Several GTA residents who purchased furniture from a Mississauga furniture store through financing plans are concerned they may never receive their orders.
Three customers say they spent a combined total of $21,800 on furniture from My Furniture by Mattress to Door.
“We have been trying them through different numbers, and there is no response to it,” Reena Girkar, of Kitchener, Ont., said in an interview with CTV News.
Girkar said her family ordered a dining set and a two-piece bedroom set totaling $13,000 in May and opted for a financing plan through Flexiti.
She said she was told to continue making payments despite not receiving her purchases.
“We have tried to reach the financing company to tell them we haven’t received the items we purchased and to tell them we are paying for nothing that has arrived,” said Girkar.
Clarah Migwi, of Toronto, said she also ordered a $3,500 sectional sofa and is still waiting for it to be delivered.
“My concern is I will never see that couch ever again,” Migwi said.
“I would like to get the sectional sofa that I ordered; if not, I want the debt to go away. They needed to reverse this.”
No response from furniture store
My Furniture by Mattress to Door did not respond to CTV News’ request for comment.
We visited the company’s Mississauga location, where the store’s sign had been taken down. A notice on the door said the lease had been terminated due to non-payment of rent.
CTV News also visited the company’s other location in North York, which appeared to be open. However, after CTV News arrived, an employee locked the door.
Rajinder Paul, of Mississauga, said he also purchased $5,300 worth of furniture, including a sofa set, two mattresses, and two small tables, but the items were never delivered.
“I’m asking the finance company to cancel the order, and they said, ‘We can’t. It’s between you and the merchant’,” said Paul.
Financing partner responds to concerns
All three customers said they made financing arrangements through Flexiti.
A statement provided to CTV News from Flexiti’s president, Jessica Moffat, indicated that their “purpose is to help Canadians access the purchases that matter to them, on terms that fit their life.”
“We are a financing partner, not the retailer, and we are not involved in product delivery. That said, we hold our merchant partners to a high standard, and when one falls short, we treat it as our problem to help solve,” she wrote in an email.
Moffat went to to say that they are in “direct contact” with this merchant’s corporate team about these orders.
“Recent reports of closed or inaccessible store locations prompted us to re-verify the status of their operations. When a merchant relationship doesn’t meet our standards, we will end it,” she said.
“We stand by our customers, and our team is ready to help anyone affected.”
No sense paying back loan for items not received: insolvency trustee
Doug Hoyes is a licensed insolvency trustee with Hoyes, Michalos & Associates.
“It doesn’t seem right to me that someone would have to pay a loan back for furniture they didn’t receive,” he said.
According to Hoyes, customers may lose their deposits when a business closes its doors. However, he said customers should not have to pay for items they never received.
“It seems to me there should be a term that says the loan doesn’t begin until the furniture is delivered,” he said.
As for Girkar, she said she just wants “them to refund us the money that we spent to stop the monthly payments.”
