Hello, Jennifer Williams here. Most of you already know me as the food columnist for The Dagger. But what you don’t know is that I love to shop almost as much as I love to eat! So in keeping with that, I will now be writing a third column called Cloak & Dagger. Cloak & Dagger will essentially be a Secret Shopper blog, or exposé if you will. I will be allowed to vent about substandard shopping experiences in Harford County and also give praise to those establishments who are providing excellent customer service. This will provide honest feedback to local businesses on what they are doing right as well as what could be improved. So stay tuned!
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Every Memorial Day I throw a huge party to kick off the start of summer. But this year was different. This year I decided to redecorate my living room on a whim. Lucky for me my husband is a laid-back sort of guy and usually just goes along with whatever plans I concoct.
Thinking that we would take advantage of some holiday sales, we headed into Bel Air for a television. First stop, hhgregg. Now, I’m the type of shopper that has a fairly good idea of what I want and how much I want to spend, so I’m not fond of forceful sales tactics. Unfortunately, that is exactly what we encountered. The salesman followed me around like a stalker and seemed to be pushing one particular brand – Coby. I have a hard & fast rule when purchasing something that I deem to be fairly inexpensive and that is to not purchase the extended warranty. And I explained this several times to the salesman but he either wasn’t listening or he didn’t care about selling a TV that day.
Switching gears, we headed to Brass & Oak Gallery for a TV cabinet. Because most TV’s are now lightweight flatscreens, the armoire-style cabinets are apparently difficult to find. However, they were able to offer from a catalog but it was handmade by our Amish friends up north and was quite expensive. The saleswoman was very pleasant and spent a lot of time trying to locate something that would fit our needs.
Next stop – Gardiners Furniture in Churchville. This salesman was even more annoying than the one at hhgregg. I understand that the economy is in the toilet right now, but pestering me with constant questions and comments while I am trying to shop will not entice me to purchase anything. In fact, it is an immediate turnoff. And although the furniture was attractive, it did not seem to be as high of a quality as I prefer.
The search continued at Simply Grande in Forest Hill. What a beautiful store! We had the pleasure of meeting L.J. who gave us his undivided attention while I peered at every single nook and cranny of his establishment. This store fit me perfectly – champagne taste and a beer pocketbook. Plus they were able to provide financing to fit my budget (and when I say “my budget” I mean 0% financing – I hate paying interest!). And what’s a TV without a nice, new, comfy chair to go along with it? So I added a chair to my list and L.J. helped me go through every swatch of fabric to find one that suited the rest of my living room décor. And here’s a tip when buying customized furniture – take along the arm covers from your existing furniture so that you can pick the fabric that coordinates with it.
Exhaustion was kicking in after shopping for these big-ticket items, but I went to BJ’s to get some groceries for the weekend. Lo and behold I stumbled upon the perfect TV! A 42 inch that was just sitting there on the clearance rack waiting for a good home. And the difference between our experience with BJ’s versus HH Gregg was like night and day. Although I am quite sure that the BJ’s employee is not paid on a commission basis, he was very friendly, loaded the TV onto a cart for us, retrieved our warranty paperwork and even gave us an extra $20 off the clearance price on his new touch screen cash register, those who have a business know that the use of a pos for small businesses is very beneficial.
The only downside is that I am a very impatient person, so I am now anxiously awaiting the arrival of my new furniture (and for my husband to finish painting!). Meanwhile I think I will check out the Fourth of July sales…
Honey, why in the world would you ever buy a TV at hh gregg? Didn’t your daddy teach you better? Likewise Best Buy. Don’t waste your time.
And nothing, but nothing, drives me more crazy than every piece of furniture is available in just 8-12 eentsy weentsy tiny weeks.
At least this column is not going to be throwing every store in Harford County a big bouquet of flowers.
We furnished our entire house (actually 2 houses) from Brass and Oak. We love their merchandise,we dealt directly with the owner,who was awesome, and even their delivery guys were polite,personable,and very careful.We had one issue with a broken item,they came to pick it up from my house and redeliver a new one free of charge. I highly recommend them
A bit off topic, but I heard that the Room Store in the Festival was closing, but another furniture store was opening somewhere in Bel Air at a different location. Not that I’m in the market for furniture, but why wouldn’t the new furniture store just go into the vacancy at the Festival? Guess that would be too logical.
It’s possible that the rent at Festival is just too high for some businesses. I hadn’t heard that rumor yet about RoomStore.
Gavaganes (sp) is taking over the old C-Mart in Rock Spring
HHGregg is all the same. We also got followed in the store, harassed about credit cards and kept getting pushed into a tv after several ‘just looking’. Seems like they have a system and a team lined up to release one employee at you each time you walk in the door. Bunch of ass holes with high prices
Great comments Jenn. We too like Brass and Oak for certain pieces and always get treated like they want us to be their customers forever. We will never step foot into HHGregg again. Our 1st experience there was a complete turn-off. Gardiners is hit or miss in my book. Simply Grande has the best selection, price points, and customer service by far. Sounds like you found everything you needed and we appreciate your article and comments. Can’t wait to hear the July 4th shopping report.
When I went looking for a new TV almost 2 years ago, I looked online at several retailers and actually went in to Sears, Best Buy, HH Gregg, and Wal Mart. After educating myself to what I wanted vs. what I could afford, I actually purchased from Best Buy. The Sears reps were all concentrated around a pretty young female customer, I had questions that were not answered, so I left there. Wal Mart had really great prices, but upon closer inspection, the TVs that seemed to be a good deal were either 60hz or 720p and I was looking for 120hz and 1080p. The HH Gregg rep seemed more interested in selling me what he liked, rather than what I told him I wanted, so I left there. Initially, in Best Buy, I had a hard time finding a rep that wasn’t already helping someone else, but once I got someone’s attention, he was very knowledgeable and listened to exactly what I was telling him. I wound up buying an Insignia, which is Best Buy’s brand, and I have not had any trouble whatsoever. Most TV manufacturer warranties are for 1 year, but the Insignia had a two year warranty. Like the blog author, I almost never buy an extended warranty, but this time I did ($99) and the TV will be serviced in my home, or replaced if not repairable for 4 years. I am still very happy with my purchase!
Thanks for the blog, I believe in giving great customer service, and I can not stand to spend my money where I don’t feel like I am being taken care of properly. I am looking forward to reading more reviews!
I am surprised to hear that you think Simply Grande is for those of us with a beer pocketbook. While I have found the merchandise to be high quality, I think the prices are champagne quality as well. I like Ryan Furniture, but it’s not in the elite area of the county.
I am surprised to hear that you think Simply Grande is for those of us with a beer pocketbook. While I have found the merchandise to be high quality, I think the prices are champagne quality as well. I like Ryan Furniture, a nice long-time Harford County, family run business, but it’s not in the elite area of the county.
Thanks for tip on Ryan – I know where it is but have never been there. I guess the best way to describe Simply Grande is to say that I was surprised at how reasonable their prices were for the quality that they offer. The TV cabinet that I purchased was only half the price of the one I saw at Brass & Oak and they were approximately the same size. Thanks to everyone for your comments!