Calling the Mercury News Action Line!

Dear Mr. Rockstroh,

In early May, 2007, we purchased a floor model ottoman (over $500) from the Ethan Allen store in Mountain View, CA. The day after we brought it home, one of the legs on the ottoman broke. When we cut away the cloth covering the bottom of the ottoman, we found that the support that held the leg in place was made out of “multi-layered laminate board” instead of a solid piece of wood, and that a large staple was being used to hold the leg in place (see photos to the right).

When we called Ethan Allen, they told us that they would not take the product back because we had agreed to buy the product “as is”. Is Ethan Allen is using the “as is” condition to abdicate any responsibility for selling a usable product? When we purchased the product, we made it very clear to the Ethan Allen sales person that we planned to actually “use” the ottoman; that we planned to put the ottoman in our family room, place books and newspapers on it, and even have people sit on it. At no time during that discussion did the Ethan Allen sales person say that the ottoman might break in those situations. If she had, we would have never bought the product

We were told that the product was “as is” and that the “as is” phrase referred to normal blemishes, discoloring, tears, stains and other cosmetic imperfections that occur to a floor model. We accepted that the “as is” condition would cover the above types of floor model-related imperfections. However, we were never told that the “as is” condition also covered the fact that the ottoman would break, or likely was already broken. Because the Ethan Allen sales person clearly stated that the ottoman was a floor model, did we not have the right to expect that someone could actually sit on it without it breaking?

This whole ordeal raises the question whether the Ethan Allen sales person sold us something other than a floor model, or knowingly sold us a broken product. Did the Ethan Allen sales person knowingly mis-represent the condition of the ottoman?

We continue to be disappointed that Ethan Allan won't stand behind their products. All that we want is our money back. Is that really that unreasonable?

BTW, we have established the blog below to share story about the quality of customer service from the Mountain View Ethan Allen.

http://ethanallenquality.blogspot.com/