My experience with Leons started when we arrived there to look for new living room furniture. As my wife and I walked up to the front doors, an angry man was exiting the store yelling to everybody "don't shop here they will just rip you off". At the time I didn't think much of it, but later I realized that I should have taken his advice.
Long story short, we purchased $3000 worth of furniture from Leons in Winnipeg, 2 couches and a chair with Atman. We thought that we had gotten a great deal as the items were on sale. The saleslady really pushed us towards this particular set, which was fine because we both liked it. We were assured that even though it was on sale it was quality furniture.
About 4 months after the purchase both of the couches started to get tears on the stitching of the cushions. I called Leons and they sent out a technician to have a look. The tech said that the entire set would need to be replaced as a repair would cost too much, and also told us that there had been several problems with this particular set of furniture. Okay, at least the set was under warranty.
So back we went to the Leons store. Of course they set we had purchased was discontinued and they had no stock left as the previous sale had cleared out all stock. So we had to pick out new furniture and of course, nothing that was similar was available for the same price. No problem, we picked out another set and ended up paying the difference of about $500.
This new set got delivered and after about 6 months there was problems with one of the couches. A broken spring which was sticking out the back of the couch. Again down came the tech, and again the couch needed to be replaced. When I called Leons they told me that the couches were on back order and wouldn't be available for about 5 months. They did give us the option of coming down to the store and allow us to pick out a new set of furniture for the inconvenience. The customer service rep that I spoke with was very reassuring and basically told us that Leon's would offer us a discount for all the trouble we had been through, if we were to decide on a more expensive set.
Off we went back to the store. Of course by this time everything was priced way above what we had originally paid, but we thought that for all the trouble, Leons would give us a good deal. The saleslady (same one as always) now told us that the furniture we originally purchased wasn't made for daily use, but was more of a show piece... really? Wish we would have known that before she pushed it on us prior. She also told us that we shouldn't skimp anymore on the furniture insinuating that we were being cheap with our purchase at the beginning. This made me angry but whatever, at this point all I want is a good quality piece of furniture that will last more than 6 months. We focused on one set which was priced about $1000 more than our credit. I asked for a better price which was promised to be by the customer service rep. After about half an hour of standing around waiting, the manager came and offered us $50 off each piece (total $200). I told him that that wasn't good enough and all the time that we had spent on this problem of crap furniture totaled more than $200. But he basically said bluntly, that's all I can offer take it or leave it. We left it as I started thinking that this was a scam that Leons ran to up sale people on furniture whenever there's a problem.
From there I sent an email to the corporate customer service executive detailing the issues. Here is his response below directly from the email he sent me:
"I am in receipt of your email sent to my office and would like to thank you for allowing us the opportunity to respond.
Leon’s has been in business for 100 years. We are proud of our record that consistently places us on top of our category year after year, as determined by independent marketing surveys.
A review will be conducted for our Service Office as well as the communication between your Sales Associate and Management at our Winnipeg location.
All products sold through Leons are covered under a manufacturer warranty that allows the them the option to repair or replace any item requiring warranty service.
I have reviewed your concerns with the General Manager of our Winnipeg location, Mark Entwistle and understand that you have had service issues with two separate upholstery sets that have been in your home over the past two years.
I am a little perplexed at your statement “we are feeling that we have been taken”, since the original purchase and its service requirements the store has sent technicians, reviewed
service concerns and responded with what we believe has been fair resolutions.
You had also indicated that you were not pleased with the offering of a discount on the new sofa suite purchase; this would have been authorized by store management as a customer relations gesture, over and above what our liabilities are under the terms and conditions of the warranty on the product.
We apologize for our limitations; however we are comfortable in knowing we have met our legal and moral obligations.
I will be in contact with our General Manager Mr. Entwistle in order to facilitate this newest transaction with the hopes that you will have many years of satisfaction with the new reselected set.
Sincerely,
Bruce Bergeron
National Service Coordinator"
By this time I was determined to to spend another cent at Leons. So I told them I wanted my broken couch replaced. About 3 months later, it was replaced. When it got delivered, it was slightly different in color, and a little bit taller than the old one. So we had a set that didn't match anymore. I was done dealing with Leons, and I didn't have the energy to go through all the red tape anymore, so we gave up and vowed never to shop there again and to tell all of our friends and family to stay away. To date I have been able to steer at least 5 couples away from Leons by telling them our experience.
In the end, we should have listened to the disgruntled man exiting the store the first time we went to Leons... hindsight is 20/20 I guess.
Hope this helps someone out there, and possibley saves them some time and money.
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