I found a grey chair - made of soft, fine leather with accent-coloured (possibly) hand-stitched pillows - in the showroom. The sale price was $999. The salesperson, Robert, said it was made in Turkey, available in brown, and I could have 2 for $849 each. Standing @ 6 ft away, on the far side of the sales counter, he held up a leather swatch. “How’s this?” The colour was perfect. When my son brought them home (Chair Source ‘does not deliver’), I was aghast. They felt terrible. At first, I thought the seat must be different, spoke to Robert on the phone, and took them back to the store. Robert wasn’t there when we dropped them off. When my son saw the one I’d fallen in love with (and I sat in it), we realized what was really the difference. My chairs did not have the same fine leather, the distinctive stitching on the pillows, and the same finishes.* My son said, “Your chairs feel like Pleather! Perhaps they’re knock-offs.” (*The leather on the arms of my chairs was not finished properly: rather than laying flat, on each of my chairs, one arm had leather sticking up a little at one corner. It poked your hand and looked cheap.) I called Robert the next day. He said, “It’s not the seats. I took them apart. They’re identical to the showroom chair.” I said, “I know. Sorry for steering you wrong and wasting your time.” Then I explained the differences. Robert checked out the showroom chair and said he’d talk to the ‘manufacturer.’ A couple days later, he said the manufacturer was coming into the store. I said, “From Turkey?” He said, “No. He’s in Toronto. He lives in Toronto.” If Robert was referring to a supplier, he managed to call this person ‘the manufacturer’ at least 5 times. A few days later, Robert said, “There’s nothing I can do.” When I said that I’d paid a lot of money for chairs that were so different from the model, he said, “$850 dollars is nothing for a chair. If I’d known you were going to be so picky, I wouldn’t have sold them to you.” Robert wasn’t there when I returned to pick up my 2nd-class chairs. Speaking to a different salesperson, I said, “I should have been informed that the brown leather would have a completely different treatment, look, and feel. Perhaps you should think about managing customers’ expectations.” My suggestion fell on obstinately deaf ears. I asked the owner, Nick, “So, it’s my tough luck if I got the [making a car analogy] Monday chair?” He shrugged and said, “Yep.” BOTTOM LINE: BUYER BEWARE. I won’t ever go back to Chair Source. RE THE STORE'S REPSONSE THAT FOLLOWS, ALL IS PRETTY MUCH TRUE – IF BY BELLIGERENT THEY MEAN LOUD- MOUTHED (THE FIRST TIME I CALLED, I TALKED NON-STOP AND CALLED BACK A COUPLE DAYS LATER TO APOLOGIZE. I KEPT MY COOL FROM THEN ON.). ROBERT COULDN'T LET GO OF THE FACT THAT I GOT THE PROBLEM WRONG ON FIRST SEEING MY CHAIRS. CAN'T REALLY BLAME HIM FOR BEING UPSET ABOUT WASTING HIS TIME LOOKING INSIDE A SEAT CUSHION (WHICH I ALSO APOLOGIZED FOR). BUT WHEN I SAID, I'D BEEN WRONG ABOUT WHY MY CHAIRS WERE DIFFERENT FROM THE FLOOR MODEL, HE DECIDED I DIDN'T WANT THE CHAIRS, WHICH WAS FAR FROM THE TRUTH. I JUST DIDN'T WANT TO BE SO SURPRISED AND DISAPPOINTED BY MY PURCHASE. AS FOR THE CO. BIT ABOUT A SHEET WITH COLOURS ON IT, I'VE NO CLUE WHAT THEY’RE TALKING ABOUT. I’M NOT SAYING ROBERT WAS TRYNG TO BE DECEPTIVE (HOW WOULD I KNOW?), BUT, WHY NO INTEREST IN TRYING TO MANAGE CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS, AS I SUGGESTED?
