There’s a salesperson at the Grafton Colder’s store that seems to hang out just past the staircase, close to a desk near the front end of the center area of the store. She acts like some sort of crazed attack dog or starving wolf. If she sees you walk in the door, she will beat a path to you to hound and hound and hound you. Even when telling her–politely, repeatedly, adamantly–that you don’t want to be bothered at ALL, she still forces herself on you, shoving business cards at you, spewing on and on about who-knows-what.

And then she proceeds to stalk you around the store, lurking about 50-100 feet or so away, trying to lag back behind displays, even following you around upstairs if you go up there, waiting to pounce.

We don’t know her name, but if you’ve ever been to the Grafton Colder’s, you probably know who we’re talking about.

Lady, people NOTICE. You might otherwise be a really nice person, but it’s too much. We don’t want to buy from someone that’s constantly accosting us with all the pressure they can muster. We’re sure others feel the same way. Really. It will never work in your favor.

For us, she really excels at making the Colder’s shopping experience feel extra sleazy and high-pressure. The problem for her is that we have absolutely no interest in buying from someone that doesn’t respect us, our space, or our time to shop at our own leisure. We can’t check out items in the store when we’re feeling eyes burning into our backs as we’re standing there. We feel like meat.

We’ve avoided shopping at Colder’s of Grafton many, many times because we do not appreciate being virtually mauled by this woman–seriously, every. single. time. we’re. there.  The last few times we were there, we’d actually preemptively run up the stairs or duck into the elevator, or take any other wide path in the store in an attempt to steer well clear of her.

Of course, again, this isn’t the only problem we have with/at the Grafton Colder’s store; there’s that one other lingering problem, too.

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No real nuts-and-bolts mention of how you can–or, most critically, how you can’t–spend the credit. Just the presented notion that you’re going to get a free dollar for every dollar you spend, to use at Colder’s however you please.

In  fact, Colder’s New Year’s Sale ad even goes so far as to visually depict the cash-back credit as actual US currency–with their onscreen character clearly, specifically handing back a dollar bill for every dollar bill it receives.

Deceptive? You decide.

So, Colder’s: Is the ‘Half Back’ or ‘Full Back’ or ‘Quarter Back’ or ‘Spend a Dollar Get a Dollar’ credit the same as cash, or isn’t it?  Back in July 2008, when we spent $1200 bucks at your Grifte…err, Grafton location, it sure was supposed to be, according to your salesperson. Even your latest television ads continue to (quite directly) suggest it’s true!

This New Year’s Sale television commercial is Yet Another Colder’s Ad that seemingly says one thing when the reality may actually be something rather different. Imagine your shock if you came back a second time to use your credit and find you were unable to use it on a slew of merchandise, including any and all items with advertised sales pricing, and floor models. The very credit that got you into the store. The credit you were told was the same as cash. The credit may likely never be allowed to leave the store–not entirely intact, anyway.

It doesn’t quite seem kosher to us to offer and advertise something for sale at one price, then look at how you’re planning to pay for it and say “oh yeah, that price on the tag there… you can’t have it.”

Colder’s… where the “Something More!” customers get might otherwise be described as an unwelcome and unfriendly and seemingly unethical–if not also illegal–Gotcha! And really, even if they are now telling customers about this particular restriction as they’re shopping initially, they may still have been lured into the store by a current Colder’s ad and it’s apparently-deceptive premise that they’d be getting dollar-for-dollar credit to put toward additional “Something More!” merchandise of their choosing.

We suppose as long as you understand that you may not really be getting a real dollar back for every very-real dollar you spend, you can go right ahead and overspend buying stuff at Colder’s you should easily be able to find–likely at a better price–at nearly any other Milwaukee-area retailer that sells what Colder’s ‘sells’; Colder’s imports products from China just like other similar area retailers.

But honestly, you as a consumer should be smarter than that. We were not, and we’re learning that now. Shop around. Don’t patronize Colder’s unless you really, truly understand what you’re getting–or more specifically, not getting. Don’t get stuck with a half-baked cash-back credit you’ll find hard if not impossible to use. And again, because it’s so very important: GET IT ALL IN WRITING, no matter where you ultimately end up.

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Mission Statement

The time of selection of a major item for your home should be a joyous occasion!

Our Selection, displays and knowledge are here only to help you select those items which best fulfill your dreams of betterment in the home.

It’s like someone copied bits from a fortune cookie… Or it was written by actual monkeys. Maybe both.

Given the fact–per their own website–that Colder’s retail-sales employees are 100% commission (“100% commission gives you great opportunities to write your own paycheck”) it’s not surprising that Colder’s mission statement makes little to no sense, because ultimately, it doesn’t matter. Colder’s mission statement might as well be just like this:

By the way, did we mention that Colder’s seems to be ripping people off? With a mission statement this muddled, it’s really no surprise they can’t seem to write up detailed terms/conditions/restrictions for their various promotions and other “sales” that, to us, more closely resemble bait-and-switch schemes than straight-up, honest deals for their customers.

Until Colder’s gets their act together, and starts acting a lot more consumer-friendly, we strongly recommend you do not shop at any local Milwaukee-area Colder’s locations.

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“Something More!”? More like “Something A Lot Less”.

In the end, you will most likely find Colder’s “Spend a Dollar Get a Dollar Back!” is only sort-of true. Not only is the offer limited to certain items at initial purchase, but it’s also limited at redemption time, and you’ll almost certainly find–as we and many others have, the hard way–that you can’t take advantage of ANY sale pricing, meaning you’re out the difference. The credit you thought was worth several hundred real dollars at Colder’s…ends up being practically worthless, as you’re almost always better off taking the sale price and not using your credit. Colder’s leaves you with money they’re apparently expecting you to never redeem. And indeed, Colder’s promotions seem set up specifically to make full-value redemption of your Quarter Back/Half Back/Full Back/Spend a Dollar Get a Dollar/etc credit as difficult as possible. The only thing, of course, is that you probably were not/will not be told this at the time of your initial purchase. Why would they, right?

Classic bait-and-switch, anyone?

You can read about our still-ongoing issue with Colder’s (which is still–now months later–entirely unresolved) and their scam. Be sure to check out the comments left there with that post, too, where others have written in to share the same or similar issues and stories of their own Colder’s shopping experiences.

If you’re reading this too late and have already participated in Colder’s New Year’s Sale, take close look at the terms and conditions of the sale–the restrictions in particular–and make SURE you got a great deal. Most people doing the math and understanding all the restrictions will probably find they did NOT get the great deal they thought they were getting.

Wait, you did get the terms/conditions/restrictions of the offer in writing, right?

Actually, you probably did not receive anything in writing from Colder’s detailing the terms and conditions of the promotion you participated in, leaving the interpretation and rules up to Colder’s to determine later when you go to use your credit. We have yet to see anything in writing from Colder’s detailing all the terms/conditions/restrictions of any of their promotions. They do list some details on their otherwise-useless website, but only for the current offer…and they’re incomplete and confusing. Also, as the page changes with each new deal/offer, it’s not only useless for people that don’t use the Internet, but for anyone that expects to find the terms for the deal they took weeks or months earlier when a new deal’s details have replaced that page’s contents entirely.

If you didn’t get anything in writing detailing all the terms and conditions–and restrictions in particular–of the promotion, we urge you to press for this, or face the very real and likely possibility of getting screwed over even more later. Realize, too, that for each Colder’s employee you talk to, you may get a different set of rules and stories about the terms, conditions and restrictions. This past summer, we didn’t get anything in writing, trusting the sales staff, and we’re still having trouble with Colder’s taking responsibility for the lies we were told–and the other details we weren’t told, despite our asking–at our initial purchase.

Colder’s, on average, seems to be more expensive than a lot of other retailers selling the same variety of furniture, kitchen appliances, washers and dryers, bedding, living room and bedroom stuff, electronics, etc. You may well want to take your item(s) back for a refund and instead buy from a more reputable and likely less-expensive retailer that isn’t solely interested in getting you in the door to rip you off…not once, but twice!

Consider yourself warned. There are plenty of other places to shop for everything Colder’s sells. We strongly recommend you do not shop at Colder’s… unless you like wasting money, taking advantage of promotions that end up not being anywhere as attractive as they’re advertised when you finally go to redeem whatever credit, or simply getting burned, over and over again.

It’s a shame a local Milwaukee-area business chooses to operate this way.

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All the best to everyone out there; we look forward to continuing our relationships with you in 2009 and beyond.

– Alex and Crew

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Wisconsin No Call List
https://nocall.wisconsin.gov

National Do Not Call Registry
https://www.donotcall.gov

(If you’re not from Wisconsin, please check your state for something similar.)

Both sites have details on how to register your telephone numbers; you can register online, or by phone. Regular-mail may also be an option; if you’re reading this, though, you already have Internet access, and the online signup really is the fastest way.

The national registry requires you submit an email address along with your phone number(s) to confirm your registration. They accept any number(s) you give them. The only information Wisconsin requires is a valid Wisconsin zip code along with the phone numbers. Wisconsin’s No Call List used to only allow land line registration, but they’re now also allowing cell phones, so if you had not previously registered your cell phones, now is a great time.

Telemarketing companies are required to update their records and drop registry-provided numbers every 30-31 days, so it can take as much a month’s time for them to drop your number(s) from their marketing lists. We have enjoyed a tremendous silence since we first started using these registries a few years ago.

Your numbers are registered ‘for life’ with the national registry. Once registered, you do not need to do it again. Wisconsin currently requires you to renew every two years, so set a reminder in your calendar.

Please let people know about these lists. Also, if you know anyone that isn’t computer-savvy or just doesn’t want to mess with it, but you know they’d benefit from fewer telemarketing calls, nothing in either system prevents you from registering their number(s) for them… Asking them first to be sure isn’t a bad idea, of course.

Enjoy the silence…

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We were shopping in this particular Colder’s store location last night and overheard several salespeople telling other customers they would have to pay the “redemption price” (the regular, non-sale price) for any item so marked if they wanted to apply any half-back credit they might have to redeem, and that they could not take advantage of the advertised sale price of the item at ALL if they planned on using that credit.

What it means is if you’re trying to pay for an item using a store credit from a previous half-back promotion, they are going to insist you start at the FULL NON-SALE PRICE instead of any advertised sale price for the item, and apply your credit from there.

So, an example… You see a $1200 item on sale for $900. You have a store credit worth, say, $500. Instead of getting that item for $900 – $500 = $400+tax, you’re instead charged $1200 – $500 = $700+tax. Your store credit just lost the amount equal to the sales-pricing discount, and suddenly you’re paying a lot more for the item than you’d (rightfully) expect!

From our perspective, this is stealing or some sort of retail-variety long con.

I have a $500 store credit. You’re a store advertising an item at a sale price of $900. I redeem my $500 credit toward that item, paying the $400 difference, plus any taxes/fees/etc. This is how these things work, Colder’s. Simple.

None of this was making any sense–so we got curious about the details and went to the customer service counter to ask for any actual written information about the promotion.

We were told by both the customer service desk and the summoned sales manager on duty whose name I don’t have in front of me (though we do have his business card; we’ll post names and other details later as necessary) that they don’t have anything in writing detailing the terms and conditions of the half-back promotion.

No written terms or conditions exist for the promotion at all, we were told. How is any customer able to agree to unwritten, unspecified terms like this, exactly? How is this even remotely enforceable? Or legal? There is nothing written anywhere–not on our receipt, nor on any signs or other customer-facing brochures or literature–regarding this credit having any sorts of limitations, exclusions, terms or conditions regarding future purchases, etc, in any fashion.

As mentioned, we have an existing half-back credit from a few months ago and no such conditions were ever presented to us. We were certainly not informed of any such restrictions at the time of our original mattress/box-spring purchase earlier this summer. My wife and I were there, with her parents–so we had plenty of people witnessing the entire transaction.  No language to that effect exists anywhere on our receipt. No written information to that effect was included with our purchase. No store signage indicated this anywhere. Nothing regarding this limitation was presented to us verbally at the time, either. Had we known about any such restrictions, we would likely have not made the purchase we did.

Two of the conditions we were told about at the time were apparently lies anyway: we were told we could only use the credit at THAT particular Colder’s location, and additionally, that if we lost the receipt, we’d lose our credit, period. We still have the business card/name of that original salesperson.

The sales manager we spoke with last night confirmed our salesperson’s original statements to us were incorrect. Apparently–according to this sales manager, anyway–half-back store credits can be used at any Colder’s store, and any transaction/receipt can be looked up as necessary, so while the original receipt is handy, it’s not essential to receive the credit.

If those conditions weren’t true, how do we know these other conditions are true, lacking anything at all in writing, anywhere?

Several times during our conversation last night, this sales manager kept mentioning “our lawyers”. We don’t know if he was attempting to threaten or otherwise intimidate us, but it won’t work. What did happen, though, is we lost out on a chance to take advantage of a pretty big Columbus Day sale. And Colder’s has lost both a sale–so far–and some customer loyalty. Neither come cheap anymore…

We’ve not spoken with anyone higher up than the store sales manager so far regarding this…thievery. We’ll attempt to reach a district or regional representative in the next day or so at the West Allis location.

More on this as we work through it.  In the meantime, buyer beware… Colder’s may be ripping you off.

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Let us know in the comments if you have any functionality-related troubles anywhere on the site. Thanks for your patience and loyal readership!

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One of the bills we received (dated May 30th, two days after our new-home install) had a due date of June 3rd. We received it…June 3rd. Really? Seems like a sure-fire way to score another $5 late fee…

We had an install charge for our new hookup at the new house we were told we wouldn’t have, both by the Southridge retail rep when we inquired about service transfer procedures and by the actual installer after he completed the installation at our new home. We also had a weird credit for three dollars and change that made no sense, from our former residence/account, as well as a late fee we pre-paid (expecting our payment would end up a day or so late) that didn’t seem to be debited or credited anywhere on any of the later bills.

I tried to do the math, and failed. And so did Laura, despite her best efforts. The bills made no sense; we could not calculate the same amount due as listed on the bill or as listed in Time-Warner’s system. I literally stared at that stack of bills off and on for over two weeks; if Excel was a living, breathing thing, I would have made it cry.

So much for those Time-Warner commercials touting “easy billing”. Why list an install charge as “Double Play Video HSD” when “Installation Fee” is much more…readable and clear? Obfuscation with hopes people will simply gloss over such items, maybe?

Anyway, Laura eventually waved her helpful hand over it all and made the appropriate corrections, for which we’re grateful. She then asked me some other questions about my time as a Time-Warner customer, which of course got me talking… After describing our recent cable-burying situation (since she asked), she took it upon herself to credit our current bill further, which we also appreciate.

I went on–since she seemed genuinely interested–telling her all about the reboot-related issues we’ve had over the last year and a half or so, and how we’ve never gotten anywhere with any of it. She attempts to find out whom I can talk to, apparently instant-messages someone, then informs me she’s been told she has to run things through her chain of command. She eventually connects me with her “Solutions Team Lead”, “Patty”, who reminded me a lot why I find it so incredibly hard to even bother talking to anyone at Time-Warner anymore.

I really should have stopped Laura as soon as she offered to get someone for me.

I attempt to explain all of this historical reboot-fiasco stuff to Patty, which is increasingly difficult for me to do anymore. She notes we were just given a $90 credit this evening…which, on its face, is true. But it isn’t at all for the reboot issue; it’s for the recent line-burying fiasco and other credits for billing errors as explained earlier.

She then tells me she might be able to offer me $5 per month for the Turbo Roadrunner add-on instead of the $9.95 per month we’re paying now, for the next 12 months.

I tell her another approximately $60 as compensation for a year and a half of paid-for-but-never-worked service, and all the BS that went along with it, isn’t really going to cut it. We’re out at least a year’s worth of Roadrunner, at Turbo pricing, that we paid for but really never received. Nevermind all the other hassles of logging reboots/sweating/calling/holding/cursing/crying, lost wages, inconveniences of nonworking Internet-related services like Tivo guide-data updates, service-pack and critical OS/security updates, online gaming, podcasts, streaming audio/video… and on and on.

During all of this, she’s apologizing, which of course we’ve gotten a lot. I think she honestly believes she’s being fair, but I don’t know that she’s really grasping the full extent of our past situation. She’s attempting to explain away things like how a cable line could spend 15 months on our old lawn, for instance, but none of it makes sense when you think about it: sure, line burials are queued and we have to wait our turn, and yes, weather can be a factor, but the line laid across our back yard through the entire spring, summer, and fall of 2007. No queue is that long.

She attempts to reassure me that everyone at Time-Warner tries to help (so very untrue in our experience), and she seemed unable to fathom that we’ve ever had no-show, no-response problems, or that we’ve ever dealt with reps or techs who chose to pass the buck back our way rather than own up to an issue and honestly try to fix it.

In the end, I tell her that even a year’s worth of free Roadrunner service at this point is insufficient. She tells me she lacks the ability to do anything about that; I’m asking for too much money, apparently. I explain I’ve not even received a proper apology from anyone that might also have the power to not just hang up the phone with me, but also pick it right back up and get the right people moving to actually fix things.

What does she finally give me? The name and phone number of her boss, “Matt”, whom I’m supposed to call myself and explain all of this all over again. That was apparently the best she could do. I can’t fathom there not being some sort of specialty department or contact person with Time-Warner’s corporate offices that deals with the “hard” customer problems. If there is, she either isn’t aware or wasn’t inclined to share.

And so, once again, Time-Warner puts the ball back in my court. I’m always left being the one doing the followup. Why?

I swear the Time-Warner system is all about wearing customers down to the point of surrender.

So I told her to pass on this website’s address to Matt, and that he should read up on the history of our reboot issues, at which point he can then contact us. We’re not chasing anyone at Time-Warner around anymore, as it’s still never gotten us anywhere.

Our expectations are low, as always. Time-Warner, surprise us.

What is–slowly–getting us somewhere, however, is Google and other search engines. Search results related to Time-Warner and Roadrunner problems are increasingly pointing back to this site, and more people are noticing.

Whatever it takes, right? How much attention to this comedy-of-errors debacle does Time-Warner Milwaukee really want? That ball is in their court.

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