Tests show cheap materials used in costly furniture
Print Edition
ALMOST half of furniture, sold as high quality wood such as rosewood and mahogany, is packed with low-cost, inferior materials, tests by the city’s consumer rights protection watchdog show.
The cost of some materials used could amount to less than one tenth of what the advertised wood would cost, according to the Shanghai Consumer Rights Protection Commission. It added that the problem had become “rampant.”
The commission tested 59 sets of furniture, advertised as being made of high quality wood, and found 46 percent had been sold under false pretences. The furniture tested was bought by consumers who suspected they had been conned.
One of them bought four pieces of “rosewood” furniture for 47,000 yuan (US$7,014) from the Guangzhong Road outlet of Shanghai Wubo Business and Trade Co last June.
The furniture started cracking soon after. The “rosewood” turned out to be vene wood according to the commission’s tests. The market price of vene wood is about 8,000 yuan per ton, compared with 100,000 yuan for rosewood.
Another of the consumers paid 27,500 yuan for seven pieces of “rosewood” furniture made by Shanghai Jinxuan Furniture Co. In this case, mopane was used, which has a market price of 8,000 yuan per ton.
Another set of furniture tested, described as mahogany, and bought from Zhuomei Imported Real Wood Furniture Pavilion on Taobao, the e-commerce site, was composed of cottonwood, according to the commission.
The market price of mahogany is 13,000 yuan per cubic meter, cottonwood is 1,500 yuan.
The commission ordered the above furniture makers and sellers to refund and compensate the consumers.
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