Problems with Thomasville Furniture
Complaint
Bill
Country: United States
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
However, Thomasville cannot be responsible for retailers that carry Thomasville product. Each vendor is NOT allowed to mark up to mark down, however, people without ethics will make up their own rules.
I work for a Thomasville Corporate store and this practice IS NEVER OK or ENCOURAGED.
Sorry that someone is giving you a poor experience, and utilizing Thomasville's name.
I'm not an impostor at all. I'm a satisfied customer who had a great experience with a capable Thomasville employee. Just as you are entitled to share your views and opinions, I am entitled to mine. Notice that I did not personally attack anyone while sharing my perspective. Don't lose sight of the value of these boards. People are interested in getting feedback to make an informed decision. Cluttering it with unfair and inappropriate criticism is a waste of time.
1) DO NOT USE THE STORE CREDIT CARD. Both T'ville and Ethan Allen use GE Money as the creditor. You will never get your money back or have legal recourse with the store card, because they always err on the side of the store's decisions. Use your own Visa or AmEx (even better) if you are going to make store purchases.
My husband and I have an entertainment center from Thomasville, purchased 3 years ago, and a settee and two wing back chairs with linen upholstery, purchased one year ago. The quality, (although I am not happy that it is made in China) is truly wonderful. The entertainment center is solid wood - my daughter scratched it near the bottom, and I bumped it with the vacuum, and the wood is solid through. The settee and chairs are well made and hold up to a lot of use as well as children playing in/around my living room. I've just ordered two couches, pillows, end tables and ottomans from Thomasville and I truly am expecting the same quality I've gotten the first time. I hope I didn't make an error. Even though I have found several complaints about T'ville online, they are much fewer and farther in between then the horrors that appear to befall Ethan Allen customers.
Ethan Allen, it seems, is a mess. A family member has furnished her ENTIRE house in Ethan Allen (well over $100,000) only to have the two couches in her den literally fall apart, her bedding has pilled, pulled and ripped, her dining room table stains and scratches with practically zero use, and screws just fall out of the dining room chairs as you're sitting on them. She has called numerous times and Ethan Allen said - oh well. Nothing we can do. I've read literally hundreds of complaints just logged online in the past TWO YEARS. Story after story of tens of thousands of dollars wasted and Ethan Allen never, ever reneges. Once it is through your doors, whatever the problem, the furniture is yours. They began producing in China in the late 80's/early 90's when Farooq Kathwari became the CEO.
I've also ordered Lexington furniture from a broker - the furniture is heirloom quality and gorgeous to the look, touch, and use, but again, not made in America. It took over 24 weeks for me to even see the furniture (talk about the slow boat from China)! It is truly a shame we have exported something our country excels in!
Stanley Young America and Stanley furniture are made in America - they had exported to China but have since in the past two years moved their operations back to the US because their reputation was being damaged by inferior quality, and they did not know what the Chinese were using on the paint/finishes on their children's furniture lines. At least they have a moral conscience. It is for this reason that I will be ordering my office furniture from Stanley, and have cancelled my order with Ethan Allen.
Finally, Canadel furniture makes beautiful, custom-choice dining room furniture. Canadian maple. It is on the more casual side, but my set is over six years old, in beautiful condition, and I can add or replace pieces as I see fit (we have a table for six and just ordered a new table for twelve with two extra chairs) and nothing about the company's products/finishes has changed in that time.
Last summer we purchased from the Tustin, California Thomasville store our 6 dining room chairs. It took 6 weeks for them to be delivered- also 'made in China' I noted on the bottom of the chairs, after reading the blogs here(bought the table somewhere else- thank goodness)and we also have that horrible smell coming from them that you and others have mentioned about your T'Ville furniture. We put in a call to the store and we just had a T'Ville field guy here, who of course, could smell nothing.
I, like you, would like to know how we determine whether there are chemicals in the finish that are dangerous for us- we live in a small space, so we are encompassed by the smell every day. Were you able to find anything out in your case? Has the smell dissipated at all for your bedroom pieces? That is so bad that you had to sleep elsewhere because of it!! Have you taken the issue up with T'Ville?
How does one find out what products they utilize in China for resin lacquer and whether it can be harmful? Disclosure laws, etc.?? Any info would be helpful. Thank you.