Furniture delivered

By Melissa Dunson
Published May 21, 2017 08:35 pm – Joplin resident Cassandra Copher said it’s “awesome” to eat dinner on a real table again after waiting more than a month for the dining and bedroom furniture she bought from the Ashley Furniture store in Joplin.
plin resident Cassandra Copher said it’s “awesome” to eat dinner on a real table again after waiting more than a month for the dining and bedroom furniture she bought from the Ashley Furniture store in Joplin.


Copher said her furniture was delivered Saturday, making her one of about 80 Ashley Furniture customers who by Monday afternoon had received the furniture for which they paid as much as two months ago but had not received when the Joplin store suddenly closed earlier this month.
In an investigation into the store’s sudden closure and customers left without furniture, Jasper County Circuit Judge David Mouton on Monday granted Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon’s request for a preliminary injunction against the Ashley Furniture store in Joplin. The store’s assets will be frozen until all customers get the merchandise for which they paid.
Scott Holste, spokesman for the attorney general’s office, said Ashley Furniture’s corporate office in Wisconsin is responding to the Joplin situation by sending trucks from hundreds of miles away with nearly $600,000 worth of furniture for the Joplin store’s customers.
Ashley Furniture stores are independently owned and operated, and the corporate office is not named as a defendant in the attorney general’s lawsuit. In a written statement last week, the Ashley corporate office said it obtained a list of customers still waiting for furniture from D&L Ventures, the company owned by Dennis and Linda Casey, and doing business as Ashley Furniture Homestore at 1329 S. Range Line Road. The company said it would voluntarily try to resolve the issue by delivering the ordered furniture.
The voluntary action brought praise from the attorney general. In a written statement Monday, he called the company’s action “immediate and appropriate.”
Copher said the furniture that was delivered to her house Saturday was exactly what she ordered April 17 from the Joplin store. The furniture cost her $2,500. She paid $213.43 in taxes and delivery fees, and financed the remainder through an Ashley Furniture credit card. She said she doesn’t know how that will work out now that the Joplin store is closed.
“I understand that it’s not (Ashley corporate’s) fault, and regardless, we were going to buy the furniture,” Copher said. “We’re very happy to finally have it.”
Princess Lowe, a Stockton resident who bought her daughter some bedroom furniture at the Joplin store, said Monday that she had not received her merchandise, but she did get two phone calls, a letter and an e-mail from the Ashley corporate office keeping her updated on the situation. The letter said she should have her furniture in the next week or two.
“I just commend Ashley (corporate) for standing up like this,” Lowe said. “We’re very thankful to them.”
According to Holste and Ashley’s corporate office, up to 300 customers could be affected by the Joplin store’s sudden closing. Holste said the Ashley corporate office is continuing to try to contact the remaining 220 to 270 Joplin-area customers about delivering their furniture.
No charges were filed Monday against the Joplin store or its owners, and Holste said any fines or charges would be assessed only after taking care of the affected customers first.
“As the attorney general said last week, taking care of the customers is the most important goal,” he said.