Famsa

Great couches but very bad delivery experiences. They took forever to deliver and didn’t give me the right coffee table. Not to happy with the service.

My wife and I bought a sectional from Famsa about a week ago. After checking out a couple other furniture stores, we hadn’t found anything we were excited about. Famsa had a pretty good selection of sizes, colors, and prices. As other reviews have noted, the furniture seems to be of mid-​range quality, which is what we were looking for.
We were helped by Oscar and a trainee. He was very helpful and didn’t pressure us too much. He let us know about deals that were coming up in a few weeks, although we couldn’t take advantage of them because we needed the sectional sooner rather than later. After we had one picked out, he also let us know that if we spent another $ 200, we would get a 32″ LG 720p LCD TV for no extra charge. It’s not a spectacular TV but it’s perfect for a bedroom and goes for ~$ 350 on Amazon. We added a nice floor lamp to our purchase and got the TV.
Oscar was also extremely helpful when it came time to pay. Although they don’t normally give you the free TV until the furniture is delivered, Oscar talked to the manager and we walked out with the TV that day. He also didn’t try to pressure me into an extended warranty — I really appreciate that.
As for delivery, I wasn’t home when it arrived but it was set up in perfect shape and they didn’t leave a mess. The delivery people forgot one of the pillows, but all it took was one call to Oscar and we had it taken care of no problem.
We didn’t realize that the store was geared toward Spanish-​speakers until we got in there but, as a non-​Spanish speaker, I felt perfectly comfortable and wouldn’t have even noticed if it hadn’t been for the predominantly Spanish signs throughout the store.
Overall, we are extremely satisfied with the sectional, the price (and TV), and the servicie that Oscar provided. We would definitely go back again.

Okay, I’m going to be the first to review an actual purchase experience.
I went in maybe the first weekend in April. I didn’t want to go, my BF dragged me in. I was moving mid-​month and I wanted to get a new couch. Honestly, I was going to get a cheap thing from somewhere after I moved. So, imagine my surprise when we sat down on the first couch we saw and I loved it. I started to imagine it in my new living room. A sales person came over and I told him straight up that I would not be purchasing anything that day. He still followed us around. I think he really thought he was going to change my mind. Anyhow, we sat on ever couch in the place. Pretty much everything was really comfortable. We had a look around the place and then left. We were originally headed for the Strack but then it led to a furniture browsing extravaganza. So we went into the Room Place. After all of the couches we sat on at Famsa I was shocked at how awful the Room Place’s stuff was. Nothing had any support, etc… bad.
Off to the Strack, as we were walking down the aisles all I could think about was how that couch would look in my living room. Went to work the following Monday… still thinking about the couch… Finally Thursday rolled around and I couldn’t take it anymore. I went in and bought that couch. I walked in and Oscar saw the look of purchase determination in my eyes and came right over. We went straight upstairs and made the deal. He’s probably never closed a sale so quickly in his life.
I turned down shipping. The charge is $ 80.00 and I can get a U-​Haul for a lot cheaper than that. However, as I started getting deeper into the packing I realized that it was foolish to think I had the time or energy to get that couch on my own time. So I went back to the store and arranged delivery. I actually arranged the delivery with one of the managers cause I think Oscar was working his salesman magic with someone. The manager told me that we couldn’t work out the time for the delivery because it was still a week out, which is quite ahead for them. She said that they’d call the day before to confirm and that then they’d give me a time, with a small window. I thought that was awesome and went about my merry way. They called me the day before to confirm. My movers had just shown up so I had to step out to talk to the woman. She told me that they’d be there between 8:00am and 5:00pm the next day. I said, «Hold up! That’s not how I told this was going to work.» the woman was really kinda rude and was pretty much like, if you want your couch you’ll deal with it.
I gave this woman detailed instructions on how to where to go when they arrived at the building, etc… Everything and anything they’d need. She promised that they’d call me an hour before they arrived. This in part, because I wasn’t staying at the new place that first night.
I get up at the butt-​crack of dawn and go to the new place. I start unpacking. I had only had a few hours of sleep so I thought I’d just unpack my room. They I thought I’d just keep going until the couches got there. At 3:00pm, I hadn’t had a thing to eat all day. My place was pretty much completely unpacked and I had no couches. WTF?! I called the number and asked for delivery. The woman told me that they had already been there but I wasn’t. Um, no. I was there all day. I’m in a rear apartment and they went to the front and the wrong floor as well. The woman then told me that they had called me. No, no they didn’t. She went on to say that they had called me three times. Repeated my number to me, all that jazz. Her name is Griselle and she’s a dirty liar. Nobody called me, nobody left me any messages, nobody had the common sense to check up on anything. I told her that I’d been getting calls all day and that not one was from her company and that it’s not like it’s 1990 and I’m saddled with a landline with a broken answering machine. She blamed everyone but delivery. It was they sales people’s fault, it was my fault. Not theirs. Well, here ya go, Griselle… The sales people sold the couch just fine. I bought it just fine. I was at my house all day. And you f’d up the delivery. $ 80.00 is robbery for a delivery that doesn’t happen. I had to wait the next day for it to show up. I had to cancel appointments. I’m still ticked off.
The furniture all seems to be decent mid-​range quality and the people at the store are great. BUT DO NOT GET DELIVERY. It’s a joke! I don’t understand how you can actually show up to a property, have the person on-​site, and still not get that thing delivered.
Buy it, but pick it up yourself. The customer service was the worst I’ve ever experienced and an incredible hassle. The delivery end was so bad that I’ll forever have a bad taste in my mouth about the place and it’s not even the store’s fault.
BTW — The couches are totally comfy!

I am the first to review this place so I can report to the world on what is inside this former Wickes store. It is now a Famsa which is a Mexican furniture and appliance chain with stores in the US. I am not Hispanic but I have seen Sabado Gigante and am a regular at La Pasadita. I am always fascinated with the buxom blonde women on Sabado Gigante. But anyway, here’s my summary of the departments at Famsa:
FURNITURE — A reasonable selection of middle of the road furniture. They had some name brands like Ashley and Serta. Geared more to a Hispanic market.
APPLIANCES — The appliance selection seemed small compared to a Best Buy. I’m not in the market for appliances so I couldn’t judge the pricing.
ELECTRONICS — The selection was limited to Sony products.
Bottom line: a Wickes in Spanish.
I was there on a weeknight and the store was empty — I think I was the ONLY customer in the place. They serve a Hispanic market but I question the logic of opening up in these economic times, no matter what the strategy is.