E-mails dog furniture store

Paul and Suzanne Newington sat on lawn chairs in their living room for much of the past winter, waiting for their new furniture to arrive.

They are among a number of disgruntled customers of the London outlet of Furniture Direct who — through chain e-mails that are sweeping through the city — are venting their frustration about slow deliveries and poor service.

Stan and Ella West, owners of the Furniture Direct chain, admit there have been delivery problems in recent months which they say are being corrected.

But Stan West says the store is being hurt by the most common e-mail making the rounds that says a complaining customer was physically threatened by store staff.

West said he interviewed his staff and determined it was the customer who made abusive, threatening remarks and was asked to leave the store. But he said the e-mail is “spreading like wildfire” and causing panic among customers.

“It can be very damaging to a company’s reputation and there is no way to retract it,” said West, who has been in the furniture business 20 years.

The Newingtons went to Furniture Direct store on Fanshawe Park Road West early in December and bought a leather sectional couch and chair for $3,000. It was to be delivered within a month.

After the delivery date passed, a store staffer told them it would take at least another month.

“We threw our furniture out expecting this stuff to show up . . . I said to them, ‘Do you realize we are sitting on lawn chairs’?” said Paul Newington.

Information from: lfpress.ca