Problems with Nick Scali Furniture 2017-2021

Look in 1 star reviews for user name Merlin.

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Thanks for the direct link @grahroll. Looking at the photos suggests appalling is an insufficient word!

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This 'natural markings" waffle is pure misdirection. Sure some timber has natural markings similar to those exhibited, although I would have to see it in the flesh to rule out manufacturing and/or transport damage as well. The point is if you are buying cheap furniture with a ā€˜rusticā€™ (read unfinished) look this quality of raw timber and finish might be OK, but for $2000 timber of that quality should never have been used in the first place and if it was built, on the chance that it would come up OK, it should never have been allowed out of the factory.

I am all for solid timber looking like a real inhomogenous natural product, it has grain, figure, sometimes knots, gum veins and flaws. This is part of its character. That doesnā€™t mean you can sell crap for full price and get away with poor timber selection and poor craftsmanship.

I have been down the ā€˜what you see is not what you getā€™ path with NS myself, as previously reported, and I donā€™t buy from them any more. Their head office played hardball and made it as difficult as possible. Coercing them into doing the right thing is just not worth the aggravation and waste of time. There seems to be a pattern here.

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The quality of the table in the one delivered is terribleā€¦the timber is damaged or poorly dressed It looks like they have used off cuts to try and dress up as quality furniture.

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Thanks Syncretic but I disagree. They only persist in their deceptive conduct because they know that the majority of their customers wont press the issue once it feels too hard. And worst case scenario - the occasional bulldog like me gets a refundā€¦what a hardship for dishonest companies!!

Only way to stop them is to:

  1. insist on your rights and dont give up until you get full satisfaction
  2. publish factual reviews so that other potential victims may be forewarned, and perhaps at some point, the relevant government department will get offs its useless fat ass and do their job and prosecute these people.

I say that cos I went down that road with Fair Trading once, and they were worse than useless. But at least 4,500 potential customers saw my review (Freedom Pools) and had some warning.

cheers

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You misunderstand me, if you had read the full account upthread you would see that I did 1) and 2). Now I donā€™t deal with them because I have no desire to repeat the dose.

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5 posts were merged into an existing topic: Frustrated by NICK SCALI lack of customer service!

Hi.
I just bought a concrete/timber coffee table from Nick Scali. Received it 3 days ago. It came with a sheet of special instructionsā€¦it says it marks easily, it needs special care, needs to be wiped as soon as there is a spill or mark, etc. If I had known that this table needed so much care and attention, I wouldnā€™t have purchased it! I have kids, so this table is not suitable for us. The sales person who sold us the table did NOT mention anything about the table. We walked in, pointed to the table and said we liked it and then paid for it, arranged delivery and left. Never during that time did he say anything about the product or advise us of materials and care it needed.
I have called the store and the sales person has escalated it to his manager but they wonā€™t offer a refund. I am going to call him back tomorrow and keep insisting. I just moved to Australia, so Iā€™m wondering what Consumer Affairs is and if I can leverage this in my conversation to them. Thanks

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Hi Fordy, welcome to the forum and thanks for letting us know of your recent Nick Scalli experience.

This possibly will fall into what is called change of mind. See Exceptions to the Consumer Guarantees on this ACCC webpage:-

It states that a business is not obligated to provide a remedy if a consumerā€¦

simply changes their mind, decides they do not like the purchase or has no use for it

It is very important to ask questions when making decisions about purchases if the product will be suitable for its intended use. If one has asked if the product was suitable for children, easy to maintain and stain resistant and the sales personnel said yes (when in reality it is a no), then under the ACL one could request a refund as the sales personnel mislead the consumer in relation to the products suitability.

It appears from the information you have provided, that wuch questions may not have been asked and it was only after you received the table and read the attached literature that you decided that it was unsuitable. Unfortunately the ACL or consumer guarantee does not apply in this case and Nick Scalli does not obligated to provide a remedy.

It may also be worth checking the Nick Scalli website to see if they have a change in mind policy. Some companies have such policies, along with limitations/restrictions, and if such a policy exists, it may be worth persuing. Having a quick look at their website, it appears that there is no such policy. The website does outline the change of mind is an exception to Australian consumer rights.

Not withstanding this, some businesses may offer to exchange goods for another rather than refunds even if this is not expressed under company policies. It may be worth persuing this option to see if it is possible.

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Not reflecting particularly on Nick Scali, but in addition to the Australian Consumer Law referenced by @phb (there are many threads about it on the forum) it will pay to google the reputations of various retailers prior to going shopping.

Advertising claims are no more than puffery for some companies but business practices for others. Awareness of which companies are in the latter group can serve you well. As in most places, some companies have much better reputations than others for various reasons. Some also do certain things better than others and you can ferret that out from googling as well as sometimes from the productreview.com.au website.

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Choice has a simple assessment here including polished concrete.

And concrete is ā€œon trendā€ for kitchen bench tops.

A key consideration for your coffee table is whether it is reasonable for a customer to expect a ready to take home polished concrete topped coffee table will have been professionally sealed. After all to be fit for purpose Iā€™d expect there to be regular spills in such use. With the on trend use of polished concrete as a kitchen bench top, heat, cutting, splashes, food products, tin cans, pots etc, you might think the product must be the best ever.

Apparently polished concrete needs to be professionally sealed!

Whether the sales rep pointed out the Nick Scalee product was not spill or stain resistant unlike other polished concrete products, some might wonder if it should have had a clear marketing advice or label to that effect.

If the coffee table is sealed there should be some advice with the product as to what system was applied or used. If it is not sealed is it fit for purpose? Practical coffee table vs a ā€˜work of artā€™? What were NS really selling?

P.S.
On trend kitchens appear to have two kitchens. One that is always picture perfect and used mainly to place that bowl of fruit or gravity defying wine bottle holder. All the real cooking gets done in the so called ā€˜butlers pantryā€™. We just have a kitchen with a large bench top. Chaos rules, and the composite stone bench top copes with a busy life.

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A coffee table which marks easilyā€¦canā€™t
take spill?! We would all take for granted what a coffee table can do, surely we would never think to ask if you can or cannot place crockery on it or if it can take spills. In this case it should have had clear instructions while in the showroom.
This is a table not fit for its purpose, it is not a change of mind!!

Please, @Fordy, donā€™t let them get away with it, give them all you got,
never go awayā€¦ Good luckšŸ™‚

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Thanks. I just moved to Australia, so all of this is new to me. In Canada, where Iā€™m from, if this happened there, the company would take the table back for sure.

In the tax invoice I received with the coffee table packaging, I was surprised to see that it states to ā€œtake care when in useā€, ā€œspills should be wiped asapā€, ā€œa protective mat is recommended to avoid stainsā€, refer to care instructions to find out how to properly seal your product using recommended productsā€¦". We were not aware that this was a high maintenance product! And I didnā€™t know we were sold a product where we have to use a protective mat! I believe we should have been told this information. It shouldnā€™t fa under change of mind.

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Agreed! This is exactly how I feel. He should have flagged all of these things to us. We thought we were buying a normal coffee table for every day use.

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Unfortunately you have fallen into our great abyss. If you had asked the questions of a salesperson, or had a brochure stating ā€˜quality, durability, blah, blahā€™ you would not be having this problem. Thus, as @phb noted it falls under the ā€˜change of mindā€™ UNLESS you can argue it is not fit for purpose.

Thus your best approach is to document the reasonable expectations of a coffee table, assuming it is described as a coffee table, and why it is not fit to be used as a coffee table in a reasonable manner.

If NIck Scali rejects your claim, read the ACL about fitness for purpose and send a formal ā€˜letter of complaintā€™ to Nick Scali. There are numerous links to templates on this forum but here is another. Follow the ACL stating what you claim, what you want as resolution, and a date for their response. If they again knock you back lodge the complaint with your state fair trading agency.

Keep everything in writing (including email), make sure anything you send them is receipted for proof they received it, and accept anything documented or said by either party is potentially evidence. All verbal communications should be logged and summarised in real time.

FWIW if the information about care is atypical for a coffee table, and that information is only available in the packaging and on receipt, that is an important aspect where you could not reasonably have known. The flip side is that information for care could be commonly included in a wide variety of products so could be less relevant as argued by Nick Scali.

Good luck getting it sorted.

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Welcome to the forum @Fordy - A coffee table that canā€™t take a spill? Iā€™d tend to agree it wasnā€™t fit for purpose unless it bore a prominently displayed label that said something like ā€œDecorative use only, NOT actually indended for use supporting receptacles of any kind containing coffee or other liquids whether for human consumption or notā€ ā€¦

ā€¦ and you need to buy additional product(s) to properly seal the table? so it is not sold ready for use and there was no indication of that at point of sale (or the special care instructions)?

Iā€™d be contacting your state or territory ā€˜fair tradingā€™ or ā€˜consumer affairsā€™ - at the very least Iā€™d think a store credit would be appropriate ā€¦

If you donā€™t get a reasonable resolution, Iā€™d be tempted to wait until you get the first stain, see what it looks like - if or how well it cleans and ask whether it could be called ā€˜artisticā€™ by any stretch - if so, make up a big batch of strong black coffee and ā€˜treatā€™ the table with that ā€¦ :wink:

More ā€˜Nick Scaliā€™ discussion over here:

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There are many table construction materials which are similar in relation to stains and maintenance, concrete is no different. There are also fabrics on couches which stain easily, along with things like carpets as well. Natural fibres commonly used in household products can readily be stained.

Take timber which is possibly the most a common material used in table construction. Timber tables, many are also sold without any protective coatings such as varnish or oils, also can readily stain. An example is Ikea which have many products which are sold in raw timber and their products would not be seen as unfit for purpose since they are nor coated/protected.

If the timber if left untreated/covered by the customer after purchase, any liquid (inc. water) on the timber table surface would need to be wiped immediately to prevent staining or discolouration. If the customer chose not to protect their timber table, then the consumer would need to accept any stains or discolouration through the tables use.

A retailer canā€™t be expected to provide in-store information on every possible scenario in relation to a productā€™s use or the environment the product may be used. Take the table in question, should the retailer indicate by signage that since it is concrete, it is heavyā€¦or if one has a cat, a cat scratching on the concrete parts of the table may result in scratch marksā€¦or the concrete is not reinforced so one shouldnā€™t use the table to stand on and so on. Some of these things would fall into things that the consumer would be aware (that concrete is heavy, that cats claws can cause scratched and one shouldnā€™t stand on any table). Concrete is also known, like timber, to be porous and take on stains. One possibly should have asked during the purchase decision what treatments the concrete table has been subject to to prevent stains.

As highlighted above, if Nick Scalli staff gave an impression that the table was fit for the purpose you described to them and also said that it was low maintenance and was difficult to stain, then one could have restitution under the Australian Consumer Law (under false or misleading claims). It appears that Nick Scalli sales staff did not provide such contradictory information.

As you have found that the table after purchase doneā€™t meet your needs and you donā€™t favour protecting the table surface, this falls into the category of Change of Minds. If one tries to argue that a concrete table which could be stained or discoloured through normal use if left unprotected, the same would apply to those other table or household materials which potentially could also stained or damaged by a particular use (such as placing a very hot item on the table). This means that retailers have many products which would not be fit for purpose as they are likely to be stained or discoloured through their intended use.

As indicated above, see if they will exchange the table for a different table (with payment made for any difference in cost). It might be possible to negotiate a exchange if the concrete table you have purchased is still in new condition (e.g. undamaged and unmarked). Nick Scalli may chose not to exchange the table, but it is worth asking if it is possible.

Nick Scalli have every right not to offer a refund as change of mind is an exception under the Australian Consumer Law.

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Agreed : on every possible scenario,
especially if your cat has taken more than a liking to it. But this is a ā€˜Coffee
Tableā€™ which canā€™t have a cup of coffee
placed on top of it, as it will mark?!
Should have had a warning in big
letters on it!

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My thoughts are it depends on how the table is marketed. If it is sold as ready to use and no warning attached as to using protective coatings etc before use then it is possibly a failure to properly disclose the condition of the item.

@phb quite rightly explains how some IKEA purchases are sold as raw wood/unsealed products but the sales information makes it quite plain that the product is in a raw state and needs treatment prior to use to avoid staining/markingā€¦ As an example we bought a table from them that was uncoated, the information was quite explicit as to the state and offered various options on IKEA products that could seal protect the product.

If the information about the coffee table was not disclosed until it had been opened then that is a probable failure under ACL as the person would not have purchased if they had known of the issue before the sale.

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It can be used for a coffee table. If the table is left unprotected, then one would need to follow the user instructions in relation to prevent it staining. A simple solution could be to use coasters rather than placing a cup/mug directly on the table.

If the table was marketed as a coffee table and the user instructions said that use for placement of coffee mugs should be avoided, then this would be a different matterā€¦as the description of the table was misleading.

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