After scores of customers were fed false hope for months on end, a national furniture store has announced its collapse, leaving behind a trail of frustration.
Customers knew Johnny’s Furniture was in trouble after
But up until recently, staff were still selling to new customers, promising no delays.
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Furious customers want answers and some are taking matters into their own hands.
Angry scenes erupted at a Johnny’s Furniture’s Bundall store on the Gold Coast when police were called after mother Karen was told to re-purchase her furniture or walk away empty-handed.
Victorian customer Leanne was also left irate after she spent thousands on furniture from Ashley Homestores in Melbourne’s south-east, only to find out on Facebook that the store was going under.
The Pakenham store is an Australian franchise run by Johnny’s Furniture.
“I’m very upset as you can well imagine. $4000 is not money that I or my partner have,” she said.
“He would have known that we were never going to see that furniture. Why take our money?”
Customer David paid close to $2000 for new dining and lounge furniture in December, with the promise of delivery in February.
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“Then we were told it would be June … only to find out on Wednesday the store we purchased goods from has been cleaned out,” he said.
On the Gold Coast, Jovanna has been strung along since October, when she spent $1000 on bedroom furniture.
She spoke out on A Current Affair, frustrated with false promises of a refund.
Shortly after our story, Jovanna got a call, offering her floor stock.
“I said ‘no. I don’t want the floor stock that everyone else has been sitting on … I want my money back’,” Jovanna said.
“In that phone call he told me that ‘yep, we’ll process that for you’.”
But instead of receiving her money back, Jovanna claims she was sent an email from Johnny’s Furniture, informing her they would not be dealing with her because she went to the media.
ASIC documents confirm Johnny’s Furniture and Ashley Homestores have been placed into voluntary administration.
Jonathon McDonald operates Johnny’s Furniture nationally.
Some of his stores are now having floor stock sales.
A Current Affair sent a list of questions to McDonald but did not receive a response by the time our story went to air.