By Kay Luna | Comments(18)
Larry Fisher/QUAD-CITY TIMES The sign on the locked door to Evans Furniture warehouse, 825 W. 4th St., says it is closed for inventory.

With mail piling up, furniture stacked awkwardly near the door and no one

answering telephone calls, the status of Davenport’s Evans Furniture warehouse store is in limbo — and customers are fuming.
The Iowa Attorney General’s Office is investigating the situation after receiving nearly 50 complaints by phone and e-mail since Monday about the Quad-City furniture company, which apparently locked its doors without fulfilling outstanding furniture orders or issuing refunds, Attorney General’s Office spokesman Bob Brammer said.

A sign taped to the window says the store at 825 W. 4th St., Davenport, is “closed for inventory,” and an old Evans Furniture delivery truck is for sale in the parking lot. Meanwhile, the chain’s 14-year-old Waterloo, Iowa, location quietly closed its doors late last week, causing an uproar with customers there.

“We’re going to try to find out what’s going on — specifically, what are their plans to provide refunds of deposits or the furniture,” Brammer said. “We don’t know if it was typical business failure or what.”

Jack Evans, the company president, does not have a listed phone number or address in the Quad-City area and could not be reached for comment. His daughter, Angela Evans, also could not be located.

Davenport lawyer William J. Bush, who is listed on the company’s state business license as a contact person, was unavailable for comment Wednesday.

The attorney general’s office issued subpoenas Tuesday to John Frederick “Jack” Evans and his daughter, Angela Carol Evans, giving them until 2 p.m. June 27 to provide a complete list of every commercial and consumer customer and the status of their orders, including whether their goods have been delivered or picked up.

The subpoenas, set to be served by the Scott County Sheriff’s Department, also ask for a record of all Evans Furniture’s sales, inventory and banking statements since Jan. 1, and a full list of every secured creditor and supplier, including contact persons, addresses and telephone numbers.

Nothing could be found online related to Evans Furniture filing for bankruptcy, and Brammer said he does not believe the company has taken that action.

The company’s business licenses are still in good standing with the State of Iowa and the City of Davenport, officials said.

However, Evans Furniture is listed as having an “unsatisfactory record” with the Better Business Bureau, according to a report posted online that shows the agency has fielded 13 complaints in the past three years about the company.

Complaints range from delivery and product problems to refund or exchange disputes. Evans Furniture did not respond to the bureau or the customer in seven cases, while others were resolved.

Natalie Young of Davenport isn’t going to give up. She’s been calling every agency she can think of, trying to find help to get the $1,300 bedroom set she said Evans never delivered to her home — or to get a refund.

Young said she has repeatedly called and visited the Evans Furniture warehouse building in Davenport but never finds anyone around. This has been going on since May 17, when she ordered the Ashley Furniture bedroom set from the warehouse.

Her new mattress was delivered, but the rest of the set never appeared. She called several times and was given various excuses: The set was on order, a delivery was missed, it hadn’t arrived yet, and that it would be shipped soon. After weeks of waiting, she visited and called again after Memorial Day to find the doors locked and no one answering the phone, she said.

Young now is considering filing a civil lawsuit against the company, along with her complaints to the state. She also called the maker of the furniture, without any luck tracking down her merchandise.

“I feel the longer you give them, the longer they have to run,” she said. “They’ve got my money, and I’m not happy.”

In Waterloo, the Evans Furniture building owner, Ken Lockard, said late last week that his company still owns the property and Evans still is leasing it. He declined on Friday to say whether Evans was current on its lease payments.

“His lease is not up,” Lockard said. “I’m not surprised.” He declined to elaborate.

On Friday evening, mattresses covered all the windows and doors of the Waterloo store, and a semi-truck with its back open, windows down and lights on was parked around back, seemingly abandoned with a new couch sitting in its trailer.

People drove by every few minutes in the hour before the store’s usual closing time. Among those were  Kip Lewis and Brandi Bartz, of Brandon, Iowa. They came looking for a $500 oak headboard and bed post set they ordered in April.

Bartz said she had called the store and its Davenport headquarters in search of her furniture. When she talked to a store employee, she said he offered no explanation.

“He honestly said, ‘I don’t know what the hell is going on with this company,’” Bartz said.

(The Waterloo Courier contributed to this story.)

Kay Luna can be contacted at (563) 383-2323 or kluna@qctimes.com.