Purchase sours as `leather’ suite peels
IF IT looks like leather, feels like leather and smells like leather, it must be leather, right?
No. But many consumers assume so, and it doesn’t help that a product such as “bonded leather” can legally be called leather in this country. It shouldn’t be, because it’s just a few leather shavings away from being totally synthetic.
It’s “the biggest con on the market”, said Hugo Zuanni of Leather Link, the exclusive Cape agent for South Africa’s largest upholstery leather tannery, Hannitan. “It’s a synthetic polyurethane with leather shavings sprinkled on the back to make it look like leather. It comes in 30m rolls.”
The trouble is many South African consumers wanting to “invest” in a leather lounge suite don’t see beyond the word leather, the smart looking “leather” suite, and the appealing price tag.
Cruelly, bonded “leather” only stops looking like the real thing when the warranty has expired.
When Lebo Mohotji was shopping around for a leather lounge suite back in December 2011, bonded leather was described by United Furniture Outlets (UFO) as “100% genuine bonded leather” and the leather mark was used in its marketing.
“The saleswoman at UFO in Centurion Mall was saying all nice things about it lasting forever,” Mohotji told In Your Corner last month, “but now the couches are splitting, peeling and looking hideous, and UFO is refusing to replace them because they are no longer under warranty”.
The invoice for the three-piece chocolate brown suite she bought describes it as “bonded” leather so there was full disclosure there. But what did Mohotji understand bonded leather to be?
“When I asked about the price – R14 000 – the saleswoman said it was off-cuts of real leather, and promised it wouldn’t peel.”
I took up Mohotji’s case with UFO, noting that no consumer buys a leather lounge suite expecting to get only three or four years use out of it before it starts to crack and peel, as in this case.
Given the benefit of accurate information about bonded “leather”, they would no doubt choose to invest in a good quality fabric lounge suite instead, I argued.
“Are your salespeople trained to disclose to potential clients the fact that bonded ‘leather’ products tend to deteriorate – peel – badly within three or four years?
“Failure to do so would be a contravention of the Consumer Protection Act.”
(The CPA came into effect eight months before Mohotji bought this lounge suite.)
UFO still sells bonded “leather” suites, only now the suites are described simply as “bonded leather” – no use of the words “100% genuine”, or the leather mark.
Responding, UFO’s Raymond Munitz said the company’s sales staff were trained to inform customers of the difference between genuine and bonded leather.
“We are transparent in our disclosure. Our bonded leather suites are marked as such and each customer invoice clearly states the suite is bonded leather, making the customer aware of what he or she is purchasing.”
But of course, there is no record of what Mohotji was told by that saleswoman. There never is.
“It is rather difficult to establish exactly what was explained to Lebo at the time of sale especially almost five years ago,” Munitz said.
The incidence of bonded leather “defects” was relatively low, he said. “We try to obtain the best quality of bonded leather on the market, bonded leather being produced mostly in China.
Many factors affected the exterior and longevity of a suite, he said, like the sun, pets and cleaning methods.
Mohotji says the suite was not exposed to sun or abrasive cleaning products, and she has no pets.
I suggested that in the interests of full transparency, UFO should issue a fact sheet about bonded leather, revealing how it is made, given that it’s almost entirely a man-made product rather than the hide of a cow – and ask customers to sign receipt of it, so they can’t later claim that they didn’t know.
Munitz’s response was revealing.
“It can be considered. . . but then would we not need to do the same for genuine leather and fabric as well?
“In the spirit of goodwill and giving customers exceptional service,” UFO would take back Mohotji’s suite and give her a credit towards a new one, he said.
Last I heard, Mohotji had been offered a discount of between 13% and 25% on a range of suites.
So ignore the leather marks and “100% genuine’s” in leather lounge suite descriptions. Find out what form of leather has been used.
The best, and most expensive, is full grain leather, or “full leather”. Bicast leather is a split leather and, while far superior to bonded “leather", it’s not as durable or flexible as full leather.