Oops, You Spilled It Again: Furniture Protection Scams to Be Aware Of
You love your furniture. You can rely on it to bring comfort, convenience and familiarity to your home. Your kids may have jumped up and down on it like cute little hellions. Your feet, your back, your head and your butt may know every thread, wood knot or smooth piece of leather intimately. But sometimes we hurt the ones we love. Hey, it's OK. If you purchased furniture insurance, you might be able to bring your baby back to life, all shiny and new like the first day you laid eyes on her (or him.)
Some plans are truly created because oops! moments are inevitable, and furniture provider's like Jerome's really care about customers like you. Unfortunately, others are designed to confuse, swindle and change at the whim of a salesperson. And seriously, who can read the fine print when it's displayed in Point 2 font?
Your furniture should be able to weather life's magical moments and accidents with you and your family. As you shop, here are some dishonest sales tactics to say “Oh, hell no” to.
Oh, She Told You That Price? It's Really This
While some stores will offer consistent pricing or percentages based on what you're buying, others will involve you in a guessing game you never wanted to play. One associate may offer you a “deal” on furniture insurance that is still in actuality a total rip-off.
One of the top signs an insurance agent is just looking to make a buck instead of offer valuable protection is that they pressure you to buy a policy, using language like, “I'll give you a deal if you say 'yes' now.” Look for a furniture dealer that offers consistent pricing, every time. If you're getting the runaround and various confusing prices, that's a sign that insurance is probably best to run far away from.
You're Not Going to Read the Fine Print Anyway
“You're fully covered,” is likely not something that's going to be totally true with every furniture insurance plan. For example, if your kids are constantly drawing on your wooden furniture in ballpoint pen ink, and you've let them do it more than say, a couple dozen times, it's safe to say you probably can't make a claim for the damage as a “single accidental incident.”
Your sales associate should be up-front about factors like these. Full coverage is rarely truly full. Certain materials and types of damage may not be covered. Consumer Reports says contract fine print discrepancies for extended warranties are a major source of complaints to the Better Business Bureau.
Be aware of this knowledge when considering furniture protection insurance. Be sure to read every piece of fine print and go over it with the associate before agreeing to insurance. And if the fine print requires a magnifying glass to decipher, then something is up.
What's That? You Have a Claim?
Like many insurance plans, your protection sometimes really isn't in the best interest of the insurer. After all, insurance plans are usually created for the insurer to make money — not to offer the best value to the insured. Browse the National Consumer Complaint Forum, and you can read hundreds of stories of disgruntled customers talking about the cringe-worthy tactics insurance claims representatives use to ultimately deny your claim. Not cool.
If you've ever dealt with an insurance company, you might be aware that a single slip-up or “admission” on your part when you're explaining the damage can fully discredit your claim. Some insurers make the claims process purposely challenging. Reasonable claims can be denied, simply because the insurance terms were a cloudy mess to begin with. You want an insurance representative who is your advocate, not someone who will battle you down to the last penny.
Put Our Claims Process in Your Busy Schedule — or Else
Let's get real: We're all busy. We get it, you get it, but your furniture store might not realize all the responsibilities you have in-between purchasing furniture from them. Some insurance plans only give you five days to submit a claim. Seriously? Five days?!
Don't you think a plan like 30 days is much more reasonable? If damage is happening to furniture at your home, you probably have far more important things on your mind than filing a claim right away. Like cleaning up your kid after they decided to throw spaghetti on your leather couch. Or taking your dog to obedience school so it stops chewing your fabric armchair. Or heading to the nail salon to get your nails redone after you spill your polish on your wooden coffee table.
Don't Trust Everything You Hear
You have plenty of things to consider when furniture shopping — color, design, how good it feels to sit in and kick your feet up on. Insurance should never be an additional headache or something that leaves you questioning your purchase. You should leave your shopping journey feeling confident, happy and taken care of — not like you've just been slapped with a scam.
Look for a furniture protection plan like Jerome's Furniture's Oops Proof! plan. Our plans don't change based on who you're dealing with. All the "fine print" is easy to read, and we'll walk you through any question you have. You can file a claim within 30 days, and our agency actually wants to help you protect your furniture and keep it good-as-new.
We're human, too, and we'd be lying if we said we didn't have the occasional spill or accident that warrants furniture protection. We got you.