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Thomasville Furniture Complaint - Problems with Thomasville Furniture - Felicity Sunlit Cherry Bedroom Suite
Felicity Sunlit Cherry Bedroom Suite - Complaint
My wife and I recently purchased a Felicity Sunlit Cherry Bedroom Suite from Thomasville Furniture. Our Thomasville saleswoman had led us to believe that our Thomasville furniture would be made in North Carolina, but when it was delivered we discovered that it was all made in China. Thomasville had built its reputation on delivering high quality American-made furniture from North Carolina -- but it appears that those days are now long gone.
The fit & finish of our Thomasville made-in-China furniture was poor. There's really no other way to describe it. Our bedroom suite has a total of 28 drawers. Many drawers weren't centered in their openings; some drawers were recessed in too far, and other drawers extended out too far. After 2 visits from Thomasville's repair people, we still have: 8 drawers not centered in their openings; 13 that extend out too far; and 7 that are recessed in too far. Thomasville's repair people told us that our remaining problems were non-repairable. So I guess we'll just have to learn to live with this poor quality.
When we purchased our furniture, we specifically asked our Thomasville saleswoman what kind of wood was used in its construction. She told us it was "entirely cherry". When we later asked Thomasville's repair people that same question, they looked at our furniture and readily identified over 5 different species of wood -- just one was cherry, and at least 2 were obscure, unidentifiable Chinese hardwoods. What we actually received was quite different from what we paid for. When we brought this to the attention of the management of our Thomasville dealer, they completely ignored our complaint.
At first glance, Thomasville's construction quality appeared to us to be quite good (i.e., dovetail drawers, etc.). But in places where it wouldn't be quite as obvious to a customer, some of the furniture's joints are held together with staples. That doesn't instill much confidence that the furniture will last for more than a few years. We would have expected to find that kind of cheap construction in bedroom suites that cost under $1,500 -- but not in a Thomasville bedroom suite that cost us over $5,000!
My wife's dresser arrived with a large 10" circular hole in the back of the cabinet. Rather than repairing this damage "before" the furniture was shipped, Thomasville's factory instead tried to conceal the damage by screwing a large Masonite panel over the hole. While Thomasville repaired the damaged back panel "after" we discovered it, the point is that Thomasville deliberately shipped severely damaged furniture to a customer with the hope that the damage would never be discovered. That's not what one would expect from a quality "world class" furniture brand.
Thomasville's furniture is shipped with a Chinese "plasticized" finish. In our experience, it attracts dust like a magnet and unlike a quality lacquered or varnished finish it's relatively soft and easily damaged. According to Thomasville's "printed furniture care instructions" my wife and I are not suppose to allow synthetics, rubber, or plastics to rest on the wood finish as they may damage the finish. That, of course, prohibits placing most lamps, clocks, radios, TVs, pens, etc. on top of your Thomasville furniture unless you first modify the bottoms of those products.
Everything at Thomasville seems to now be focused on charging its customers as much as possible, while at the same time cutting its costs as much possible. Even the screws that hold the knobs to the drawers have been cost-cut. Rather than extending the screws into the knobs by at least 3/8", they just barely touch the knob. The cost savings across an entire bedroom set has to be less than a dollar -- and yet amazingly Thomasville still went for it.
After contacting our local Thomasville dealer several times about many of these problems and receiving no satisfaction, my wife and I wrote to Ed Teplitz, president of Thomasville Furniture Industries -- and also to Ralph Scozzafava, CEO of Furniture Brands International. Furniture Brands International owns Thomasville, along with Broyhill, Lane, Drexel Heritage, Henredon, and Maitland-Smith. Neither of them ever responded to us. That pretty much sums-up our Thomasville customer satisfaction experience.
The fit & finish of our Thomasville made-in-China furniture was poor. There's really no other way to describe it. Our bedroom suite has a total of 28 drawers. Many drawers weren't centered in their openings; some drawers were recessed in too far, and other drawers extended out too far. After 2 visits from Thomasville's repair people, we still have: 8 drawers not centered in their openings; 13 that extend out too far; and 7 that are recessed in too far. Thomasville's repair people told us that our remaining problems were non-repairable. So I guess we'll just have to learn to live with this poor quality.
When we purchased our furniture, we specifically asked our Thomasville saleswoman what kind of wood was used in its construction. She told us it was "entirely cherry". When we later asked Thomasville's repair people that same question, they looked at our furniture and readily identified over 5 different species of wood -- just one was cherry, and at least 2 were obscure, unidentifiable Chinese hardwoods. What we actually received was quite different from what we paid for. When we brought this to the attention of the management of our Thomasville dealer, they completely ignored our complaint.
At first glance, Thomasville's construction quality appeared to us to be quite good (i.e., dovetail drawers, etc.). But in places where it wouldn't be quite as obvious to a customer, some of the furniture's joints are held together with staples. That doesn't instill much confidence that the furniture will last for more than a few years. We would have expected to find that kind of cheap construction in bedroom suites that cost under $1,500 -- but not in a Thomasville bedroom suite that cost us over $5,000!
My wife's dresser arrived with a large 10" circular hole in the back of the cabinet. Rather than repairing this damage "before" the furniture was shipped, Thomasville's factory instead tried to conceal the damage by screwing a large Masonite panel over the hole. While Thomasville repaired the damaged back panel "after" we discovered it, the point is that Thomasville deliberately shipped severely damaged furniture to a customer with the hope that the damage would never be discovered. That's not what one would expect from a quality "world class" furniture brand.
Thomasville's furniture is shipped with a Chinese "plasticized" finish. In our experience, it attracts dust like a magnet and unlike a quality lacquered or varnished finish it's relatively soft and easily damaged. According to Thomasville's "printed furniture care instructions" my wife and I are not suppose to allow synthetics, rubber, or plastics to rest on the wood finish as they may damage the finish. That, of course, prohibits placing most lamps, clocks, radios, TVs, pens, etc. on top of your Thomasville furniture unless you first modify the bottoms of those products.
Everything at Thomasville seems to now be focused on charging its customers as much as possible, while at the same time cutting its costs as much possible. Even the screws that hold the knobs to the drawers have been cost-cut. Rather than extending the screws into the knobs by at least 3/8", they just barely touch the knob. The cost savings across an entire bedroom set has to be less than a dollar -- and yet amazingly Thomasville still went for it.
After contacting our local Thomasville dealer several times about many of these problems and receiving no satisfaction, my wife and I wrote to Ed Teplitz, president of Thomasville Furniture Industries -- and also to Ralph Scozzafava, CEO of Furniture Brands International. Furniture Brands International owns Thomasville, along with Broyhill, Lane, Drexel Heritage, Henredon, and Maitland-Smith. Neither of them ever responded to us. That pretty much sums-up our Thomasville customer satisfaction experience.
Comments:
Posted by jdfan on 2008-03-26:
Sorry to read about your experience with Lane furniture. My husband and I also purchased a Lane bedroom set that is very low quality for the price. We have found the wood shrinking in several areas so that the bare finish is exposed. There's also a crack in the side of our dresser. My husband said it's probably from the wood drying out and shrinking. And, like you wrote, the finish is cheap and scratches very easily and the way dust just clings to the finish is horrible. Lane might have been a good furniture manufacturer years ago, but since most of it is made in China now (hard to find any that isn't), the bottom line now is company profit vs. quality. I should won't be buying any more furniture from them nor recommending them to anyone. Good luck with your's!
Posted by Thomasville Customer on 2008-03-27:
Actually, my comments were about Thomasville furniture. That said, I'm sure that the same Chinese factory(s) that produce the Thomasville furniture also produce furniture for other brands as well.
Posted by Atlanta Customer on 2009-10-18:
I had the exact same experience with Thomasville. I purchased 6 King Street chairs and the matching dining table and have had it less than a year. All made in China, not NC, and the finish on the table is easily scratched and has started to crack on the seams...which was noticeable within the week it was delivered. No matter how much I care for it, polish it, pad things before placing them on it...it still shows marks of where things have been placed, has a white cast to it (it's mahogany supposedly), and just does not look like a piece of furniture that would cost me thousands of dollars like it did. I contacted the Thomasville dealer here in Atlanta repeatedly regarding the seam cracks that you can see across the room and was told repeatedly that they would have someone to call me back, which they never did, and that my sales rep was no longer with the company and could not help me. To make matters worse, a few weeks ago, I was dusting the chairs and tilted one over to see that the stain and varnish was not finished on the chair. The top of the chair had only the surface you could see finished and the underside of it, which should be finished and would normally be even with the cheapest of furniture, was raw, untreated wood. I will be sending photos and a letter to Thomasville and to the Better Business Bureau if they do not reply. This is entirely unacceptable.
Posted by Jay on 2013-04-06:
We have also similar story about dinning room set. You should try to be organized.
Can we try to contact a lawyer and get all our money back? Do you all know a good lawyer?
Can we try to contact a lawyer and get all our money back? Do you all know a good lawyer?
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