Never buy furniture from Civilizzation in Salt Lake City, Utah
Tonight at dinner my brother-in-law, Tony, told us about his experience at Civilizzation, a furniture store in Salt Lake City, Utah. Tony stopped in to shop for couches a few weeks ago without his wife. He found one he liked but learned it was the last one. He put a $100 deposit down on the couch so he could go home and measure the room it was going to be put in and bring his wife back to see it. He received a receipt that said if he chose not to purchase the couch he could use his deposit as in-store credit on any other item. They returned this weekend and decided that the couch wouldn’t fit the room he and his wife had hoped to put it in. They found a chair that they liked and when they went to purchase the chair the owner “Robert” (who pronounces his name Robe-air) refused to honor the $100 deposit that my brother-in-law had. Initially Bob tried to lie saying that there was no record of the transaction but when my brother-in-law went around the counter and looked at the computer the invoice from their his deposit was on the screen. The two argued back and forth for a bit until Bob ask Tony to come back to his office. It was there that Bob yelled, scream, threw a little bitch fit at Tony. He swore at him, threatened him, and kicked him out of the store.
Now Tony is not a small guy. Had I been in Tony’s place I would have spent the night in jail for beating the shit out of this Bob after hearing about the way he spoke to Tony. Tony asked Bob if he was threatening him and then warned him that if he touched him he would defend him self. That’s Tony’s way of saying if you get any closer to me I’m going to kill you. Tony wasn’t talking like kill you/punch you in the face, He’s talking like kill you, you’ll be dead. They exchanged heated words and Tony left. Bob wouldn’t sell Tony the chair, give him a refund, or even honor the in-store credit.
After cooling off a bit Tony returned home and called the store. He wanted to talk to Bob and get things resolved. Tony was happy to pay him the difference for the chair and walk away for ever. Why Tony was waiting on hold he got another call. He got a call from the SL Police Department. Bob had called the police and claimed that Tony has pushed him but didn’t feel the need to press charges. He just wanted to make sure that Tony knew he couldn’t come back to the store ever again. Tony spoke with the officer and told him his side of the experience. When all was said and done the cops knew Bob was a lying sack of crap.
As of today there are a few ways for Tony to get his money back. One of those ways to help Tony get his cash back is to never buy anything at or from Civilizzation. No customer should ever be treated the way that Tony was. No one should ever be talked to that way. Do not support a company that treats customers as poorly as Civilizzation treats theirs. If you find something in Civilizzation you like contact me. My wife is an interior designer and will find another wholesaler who will get the same furniture for you without having to deal with this horrible company.
One thing was interesting. When Tony started telling the story, Jeff, another brother-in-law, said, “Oh my parents had the WORST experience at Civilizzation. They delivered couches with a hugh tear in them and refused to fix, swap out, repair, or refund any money. In fact the told my dad that if they were going to look at it his dad would have to load it back up and bring it in to the shop.” Within a small group of 8 adults, there were 2 horrible customer service stories from Civilizzation.
I’ll add Civilizzation to places that I will never spend a dime! Here are a few places on that list. They are all here to my personal experiences or something that I’ve heard from someone else.
- Low Book Sales
- Orbitz.com
- Brent Brown Toyota
- Regean Outdoor Media
- Dave Strong Audi
- Civilizzation
Here is the Better Business Bureau report on Civilizzation. As you’ll see, Tony isn’t the only one to have some problems with ol’ Bob and the boys at Civilizzation.
They have had 11 complaints in the last 36 months. You’ve really got to suck to get someone to complain to the BBB
1 regarding Contract Issues, 2 regarding Customer Service Issues, 1 regarding Delivery Issues, 2 regarding Product Issues, 4 regarding Sales Practice Issues, and 1 regarding Service Issues
Do you part to let people who run businesses this way that it’s not okay. Don’t shop at Civilizzation. Don’t let your friends, family, or enemies shop there either.
If Bob would refund Tony his $100, I’d take this post down. Until Tony’s money is refunded I plan on using my down time at work to do everything I can to make sure anyone who searches Google, Yahoo, MSN, or ask Jeeves for Civilizzation, furniture in Utah, or many many more keywords related to Utahans buying furniture, find out just how bad Bob and Civilizzation treat their customers.
19 Comments
agardner999 on July 12th, 2009
This is nothing compared to what RO-BEAR put me through. The man is a horrible waste of skin and bones. I am glad that you are posting this, and frankly am shocked there are not more posts like this. I keep thinking that I will hear about this dude on the news one of these days… that maybe someone really will push him, or worse.
ilikewinter on July 25th, 2009
I figure any store that can’t spell doesn’t deserve my money anyway. 
mgrange on August 17th, 2009
my husband and i just had a horrible experience there!! We changed our minds about a dining set we purchased the day before and nicely asked for a refund or store credit. “Roberair” told my husband to ***k off twice, hung up on him several times, and told him he needed psychiatric help! I cannot believe a store manager would treat a customer that way!! Never shop there!!
Just Sitting At Home | Scott Klimt | My Digital Footprint on September 17th, 2009
[...] is going out if business. HA! I hope I my post, Never Buy Furniture from Civilizzation, had something to do with their demise but I think that ship has been sinking for a long time. [...]
essdub on September 28th, 2009
I just met Bob for the first time the other day. What a d-bag, I have never met such an arrogant sob. I will never step foot in that store again. Really, he’s lucky I didn’t knock his ass out…probably should have!
Lil kim on November 7th, 2009
NEVER shop at Civilizzation they will rip you off so bad. Ro-berrrrrr is an arrogant, knifing, LIER.. Nothing that comes out of his mouth is Honest. And he is a convert to the LDS religion?? wow. He needs to be X’d
jono on November 7th, 2009
This Stupid Sofa I just purchased is already falling apart.. It’s a piece of shit and im sure he bought it from the DI… ha ha ha. Robert is a liar self centered asshole that deserves to fail miserably.
Ripped off on November 23rd, 2009
I am still so angry I cannot even put it into words. What a joke.
Please
Do not shop at this store, for your own good
seraphim146 on November 26th, 2009
holy shyt,
if you think this store is good you are sadly mistaken.
i worked here myself.
rober is horrible when it comes to care for customers, and esp his own employees.
ive seen it were he broke something and had us try and hide it. or covers scracths with markers. you have to right your time down when u clock in if you work their, simply because he has stole from employees befor. and still trys from what i hear. none of the furniture is from anywhere around the world they say they are. he’s had me move furniture from a Paris room to a USA room just to make sales. and if you apply, they make you sign a contract sayin you volunteer a days work without pay. thats about 12 hours! and if you choose not to, u dont et the job. all the products have a reguler price their supposed to be sold for. but he has them marked high so the sales men look like their doing you a favor bringing it down. that place needs to be shut down.
Discussed Customer on January 30th, 2010
We had a horrible experience as well. “Robeair” is nothing but a liar and will try to screw you whenever he gets a chance. I will never set foot in that store again and encourage everyone else to do the same. “Robeair” deserves to go out of business !!!
Ruby 67 on February 18th, 2010
I worked shortly at Civilizzation years ago and am so glad that the word is getting out about what a snake “Robeair” is. There were so many illegal things he did. After having personal experience with him I believe all of the stories told about him no matter how outrageous.
He is a total nutjob and I will never step foot in that store again!
shopper girl on March 23rd, 2010
Your comments are scaring me! Before I saw these posts we purchased a sofa/love/chair/ottoman from civil…. We actually had a good experience with Robert . . . but now you’all have me worrying about the furniture — is it a fake? is it not really full grain leather like he said? is it not as well made as I thought . . . just paid them $2500! would you recommend we go and get it rather than take the chance of their delivery??? wish I’d seen this sooner 
Bruce on May 19th, 2010
I am still so angry I cannot even put it into words. What a joke.
Please
Do not shop at this store, for your own good
sliknik on June 5th, 2010
Wow, I’m glad I never met Ro Bear! That would have made my experience at Civilizzation even more tragic. I made the unfortunate decision to buy a bed I loved in that store 4 years ago. I was visiting from Portland, OR and had a family member pick it up and deliver it to me. He didn’t think to check to make sure all the boxes were there and we he got to Portland, we discovered they had not given us side rails! We all know he picked up what that lame store gave him. He didn’t lose them on the way to Oregon! What a nightmare ensued. They refused to help us out. The guy who sold me the bed no longer worked there and no one would help us figure out how to order side rails from the manufacturer. Hard to put together a bed without the sides! Long story short, we had to use rails from some other bed we had and make them work. The wood color is completely different so I keep the bedding low over it! I guess I could refinish them to match. I’m still frustrated thinking of the terrible customer service. How is this business still open?!!
conman-whacker on July 16th, 2010
IMHO, this joker has mastered the ‘art’ of Mormon missionary training, thrown together a hash of used parts, illegal alien manufacturing and faux labeling (with grossly inflated ‘Original Prices’, added regular doses of customer extortion and schoolyard bullying along with his mood medications … ONLY because the naive general public and local authorities allow, enable and incent him to. The endless chicanery of fraudulent ‘Close-Out’ sales, business name changes and inventory liquidations alone should warrant incarceration.
Were justice served, this orange-skinned latent queer would be ridden out on a rail… no offense intended, dude.
liljulzs on July 19th, 2010
Thanks for the tips. I drove my and the store looked like it may have had urban / eclectic furniture of some sort that I’d like. I’m new to Utah and will be looking to furnish a home soon. There are quite a few more places in So Cal, so I need to do research.
Robair will not be getting my business. Sure glad to have looked this up. Seriously, what a schmuck!
If anyone else has any alternative stores to recommend… please do.
Julie
E on July 21st, 2010
glad to hear this before i made the purchase i intended to. yesterday, i was convinced i was getting an amazing deal. after reading this, i’m not sure if the material is really chenille or if the frame is all wood or if the springs are as close as robert claimed. i really liked the couch, so if you have any suggestions of where i can find sleek contemporary stuff that is affordable, please let me know. are they really going out of business? Robert told me that they just had some factories close so they have inventory they are trying to sale quickly in order to compensate for the loss, but he insisted that they weren’t going out of business. he said they’ve been around since 1902. the lifetime warrantee on the material and frame doesn’t seem very meaningful if the company is really closing down…
Warning on July 28th, 2010
In April of this year I did 24 hours sample check out (bistro table) from this store. I returned the bistro table within 24 hours finding out a week later that Rober (the crook of crooks “manager”) charged my credit card for $542.79 and falsified the receipt. When I confronted him on the charge he made up a story of me returning the table with a scratch on it. I got into a big argument with him, he kicked me out of the store.I have not been able to get my money back yet. He even offered to take me and my fiance for dinner if we allow him to keep at least $100 of that initial charge!!! Rober is the biggest con artist, crook, scumbag and liar I have dealt with in my life. I don’t understand how could crook like that still be in a business. That store should be wiped off the Earth.
Adstew on June 17th, 2009
Scotty -
So my wife and I have met “Robeair”! The dude is a total jackass! We went in there a few years ago to buy a couch. We were looking to spend around $1000. He told us “you can buy a piece of crap couch for $1000 somewhere else or let me build you one”. I loved this entry! Long live Bob!