Leathergroups.com

Anyone ever order from here? I have seen a few negative reviews on here, but they were older. Here are a few things I have noticed.

1) They state a price match guarantee and list a few things to look for. I have submitted a few price matches that match and they don't respond. Then I submitted a price match that I know wasn't apples to apples, and they responded right away with not eligible. Everytime any retailer posts a policy on their website and tries to get around it makes me suspect of their ethics. Has anyone ever gotten. A price match from them or is this a marketing tactic they probably use to try to get more sales?

2) I got leather samples from them, and they are very thin and not pleasant looking. I get that samples are scrap materials or with defects, etc. But these looked the worst from the 4 places I ordered from. Anyone can comment on the durability of their leather? Are they really using Berkshire leather? Does Berkshire have different qualities that are sold to different manufacturers? How can you tell they are indeed berkshire?

3) I read somewhere that they try to remove all the negative reviews on the internet. Which is fine, but limits the true reviews available. So anyone have experience with this company?

They appear to be private-label, internet-based as their primary brand, with "Luke Leather" (never heard of them) and "Lane Leather" as secondary lines. Lane is not particularly notable for their build.

I'm not sure how you would price match a proprietary line that can't be price shopped? If I read that website correctly - and I didn't spend a lot of time on it - they appear to be a no-showroom line with a slick website. Typically these are usually run out of someone's home office, and you can see they don't post a physical address which also points to that. They typically have an upholstery maker do their line as private label and ship direct from that factory, wherever it may be. Nothing wrong with that, but where do you go to even try it out or check the build quality in person? If you are OK with not being able to do that, than what you see on the website is what you get. I'm always leary of any company that doesn't supply me with a physical address for their operation and has an 800 number that you can't even pin down the region its in. West Coast? East Coast? Who knows?

Samples are almost always made out of scrap leather from any company, that's not particularly unusual. What is "Berkshire" leather? That's not a brand of leather - just a name. Moore & Giles - who is a respected leather vendor has a line of hides by that name, but ANYONE can name any leather anything they want.

Let us know how you make out ordering a piece from them. I guarantee if you should happen to post a negative review of them here on this forum, they can't remove it. Hopefully that would not be the case and your purchase experience would be positive. Reviews ARE important, they provide an informational base for others to work from. Good luck.