Not Costco, Not IKEA: The Furniture Retailer Ranked Lowest By Consumer Reports

Buying furniture can be a pain. You'll have to deal with knowing where to go for the best bargains, arranging the delivery and set-up of bulky pieces, and wondering if the piece you've purchased was even worth the hundreds or thousands of dollars you've shelled out for it. There are many furniture stores out there to choose from, and Consumer Reports (CR) has helpfully ranked the best places to go furniture shopping – while also giving insights into spots you may want to avoid. While you might think bargain stores like Costco and Ikea would rank low on shoppers' lists for service or furniture quality, another major outlet was ranked the lowest by CR overall: Ashley Furniture HomeStore.

CR surveyed its members for their experiences shopping at both walk-in and online furniture retailers. It then used those responses to rank stores in categories like quality, price, customer service, and shopping experience. For walk-in stores, the shopping atmosphere was evaluated, while for online retailers, website usability was looked at. Delivery and return policies, selection, and communication were also evaluated. Ashley Furniture was ranked dead last overall among the 48 walk-in stores and 17 online retailers considered by CR. But Ashley wasn't terrible at everything, and it even beat some luxury stores in certain categories.

Ashley has large outlets in most major metropolitan areas carrying a diverse array of furniture at a variety of price points. With such a wide selection of furniture and a huge amount of annual sales, it's obviously meeting the needs of many customers. CR gave Ashley middling scores for its website usability, delivery services, and overall pricing. The parts CR didn't like were its warranty, return policies, and customer service. Many Reddit commenters appear to agree that trying to return furniture to Ashley — or to just get it delivered from the store — can be a nightmare. For furniture quality, reviews of Ashley's products are somewhat mixed. It seems to depend on what you buy, since Ashley proffers everything from real wood and leather to particle-board pieces that aren't long-lasting. 

The best-ranking stores — like Stickley, which is known for beautiful wood arts and crafts pieces — received the highest rankings for overall quality and customer service. But these expensive outlets couldn't beat Ashley on pricing. Not surprisingly, big box stores like Costco and Sam's Club did the best on prices, as they often offer great furniture deals. But shopping at a warehouse store won't get you the type of in-person sales service you might want when picking out a mattress or a couch. Ashley's stores, on the other hand, were ranked fairly well for their shopping atmosphere by CR members. Many shoppers also report positive experiences with Ashley salespeople in online reviews. So, despite its low CR ranking, Ashley could still be worth checking out.