Former Suffolk Consumer Affairs commissioner looks at complaints filed against Medford furniture store
With over 100 complaints filed against Gallery Furniture in the last five years, Gardner says this is why consumers should research businesses ahead of time.
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News 12 sat down with the former commissioner of Suffolk County Consumer Affairs to look at complaints filed against Gallery Furniture.
The Aquilina family was hoping to use the $6,000 dining room set they purchased from Gallery Furniture in Medford for their Thanksgiving dinner this year.
Two months later, the set has still not arrived.
"We're living with a folding table," said James Aquilina, of Holbrook.
Then the Aquilinas saw News 12's reports of the dozens of complaints filed against the store and tried canceling their order with Gallery Furniture.
"I said I want to cancel. I gave her the invoice number. She came back on the phone and said 'no, you cannot cancel that order,'" said James.
News 12 took the complaints to an expert - the former commissioner of Suffolk County Consumer Affairs.
Charles Gardner spent years reviewing cases like this for the county.
With over 100 complaints filed against Gallery Furniture in the last five years, Gardner says this is why consumers should research businesses ahead of time.
"If you go to their website and see a great big F with a double-digit number of complaints, that's a red flag, stay away, don't do it," said Gardner.
Another important tip: use a credit card if you can.
"Your chances of getting cash or debit card money back are close to zero. Your chances of getting money back when you use a credit card are close to 100%," said Gardner.
Aquilina says he is thankful he got his money back from the credit card company.
He already purchased new furniture from a different store, which is scheduled to be delivered this weekend.
News 12 reached out to Gallery Furniture for a response to the consumer expert classifying the number of complaints as a red flag and is waiting to hear back.
