks in advance, never showed up. At all. Even though he said at 7:20 am that he had those particular parts in stock.

I think you can see where I, and any other sane person, might feel that it would be to my advantage to immediately retain legal advice on filing suit against Conn's, for various things ranging from breach of service contract, to physical endangerment.The sheer amount of complaints that are currently logged online against your company's service department only serve to reinforce that decision.

I would like a customer service manager to call me ASAP at my home If I am at my office at the time my wife will direct them to the telephone number I may be reached at.

Jared C

Trinity Texas

c/c: (law firm name)

I have had the same problem!I have the same problem! I paid an exorbitant sum for my washer and dryer. I also purchased the extended warranty. My dryer did not work for approximately the first month and a half! The service repairmen-when actually showing up-never had the parts needed to repair. Any calls to the customer service line was useless! I even went as far as contacting the VP of Service-Farah, and the VP of Customer Service-Allen Sheppard (409-832-1696)-who basically wanted me off his phone as soon as possible. When Farah contacted service in Dallas-they even gave her issues. Now my machine is broken-again-even though they originally replaced major parts-motor and heating elements-multiple times-not to mention replacing the whole unit. I did NOT buy bad machines-my in-laws are from overseas-and they are some of the best selling-most requested machines over there! The problem here is the fact-and the latest service repairman admitted to it-they do NOT know much about these machines. Why sell them-with a warranty-if you don't have trained technicians to repair them? I have even offered to pay the manufacturer to come out and repair them-at my cost and have Conn's re-imburse me. The manufacturer is willing-but can't because Conn's has to give them the approval to repair-and even after asking Conn's multiple times to give the manufacturer approval-they still haven't. Now-they were supposed to overnight a part last Friday-to be installed last Saturday. It is now Tuesday-and I haven't even received a call back. And when I call in-I get the run-around. And this is after waiting over a week for them to come out to even look at the machine. Do NOT let them fool you-the Service manager would have you believe that their repairmen don't work after 6pm-the service team has no problem working late when it serves their purpose-we once waited all day on a Saturday for a service guy that was supposed to be there before 12pm-he didn't show up until approximately 8:30pm. This is not my only issues with this company. When they delivered-we paid for next day delivery-they called the next day and said said it wouldn't be delivered for another 2 days-was never re-imbursed for the next day delivery charge. Also, we once waited over 3 1/2 hours for a salesperson to help us in store-cash in hand to buy a sofa and 37 inch TV. We stayed only because my husband and I-newly wedded had searched far and wide for a sofa and this was the only one we could agree on. This was of course-the day after we bought the washer and dryer-it hadn't delivered yet-other wise I would have rather sat on the floor than to give them any more of our money! I use to be a loyal customer-as was my entire family-we will never shop there again. We would rather pay more-and have good service!

The new CEO is Mr. Thomas Frank, Phone number: 409-832-1696 ext. 3218. For those of you wanting to bypass "Customer Service".

Thanks for Reading-

Jewel

Dallas, Texas