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Thread: Let's discuss furniture warranties

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  1. #1
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    Default Let's discuss furniture warranties

    There seems to be a lot of general confusion on warranties in regard to furniture. I think most folks tend to think about warranties in the same way they view their car warranty, and that's a mistake. The Furniture Industry definitely does not operate like a car warranty. Let's explore some details as to how they differ - as it applies to the majority of furniture suppliers (there are exceptions, like forum member Jeff's Simplicity Sofas):

    * With an automobile, you can take it to any dealership in the country for warranty repair, not so in the furniture business, where ONLY the selling dealer can handle your warranty claim. That means if you live in Indiana as an example, and have a failed chair from a maker who has a dealership in Indianapolis, but you purchased from a store in South Carolina, the dealer in Indiana, nor the factory rep for that are will assist you. You must go back to the selling dealer in South Carolina.

    * Warranties are much more limited in scope on furniture than they are on cars. Basically on a vehicle, everything is covered bumper to bumper for "XX" amount of months or miles. In furniture world, only specific items are addressed, and it has to do with workmanship defects rather than performance. What do I mean by that? Well, a defect in workmanship would be an unraveled stitch on a seam, or a broken frame member, or a popped spring. A performance issue would be a sofa that sinks down too much, a cover that doesn't wear as you expected it would. Big difference. Performance issues are typically not covered by any kind of warranty.

    * Every maker has a printed warranty, that is usually in the Dealer Master Sales Catalog or Price Book. Ask for a copy if you want to know what is and isn't covered. (I have the current Hancock & Moore as well as Bradington-Young warranty scanned and available in the LEATHER forum, for example). Anything not covered on that warranty statement is something you and your selling dealer must try to work out. Sometimes a dealer can negotiate a repair that's not covered by the warranty, but in most cases it will be a repair and not a replacement.

    * In the furniture industry, on warranty issues most times a piece will be returned to the maker for evaluation and a fix, rarely is anything replaced with a new item. Often this means your furniture will be absent from your home for a period of time while in transit to the maker for repair, and then transit time back as well. There are no 'loaner' pieces to give you while yours is gone, sorry.

    * On new furniture, there may be a warranty issue (workmanship defect) or a damage issue (caused by the shipping company). While the selling dealer is your contact point for all warranty issues, the shipping company is your contact point for things broken or damaged in transit. All the selling dealer is going to do on the latter is either refer you to the shipping company or make a call on your behalf. In general, if you have shipping damage you are better contacting them yourself rather than having the selling dealer pass along back and forth messages.

    * Covers on upholstery are never covered under warranty, either leather or fabric. This is the most oft-confused aspect on fabric and leather furniture. The reason being is the maker does not know how you are using the furniture or what kind of thinks the customer is allowing to come into contact with the cover surface.

    * Bedding warranties in particular are not worth the paper they're written on. Most mattresses and box spring fail on performance issues, not manufacturers defects. That ridge in the middle of the bed? Performance. That edge that crushed down when you sit on the bed edge? Performance. Loss of support and comfort? Performance. A bedding warranty covers broken stitches in the swing and broken springs in the internals and not much else. So don't wall for the 20-year mattress warranty, the bed will most likely used up in 7 years due to performance degradation rather than workmanship defects.
    Last edited by drcollie; 12-23-2010 at 12:44 PM.
    Duane Collie
    Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
    My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum.

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