Complaint Review: The Master Craftsman - Brampton Ontario

Shortly after having my loveseat recovered, the seams on the seat cushions began to fray and come apart.

The cushions were returned to the company with my understanding that they were to be recovered with new fabric. Although I have no way to prove it, I suspect the seams were just restitched as the fabric seemed tighter upon their return, and very shortly after, again, they began to come apart.

I made arrangements and sent them back again. Imagine my surprise when, this time, I received a letter in return stating that the company did not see my complaint as "justified" having assessed the "damage" to my cushions as being caused by a pet.

I do own a pet, and, yes, my nine-year-old Husky/Lab cross is allowed on the furniture. She has been all her life, I must confess, although she never "damaged" the original fabric of the loveseat in any way, nor any other piece of furniture in my home, including a leather sofa upstairs upon which she spends most of her time.

In reply to their letter, I contacted The Master Craftsman and asked what had caused them to change their assessment and now refuse to honour their warranty?

Their answer: the existence of pet hair. Why, then, I asked them to speculate, was there was no "damage" what-so-ever to the arms or backrest of the loveseat, nor on any other area of the seat cushions apart from the seams? They chose not to answer my question nor did they accept my invitation to visit my home and inspect other of my furnishings for like "damage".

My request to escalate my claim was denied by the company's "Operations Manager." (no name given, nor any last name on communications to that point.) He or she declined my request to provide details in professional terms as to how the judgment of pet damage had been arrived at. Guy Rideout, Operations Manager, when he finally replied, did, however, attribute my dog with a flattering degree of dexterity, claiming, and I quote, "...an approx 1x1 cm area...Therefore, in my opinion, the damage is simply far too isolated to be caused by normal wear and tear."

Let me assure anyone who reads this that my dog's paws are larger than one sqare centimeter, and she is not physically capable of using one of her four claws at a time, which, only common sense would see necessary to fit Mr. Rideout's "professional" assessment.

Besides which, I had not claimed the damage was caused by wear and tear. I claimed, and still do, that it was either poor quality fabric and/or shoddy craftsmanship in using too little fabric on the cushions causing undo pressure on too tight and/or too shallow seams.

Insulting as this all might seem, the worst of it was The Master Craftsman having the audacity to offer to quote me for the cost of the repair work should I choose to pay for it myself. No thank you!!!

I can only conclude that the presence of pet hair on my loveseat cushions provided the company a legal "out" to their written, five-year warranty against problems with workmanship. Unfortunately, angry and disgusted as I may be, I find I have no recourse in this matter but to warn other perspective customs in venues such as this to prevent others suffering the same intolerable service.

Bjm

Burlington, Ontario

Canada