Kiosk Mobilia. Refund and bad service nightmare?
Stay away from Kiosk Mobilia! If you have a problem it will take years to resolve and months to get your refund.
This is a long saga that started in September 2004 with the placement of an order for 8 chairs, delivery promised in November 2004. We sold our dining room set in early November. The chairs arrived in January 2005 (Christmas on borrowed chairs), colour did not match wood sample in showroom (sample book has wood samples that are about 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch.
Kiosk had a sale on in January – and the reduced sale price came close to exceeding the restocking charge (or so we thought!) Funny thing – they have decided to base the restocking charge on the full regular price, not the price you pay – so they are really making money here. None of this is on the order form nor are you told before completing the purchase!
So the second lot was ordered in January. Based on advice from the salesperson, a custom colour was ordered and we paid to FedEx a wood sample to Spain. The finally arrived towards the end of April. What a waste of time – the chairs were way off colour and totally unacceptable. Kiosk was going to get the chairs sprayed in Toronto, but after four trips to their refinisher, over 8 hours of wasted time, several months of chasing, and then the refinisher losing the wood sample, we gave up.
So in September 2005, the third lot was ordered with delivery promised again for early November. To be totally safe we went with colour 39 – and a standard fabric. They finally arrived the first week in December, before Christmas – in a colour that was not even in the sample book and teak orange instead of dark brown walnut colour due to an ordering error by Kiosk staff. Kiosk Mobilia committed to getting them sprayed for Christmas – and as usual did not deliver on their commitment – we hosted Christmas dinner on a mishmash of chairs as we did not have enough for our guests.
In January 2006, the sprayed chairs finally arrived – with drips/runs in the staining, and areas on every chair that were not sprayed. We gave up – and guess what.
We got stung for over $400 on the refund – despite the fact that their staff made the ordering errors. If the last lot was delivered as ordered, we would have ended up paying a couple of hundred more than our original order (still less than full price), and this would not have been a problem.
If we had had accurate advice from staff to start with, this whole process would never have been started. It is totally unethical for a company to base their restocking charge on the full retail – when you pay a sale price and not to tell you up front. Just for example – with a $500 chair on sale for $375- your restocking charge is $100 instead of $75 – a lot when you add up the cost of several chairs.
We got bad advice, poor service, total failure to get orders correct and deliveries on time, and then to cap it all off – when the owner – Robert Sidi and I made jointly made the decision on January 26 to stop trying. To get our refund took nearly two months, 28 phone calls (documented with times),8 detailed emails and finally at the end of February a comment to a store manager that we would cause a scene in the store to get action.
In negotiating the refund – the owner refused to speak to us despite the fact that we were always polite, did not swear, did not yell. It was a horrid frustration to have to deal with staff who have no authority to make a decision – so instead of one phone call – it was always two or three. The refund was reduced by the overpriced restocking fees). I figure – getting the refund took over 20 hours of my time – totally unacceptable. We finally got the money on March 16 – and we had to pick up the cheque.
So we went without dining room chairs for 18 months, spent easily over 100 hours on the order by the time you include going to the store several times, phone calls to chase the deliveries, dealing with deliveries, refinisher etc, problems in getting the refund, and paid $400 for the privilege of ending up with nothing.
Just sign us – Totally unhappy FORMER customer – we will never deal with them again and will encourage all our associates and our adult children and their friends to avoid them too!
Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.
August 13th, 2007 at 10:45 am
Thank you for your comments (albeit a little late for me). We have had an equally horrible experience with Kiosk Mobilia in Toronto. For a high-end furniture store, the quality of the furniture and service was below acceptable standards and bordering on unethical consumer practices.
I bought two pieces from them – the crescendo table and downtown chaise lounge. The table was faulty and gave problems two weeks upon delivery. I had to follow up with service, administrative and management staff for 4 weeks before getting a reply. They refused to replace the faulty table (though it was brand new and its lever was broken). Instead, of replying to my request for an exchange or refund, they completely ignored me and forced a technician on me, saying that that was my only option (take it or leave it). The technician took another month to come. One week later, another problem emerged, indicating an obviously flawed piece. Again, the staff person promised immediate responsiveness and a replacement table. However, when asked to put it in writing, he reneged and said, the best he could offer was technician. No one called me back. Five weeks later, I tracked down the manager who refused to respond to me request and said, “I will call you back tomorrow”. No reply for another 4 weeks. When I requested the owner’s name, the manager refused to give it to me b/c she said she did not want me to file a complaint. So, not only do they not provide you with quality products, when they do, they do not stand by their policy of a refund, their management staff do not feel at all inclined to provide a quality of service worthy of the amount of money spent. out of principle, I am going to sell my second (though functional) piece of Kiosk furniture via a third party b/c I refuse to condone owning pieces from retailers that take advantage of their customers. I would caution you all from using their services or products.
Likewise, shaken consumer.
January 6th, 2010 at 2:21 pm
Let me add to the previous comments. From our experience, these comments are not exaggerations but warnings. Never, ever do business with Kiosk. The owner is an unethical, unscrupulous person who finds it quite acceptable to change and/or cancel agreements on his whim. After spending several weeks viewing and agreeing to a large furniture order from Kiosk, and negotiating a price, we shook hands on a deal with the manager/salesperson that we had been dealing with at the store on Jarvis St. Within an hour of making the deal, the salesperson started calling to make changes to the deal. First, items that were going to be sent “on approval” now had to be purchased in full. Second, a table that was being held “on approval” which was apparently in the warehouse, and which we never had the opportunity to see was now sold. Third, we had to take possession of all goods immediately. (this was not the original agreement). Fourth, they now wanted 100% payment in advance before delivery, although the contract asked for a 50% deposit. Up until this time, we believed that we had a great relationship with the salesperson and never had any indication that there were issues. Then on the day that we were going to make payment, the owner calls to cancel our order. Why? Because he is unethical, unscrupulous, and maybe psychotic. Perhaps it was just as well, because based on the comments read above, I think we may have been in for more problems/issues with Kiosk, particularly if they were holding our money. Although the employee that we dealt with was a pleasure to work with, I warn everyone to avoid doing business with Kiosk in Toronto. There are plenty of reputable, honorable businesses out there that value your custom. Why deal with one that is suspect?
Caveat Emptor!
August 6th, 2010 at 2:24 pm
Seems I am not the only very discontent customer!!
I have just arrived in Canada and after finding sofas and a diningroom set I liked I wanted to order and was told I would have to wait FOUR MNTHS!!! for delivery while I was expected to pay upfront – are they crazy?? Dispite the total sale being well over $6k and the inconvenience of the wait, there was no discount or effort from Mobilia to make good. The store manager did offer to find out from his boss and let me know, but the call never came. I followed up with another visit but the attitude was shocking. I am still furniture-less and will have to start looking again this weekend – but reading the above blogs almost make me think it is a blessing in disguise…
July 21st, 2012 at 8:22 pm
First, excuse me with putting this particular discussion off point, however my son’s machine is definitely filled with infections, along with I am really leary letting just anyone into our private things.I’m brand-new around here and also need a really good firm which i can surely rely on with regard to possible future maintenances also.I speculate I found one seems decent.Is this a actual local provider that I can depend on? Here’s the name and details A Plus Computer Support 2300 Palm Beach Lakes Blvd. #101 West Palm Beach, FL, 33409 (561) 283-4034. I am thankful for your direction!
March 30th, 2013 at 6:44 pm
I will never ever ever ever deal with this place again. Kiosk really should be reported to the better business bureau or whichever selling standards governing body is in ontario.