Furniture Frustrations: More customers call to complain about store that hasn’t delivered

NORTH FORT MYERS, Fla. – More complaints are rolling in one month after a WINK News Call for Action investigation uncovered dozens of complaints against one local furniture store.

Small Claims Court

Wendy and Ed Huether are one of 54 people who have filed a complaint with WINK News Call for Action, the Better Business Bureau or the Attorney General’s office against Sofa Beds and Recliners Unlimited in North Fort Myers.

After waiting more than a year for their furniture, the Huethers filed a small claims lawsuit against owner Lane Granitstein.

“The furniture was approximately $1,500 and he was paid on a debit card, so there was no way I could get my money back,” said Wendy.

During the pretrial conference the Huethers and Granitstein were able to come to an agreement. Granitstein would pay the Huethers back within 45 days.

MORE: Upset customers say local store failed to deliver on promise

“A whole year later and we go to court today and he agrees to repay us the money and the court cost, in 45 days,” said Wendy. “So now I have 45 days to wait to see if I get the money.”

Two weeks ago, on Nov. 15, Granitstein was also in small claims court. He sued two customers for canceling their orders. Again, an agreement was reached during pretrial. Both customers agreed to pay court costs and let Granitstein deliver the furniture. The first customer has received his furniture. The second is still waiting but according to the agreement, Granitstein has until Dec. 10 to deliver.

More Customers Complaining

“I was just tired of the delay in getting our furniture,” said Roger Lagasse.

Lagasse paid in cash in full for two recliners in December of last year. He’s still waiting for them.

“I’m looking forward to either getting my money back or getting my recliners,” he said.

Because he paid cash, Lagasse is worried he’ll never see a resolution.

“It makes me feel very angry we have to wait so long.”

Granitstein told us Lagasse’s furniture should arrive any day now.

Working to get Answers

On Nov. 15 we were able to talk to Lane Granitstein on camera after court. We handed him a list of eight customers who had not received their furniture. All the people on the list had been waiting between six months to a year for their furniture. He told us at the time he would need a couple of weeks to research the cases to get us answers. You can see the full interview below.

Two weeks after that encounter, on Nov. 29, we talked to Granitstein again after his small claims court appearance.
We asked him about the list of customers we had given him.

“I told you to check back in with me in a couple of weeks but not at the courthouse,” said Granitstein. “You need to get in contact with me at my business so I can go through each one of these individually.”

We reached out to Granitstein by phone later in the day. He told us he needs a couple more days to review those eight cases.

Watch raw video of the entire interviews below:

See the entire interviews with Lane Granitstein from Nov. 15 and Nov. 29

Granitstein on Nov. 15