[RickeyD]

Originally Posted by KennyP

Two of the most criminal places in the villages, and even with all the bad reviews here and elsewhere, they will still be in business for years to come. To many new individuals to come in and take the place of the ones who got fleeced.

Just like the aphorism...There's a sucker born every minute.

[Chatbrat]

Maybe e should park our cars & or golf carts with signs on them telling people to think twice about these 2 establishments ,as a public service

[Villages Kahuna]

Originally Posted by Cobh521

Went to City Furniture today as I had been looking to purchase a server for our dining room. Had researched on line and found a price of $449.99 at City Furniture and same server at Badcocks for $399.95. Went first to Badcocks as it was closer to our home. They did not have in stock but would order for us. Told them we would think about it and get back to them. City Furniture states that they had it in stock at Spanish Spring store and we're giving 10% discount for Memorial Day weekend on non-sale items. When to City Furniture. Sales man states there is no discount. Told him Badcocks had same thing for $399 instead of $449. He asked manager and would give discount. Told him we wanted it and would like to pick it up ourselves. He said you can't do that, it must be delivered for $59.99. They had the servers there. Would not sell it to us unless we had it delivered. Left store and went back to Badcock's. Ordered the server for $399.95 and was told they were giving us 10% for Memorial Day weekend sale. Total cost with tax $385! We can pick it up on Wednesday. City Furniture lost a $449 sale that they really did not care about.

For those of us fortunate enough to have used The Southern Lifestyles when it was owned by the Developer, we were spoiled by good quality furniture, superb service and fair prices.

When the build-out of The Villages was in sight, the Developer began to sell off businesses that no longer were needed to support a major home development business. The Southern Lifestyles was put up for sale. It was a reasonable business decision by the Morse family.

When it was announced that City Furniture would be the new owner-operator, I had serious doubts. Not too much research revealed that the owner of City Furniture was the owner of a large chain of "low end" waterbed stores in south Florida with a pretty sleazy reputation. Their main marketing pitch was the sale of waterbeds with multiple-year "no payment" financing. And they too had expensive delivery policies. More research showed that City Furniture here in The Villages would not carry any name-brand furniture, only furniture carrying their own brands which they have manufactured for them. At the time this was beginning to look bad.

Since then we've found the decidedly user-unfriendly and costly delivery policy and worse, the loss of all the old, reliable and knowledgeable sales staff from Southern Lifestyles. The new "City people" were for the most part the "book the sale" types, probably working for a commission.

We had one really bad experience with City Furniture shortly after they re-opened their stores and have never returned. There are several furniture retailers just outside "the campus" who continue to sell quality, name brand furniture and provide excellent sales and service--Babette's, White Furniture and several more in Ocala.

Experiences like yours, documented here on TOTV and among friends and acquaintances far, far outnumber any positive, complimentary reports. Draw your own conclusions. But caveat emptor certainly seems to apply with regard to City Furniture.

[retiredguy123]

I've had items delivered to both the Spanish Springs and Lake Sumter City Furniture stores for free pickup. However, some sales people at Spanish Springs will tell you that it has to be delivered to your home. They need to be more consistent in the way they deal with customers. Although, I have been satisfied with City Furniture.

[GPGuar]

Forget City Furniture...Go to Kents on 441 nice stuff good staff and free delivery and they will work with you on price.

[Aloha1]

We received a 10% discount coupon from our Villages agent when we signed our construction contract. We did a lot of research on line and narrowed our shopping destinations to Whites, Kent, and a couple others in Ocala.

For grins, my wife went on City's website and saw a couple dining room pieces that actually looked nice. We stopped in at the Spanish Springs store to see and were shocked at how dingy and flimsy the chairs and table were.

We ended up ordering everything for our new home between Whites and Kent. Quality pieces for a little more than City, maybe 30% more. You get what you pay for and we got what we wanted. I will never shop at City. Ever.

[justjim]

We purchased from Family Furniture in Leesburg---Rt 441 near the airport. Reasonable prices and good friendly salepersons. City Furniture---went there once---no thanks.

[Cobh521]

I actually spoke to the corporate office yesterday as it was really bothering me that the sales person did not care if he sold any furniture or not. I explained my problem to her and asked if the salespeople were paid on commission. The reason I asked that question is that my Dad was a furniture sales person and worked on 100% commission. There were some weeks when he did not get paid but then there were other weeks that made up for it. He was very caring to his customers and they became repeat customers. I also advised corporate that I am well aware that they provide the packages to the new homes in The Villages and gives 10% coupon to whomever buys a home. I would not want these people to feel obligated to buy and feel frustrated like me. I asked this person in corporate if they ever heard of talk of the villages. They said no. I advised her that there are very negative comments about their store. I truly think if The Villages realized this, they would look elsewhere for a furniture contractor. She thanked me for being candid with her and said she would take a look.

[RickeyD]

Originally Posted by Cobh521

I actually spoke to the corporate office yesterday as it was really bothering me that the sales person did not care if he sold any furniture or not. I explained my problem to her and asked if the salespeople were paid on commission. The reason I asked that question is that my Dad was a furniture sales person and worked on 100% commission. There were some weeks when he did not get paid but then there were other weeks that made up for it. He was very caring to his customers and they became repeat customers. I also advised corporate that I am well aware that they provide the packages to the new homes in The Villages and gives 10% coupon to whomever buys a home. I would not want these people to feel obligated to buy and feel frustrated like me. I asked this person in corporate if they ever heard of talk of the villages. They said no. I advised her that there are very negative comments about their store. I truly think if The Villages realized this, they would look elsewhere for a furniture contractor. She thanked me for being candid with her and said she would take a look.

TOTV represents less than 2% of TV population. They'll find this out and nothing will change.

[biker1]

There are 63,000 members of ToTV. In terms of regular viewers, I suspect 2% is probably about right.

Originally Posted by RickeyD

TOTV represents less than 2% of TV population. They'll find this out and nothing will change.

[goodtimesintv]

Originally Posted by rubicon

suffice is to say that many of us miss Southern Lifestyles

That's right. Not only does City Furniture sell low quality merchandise and service, but they junk up the prime retail space of the town square at Lake Sumter Landing.

The town squares are one of the biggest attractions here, as they finally give us a true downtown to which we can go for shopping, dining, and nightly entertainment.

The street going in toward the square from Morse is about 90% offices now. BIG, BIG mistake!!!!

Morse Family, are you reading here??

I hope so!

[Fredster]

Originally Posted by GPGuar

Forget City Furniture...Go to Kents on 441 nice stuff good staff and free delivery and they will work with you on price.

Did you have a bad experience with City Furniture?

[Nucky]

We have bought a tremendous amount of furniture in our lives. We had one problem with J.C. Penney on a bedroom set. It took them months to finally resolve the problem to our satisfaction. TOTV is a wonderful place to compile information on so many things and is usually very accurate when you meld the information provided. That being said after exhaustively searching for a close match to our living room set eureka, City Furniture had the perfect dining room table, chairs and hutch. The salesman was a professional in all regards and was prepared to defend his store against bad past practices. Maybe not defend but explain why my experience will be different. The furniture will be delivered this Wednesday. We are aware that we are not buying from Thomasville. We also know that any furniture or appliance that shows up damaged does not enter the house...not a chance, no way Jose, no promises of repair, no adjustment on the price. I will get back to you all to let you know if things have changed. I'm rooting for a happy, uneventful delivery, we shall see.

If I'm wrong and this goes bad I guess I should have listened. Such a Rebel!

[CSilvestrucci]

Obviously,this is a well kept secret. Southern Lifestyles still maintains a warehouse and sells to the public. I have purchased pieces from them recently and they still furnish homes for TV models. They do not want you to call them but prefer they take your number and call you to set up an appointment. Crazy but I love their furniture and still great service 🤗

[HoosierPa]

Nothing but positive experience for us with City Furniture. We furnished our whole house with them. We really like our Sales Person, Victoria Vos, love our furniture and would do it all over again if we needed more. Sorry !