Furniture Scam

I think its only if the person was being compensated unlike girl scout or boy scouts....but I could be wrong as I don't know what the County ordinances are....

 

The truck was on my street this evening. Many of my neighbors were outside at the time and checking out the stuff. Someone told me the truck guy had a permit but I don't know if it was a photo one. One neighbor bought a leather sofa and loveseat and another bought a sofa and chair.

This article describes the experience I observed while hanging out with the neighbors during the truck's visit. The truck had a Thomasville, NC address printed on the door. The truck's mudflaps had NC on them. The license plate was a NC plate. The tags on some of the furniture had Lank of Lexington as the brand. Apparently it also is known as Southern Traditions. View the VP's LinkedIn page.

I don't know anything about the quality or brand name of the furniture they were selling but when I took a look at the items my neighbors purchased the stuff looked well made as far as I could tell. Seams were smooth, trim was even, etc. I'm no expert on furniture but it seemed nicer than what you'd buy at Target anyway. The price for an upholstered wingback chair was $280 or so. That price seemed in line with what I've seen on Overstock.com and places like World Market.

The furniture may be fine for the prices the guys are charging and maybe this is how they do their business. Still, I don't think I would buy furniture off a truck like that myself and if the business is operating outside the law somehow I wouldn't want to support it by giving them my money. I'm not saying they are, but if...

 

I like these trucks. As mentioned before, they used to come around all the time in the late 90's, early 2000's because of all the new houses.
I hopped in the truck and looked around. Some of the stuff was name brand high quality goods. Had a few nice grandfather clocks.

 

I hear ya but what recourse do we have if later if the fabric came apart or some other defect showed up later? Will the company guarantee that they would fix or replace it? My whole point was how can the consumer be protected in this case?

IMHO, this is a true caveat emptor situation since the consumer may not have any protections at all if something went wrong with the product later on and have no recourse for redress.

 

If I'm paying a couple hundred bucks for a chair off the back of a truck, I know I'm not getting Ethan Allan. I wouldn't want to support illegal activity, but 10 years ago when I bought my chair, it didn't even occur to be to ask for a business license.

For what it's worth, my 10 year old chair is going strong: no pillling, ripping, etc. I've gotten my money's worth from it. Maybe I was just lucky.

 

If it were me I would assume there would be no guarantee when purchasing furniture off a random truck driving down my street. In my mind that's the concession to paying what should be a low price for furniture.

 

Most consumers today do not purchase furniture with the intent to keep it for the rest of their lives. When they tire of the piece or it breaks, it's easier to discard because it didn't cost a pretty penny. In our disposable economy, most folks are happy with Ikea or the furniture discount stores, so what's the difference with this truck. Obviously, they are selling everything "as is". It's up to the consumer to determine whether the price fits the quality and if they're going to be happy with it.

This door to door model of selling goods is still very common in Europe and in other parts of the world.

 

What makes me mad about this is that they did come to our house and he showed me his permit (one page of words with no picture) so I went out and looked at what they had.

I accepted that his permit was legit otherwise I would have called the non-emergency number.

I suspect they know if they offer the permit then people are likely to not call on them.

 

They are on Sunstone/Ridgeway today. I didn't like the fact their massive truck blocked access to my driveway and I had to wait 10+ minutes to pull my car onto my property. (I had to track them down on the street and ask them to move their truck so I could pull into my own driveway to unload my groceries)

I called the non-emergency number and dispatched informed me that they are "squared away with all permits" and the LCSO has received several calls over the past 3 days "but they are legit" and have "all the proper credentials with the County.

 

Im SURPRISED that they are squared away with all permits after all I thought I read somewhere on this thread that they had no pictures with the permit?!? Aren't pictures required?

I wouldn't want to do business with them since I don't like the way they do business like this door-to-door. I'd rather do business with a brick and mortar building or with a bonafide company in South Carolina via the internet/phone. (I have bought furniture this way and know where they are really located. By a truck alone just makes me a bit leery of them. I think of them as being hucksters, if you will.