In this article I’d like to help you understand your options when the store delivers you a damaged piece of leather furniture.
It’s funny how we rarely understand something until we go through it ourselves. I’ve spend the last 15 years going into the homes of people who have recieved damaged leather furniture. I’ve seen the anger, disappointment and pure frustration they feel. I am there to help them help the problem go away. It’s what I do.
But I didn’t really understand what they were feeling till I recently had to wait at home for a delivery myself. You’ve shopped and shopped till you found the perfect sofa. It’s the right color and the perfect style. You’ve measured and it fits through the door and into your living room exactly. You’ve even probably paid for all or part of it, including a decent chunk of $ for delivery. Now you wait. You wait 2 weeks, 6 weeks or more for the delivery day. You set aside hours that day for the delivery truck. Finally they arrive, bring in your beauty, take off the wrapping, set it in place and WHAT….. it has a scratch right on the seat or the color is gone from the back top edge. Or worse you watched them shove it through the door and put that scratch right on the back. I understand your frustration. Maybe I can lay out the options I’ve seen over the years to help you best deal with the damaged leather so you can get it right as soon as possible.
Before we discuss the options be sure you know about any damages. Look over the furniture carefully and report any damages as soon as possible. Open the blinds, turn on the lights, take a walk around your leather and look it over carefully. Try to tell the delivery drivers about the damage or call customer services that same day.
Now that you’ve found the damages, take a deep breath and lets solve this problem. Your choices are to return the furniture, repair the furniture or ask for a price reduction to keep the furniture. By the way, in my experience a reputable leather furniture store will help you with any of these three options. So lets discuss the pro’s and con’s of each:
- Replace the furniture- The first and most logical solution is to just tell those drivers to put the leather back on the truck, take it back and bring you a new piece of leather furniture.
Pro- The damaged leather is gone! Ideally they will schedule a new delivery date with you and deliver a perfect piece of leather next time. If the damage is extensive, such as a deep razor cut or long scratch on the seat of the leather, then replacement becomes the only viable option.
Con- It may take time and scheduling to reschedule a new delivery. Also, sadly I often see a 2nd or even 3rd piece delivered with damages as bad as the first one.
- Repair the furniture- The second option is to allow the store to send you out a trained leather professional to look at the piece and tell you if they think the leather can be repaired.
Pro- There are many well trained leather professionals who can resolve damages so they look natural to the leather and wear exactly like the rest of the leather for the life of the leather. The furniture can stay with you and the pro will most likely schedule and come to you to work in your home. Check out leather repair examples of common delivery damages in our repairing leather furniture section.
Con- A less qualified leather repairman could do a poor job of repair (Be sure to reserve the right to look at the finished repair before you accept it). You have to schedule another appointment.
- Ask for a discount- While some stores are less agreeable to this option, sometimes you can ask for a reasonable discount or maybe the refund of the delivery fee to make up for the damage to your leather furniture.
Pro- If the damage is on the back edge or near the bottom, it may not even be noticable. Save a little money and nobody will ever even know it was damaged. If you get enough of a discount, usually around $100 bucks, you can hire a leather pro yourself to do the repairs.
Con- Not all stores will agree to give a discount if they can resolve the problem through repair or replacement. If the damage is noticeable, $ is not the issue. You want the leather to look right!
So sorry for the delivery damages. Don’t be too hard on your retail store or delivery crew. Damages happen. But do make sure they give you quality customer service and help you through the best of these 3 options for your situation. Then you can get on to living with and enjoying your new leather sofa.
AAhhhh! Much Better!