On the morning of May 1st, 2019, the unimaginable happened. Something that would shake the very foundation of my family for months to come.
But the day didn’t start out unimaginable. In fact, as I threw an extra load of laundry in the dryer before scurrying out the door to work, it was a pretty normal, slightly overcast spring day.
Of course, at the time, I couldn’t have known that was the last time I’d ever really be in my house again.
The unthinkable
Because 30 minutes later, I answered a phone call from the RCMP asking me to return to my home as soon as I can – there had been a “small fire.”
Turns out that load of laundry I snuck in had caught on fire, damaging the floorboards of our main level and saturating everything we owned with impossible-to-remove smoke smell. Sure the fire didn’t engulf our whole house, but it was devastating to everything in it.
We can only count our blessings no one was home. All our belongings had to be thrown out and our home demolished.
But before the structure was torn down, I was able to don a protective suit and take one last tour of my home.
The walls were streaked with black and the windows were broken from where firefighters desperately tried to release the smoke that was clouding their vision. Besides that, it almost looked normal…almost.
Make no mistake, our floors weren’t a dark chocolate brown. They were actually the light brown you see peeking through the firefighter’s footprints. The floor, and everything on it, was covered in a thick layer of soot.
The fire had damaged the floorboards to the point of it being unsafe to maintain any sort of weight, and the smoke and soot that had saturated everything made it too unhealthy for us to breathe. The house was torn down.
In its place was a concrete tomb, which itself hadn’t escaped unscathed from the fire damage.
What needed to be done
Once the dust – and soot – had settled, I was faced with just how huge of a furniture bill (among other things) I’d need to shoulder. We received a lump sum payment from our insurance, a portion of which became our new furniture budget of $35,000.
With everything I had to deal with to get my life back on track, I decided I wanted to buy as much as I could at one location. I would trade in my usual price checking techniques to help ease the situation a little bit.
I needed to fill in the now empty shell of a house, which would require everything needed for a kitchen, 2 living rooms, and 4 bedrooms. I also needed to worry about all the little things, like lamps, carpets, blankets, etc.
The negotiations begin
My plan was simple: we’d go to all the furniture stores in the area and ask how much of a discount they could give us, considering our situation and the huge purchase we were about to make. Then we’d buy everything at the store that gave us the best deal.
But before setting out, I made sure to do some research before and see what the average retail prices were. Otherwise, it would be much easier for them to parade an only okay deal as an amazing one.
Once I had a decent idea of what I should expect, I went to:
- Lounsbury,
- Leons,
- The Brick,
- Ashley Furniture,
- Best Buy, and
- even looked at online websites.
I was at the Lounsbury for 40 minutes and was never acknowledged, so left.
The Brick offered to give me their corporate pricing, which was an average 50% savings on furniture but not appliances. This was pretty good, butthe trick to negotiating is not settling on “pretty good.”
So I took that info and went to Leons. I filled them in on the massive purchase I was about to make and asked what they could offer me. They said they don’t make deals like that, so I’d just receive whatever the sale rate was when I purchased. When I asked if they had a corporate price and explained what The Brick was offering, they wouldn’t budge, so I scratched them off the list as well.
Next was Ashley Furniture. Though I know they don’t have appliances, I figured if the discount was enough, I could get the appliances through Best Buy. They offered me 25% off, but it just couldn’t meet The Brick’s offer.
Going with The Brick
Before committing, I checked the reviews online and found many bad reviews on The Brick, especially when it came to deliveries being late.
This made me worry, but after thinking about it for a while, I decided to go ahead with The Brick anyway. I figured since I was spending such a huge amount, they’d ensure everything was delivered on time. Wishful thinking, it turns out.
After all the furniture was picked out, the retail value was about $76,000 with a discounted price of around $39,000.
Definitely an amazing deal, but I really wanted to stick around the $35,000 mark. Building a brand new house was expensive enough, I needed to save where I could.
Continued negotiations
So I discussed with the Corporate Sales Rep my concerns and how I could save more money.
We decided the best course was to purchase everything right away before the prices on appliances went up. He told me that The Brick will honour any new price that comes out until my shipment was delivered and even for 30 days after that.
So we completed the purchase and waited. I had 3 months before I needed everything delivered, so I watched their website daily for any price drops or sales I could take advantage of.
About a month after the initial purchase, they had a VIP sale and the prices dropped on the appliances. I called and was able to get about $3,000 refunded back, making my total discounted purchase price $36,000.
It pays to keep an eye out.
Then come the shipment issues…
Now, this is where we were worried.
Delivery time was getting closer, so we checked in with them multiple times to ensure everything was set, and they told us things were moving along smoothly.
5 days before the delivery was scheduled, our rep called and said the fridge was on backorder and we’re waiting for Samsung, but they’d send us a temporary fridge in the meantime.
Okay, that’s fine. If this was the worst thing that happened, then I was okay with that.
Then came the 3-day mark.
They called us said there was a mess up in Montreal with shipping and the entire shipment was delayed. This was unacceptable.
My husband tried calling and no one would give him a real reason why, they just kept saying there was some sort of mess up.
This is where I stepped back in
I went directly to the store and asked to speak to the general manager. We went into his office and I wanted answers. How is this possible? We ordered months ago. We have no furniture.
He still had no answers other than blaming Montreal.
I was frustrated, so proceeded to tell him that this is the type of story that Global News would pick up, considering our house fire was on the news.
I asked him to imagine the headlines: “Family of 6 lost everything in house fire. Can’t move home because of The Brick.”
That got them moving.
He told me what happened to us was unacceptable and he would do everything to have our stuff there by Saturday.
Finally, the delivery
The stuff was not delivered on Saturday, but only because of Hurricane Dorian.
They were there on Sunday with half of our stuff and slowly things have continued coming in since then.
Because of all these issues, I negotiated that they not only deliver the furniture but also build it. They complied.
I had The Brick’s managerial staff at my house building every night for two weeks. So much that my children knew them by name.
I also mentioned, somewhat jokingly, that we needed a patio set. The General Manager showed up with a patio sectional and umbrella himself for free.
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$25 GeniusCash + Delicious meal choices with fresh ingredients + Front-door delivery.The life (and negotiation) lessons
My tip for anyone else going through a similar situation is simple: don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
If we would’ve chosen a couple of places to buy from, we would’ve had at least some of the furniture delivered.
Turns out my attempt to save myself the headache of price checking and negotiating deals…just created the headache of having nothing at all.
We’re mostly settled in now, but my daughter still asks to “go home.” And she’s right – it doesn’t feel quite like home yet. But we’ll get there one day.
And it wasn’t all so bad. In the end, we got an amazing price, with a total savings of $41,184.
Your takeaway?
When you have a case, don’t be afraid to push it. Don’t settle for “good enough” – push for what you deserve until you get it.
Oh, and don’t forget to shop around.
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