Stainsafe review: Furniture Warranty Service is total ripoff! 59

I bought a Berkline Shiatsu chair from Levitz & 7 year warranty; by StainSafe-all on same invoice. I've followed all procedures & after many phone calls, emails & regular mail; now I get a denial of claim. Said I didn't follow procedure: within 5 days. I even sent copies of invoice, warranty, e mails, w/dates & times. Damage noticed 9-18-06. First notifies 9-22-06; within the required 5 days of notice of damage. The motor won't run. The manufacture warranty was 1 year, StainSafe was to pick-up all claims for 7 years. Now they won't follow through on their part. They were ultimately paid for this service by Levitz; so Levitz says their off the hook.

I purchased a warranty for my couch through Stainsafe. I paid $179.99 for the warranty and the warranty says along with the sales rep stated that it covers Cracks, rips, tears burns... My wife called them to report a claim and the rep for Stainsafe gave her a hard time then had my wife describe the damage to the couch and when my wife did Stainsafe stated that the warranty was not covered because my wife said the couch was scratched, the couch is clearly cracked and I even asked to send them a pic to prove by giving pics and they told me that they would not cover the warranty and when i asked why the supervisor just stated that she was not going to overturn the other persons decision. I am 38 years old and this is the worse customer service I have ever seen. I am proceeding with legal options against the company but it is still a shame when you pay good money for a warranty and have a legal claim to it.

I don't understand why my claim was denied. I have a 7 year warranty that I paid for at the time of purchase. The problems were noticed less than a week ago prior to me sending a few e-mails and phone calls regarding these matters. I have sent by fax four times and through e-mail three times since 2/22/07. Why has my claimed been denied? I have claims on file with Stainsafe prior to these new matters with my furniture. Do I need to obtain my warranty information and receipt for proof of purchase and warranty. This is outrageous and Stainsafe needs to be more compassionate to errors and courteous to a warranty already paid for. I refuse to suffer because of a typo error and I corrected the claim indicating the problems were noticed on 2/22/07 which is the same day I filed my claim. I do not have the funds to pay out of pocket when I have a legit warranty.

I purchased a $500 oversized stuffed chair and ottoman from Valu City Furniture in Buffalo, NY in 2004. The salesperson encouraged me to purchase the warranty, which would cover any stains and tears to the chair and the ottoman for 5 years.

In July of 2006, my daughter spilled milk on both the chair and the ottoman. I contacted the Stainsafe company and, after sitting on hold for 25 minutes, was told that I would have to fax all documents to their office, including the original receipt and warranty and would receive a confirmation card in the mail within one week and would receive a call from one of their technicians within 3 weeks.

I faxed all documents and never heard anything from the company. I contacted them again two weeks later and was once again put on hold for over half an hour. The salesperson was extremely rude and uninterested in my problem. She told me that they never received my paperwork and I would need to fax it again. I did fax them the paperwork again and this time kept a copy of my fax confirmation.

Once again, I waited and received nothing. I contacted them for the third time and was again told by an extremely rude customer service representative that they did not received my paperwork and I would need to fax them my fax confirmation. I told her this did not make sense, because they told me twice that they did not receive my paperwork via fax, therefore, how would they receive my fax confirmation sheet via fax. She simply repeated her statement that I would need to fax the confirmation sheet, as if I was an idiot.

I did fax the confirmation sheet and called them the same day. After being placed on hold three different times and being transferred to 3 different customer service reps, and finally a manager, at my request, I was told they did receive my confirmation and I would receive my paperwork in the alloted timeframe mentioned above.

A technician did come out to my house in late October. He said that, due to the nature of the stain, the chair would need to be steamcleaned and he needed the permission from Stainsafe to do this. (? -- why would a cleaning technician need permission to steamclean a piece of furniture?!) He said I would hear from Stainsafe within two weeks and they would schedule another appointment for my chair to be cleaned. A month went by and I heard nothing.

I contacted Stainsafe again and was put through all the same hoops of holding, rude employees, and eventually was told that they did not receive the paperwork from the cleaning tech. After finally getting a manager on the phone (this was over an hour on the phone with them -- and I was at WORK!), the manager told me they just received the paperwork that morning and it would need to be reviewed for approval. I would be contacted within a week, if my claim was approved.

For the next THREE months, I contacted Stainsafe WEEKLY to find out if my claim had been approved. Each time I was greeted with absurdly long hold times, very rude and unintelligible sales reps, and finally a manager who said the claim was "still under review". I challenged the "manager" in each conversation as to who was "reviewing" my claim, what exactly were they reviewing, why was this taking so long, etc. Each time, I was answered with vague responses and the same reply that I would hear from them by the end of the week.

After three months, I received a form letter in the mail saying that my claim was denied and that they hoped they could help me in the future.

Do not EVER buy a warranty from Stainsafe. I am currently in talks with Valu City Furniture to get a refund on this warranty, which they are challenging.

Sub: Stainsafe Furniture Warranty Scam

Stainsafe furniture warranties offered by many leading furniture retailers are a con. They are based in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. I found many, many others recently dated with the same problems and it has nothing to do with not reading the warranty closely enough or following it to the letter. If you read all the complaints, the company simply does not honor their contracts and is clearly in the business of robbing not only consumers but the poor service contractors they sucker into working for them.

This is my situation in case you're interested:

STAINSAFE WARRANTIES are a TOTAL CON and well-known furniture dealers such as Harlem, Wickes, etc. should not do business with them as it tarnishes their image as well. Stainsafe gives service warranties in general a bad name because of their dishonesty and total non-intention to render services paid for and entitled to. I've dealt with warranty claims before and have never had a problem like I've had with STAINSAFE.

As a result of my experience with Stainsafe, I will:

1) NEVER purchase another furniture warranty from ANY company especially STAINSAFE.

2) NEVER purchase another product from HARLEM FURNITURE "The Roomplace" in Bloomingdale, IL as they also failed to do anything about the situation when I called them about the dishonest Stainsafe warranty service they sold to me.

3)ALWAYS tell friends, relatives, coworkers, acquaintances and anyone who asks my opinion to never purchase a STAINSAFE warranty or buy Harlem Furniture.

Let me start by saying I read the warranty thoroughly, understood the terms of the agreement completely and had a perfectly legal, covered and valid claim.

Here's what happened:

October 9, 2003: I purchased a Douglas Furniture "Casino" leather sectional (Desert color) for $2,399 at Harlem Furniture, 215 Gary Avenue, Bloomingdale, IL 60108. Phone: [protected]. I also purchased the "Harlem 'the roomplace' 5 Year Warranty for A & P Leather" serviced by Stainsafe.

October 14, 2003: The furniture was delivered to my home.

March 20, 2007: I called Stainsafe at [protected] and spoke with Keyosha about filing a claim for specific damage that occurred to my sectional on March 19, 2007. Before I made the call, I thoroughly inspected the couch to check its condition and take notice of any other damage I could find. I did make a list of minor damages and defects that were not very noticeable without close inspection to report along with the major damage that occurred on 3/19 just in case they would take care of that as well.

Keyosha went through each piece of the sectional and recorded what was wrong with it:

The loveseat portion with fold-out bed was the piece that sustained the very VISIBLE damage noticed and reported within 24 hours: a number of deep scratches, a puncture, and splitting at the seams - which all occurred to the two removable seat cushions. She asked me how this occurred and said that I didn't actually see it happen but I know it had to do with my only child (eight-year old son) having fun and it could have been something like a sharp part on a piece of clothing or a toy or something like that.

In addition to this, I listed all the other faults with the couch I had noticed even though they had not occurred within the specified 5-day report rule just to be thorough: The seams along the very tops of the ALL the back cushions (non-removable)of ALL 4 sectional pieces (loveseat with bed, loveseat with recliner, wedge, and chaise) were forming small tears all along the stitching everywhere the real leather meets up with the split-leather (since genuine leather on couches is usually limited to areas that the body actually touches on moderately priced furniture).

You can see the white stuffing through all the little holes. This is not something you see unless you look for it. This to me seems to be a defect in the manufacture that I wished I had noticed within a year of purchase so I could have contacted the manufacturer Douglas about the issue under THEIR one-year warranty. I also told Keyosha about the minor scratches on the surface of the chaise piece which also did not happen within the last 5 days.

She then proceeded to use this "extra" information against me. She said that since there were multiple damages that could not possibly have occured in a single incident in the last 5 days and I could not describe EXACTLY how the main damage occurred (I thought "eight year old boy" should have explained it all)the warranty does not apply to ANY of the damages INCLUDING the ones that just ocurred in the last 24 hours.

Of course I told her that was LUDICROUS and that I only want the recent major damage to be fixed (which is limited to the two removable seat cushions)and she just kept coming back with "sorry its not covered" even though, right in their warranty in black and white it says that "Rips, tears, burns, and punctures" are covered along with "Cracking and peeling of leather finish". NOWHERE in the warranty does it say that any prior unreported minor damage older than 5 days voids the WHOLE warranty and excludes me from ANY service, compensation or coverage.

I challenge any executive, employee, fan, friend or family member of Stainsafe out there to tell me they're not out of line on this one. The very least I would expect from either Stainsafe or Harlem Furniture is a refund on the bogus warranty they sold me, which they both refused to do, much to their discredit.

Just so I feel a tiny better about being totally ripped off, I will send copies of this [redacted] complaint to the president of Stainsafe (Doug Wright), the supervisor that was on duty that Keyosha named (Kia), to Harlem Furniture in Bloomingdale, IL and to Douglas Furniture although I’m not faulting them with anything other than the stitching problem.

Thanks for listening to me vent and BEWARE fellow consumers! Word-of-mouth is very powerful PR be it positive or negative, too bad some of these companies don’t take care of their customers the way they should instead of foolishly putting their reputations and future business on the line.

Stainsafe warranty is a scam - still waiting after 2 years of them accepting claim.

I filed a clain on 12-27-06 for a mattress pad. After eight letters, to NUMEROUS phone calls to count, delays, initial refusal to honor the contract, rude operators, failure to allow me to talk to a supervisor, numerous letters, copies of the same receipt over and over again, involvement of the Macy's where I bought the pad and unit and 121 days from the first filing I finally received the pad.

It is clear to me that this company is in the business of stalling and counting on the customer who paid for the insurance to simply give up and go away. Simply put, this company is a rip off and should be investigated by the Consumer Action Agency.

I won't bother repeating exactly what everyone else has said as it is all true and has happened to me. My current situation is that I went thru all the hoops to get a $700 payoff from Stainsafe with notarized release forms and such, well, it is now 3 years later since I turned that in and with repetitive calls, emails, etc. NOTHING! Maybe I will take a little trip down to Palm Gardens and get my $700 dollars worth one way or the other...

This is why Levitz went out of business. It's funny that the people who bought the company/name from bankruptcy are going back to the things that caused everyone to not love it at levitz.

Hello,

I am not sure why there are so many negative information about Stainsafe. I purchased a sofa from Ashleys in Brandon in 2003. I purchased the stainsafe warranty. My daughter was sick and vomitted on my sofa, it smells really bad. I called Stainsafe and reported my stain, within 5 days a service man came to my house, he tried to clean the stain but it left a water ring. I called Stainsafe and they replaced my sofa. The whole thing took about 3 weeks. I love Stainsafe and if i should ever purchase another piece of furniture, i will make sure to purchase the stainsafe warranty.

I am a subcontracted service technician for Stainsafe warranty company. I have done hundreds of service calls for Stainsafe in western Pennsylvannia, beginning in August 2006. When i receive a service call from Stainsafe, i have 48 hours to contact the customer to schedule a service call. which must be done within 7 days. If something is repairable, it is fixed at that time. If something is in need of parts, i communicate by fax for what is needed to repair item(s) at that time. The problem that i have with Stainsafe is they do not like to ay for these service calls. The last payment i received was on Feb 2nd of 2007. I have called many times to the tech hotline about this matter and have gotten nowhere. I have recently dropped Stainsafe from my company and sent letters to get payment. I have recently have taken them to civil court to resolve this matter. If their is any one in western Pa that is having trouble getting their furniture repaired by Stainsafe you may fax information to my company: Cratfy Woodworking [protected]. I will give all customers 50% off discount for all or any repairs.

In '06 we attempted to submit a claim regarding the leather cracking on our couch. We had to call multiple times to even get someone on the phone. My wife gave them all the required info and I faxed in the documents. We never heard a word from them. I resubmitted recently and they declined our claim based on the time between the damage occurring and the time we resubmitted. This is a total scam, you can't even get a real person on the phone. I will never waste my money on one of these warranties again.

My 86 year old mother in law has patiently been waiting for Stainsafe to respond to her 7 year extended warranty complaint concerning her Berkshire rocker recliner which is falling to pieces via rips and tears throughout the chair. She has experienced every aspect of being ignored and rude treatment when she finally was able to get through to the company. She has repeatedly faxed and mailed required confirmation of purchase only to hear nothing in response. She was confined to her home medically for extensive eye surgery and was not able to write for several weeks. During that time she was able to reach one of their rude agents and a supervisor and was told that her claim was denied due to the five day filing procedure. She told them of her problems and that she could not see to write and was,therefore, unable to follow up with another letter. Their response was too bad..5 days filing is the rule! The chair needs to be replaced by August 31. 2007 when the extended warranty runs out. She has turned it over to me and I have gotten nowhere. Now that I have read your website of complaints I'm sure that she and her chair will join all of the others who have been suckered into spending their hard earned money for this worthless extended warranty! I am intending to file an online "new" claim on her behalf if I can find the online address; can you help me find it so I can at least go through the motion of filling it out and also forwarding it via registered mail? Probably a waste of breath and time, but I feel so bad for her struggling to sit in a chair that was intended to provide her comfort in her golden years. Stainsafe is lower than whale excrement and that's at the bottom of the ocean!

I agree I had the same problem. DO NOT I REPEAT DO NOT BUY THE STAINSAFE WARRANTY! The service is horrible and your claims will not be honored.

I called them to let them know my 3 year old son wrote on our leather sofa with pen. I filed the claim the next day. They sent a tech out 3 weeks later. I called to find out what they would do since the tech could not get out the stain. He said the pen sat too long. They denied the claim. They told me the tech said it was permanent marker. BS. I am currently writing a response to that denial.

Cheri Riccio.

I have been waiting one year for replacement of my glass table top. I have a seven year warranty and they are telling me that since they no longer deal with the furniture store, they do not want to honor my claim. When I try calling them, they either hang up on me, or tell me the only communication they will accept is email, mail, or fax.

What a ripoff!

I want to make you aware of the worst insurance scam yet. Please do not purchase insurance from United American. The sales rep lied about the coverage. The paperwork does not reflect the correct information either. Company has screwed me personally please be aware!

I have done everything as requested by stainsafe, sent photos ect. My claim was initially denied because I did not send in the original warranty information. I sent a copy as requested. When I did send the original paperwork (I finally found it) I was given such excuses as our scanner is not working so we can't process your claim to a technician will be out within five to seven days.

9 months later they are still denying the claim! I have provided everything as asked, they will not give a reason. They should be shut down! How is a company this unethical allowed to operate and continue to draw funds from consumers...

Beware!

totaly agree, Stainsafe should be shut down, they totally rip people off. We bought our furniture from wickes and the stainsafe denied our claim, eventhough we had all the correct paperworks. Somebody should put a stop to their scam and even the stores who offer their service should be held accountable otherwise they keep offering the option and service of stainsafe to the innocent consumer.

I paid 159.00 for the 7 year fabric protection plan. So far I called twice to report a stain within the 5 day period. The claim process is horrible, they ask you so many questions and the same questions about the furniture and invoice are asked when you called for every claim. Anyways, I called the 3rd time within the 5 days to report that my daughter vomited on the sofa and it was kind of all over in 2 places of the cushion. I reported the problem on August 30th 2007. It took the technician 19 days to come and service it. The technician claimed that he tried to reach me before, but that's not true. I always check my messages and there were none from the technician. Not only that, after he contacted me, he couldn't schedule me for another 8 days. The sofa already stinct and now the spots started to dry out. Finally when the technician came today, he claimed the stain safe company that there are more spots and the spots looked like add on spots. THAT'S NOT TRUE. First, it took him so long to come and clean and by that time the spots were way dried out. I AM SUPPOSE TO CLEAN IT? IS THIS THE SERVICE WE GET OUT OF STAIN SAFE? WHAT DID I DO WRONG, I CLAIMED THE STAIN ON TIME AND IT WAS ME WHO HAD TO LIVE WITH THE SMELL. THIS IS A TOTAL RIP OFF. The agent on the phone told me that they will not be able to provide additional services because of this. STAY AWAY FROM THIS RIP OFF COMPANY. I will report this to every single site and reach the consumer and advise to stay away.

I bought a leather American Signiture Couch from Value City. I saved every slip of paper and receipt with my warranty from Stainsate. I wrote every detail in the online claim and even though my warranty says my leather couch is covered if it cracks or peels they denied my claim. It is a 7 year warranty, and I bought it in 2004. Stainsafe states I described normal "wear and tear". It is a scam and no one should buy the warranty. I made sure to use only descriptions in the warranty coverage. They make it impossible to make a claim with the amount of info and receipts you need and then even when you PROVE you are right they use the "wear and tear" statement to not repair the damage. Then if you get a tech from the company to come in and actually look at your furniture they make YOU pay him since they do not honor a denied claim.

I also got a warranty through Stain Safe. I have a sectional and one of the recliners material ripped and stain safe will not fix it. I went to Levitz and was told they will refund my money back for the warranty. That still does me no good since they dont make the color of my sectional any more. I was told by the salesperson at Levitz that they would replace the whole sectional. That's not going to happen. All their willing to do is give me back the money I paid for Stain Safe. I have e-mailed Stain Safe, tried to call them (all you get is a busy signal). You can't talk to anyone. Then you just get your rejection via e-mail. I asked to talk to a manager. Another rejection came via e-mail. If someone sues this company please enclude me. I have a ripped up sectional that no one wants to fix.

I am so amazed by all these people complaining about Stainsafe warranty services. I was given an example yesterday of how to explain to people how warranties work,... same as the car insurances... you pay for a car insurance but you never ask how it works until you have an accident... right?

... 2 days ago you hit a garbage can... kept driving..2 days later hit the mailbox... kept driving... yesterday you really hit another car... you call the insurance... do you think that because you're being honest you are going to have the insurance cover the 2 old scratches of the garbage can and mail box? NOOOOOO...

And why? if you paid for that stupid insurance!... same thing... you never took the time to speak to the guy who sold you the insurance policy, or the warranty certificate at your store... right?

Now, you get it?

If you call to make a claim and get denied ..maybe you never took the time to ask your store for the warranty copy or the guidelines or limitations? or even cared to get a copy the "shark" at the store told you it will cover everything?

WHO'S FAULT IS IT?

You, people making "non sense" complaints... get a book... get a hint... be smart and stop looking ridiculous with something that just makes you look ignorant... you dont read the limitations and want it all fixed for 10% of what you spent?

Do you think insurance/warranty companies are not aware of this? that by having so many ignorant people buying their product is how they survive?.. you can scream all you want... is all in there... YOU JUST DONT SEE IT.

Stainsafe is a scam call your states consumers fraud div of your states attorney office. We to are getting the run around from value city and stain safe.

Stainsafe will find every reason to deny a claim. The latest claim I made was that the joint on my bed footboard was splitting. Well I didn't use their language of failed joints so my claim was denied. Do not buy into this bogus warranty.

This person MUST work for Satin safe.

Customer service wouldn't be rude if people like you wouldn't have such an attitude. It's not like it's OUR fault.

Ugh! I sure wish I read all this BEFORE buying Stainsafe warranties on a houseful of furniture. The phone reps are rude and inept, and no two of them tell the same story. What a horror show. Now I think I'll just go to the medicine cabinet to find a big BandAid for my ottoman...

Refuse to Honor 5 year Protection program that was sold to me.

It is absolutely amazing this persons comments, Stainsafe has been a blight on the retail furniture world for 5 yrs. They are a systematic rip off, have you ever seen "The Rainmaker" same thing just not fatal and any retailer who continues to do business with them is as guilty than they are. They should have been put out of business 5 yrs ago but there are always those "venture capitalists" who are there to pick over the bones and try to revive a company that should have been put out of it and the consumers misery. Yes, buyer be ware but retailer be shamed.

I have been waiting for a settlement check for 1 year!

Bought leather furniture from a reputable store and insured it with Stainsafe. When I logged the stain with photos etc and was told that the policy didn't match the piece of furniture that was damaged. I actually found all the original bill of sale with description, the invoice showing the insurance with the same description and still they refuse to accept it. They thought I was scamming them...isn't that ironic? After the 3rd letter complete with photos they suggested that I contact the review board for a final assessment. That was in Oct/07 and I still haven't heard a thing. You have to be crazy to purchase insurance from StainSafe...I should have put the $480 in the bank and I would have had the stain fixed by now. DO NOT BUY INSURANCE FROM THIS COMPANY.

I am one of the guys whom Stainsafe sends out to repair furniture that is under warranty .
Stainsafe has not paid me yet for work I completed several months ago.
Take it from someone directly from the source, it would truly upset anyone to know what goes on, on the inside.
Stay Away from these people and their promises, it will only bring frustration

Stainsafe has refused to honor my claim because i was not sure how it got there i told the lady i thought it came off of nail polish she refused an said she could not change the claim. i wonder what small claim court will do with this.

i wonder if we could do a class action suit against stainsafe they are a real bunch of crooks

Stainsafe is one giant rip-off. They have rejected three warranty claims either without justification or on a flimsy excuse. On my Berkliner couch they advised they would not cover the reported damage as I filed the form a few days after the seven day notification period. What difference should that make as it was STILL WITHIN THE WARANTY PERIOD! My mistake for being honest with a dishonest company. No one should do business with any furniture company offering a Stainsafe warranty. It is the worst and if the state of Florida had any guts they should shut them down. I will advise everyone I know of my experience and will never do business with a company that works with Stainsafe. Suggest everyone do the same.

We're going through the same garbage with Stainsafe right now. We've had a claim since May, and it's now the August. They still haven't fixed the problem, even though we've had the replacement parts for awhile now. I'm of a mind to fix the problem myself. I'm probably going to take them to court over this issue, and then they will be forced to fix it, or give me my money back.

Today, just today! Stainsafe totally hoodwinked me. A leather sofa I purchased from Belmont Furniture in Sterling, VA developed a small tear in one of the seat cushions. I had, foolishly, purchased a warranty with stainsafe, so I called them. No answer... kept trying, finally I got somebody. I called right after it happened, which is good because they have a small print clause saying if you don't call with 5 days, the warranty for that particular incident is null and void. I was then instructed to fax over all documents, including sales receipt etc... I did so. About 3 weeks later, yes 3 weeks! I recevied a phone call telling me a repairman would be out to see it on August 8, which was another 3 weeks away; no e-mail, no nothing just over the phone. On August 7th I received another phone call saying the repairman would be out between 1 and 4 on Friday August 8th. I had to work, so I left the key out. At 3:10 PM I get a phone call saying he will be at the house in half an hour and that I HAD to be there. So I left work which takes 30-45 minutes to get back (depending on DC traffic). On the way there at 3:40 I get a phone call (actual number shows up conveniently as UNAVAILABLE on caller ID) saying that the repairman has been waiting for 45 minutes. How is that mathematically possible? I told her I was almost there. She then puts me on hold and said the repairman was now late to his next appointment, was leaving and that I would have to reschedule. After some back and forth she was getting rude with me and I told her I left work 3 hours early to drive all the way back home and now he was LEAVING? I then said, "this is ridiculous, you know what forget about it, I'll just fix the GD thing myself". Of course, she didn't hear me say this... she had already HUNG UP ON ME!
Haha, I mean this company is so pathetic it is indeed laughable. I will never, EEEVER, buy any warranty these ###s again. Judging from all the complaints, they need to be sued for this type of highway robbery, but, alas, there is nothing I can really do except complain on this forum and hope others don't buy their "services." Belmont Furniture should also cease to deal with these rip-off artists.

I am a customer service representative at STAINSAFE. I have been working here for 8 months now this is a great company. The problem with you people is YOU DONT READ YOUR WARRANTY! This is a limited product warranty. You receive a copy of the warranty when you purchase the furniture (you never read it) then you call in to file a new claim for a non warranted issue, when it is denied you act so shocked when you had a copy of the warranty from the day of purchase so you should have known that it was not covered. So don’t try and bad mouth the company. When you should have read your warranty!

I purchased a Stainsafe warranty in 2006, and this company has more helpful to me than any company I had to deal with. My suggestion to people is that any time you purchase a warranty you must read the entire warranty. Keep in mind warranites are created by lawyers. Alot of people don't read and that is why they always says a company is a scam, but because of their stupidity. So stop complaining and man up!