Crossroads Appliance closes abruptly, leaving customers empty-handed

Longtime local business Crossroads Appliance abruptly shut down this week, leaving some customers to wonder if they'll be out hundreds or thousands of dollars for new merchandise they never received.

Many customers drove Wednesday to the company's darkened store on Northeast Eighth Street in Bellevue after being unable to reach a representative by phone or e-mail. Taped to the front door was a paper saying the home-appliance chain was past due on about $24,000 in rent and other expenses at its nearby Bellevue warehouse.

Salesman Les Crampton said he arrived at work Tuesday morning to find out the company had gone out of business. He figures about 50 employees lost their jobs.

"I'm owed some money from commission sales and I don't know if I'll see it," Crampton said.

Founded in 1972, Crossroads Appliance said in May it had bought six Maytag stores for an undisclosed amount, giving it a second Bellevue location and expanding its presence to Federal Way, Kent, Lynnwood, Puyallup and Tukwila.

"I wanted to grow my market share, and this was a good time to do it," Crossroads Appliance President Don Heitlauf said then. "I think we're on our way out of" the recession.

But the company subsequently closed its Puyallup and Tukwila stores, Crampton said. He said Heitlauf resigned as president last Thursday, and employees learned Friday the company had been cut off from its vendors, meaning it could no longer order new merchandise.

KING 5 TV reported Crossroads released a statement, saying: "During these difficult economic times we have tried to merge two companies, Crossroads Appliance and The Maytag Stores, in order to survive this economy and continue our business. We have not been able to gain the cooperation of our product vendors to do this successfully and are now reorganizing into a smaller organization to reduce our overhead and meet our obligations.

"We have temporarily closed our doors while we work with our partners. This process will take a few weeks before we are able to reopen our stores or transfer our operations to another local appliance dealer."

A recorded phone message at the Crossroads Appliance main office says customers who made a deposit on a new purchase should contact their credit-card company.

Bellevue resident Lynne Boeger said she paid nearly $2,800 for a new stove and dishwasher not yet delivered.

"I paid with my Visa card. Can Visa reimburse me?" she said, turning to another customer who also showed up to the company's Northeast Eighth Street store seeking information Wednesday.

"I called Visa, and they sent me a form to fill out," Boeger said. "I don't know what's going to happen."

Niki Horace, vice president of marketing and public relations at the Better Business Bureau of Alaska, Oregon and Western Washington, said customers may have little recourse.

"Typically, when stores shut down overnight, they don't have money to refund customers or products to deliver. It's just really unfortunate," she said. "You could call your credit-card company and dispute the charge, but it's up to the credit-card company at that point. And if you paid cash, you're out of luck."

Federal Way residents Cheryl and Milton Hinchman had hoped to receive a new refrigerator and washer and dryer Wednesday. Instead, the day came and went without delivery of their $2,500 purchase.

"I called my credit-card company and told them what happened. Basically, the credit-card company will go after them, and we won't be responsible," Cheryl Hinchman said.

She and her husband "talked about paying with cash, and thank goodness we paid with a credit card, because otherwise we'd be out the cash," she said.

Crampton, who noted he has since been hired at Arnold's Appliance in Bellevue, said, "To not be able to take care of customers and know that we let them down, it's difficult."

Amy Martinez: 206-464-2923 or amartinez@seattletimes.com