From certified pre-owned cars to refurbished electronics to sporting tickets, there has been a growing trend of businesses trying to cash in on secondary markets for their products. The latest example is Ikea, which recently got into the business of selling its own used furniture online in its homeland of Sweden. [More]
furniture
It's Never Too Late To Haggle, Even At Target
By 8.9.10
Kyle just emailed us a recap of his successful haggling adventure at Target this past weekend. If you’re afraid to try haggling at a big chain store, check out his story for an example of how to make it pleasant for all parties involved; the goal is to approach it as a negotiation where everyone wins, not as a zero-sum competition. [More]
IKEA Phasing Out Tris Flame Retardants From Furniture
By 6.22.10
A Slate reporter was bowled over by the pungent chemical aroma her new IKEA sofa emitted after she took of the package. She carved off a little piece of the mattress foam and sent it to a lab, which found it contained a funky flame retardant called “chlorinated tris.” This is interesting as brominated tris was banned from children’s sleepwear in 1977 after studies showed it was a skin-absorbable carcinogenic. [More]
Ikea Made Me Go On A Treasure Hunt For Bed Parts
By 6.21.10
All Matthew wants to do is go to sleep, but Ikea is keeping him up at night by making him search far and wide for several extra pieces he and his partner need to complete their bed. [More]
Paris Subway Platforms Transformed Into Large, Very Loud Living Rooms
By 3.17.10
Have you ever secretly wished that the subway platform you were waiting on could be transformed into a comfy living room? Or at least a living room furnished by IKEA? For another week, you can experience just that in four stops on Paris’s Métro system. Instead of molded plastic seats, have a seat on an Ektorp couch! [More]
Rent-A-Center Settles With Washington Attorney General Over Customer Abuse Claims
By 3.2.10
Rent-A-Center, the furniture/appliance rent-to-own company (“For When You Want to Piss Away Your Paycheck!”), has settled with the Washington Attorney General’s Office over charges that its employees harassed customers who were late on payments. Last year, the company’s employees in Washington were accused of trying to kick in one customer’s door and threatening another one with jail, among other things. [More]
Come On Down To The Ugly Furniture Store!
By 2.10.10
Want ugly furniture? How about a teardrop filled with frog eggs? Want an ugly table to put ugly stuff on? We’ve got that! This is a parody commercial for a real store filled with hideous furniture. [More]
Artist Transforms Target Shopping Cart Into Furniture
By 1.21.10
I haven’t been to Target in a while, but it looks like they’re starting to upgrade their shopping carts. Maybe they should convert the old ones to stylish chairs and lamps, the way this artist did, and sell them. [More]
Ex-Merrill Lynch CEO: Whoops, I Should Have Gone To IKEA
By 9.19.09
Former Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain is famous for, among other things, spending $1.2 million to redecorate his office as the company was going down in flames. For some reason, Thain’s shopping spree of $87,000 area rugs, a $18,000 desk, and a $35,000 chest of drawers didn’t go over well.
Warning: No LoveSac Warranty On Sacs Sold Through Overstock
By 7.8.09
LoveSac is a furniture company. They’re known for a product that I’m sure I will be scolded for calling “giant beanbag chairs that cost hundreds of dollars.” Hypoallergenic, couch-sized, decorator-colored, high end beanbag chairs. Reader Victor wanted a Love Sac, and ordered one for less than retail price from Overstock.com. Then he learned that this was perhaps not a wise choice when ordering a high-end item with an excellent warranty. He writes:
Turns Out Buying Furniture Is Not A Good Way To Get Free Grocery Gift Cards
By 6.27.09
Thousands of St. Louis furniture buyers are clamoring for the free $25 grocery gift cards they were promised in exchange for buying more than $500 worth of furniture and then spending more than $100 per month at a grocery store. The complicated if not weird promotion was managed by BBZ Resource Management, an Arizona-based company that doesn’t seem to have any intention of sending out the promised gift cards.
Beanbag Chair Website May Actually Be Run By Beanbag Chairs
By 6.18.09
Eric and his girlfriend are trying to acquire a beanbag chair from sumolounge.com, but there have been some hiccups. Eric is a former retail manager, so he’s actually pretty understanding about how things can go wrong with fulfillment. Now that Mindy is just flat out ignoring him, however, he may have lost his patience. Update: The founder of sumolounge.com has responded in the comments below.
What Do You Do When Family Friends Don't Provide The Furniture You Already Paid For?
By 6.12.09
Ryan is stuck in a bad situation. His father is friends with a the guy who owns a local furniture store, and the store has failed to deliver some custom-made furniture that was fully paid for up front as a goodwill gesture. Now Ryan wants the order canceled, but the owner and his wife are refusing to cooperate.
Angry Customer Tries To Hold Ashley Furniture Repairman Hostage Until He Fixes That Dresser
By 4.21.09
A man in New London, Wisconsin grew so angry about the broken drawers on his dresser that he tried to trap an Ashley Furniture repairman in his bedroom until they were fixed. The man’s wife reportedly said, “Paul, let him go,” in what we hope was an exasperated voice—we have a feeling Paul does stuff like this all the time.
EECB Frees Reader From Ashely Furniture's Zombie-Call Clutches
By 4.1.09
You know what they need to make? A zombie film starring reanimated furniture. The whole walking corpse thing is just so done. But an undead end table stalking you through your house and hacking through the closet door to reveal your pathetic hiding spot and devour your flesh? Now that’s something I’d pay to see, even if it wasn’t in 3- as, apparently, all movies will be in the future. Until that cinematic masterpiece hits the silver screen, I guess Steve’s story of how Ashley Furniture wouldn’t stop calling him until he sent their headquarters an Executive Email Carpet Bomb will have to suffice…
Got Kids? Glass Coffee Tables Can Be Crazy Dangerous
By 12.16.08
An 11-year-old girl from Providence, R.I. recently died after falling into or jumping on a glass table. She suffered a severe puncture wound and died of uncontrollable bleeding.
Furniture Store Employee Wants You To Know There's Something Wrong With Your Salesperson
By 11.17.08
Jeff and his wife bought a couch, chair, and armoire from Basset Furniture in Rockville, Maryland this weekend, and while the actual experience was rather pleasant, they might not be going back. It wasn’t because their salesperson was rude, but rather because another employee they’d never dealt with pulled them aside at the last minute to warn them that there was “something wrong” with the woman who’d been helping them. What? What the hell does that mean? Did she sell them haunted furniture? Was she really a robber who was pretending to sell furniture to get the customers out of the store so she could finish her robbery? Was she a replicant?
Martha Stewart Dodges Questions On-Camera About Exploding Glass Tables
By 11.4.08
When Fox5 confronted Martha Stewart on the street about tempered glass patio tables branded under her name that have been exploding all over customers since 2000, in some cases causing cuts, bleeding, and scares, she offered only denials and deflections. She said the glass cracked like a windshield, as opposed to the imploding documented in case after case, and said she had never heard of any injuries, despite that Fox5 had a copy of an email sent by her asking her company internally what they were doing about the “shattering” tables. The problem seems to be that the tempered glass table has jagged, rather than smooth, edges, and these grind against the metal frame and weaken the tabletop. A class action suit is in the works. [More]
