7 On Your Side: Before you buy furniture or appliances, watch this story

STATEN ISLAND, New York (WABC) -- What are your rights when you buy furniture? Actually, they are a few rules, and they just might save you thousands of dollars and a whole lot of aggravation.

One family from Staten Island bought several items they believed would be delivered within a week. It never arrived, but the bill did. And months later, they're still facing the charges. So they got 7 On Their Side.

Catherine Iorio picked out a dresser and bureau at Furniture Zone in June and took the store up on interest-free financing for up to a year on the $950 price tag.

"For delivery date, they put ASAP," she said.

That should be a red flag. Consumer Law in New York and New Jersey states that when you buy furniture (not custom made) and appliances, the store is required by law to give an estimated delivery date in writing. If stores can't deliver by the date on the invoice, they have to offer the customer another delivery date in writing or a full refund within two weeks.

"He said within the week, by the end of the week, but the whole week went by and no one ever called," she said.

When they called the store, they say they were informed the bureau was not in stock.

"What bothered me was they didn't know when they were getting it," she said. "Well, if you don't when you're getting in it, what do you want me to d? I'm cancelling the whole order."

But the next month, she got a bill to make her first payment.

"I says, why am I getting a bill?" she said. "I didn't get any furniture."

They disputed the bill with the bank.

"They said we have to get in touch with Furniture Zone, and they tried and couldn't get in touch with them either," she said. "So you just get getting billed."

And in the meantime, Catherine's credit took a hit.

"We got no help," she said. "We were calling here, calling there. No one was listening."

So they called us and we listened, then called Furniture Zone for answers.

Furniture Zone disputes their account and says it tried to deliver both pieces within a week. And even though the contract clearly states there will be a 25 percent cancellation fee, once we got involved, Furniture Zone gave a full refund, saying they didn't want to disappoint their customers. Now, the account is no longer past due. Instead, it's gone.

"A relief, thanks to 7 On Your Side," she said. "Because you emailed them, and in seconds they responded."

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