After spending weeks looking for a Goetz style sofa to go with my Eames Lounge Chair (Room & Board) I decided to go with NJ Modern. I chose this company mainly due to the fact that their cost was more than reasonable for my purpose. I paid $1275 for the sofa versus the $4,000 to $9,000 at a more reputable business. I fully understood that it was most likely not going to be the best reproduction, but felt that its use in my temporary housing justified not bouncing a $4,000 sofa up and then down the 4 levels of my townhouse.
Upon receiving the sofa, I gave it a quick once over and made note of a few things with regard to quality, but again, it was nothing that I did not expect from a Chinese made reproduction that cost less than $1300. The wood veneer was paper thin and you could see all of the lines where the veneer was cut and pasted. The sofa was advertised as 100% top-grade leather but actually only the parts that touch skin are leather and the rest was vinyl. Those are minor problems for the cost and you really shouldn’t expect much more from Chinese construction. However, this is not why I have a complaint with NJ Modern.
The sofa shipped with the legs unattached which I was aware of before the purchase. When I received the sofa, I found that there were no instructions available in the container and no markings on the bottom to direct where the legs should be attached. I contact Brian at NJ Modern and asked for the instructions. The instructions were very basic and anyone that can hang a picture could easily follow them. Upon following the instructions, I realized that there were gaps on either side of the center of the corner brace. I decided to cut the felt and take a look at what was going on. The first thing that I noticed was that the wood used was scrap wood at best. Imagine a standard 2x4 laid on edge but missing an entire corner so that it no longer formed a 45 degree angle. Where the corner joint should have been flush and neat against each other there were ¾ inch or more gaps on either side. Where the wooden corner brace should have been flush against the two sides of the corner joint, there were also very noticeable gaps and the corner brace floated in between them and was held in place by staples. The corner brace looked like a scrap piece of wood as well. I measured the circumference of the sofa leg and took the dimensions of the corner brace and found that there was a ¼ inch overhang present where two of the three drill points needed to be. For those without a background in wood work, this means that where I would have needed to drill starter holes for the legs was at the very edge of the corner brace which guarantees 100% that when screwing in the legs the inferior wood would split.
I sent Brian an email with photos of the issue and attempted to call but I received no response for two days. I finally received a response from Sebastian, who is the owner of NJ Modern. His response was that I should pay a handyman to attach the legs if I was not capable of doing it myself. I sent another email explaining that I have degree in Engineering and didn’t appreciate the tone of his email. I also again explained that the problem was being able to “properly” install the legs which could not be done due to the shoddy construction of the sofa. I sent additional photos specifically pointing out all of the problem areas using colored arrows with detailed explanations as to why I was pointing it out.
Days later I again received a response from Sebastian which was more condescending and rude than the first email. He even went so far as to suggest that I got what I paid for and if I had a problem then I should have paid the $4,000 to purchase it from Herman miller, if I was even capable of purchasing it from Herman Miller. Talk about customer service. At this point, I was more than furious with his response and contacted Ebay about the problem. I again sent Sebastian an email responding to his personal attack and again sending more photos of the problem. I was later contacted by Ebay and escalated the case to receive a final decision. Ebay agreed that I would be able to return the sofa for a full refund, but that I would have to pay for the return packaging and shipping of the sofa, as they have no way to retrieve the funds from the NJ Modern for return shipping.
So, now I am faced with being out of pocket $200 dollars to have the sofa shipped back, meaning I could have just lit that money on fire, or keep the defective sofa and fix the framing myself. I knew well before I purchased the sofa that it would be in my possession for a year or less before it was sold or dropped off at the local Salvation Army. I am more upset about being out $200 through no fault of my own than I am about just keeping the sofa, taking a $1275 hit and taking the time to fix it myself. My company paid for the sofa to begin with, so I guess I don’t have much to complain about when it comes to the money. However, no one spending their hard earned money should have to deal with such treatment.
The moral of this story is that you should beware when purchasing anything from NJ Modern. The construction will be shoddy at best and the customer service is nonexistent or condescending, even when dealing directly with the owner. So, if someone else is not footing the bill and you expect to keep it and use it regularly, I would find a much more reputable place to buy your furniture.
Buyer Beware!!!
I’m happy to share my full correspondence and photos with anyone that requests them.
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