Allen Wayside Furniture

Unethical, threatening business practices by the owner of Wayside Furniture My Mom ordered a chair from Allen Wayside Furniture on 8/12, put $850 on her credit card on the order, got home realized the color ordered was incorrect and went back next day to cancel order. She asked to speak with order as she was told no exchanges/no refunds. Owner was rude threatening and told my mom he would not cancel the order and that the distributor where the chair was ordered would not accept a cancel at this point. My mother asked for the name of the distributor so she could call herself and he refused to give it to her. Told her to go look it up online. My mom is 72 so i am assuming he would think she had no idea how to do this. He then said that he would credit her $650 back but keep $200 and she would need to come back and buy the chair by Oct. What makes this worse is my mom had bought the exact same chair one year before from this very store and was buying another because she loved the chair so much so clearly she intended to by the chair she just needed to wait on the color choice as they are in the midst of selling thier home of 43yrs and moving to a new town house in Hampton. She at this point was not comfortable with his offer due to his behavior towards her and had no interest in shopping at this store in the future due to how she was being treated. He told her this was his only offer and if she did not like it she could take her paperwork and leave. My mom felt threatened and that this was the best she was going to get from this man. She went home Googled the distributor after looking at the tag on her current chair, called them direct and they told her that they had not even received her order yet from the store and that their policy is that they accept cancels up to 24hrs of the chair being shipped and told my mom that the owner of Allan Wayside Furniture William Abrams was choosing to not cancel the order. The woman my mom talked to at the distributor was pretty horrified. My mom has lived in the seacoast for 43 yrs and has never been treated in such a way by a local business. His treatment of a customer was disgusting and his choice to not put a halt on a chair that my mom order 1 day before *he had not even placed the order* and my mom was a repeat customer of this store. i would like to see my mother fully refunded the remaining $200 so she can find another store that carries that brand. She has no interest in ever doing business with Allen Wayside Furniture. I also called the owner on behalf of my mom because she was so upset and he actually hung up on me. How on earth is this store still in business? My guess is Daddy must have built this business and the ""owner"" is some entitled talentless hack with zero clue how to treat customers...shameful\r more

Great selection! The place is huge! And it's right down the road! You really can't beat it. We just bought a new sofa there last weekend. more

This guys are friendly and helpful and they've been around for awhile. more

These bozos should be in JAIL, locked up and key thrown away. And they should be forced to sit on their own horrible smelly furniture they bought on the black market. \r Everyone in the Seacoast knows about this place. The people especially all the ""so called owners"" oh wait, I forgot everyone that works there call themselves owners. These bozos are the dirtiest of dirty as is their furniture. They should be locked up. The reason people write reviews is to warn the good people so you don't get ripped off by these animals. more

My husband and I were in the market for some new furniture as we had just moved to the area due to his job relocating him. Everything happend so fast and we ended up just putting most of our stuff in storage. We had practically NOTHING! We went to quite a few furniture stores in Portsmouth, and I can honestly say this store was by far the best! The staff was friendly and helpful and the selection and prices were just perfect! We have been back several times since our move and always find something new we want! I highly recommend this store for anyone who's looking for great furniture! more

My issue happened several years ago, but I felt compelled to warn customers of what happened, in hopes it doesn't happen to anyone else. I was in the market for a new bed. My husband and I went together and were pleased with the friendly service and competitive pricing. After careful consideration, we purchased a new mattress. When purchasing the mattress, we were told that in order to get a full warranty, we would need to purchase the box spring too (which was approximately an additional $800). When all was said and done, we spent close to $2,000.00 on this new bed. After sleeping on the new bed for several weeks, neither my husband or I were pleased with it. We chose to rotate the mattress, when we heard the inner springs shaking inside the mattress freely. Clearly a defect or lemon, considering it was less than a month. When I contacted the store, I was told that there was nothing they could do for me. I was then informed that if I had purchased the frame at the time of purchase, the mattress would be replaced. But since I had not.... I was out of luck. Considering the frame they were referring to was only about $100 and I had purchased their costly box spring to insure I would have a warranty, even though I had no need for one... I was stunned. I ended up saving for another few months and having to replace the bed elsewhere (Jordan's... which was TERRIFIC by the way). I try hard to chose local businesses and I am not usually a complainer. But when I spend $2,000 on something and to not fault of my own it fails, I expect to be treated well and taken care of. Instead, I felt like I had been taken by a used car salesman. I am frankly stunned they are still open if they still are doing business that way. more

Went back to Allen after a bad experience a few years ago. After looking at sofas and while debating which sofa to purchase, Doug, an owner, suggested we take our business elsewhere since we are too selective and after all had returned a faulty product years before. It seems that our return of some unstained shelves cost their store, rightfully so, to get them fixed. He went on to suggest stores we could visit and purchase from. After all he said we would intimidate his staff by our insistence on buying a product in good condition and would never be happy with their service.\r Two generations of our family have bought furniture from Allen. Never before have my wife and I felt so embarassed and humiliated by such an arrogant, pretentious attitude as that expressed by Doug at Allen. It is a shame since they carry decent furniture but their ownership needs to display more respect for and diplomacy in dealing with long time and loyal customers. Obviously by Allen correcting a defective product it came with a price, a life time grudge. If buying from these folks you better get a perfect product or watch out, you're in for a very rude welcome. more

I have lived in the Seacoast for a long time and had never set foot into Allen's Wayside in Portsmouth. I was pleasantly surprised by their wide selection. I also chatted a bit with one of the owners Doug, he was very friendly and very helpful. I ended up buying a beautiful dining room table and it was delivered right on time and in perfect condition. I am very happy with my experience and plan to return. more

My wife and I recently bought a new couch for our living room. We had spent a lot of time on the Internet and had visited several other stores. We hadn't heard much about Allen Wayside Furniture but decided to stop in on our way to Portsmouth. We were really impressed with the selection and prices. The staff was also really, really helpful and helped us find the style of couch we were looking for. It was delivered on-time and we have been very happy with it so far! more

Bought a large desk and chair two years ago. Delivery persons bent the cable which caused us many problems until a cable technician came out and diagnosed the problem. Chair had a 250-pound capacity; it would have been nice to know that earlier. Had to buy another chair at a much higher price; was 5 pounds over the chair limit. Doors are crooked, still, and knobs are not the same color. Delivery person(s) put scratches on the desk and used one of those cheesy cover up sticks to ""cover"" the scratch. When we pay over $400 for a large desk, we expect better service than that. Typing shelve and file drawers do not open wide enough. Be very careful what you buy and be sure to open all drawers, try all pulls, locks, and anything that moves BEFORE the installation guys leave OR you sign off on the delivery. more

I have to say that watching that man, dressed as a woman promoting Allen Furn. on TV is an embarrassment to himself and the store. He looks so foolish and, amazingly seems to be enjoying it. Hmmmm. Obviously self respect is not one of his virtues. His family must be in hiding. Not a good image for a serious business. more