Winnipeg furniture store accused of failing to deliver orders, refunds

A Winnipeg furniture store has been the subject of so many complaints from members of the city's Nigerian community, the president of the Nigerian Association of Manitoba says she plans to hire a lawyer to deal with the situation.

Rove Furniture and Appliances has an F rating from the Better Business Bureau and police confirm they've received an online report accusing the Winnipeg business of fraud, but the owner says the company's learning from its mistakes and working toward catching up with furniture deliveries and refunds in the next couple of months.

Ehinomhen Oseghale, one of the Nigerian community members who complained about Rove, said he ordered $7,140 worth of furniture more than four months ago, and despite having paid the full amount, he still hasn't received it.

"I [have] a home and my family can't get a bed to lay on," Oseghale said.

Nigerian Association president Vera Keyede said the five people who have gone to them about Rove say they've lost a total of about $15,000.

She's tried to follow up with the owner, she said.

"He's not picking [up] my calls, and it's just been a frustrating time," she said, so she hopes a lawyer will help bring action.

Oseghale ordered his furniture on March 30 and paid a deposit of $3,000, then paid the rest in June, he said.

He was told his furniture would arrive by June 29, but it didn't, so he contacted the business manager several times and was given a final delivery date of July 28, but the furniture still didn't arrive, he said.

His family needed furniture so he ordered different furniture online, but the owner of Rove asked him to cancel that order, saying the furniture was in the warehouse and would be delivered after the August civic holiday — but it still didn't arrive, Oseghale said.

"I wasn't trusting the stories anymore, because they kept giving me different excuses," Oseghale said.

"I didn't want the furniture anymore, so I insisted that I needed my money."

Oseghale did eventually get a refund cheque, but the cheque bounced, he said.

Quadri Salaudeen said he also has had problems getting furniture or a refund from Rove.

"I've not experienced this kind of situation ever since I've come to Canada," he said.

Salaudeen ordered a dining table and sofa from Rove on April 20 and paid a $1,300 deposit on the $2,600 total cost, he said. He was told the furniture would be delivered by the end of June.

He cancelled the sofa order a few weeks later but left the $1,300 deposit he'd paid to cover the cost of the table, he said.

Salaudeen said he sent two reminders to Rove toward the end of June and was told the furniture would be delivered after the Canada Day holiday, on July 2.

"July 2, no delivery, no call, no communication," he said.

He called Rove but no one picked up and no one responded to his text message, he said.

Eventually he was told his furniture would be delivered July 24 — but then he got a text message from the company, saying their truck had been stolen.

Salaudeen has also received a refund cheque that bounced, he said.

He's complained to the Nigerian Association, filed a report with Winnipeg police and he said he opened a file with the Consumer Protection Office, which administers consumer protection legislation for the province of Manitoba.

Police confirmed they received an online report of fraud. The Consumer Protection Office told the CBC it couldn't provide information because its individual complaint files are confidential.

Nitish (Nick) Kesar, the owner of Rove, confirmed the men had not received their furniture and refunds have not been successful, but promised to rectify the situation.

The company has suffered losses due to theft and supply chain problems, he said.

"A lot of our suppliers have taken money from us and not given the product on time … and during this whole process, some customers and refunds were affected."

The company has only been in business for two years and they're still learning, Kesar said.

"We have to go after our suppliers overseas to ask for our money back," he said. 

"We have to kind of arrange those refunds from our own pocket. That's the reason that refunds were delayed."

Logistics are also at play, said Kesar, who called the current economic situation a recession, although the slowing economy is not actually in recession at this point.

"Our loads have shrinked. We used to get about four or five loads every two weeks. Right now we're down to one load a week. We have over 10 containers stuck in Vancouver," he said.

The company has refunded $40,000 to $50,000 in orders over the last two months, he said.

"Right now, we are caught up with about 80 per cent [of] refunds, so we have maybe 20 per cent more to go. I'm thinking by the end of September or middle of October, we will deal with all of them."

Stefanie Lasuik, communications manager at the Better Business Bureau of Canada, said the private consumer complaints organization has had 10 complaints about Rove in the past seven months.

"There are five online that you can see and there are five more currently underway," Lasuik said. "We can't speak to the specific status of those complaints."

One of the complaints has been resolved and others have not been responded to, she said.

After the CBC started working on this story, both Oseghale and Salaudeen said they were contacted by Kesar.

Salaudeen said he received a $450 e-transfer from Kesar on Tuesday and was promised the balance of $850 by Wednesday.

Oseghale said he got a message from Kesar on Saturday, saying he's working on getting him a replacement cheque or store credits.