Consumer SOS: La-Z-Boy chair pickup mystery

Joanne Rosen says she just wanted a proper, adjustable chair to sit down in as she recovers from hip surgery. Instead, the chair she paid for and had delivered to her home was apparently stolen by men posing as delivery drivers from a major international retail company.

“The way they conducted themselves is inappropriate,” said Rosen, speaking to Global News at her north Toronto condominium where she’s lived for 17 years.

Rosen paid about $1,800 for the recliner from La-Z-Boy, a well-established American furniture manufacturer with Canadian stores in Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta.

But the chair was too difficult to use, so she and her daughter arranged to return it to the company.

“I thought they had a truck in the area. It’s their chair,” said Rosen’s daughter, Ilena Borinsky.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "I thought they had a truck in the area. It's their chair," said Rosen's daughter, Ilena Borinsky.

On May 11, two men presented themselves at Rosen’s building to retrieve the chair.

“We asked to see names, identification, a requisition – we checked it all,” said Ron Boyco, who operates RBG Security, the company that supplies security services to Rosen’s condominium corporation.

After vetting the drivers, a security concierge called Rosen who permitted the men to come up. She said she believed they were drivers from La-Z-Boy.

READ MORE: Video appears to show man in Toronto restaurant stealing purse from woman’s chair

“I assumed it was La-Z-Boy,” she said, which was a presumption reinforced after she signed a slip bearing the La-Z-Boy name.

Minutes later, the two men left with the chair. But when Rosen and her daughter said they called the company to ask about their credit for the chair, they were advised that the men weren’t from the company.

“He wasn’t going to do anything about it,” said Borinsky, referring to a La-Z-Boy executive to whom she said she reported what happened.

Borinsky said no one except she, her mother and La-Z-Boy staff were aware of the intended pick-up.

“It had to be an inside job — no one (else) knew,” Borinsky told Global News.

But La-Z-Boy operations vice-president Cliff Ernst disagreed.

“All I can say is that something happened. I don’t know how it happened or why it happened, but for it to be blamed on La-Z-Boy without definitive proof is unfair,” said Ernst in an email.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "All I can say is that something happened. I don't know how it happened or why it happened, but for it to be blamed on La-Z-Boy without definitive proof is unfair," said Ernst in an email.

“Our team of professional delivery personnel have been with us from the earliest of two years to the latest of 12 years … we have never experienced anything like this.”

Security video at the apartment complex clearly showed two men entering the building, entering the elevator, and exiting the building carrying the heavy recliner.

“The only people who knew anything about it was (their) people. They are directed by someone from (La-Z-Boy) because no one knew to pick up a chair,” said Borinsky.

“We feel La-Z-Boy isn’t taking responsibility … We feel victimized,” said Andrea Whyte, property manager at the condominium.

She said she doesn’t feel comfortable allowing anyone from La-Z-Boy onto the property until the case is resolved.

Meanwhile, Ernst said his company is refunding the cost of the missing chair and another one that was ordered but not delivered.

Toronto police are investigating the case. They are asking anyone who may recognize the men to call police or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-8477.