Furniture manufacturers compete with imports, also

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review ^ | Tuesday, April 2, 2002 | C.M. Mortimer

[Willie Green]

Pennsylvania House has been manufacturing wood furniture in central Pennsylvania's Susquehanna Valley since 1887.

And nearly 90 percent of the hardwood used at its plant in Lewisburg, Union County, is cherry, the majority of which comes from mills within a 100-mile radius.

[Registered]

MORE TARIFFS! MORE TARIFFS! ;-)

[Phantom Lord]

These companies are nothing more than exploiters of the planet and murderers. They should be forceably put out of business and their assets sold and the revenue invested in cleansing mother earth. How dare anyone support these evil companies.

The trees can not fight for themselves so we have to fight for them. Fight the evil furniture industrial complex. Big Furniture is EVIL!

[afraidfortherepublic]

Imported wooden furniture boasts joints that open, glue that fails, and finishes that crack. In addition, because the finishes are applied in a quick, cheap manner -- scratch cover soes not work; and when you try to remove the finish to try to apply a proper one, you find that the wood has been coated withsome kind of silicone product that makes it extremely hard to apply a new finish.

Buy new American made furniture, or antique American furniture, or old (pre 1960) American reproductions, treat it lovingly, and your furniture will last a lifetime.

I write this on an 1830, solid walnut, Pennsylvania farm table that I'd never trade for an import. It functions beautifully as a computer desk.

[Swanks]

Pennslvania House is good stuff; expensive but good. Had our dining room set for 20 years, looks as good as the day we bought it.

High Point, NC is the furniture capital of the world. A store named FurnitureLand South is the biggest of the biggest in High Point.

Advise: Do not do business with FurnitureLand South. Over 250 complaints (not to the 'BBB') but to the NC Attorney General's office (including mine) for Pete's sake.

See: TheSqueakyWheel (and the Search facility for FurnitureLand South) and you will know why.

Tommorrow is the one-year anniversary of my ordering furniture from these people. I have neither the furniture nor my money. If you deal with them, you will have neither also.

[Swanks]

bttt

[PA Engineer]

We have been buying from the Amish with Amish Fine Furniture in Western PA. Every Item we have purchased was at a third of retail (including ethan allen which was not even equivalent in quality) and an instant heirloom. The only downside is waiting the 3-5 months for custom orders.

[afraidfortherepublic]

We have been buying from the Amish with Amish Fine Furniture in Western PA

Sounds like an excellent plan. I have not had access to their goods, although we do have stores here in Wisconsin that carry Wisconsin Amish made furniture. I have some Hickory pieces and other Carolina manufacturers in my home. However, most of my home is furnished with American antiques from the 1770s through the 1840s -- many of them Pennsylvania made -- and all of them loved. The down side is that these pieces have to be acquired one piece at a time. So, to have a fully furnished home, they have had to co-exist side by side with older reproductions (hand me downs) and a few carefully chosen English antiques (which can be overbearing in style, unless you are careful).

Out of necessity I've had to opt for an import from time to time, and I have been sorry every time. Penny wise = pound foolish has been the result. The imports usually wind up at the good will, or passed off to married children who then send them off to the good will after they break, beyond the efforts of average home repair to save them. I get so exasperated at imported furniture that warps, splits, peels, sags, etc. It's very expensive when you consider that it will definitely have to be replaced.

I still have every antique piece I have ever purchased and have enjoyed them all over a 43 year marriage. My 'rule of thumb' has been to never pay more for an antique than a comparable new piece would cost. Despite the tremendous inflation in prices in recent years, that rule is still workable because good new furniture is tremendously expensive too. The difference is that the antique holds its value and increases its value right along with inflation. It becomes part of your 'net worth'. The new piece becomes 'used' furniture the minute it leaves the shop. This does not matter if you plan to keep it a lifetime and pass it on to your children. It does matter if you are planning to re-sell it at the time of your next job relocation.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Thanks for the tip. I have friends who head south to order furniture directly from the manufacturers in High Point every year, and they have had good luck, for the most part. I have never done this. I can't stand the wait! LOL. I like to drag my purchases home from the antique show, or store, myself (see #8).

I shall warn my friends and any of my children who might be tempted by this particular store. I'm sorry about your problem, but it is good of you to warn all of us.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Thanks for the link to the Squeaky Wheel. Interesting and useful web site.

[Swanks]

Thanks for the link to the Squeaky Wheel. Interesting and useful web site.

SqueakyWheel actually charges a modest fee ($5) to list a complaint. But, they link to all the major search engines so any firm reported here gets it's name up-in-lights via Yahoo, Google, etc. for the whole world to see.
Those three FurnitureLand South complaints resulted in over 1600 'views' of said complaints.
Not good for business, don't you think?

For similiar type complain sites, see:

BadDealings.com

eComplaints.com

What a surprise.... FurnitureLand South makes the Hall-of-Shame here, too.

[LouD]

"fill the gaps" in manufacturers' product lines.

Yeah, that's what the auto industry thought, too.

[PA Engineer]

The down side is that these pieces have to be acquired one piece at a time.

This is why we finally decided on replacing everything with Amish made furniture. We get to choose the wood, style and finish. One of the other benefits of Amish furniture is we will be able to upgrade any cabinets we have to match the styles of furniture. We have been through five long haul moves and will be staying put this time (contractual obligations) for at least another ten years. I can really sympathize with you in regards to furniture loss (intentional or not) during moves, as well as the per pound moving costs of solid wood furniture.

The imports usually wind up at the good will, or passed off to married children who then send them off to the good will after they break, beyond the efforts of average home repair to save them. I get so exasperated at imported furniture that warps, splits, peels, sags, etc. It's very expensive when you consider that it will definitely have to be replaced.

This was our experience with both import and Bassett. Our Bassett Mission pieces just could not stand up to the onslaught of our young daughter.

good new furniture is tremendously expensive too. The difference is that the antique holds its value and increases its value right along with inflation. It becomes part of your 'net worth'. The new piece becomes 'used' furniture the minute it leaves the shop.

This was also our experience. My wife worked for a custom wood/finishing shop while she was going to med school. She has an incredible eye for finishing quality and always points out the defects in factory produced products. The first time we investigated the Amish outlet I could see her eyes light up. We recently took delivery of our new master bedroom furniture (a solid oak king mission sleigh bed, double upright mule chest and nightstands). The workmanship is superior to even the best of the commercial equivalents, and at a third of the price of outlet custom brands.

P.S. Depending on the Amish family you contract with your mileage may vary. Also take in pictures of you antiques to see if they can match them. I bet you will be surprised.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Thanks for the information. I am not really in the business of acquiring any new furniture -- I should get rid of some that I have and downsize. However, your information will be very helpful for my children who are still in the acquisition mode. I particularly like the idea of matching finishes and styles to antique pieces. That is one of the downsides of collecting antiques -- anything new alongside them sticks out like a sore thumb.