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Lumber Liquidators - Read warranty and understand it protects LL not you
Morningstar stranded bamboo - Complaint
Review by justdoright on 2012-11-21
Rating: 
I waited for years to have the money to buy wood flooring for my house. I feel completely stupid and duped. Lumber liquidators sells poorly manufactured floors and does not stand behind its products.
The floor began to split on the glue line within 6 months of installation. After months of rudely worded form letter rejections LL hired Inspect Solutions who could not find anything wrong in my home or environment and therefore concluded that the installers knew the floor was damaged and installed it anyway. I hired an inspector, who stated that it is a manufacturing issue and it is not floor checks as the Inspect Solutions claimed but glue line splits. He showed me a research article by the National Wood Flooring Association (NWFA) to show what my floor is doing. LL will not even acknowledge the inspection or the NWFA article and continued a ridiculously flawed argument against the installers.
After filing with BBB, I was offered a store credit that on the face seems fair but when you consider that I don't have the money to pay 2500 dollars to pull up the floor and have it reinstalled with no guarantee that the new floor will be any better, it is meaningless. And if again, I happen to get a bad lot or poor quality floor, I can start the cycle again. BBB states that cannot compel anything beyond LL's limited warranty that states a store credit is the only remedy.
I thought I had asked all the right questions and wrongly thought that LL was a reputable company but the bottom line is that they are a big company that knows how to protect themselves so they can take the chance of selling substandard products because if it fails they don't have to accept responsibility of making it right.
The floor is so bad, I cannot walk in stocking feet. And I have to live with the constant reminder of how naive I was because it will be a long time before I can afford to replace it.
I recommend buying wood flooring from a reputable retailer who will stand by the product and treat customers with respect. Read the warranty, a store credit is great if the product is something you can simply take back but a floor should not fail in 6 months and if it does, you want a company that will make it right and at a minimum treat you with respect.
For me, I will have to see if the store credit is something I can sell so I can start to save for a replacement or determine if there is an implied warranty that will apply in my state and seek a remedy through litigation...sigh, I am so sad.
The floor began to split on the glue line within 6 months of installation. After months of rudely worded form letter rejections LL hired Inspect Solutions who could not find anything wrong in my home or environment and therefore concluded that the installers knew the floor was damaged and installed it anyway. I hired an inspector, who stated that it is a manufacturing issue and it is not floor checks as the Inspect Solutions claimed but glue line splits. He showed me a research article by the National Wood Flooring Association (NWFA) to show what my floor is doing. LL will not even acknowledge the inspection or the NWFA article and continued a ridiculously flawed argument against the installers.
After filing with BBB, I was offered a store credit that on the face seems fair but when you consider that I don't have the money to pay 2500 dollars to pull up the floor and have it reinstalled with no guarantee that the new floor will be any better, it is meaningless. And if again, I happen to get a bad lot or poor quality floor, I can start the cycle again. BBB states that cannot compel anything beyond LL's limited warranty that states a store credit is the only remedy.
I thought I had asked all the right questions and wrongly thought that LL was a reputable company but the bottom line is that they are a big company that knows how to protect themselves so they can take the chance of selling substandard products because if it fails they don't have to accept responsibility of making it right.
The floor is so bad, I cannot walk in stocking feet. And I have to live with the constant reminder of how naive I was because it will be a long time before I can afford to replace it.
I recommend buying wood flooring from a reputable retailer who will stand by the product and treat customers with respect. Read the warranty, a store credit is great if the product is something you can simply take back but a floor should not fail in 6 months and if it does, you want a company that will make it right and at a minimum treat you with respect.
For me, I will have to see if the store credit is something I can sell so I can start to save for a replacement or determine if there is an implied warranty that will apply in my state and seek a remedy through litigation...sigh, I am so sad.
Comments:
Posted by justdoright on 2012-11-21:
I forgot to mention that this Morningstar floor that i purcashed is rated 51 out of 100 by consumer reports. I know I should have looked first.
Posted by bob932304 on 2012-11-22:
You might consider small claims court in your town or county.
Posted by leet60 on 2012-11-22:
This is why I don't ever purchase any item from a business that has terms in its name such as "liquidator", "discount" or "overstock". In my opinion, you only ask for poor quality or service from these businesses.
Posted by face it on 2012-11-25:
I am greatly saddened by your review Justdoitright,
Some other things you might not be aware of? Have formaldehyde and urea levels checked in the product, as these products are manufactured over seas and the requirements for manufacturing are significantly different in china than they are in the USA.
As I could best decipher from your review you have the vertical bamboo product? the most common types of bamboo are vertical grain horizontal grain and a grain pattern known as strand. As bamboo is actually a grass not a form of wood. The material has to be bonded/glued together (it is in this bonding agent that you will find the formaldehyde and urea) as bamboo is not significant enough in mass to mill into flooring planks, therefor it is essentially an engineered product. "Splitting along the glue line" I take it that you mean where the thin strips of bamboo are glued/pressed together is where you are seeing the issues of separation? Lumber Liquidators has never taken liability in regards to installation so they brought in a company called The Home Service Store to offer installation and to remove all liability in regards to installation from themselves. There warranty is set up in such a way that each and every time the liability is pushed of to the installer (either the DIY homeowner or a contracted installer) keeping them free and clear of any liabilities in regards to installation. If you used a credit card for your purchase you may want to contact that company as many of the credit providers offer assistance in situations such as yours. In regards to the store credit, I highly doubt that it could be sold. I honestly have no idea about that, I know I would not want to purchase someone else's store credit. The federal trade commission might be able to offer some assistance as well.
After installing product for Lumber Liquidators exclusively for about 10-12 years I personally witnessed a drastic decline in product quality in the past 5-6 years. I have installed countless feet of bamboo products from there, and never during this time did I see anything that would make me want to recommend bamboo flooring to any one. The main selling point for bamboo is that it's a sustainable product, "green" if you will. I have seen bamboo products that dent from dropping a writing pen on them to finish peeling away to so much bonding agent/glue used in the strand materials that the slightest dent or scratch will leave a hideously obvious "WHITE" spot due to the hardness of the underlying glue used in manufacturing.
I hope you find a satisfactory solution to your issue. Far to many times are customers put in a "Now what do we do" situation after spending their money at Lumber Liquidators.
Some other things you might not be aware of? Have formaldehyde and urea levels checked in the product, as these products are manufactured over seas and the requirements for manufacturing are significantly different in china than they are in the USA.
As I could best decipher from your review you have the vertical bamboo product? the most common types of bamboo are vertical grain horizontal grain and a grain pattern known as strand. As bamboo is actually a grass not a form of wood. The material has to be bonded/glued together (it is in this bonding agent that you will find the formaldehyde and urea) as bamboo is not significant enough in mass to mill into flooring planks, therefor it is essentially an engineered product. "Splitting along the glue line" I take it that you mean where the thin strips of bamboo are glued/pressed together is where you are seeing the issues of separation? Lumber Liquidators has never taken liability in regards to installation so they brought in a company called The Home Service Store to offer installation and to remove all liability in regards to installation from themselves. There warranty is set up in such a way that each and every time the liability is pushed of to the installer (either the DIY homeowner or a contracted installer) keeping them free and clear of any liabilities in regards to installation. If you used a credit card for your purchase you may want to contact that company as many of the credit providers offer assistance in situations such as yours. In regards to the store credit, I highly doubt that it could be sold. I honestly have no idea about that, I know I would not want to purchase someone else's store credit. The federal trade commission might be able to offer some assistance as well.
After installing product for Lumber Liquidators exclusively for about 10-12 years I personally witnessed a drastic decline in product quality in the past 5-6 years. I have installed countless feet of bamboo products from there, and never during this time did I see anything that would make me want to recommend bamboo flooring to any one. The main selling point for bamboo is that it's a sustainable product, "green" if you will. I have seen bamboo products that dent from dropping a writing pen on them to finish peeling away to so much bonding agent/glue used in the strand materials that the slightest dent or scratch will leave a hideously obvious "WHITE" spot due to the hardness of the underlying glue used in manufacturing.
I hope you find a satisfactory solution to your issue. Far to many times are customers put in a "Now what do we do" situation after spending their money at Lumber Liquidators.
Posted by Don Haley on 2013-01-02:
I purchased the exact same product and I am having similar issues. Mine is gapping between ends (shrinking? even though it acclimated to house for multiple weeks), there is finish coming off on ends, and some boards are higher than others (subfloor issue which was supposed to be resolved by the installer). In fact, we had the entire floor replaced one time by LL and now, a year later, are having issues again. Does anyone know at what point this could be a class action?
Posted by Barbara on 2013-01-02:
Similarly I purchased Morningstar Bamboo 3/8x3 1/14 flooring. I had significant gapping and shrinking. The product since purchase has been discontinued. When I went to two of their stores to try and obtain additional flooring to relay the floor, the asst. manager and other salesman out right told me that the floor was discontinued for this specific reason. I was then given a 1-800 number to call and complain. Of course, I went through the standard complaint route assuming that since they were aware of the problem, they would offer some remedy. To my surprise I received a letter that basically told me what gapping is, how to prevent and if interested, to pursue at my own cost an inspection (an inspection for something they are already aware of). Unfortunately when I searched on reviews for the product, it gave me the ones that were posted only on their site (which were great). I should have searched for complaints. Even the BBB has this company rated at A . I plan on submitting a complaint to the BBB next, which I sugguest all should too.
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