Customers say they paid and didn't get furniture

RALEIGH

"Someone here had to know they were going out of business," said Glasco.

Glasco said three weeks ago, she paid close to $800 for new bedroom furniture.

"To tell me it's on backorder, it will be here in one week, and then four days later you're closed," said Glasco.

When they went to the store, Glasco and other customers found the doors locked and signs saying "Closed for inventory" and "Reopening soon, preparing for a huge sale."

Reno Eddins is another customer who claims he was affected. He told ABC11 he paid $1,400 for a bedroom set June 19.

"We picked out what we wanted. They said we couldn't take that one, that we had to order it," he recalled.

Eddins said he waited for the call that the furniture was in. Instead, when he went to the store, he said an employee told him the RoomStore had closed and he wouldn't be getting his furniture. Eddins said he was given forms to fill out for the bankruptcy courts.

"It aint' right. I either want my money back, or I want my furniture," he said.

Tami Rieker told ABC11 she was lucky enough to get her $3,000 worth of dining room furniture from the RoomStore, but it's damaged.

"All the edges are damaged," she said "Only one chair that had nothing wrong with it."

She showed us where a technician tried to fix the furniture.

"I am not happy with this repair. We did not buy scratch and dent. We did not buy liquidation furniture. We bought brand new furniture. We paid cash," she said.

She said she was promised she would get a new set, but when she made a trip back to the RoomStore to find out when her furniture would be delivered, she was told there was nothing that could be done because of legal issues.

ABC11 found that the RoomStore did file for bankruptcy protection back in December, but they continued to keep many of their stores open. Just a few weeks ago, a bankruptcy judge approved the auction of the RoomStore's remaining inventory and other assets, and all of the RoomStores closed their doors.

That left many unhappy customers with no furniture, and out the money they paid.

A representative for the RoomStore would not comment for this story. Customers who are out money and furniture are being asked to fill out a bankruptcy claim.

Interestingly, the stores reopened Monday, as the liquidation sale just started - meaning the furniture that sat inside, that many RoomStore customers say they bought, is now for sale again - but this time under the liquidation sale.

A former RoomStore employee, who is also working the liquidation sale, told us that when he sold the furniture to RoomStore customers, he didn't know their orders wouldn't be fulfilled.

"We had been told all previous orders would be filled, whoever was to take over our company in the future would fulfill these orders at that time. So we sold them. The employees here are upset because we get paid on delivery and now those orders aren't getting filled. We're not going to get the commission. I had thousands of dollars, over 50 thousand dollars worth of furniture that I sold that I'm not going to get commission on which is hard for me and my family. So we feel the same pain as the community, as this story affects everybody," he said.

All of the customers we talked with did pay cash for the furniture; the best advice is always pay with credit card because you can dispute the charges.

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