Toxic Sofas and Armchair Surfers

It has now been confirmed hundreds of customers are to share a £20m payout for injuries and burns sustained by ‘toxic sofas’ http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/apr/26/toxic-sofa-customers-compensation. This must have been a traumatic time for the people concerned but unfortunately for those who purchased from Land of Leather the battle continues as their claims have been rejected. This is due to a clause in the insurance policy Land of Leather had http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/mar/19/land-of-leather-toxic-sofa-claims-rejected

Although we can’t take away the pain and misery caused by this, here at Lefton’s http://www.leftonsgroup.com/ it has been decided to offer those customers who have lost out by this ruling a special discount of 10% on either a leather http://www.leftonsgroup.com/website/living/sofasFabric.php?catID=7&page=1 or fabric suite http://www.leftonsgroup.com/website/living/sofasFabric.php?catID=7&page=1 . Proof of purchase and injuries sustained will be required but after this has been confirmed you will be able to choose from any of our suites and you don’t have to be worried about purchasing leather again, there isn’t any Chinese leather in our store and the use of DMF http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimethyl_fumarate the cause of the skin irritation is now banned. We have never stocked furniture treated with this but as retailers we are really pleased the decision was taken by the EU to ban this http://www.eubusiness.com/topics/consumer/dmf-guide/.

Compensation is a very over used word these days but in this case it is totally justified.

If our leather suites are not manufactured in the UK , they are from well established European companies, mainly from Spain and Italy . As part of our buying process and staff training visits are made to the factories to reassure ourselves of the quality of the product. Leather is a complicated product, however all our staff have had leather training and can discuss any queries with you and explain all the different types of leather. It may all come from a cow but, depending on how it is then treated can alter the feel and texture and durability. It pays to know what you are buying.

We are hearing more and more from customers their sad tales of how they have lost money by purchasing goods over the internet. Just last week a couple came in saddened by their experience but it is a cautionary tale. They had shopped around and eventually seen a dining table they liked in a store. They then took all the measurements and details of the furniture, went home and trawled the internet, when they finally found it at a cheaper price they ordered it and paid in full. However, the internet company then ceased to trade and the customer was left with no furniture and severely out of pocket. Whilst there are genuine companies selling via the internet there are also many who are there only to fleece innocent people of their hard earned money.
Is it not better to purchase from a local well established store where you can see the type of company you are buying from?  Even Amazon, one of the largest internet retailers can see the benefit of ‘real’ stores http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/retailing/article6945922.ece .

It’s well worth thinking about the ‘what if’ when purchasing on the internet because even if the company looks good

What if
The goods are damaged in transit? Who is liable? Are the goods delivered by the companies own staff or are they delivered via a courier company?

What if
Something goes wrong? How will the problem be dealt with? Will the company be able to deal with it?

What if
the goods need to be repaired? Who will cover the cost if goods need to be returned for repair? How will they be returned? How long will you be without them? Does the company have the ability to loan you something in the meantime?

And in this day and age the main question should be will the company still be around to deal with any future problems?

All these questions need to be considered. Many customers research the goods they want to purchase but don’t research the company they are purchasing from. We are all too quick to use the internet in our everyday lives but many fail to use it for proper research purposes when it can be a very valuable tool. As much time should be spent on making an internet purchase as is made when shopping from a proper bricks and mortar store. You wouldn’t walk into a store, take a quick glance at something and buy it immediately. In the case of furniture time is taken to discuss fabrics, leathers, colours and of course how the furniture feels to sit on. Of course, we all know there are customers who use ‘real stores’ as showrooms and then use the internet to save a few pounds but do they really consider the ‘what if’s’? Those few pounds saved could turn into a very costly experience if problems arose.

When we are all watching what we spend a little bit of reassurance about our purchase goes a long way!