My husband and I purchased a sofa & loveseat set from Ashley Furniture in 2007. These were very nice leather couches, if I recall, the 2nd most expensive set in the store. Unfortunately, the couches did not hold up at all. They scratched very easily, and the dye faded out, leaving ugly discolored patches.
We purchased a warranty from Montage Furniture Services (MFS) at the time we bought the couches. We failed to read the fine print in detail, because we made the mistake of asking the salesperson detailed questions about the warranty, and be simply believed his answers without verifying. We will definitely never make that mistake again! Contrary to what he told us, scratches are not covered by the warranty unless they actually tear the leather. And the dye fading away is not considered a "stain", so they don't cover that either.
After 2 years, we did get a tear in the couch. I'm not sure what caused it, but we came home and found the couch like that. So we contacted MFS, but they told us that they cannot replace the couch because the Ashley Furniture store we bought it from has since gone out of business. The fine print in the warranty says that "If the retailer is not able to replace the item originally purchased... You will be given a refund of the purchase price of the Protection Plan". We thought that "retailer" would be Ashley Furniture, and so we would be safe as it is a large, nation-wide chain. But MFS insists that means the specific store we purchased the couches from. So they gave us back the cost of the warranty, but I am left with a torn up couch and no way to fix or replace it.
Upon reading the warranty in detail, I also found text that says "MFS shall not be liable in either tort or contract for any loss or damage... Arising out of any breach of any express or implied warranty". This is shocking — as far as I can tell, it means you have no legal recourse whatsoever if they refuse to honor the warranty you paid for.
I am very dissapointed both with the poor quality of the couches we paid so much money for, and also with the completely worthless warranty that we purchased. I would advise anyone NEVER to do business with any Ashley Furniture, and NEVER to buy a warranty from MFS.
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