Should I Get a Warranty on Art Van Outlet Furniture

Dearborn — Signs at the Art Van Article of furniture still offered warranties Friday, but if y'all wanted one?

No sale.

And if you'd already bought 1?

No luck.

The liquidation sale began Fri for the 61-year-old company, which appear Thursday that it was going nether. Brothers Juwan and Rhazay Smith, 22 and twenty, had purchased a $2,200 leather living room ready a few months agone, and now they were in the market for reassurance — which they didn't get.

"We bought the Gold warranty," said Juwan, of Melvindale. In Art Van'southward 3-tiered arrangement, that was supposed to offer half dozen years of coverage.

Instead, like thousands of other customers, they obviously accept been left with aught to protect them from the ravages of stains and broken springs.The same cashier who'd rung up their sale at the Fairlane Meadows shop in December told them they had wasted $350.

"You lot got nothing," she said, "and I'grand out of a job."

Spokespersons for Fine art Van and the individual equity group that owns the company, Thomas H. Lee Partners, did not answer to questions about warranties. Repeated calls plant only a busy signal at the warranty line, (888) 427-8826. And all day Friday at Art Van's website, www.artvan.com, visitors got the message: "Our site is temporary offline for maintenance. Thank you for your patience."

Chaser Doug Bernstein, director of the business section at Plunkett Cooney in Bloomfield Hills, had predicted the Smiths' predicament when he heard about the closing of Art Van'south 190 piece of furniture and mattress stores.

"The company won't assume the guarantees because the company won't have whatever assets to honor them," he said, and even if pieces of the corporation are sold for scrap, "nobody is going to pay Art Van for the privilege of assuming liability."

Bernstein said the liquidation declaration seemed both premature and peculiar. Typically, he said, a company would acknowledge problems, then seek buyers for its more inviting pieces before pulling the plug.

"Hither, they destroyed the value," he said. "Y'all hateful to tell me there'southward non a single location turning a profit?"

The company had sold warranties of two, four and six years for furniture, marketed as bronze, silver and gold. The lesser protection cost $50 to $475 and covered "common accidental stains and damage."

The middle level, $seventy to $600, covered "all stains and a more than comprehensive listing of damages."

The six-year bundle was priced at $90 to $800 and added "coverage for the structural integrity of your piece of furniture."

Each came with a lengthy list of exclusions and a piece of furniture care kit, "a $79.99 value," composed of an all-purpose cleaner, woods polish, leather conditioner, soy sponge and cloth.

Art Van promised to exchange all empty bottles for fresh ones, and Facebook affiche Lynn Bahr asked, "How is this going to affect the costless lifetime replacement of piece of furniture oil and leather kits now?"

"You'll have to buy Pledge," responded customer Faris Qussar. "I'm in the same boat."

"Gee where is our class action lawyer: and then we tin get the money for the pledge," Bahr wrote. "I mean a promise is a hope for a lifetime. Simply Art Van's Individual Disinterestedness business firm doesn't know what a life time ways!"

Fine art Van offered warranties on mattress protectors in 5- and ten-year increments at prices from $49 to $209.

Some furniture and mattresses come with manufactory warranties, and those should remain in strength. Beneath a sign at the Dearborn store that said "All sales final" at the top of the escalator to the second flooring was another placard that trumpeted, "All manufacturers warranties are in full effect."

As Bernstein noted, yet, one of the economical problems the company blamed for its failure was tariffs on Chinese imports, "and good luck having a warranty honored on those."

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Source: https://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/2020/03/06/art-van-warranty-buyers-likely-out-luck-amid-liquidation/4973819002/

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