Leatherique Nightmare

[lexus400]

First, it takes a LOT to get me post something negative about any person/company. Read below and then decide if you want to deal with Leatherique.... This is EXACTLY what's happened to me. I typed this email and sent it to them a couple of days ago giving them ONE last chance. No response.

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For those that don't know, Leatherique makes leather dye and conditioner. Most people use their products for redying car seats.

Part of their service is sending a swatch of your leather so that they can match the color. This is where the fun begins for me. I'll spare all of the exact dates since it's the overall timeline that's the punchline to this joke:

1) I send in a swatch of leather. Receive dye and some time goes by before I try it. It's not even close.

2) Contact leatherique and they suggest going to an art store and adding black paint (it's gray and too light at this point). Ok, I say. How hard could that be ? Not sure why I needed to send in a swatch since now I'm matching the color but I just want to get it done.

3) Well I can't. I go back and forth with them adding more black and I just can't get it right. My wifes car has been off the road for over a week now (removed the seats).

4) I'm under the gun to get the car back on the road, think I have it close and spray the seat. It's way off...

5) Leatherique sends me to a website which has leather colors and asks which one matches mine. I reply with a 3 digit number and they decide to send me a new bottle. The old batch is no good because at this point I've mixed too much paint into the dye.

6) I'm not happy but at least they are trying to do something. However, getting that bottle took 2 weeks. Why you ask ? I'm calling every day, "did it ship yet" but I never getting a straight answer - EVER.

I checked Hoovers, they have THREE employees. The typical

response is "I sent an email to the shipping department but

never heard back". At least 6 unanswered emails and another

4 phone calls go by...

With all the back and forth the car has now been off the road for almost 3 weeks.

FINALLY, I get a hold of them and the give me a tracking number. Delivery should be on a Friday so I can get it all done during the weekend. It's been a long road but there's light at the end of the tunnel. Not so fast...

The package never shows up. I call/email, no reponse. I call Fedex, they don't know anything about the package. Turns out that Leatherique gave me a tracking number but the package never left the building - way to go.

Another week goes by. I send an email offering to pay for 2 day shipping so I can get it done the following weekend - no response. I also suggest that they return swatches with a dab of the matched dye applied. Hey, there's a novel idea, why not prove that you actually matched the color ? I say this because I'm pretty sure they never matched the swatch I sent in to begin this saga.

I call/email over and over. Finally get a tracking number and another bottle shows up. Ok, the car has been off the road for a month but I should be good to go. Put on a small test to check the color and it's exactly the same as the first bottle. Now I KNOW they never matched to the swatch. I tested this batch right next to the first one and it's a perfect match.

Email them again. Get some reference to fading, etc. Now for the record, the swatch I sent originally was cut from inside the rear seat pocket on a hardtop sedan that's always garaged. I don't think there's a whole lot of fading going on. The match between my swatch and the original seats is dead on.

As I said before, even if that were the case, returning the swatch with some matched dye applied would eliminate that issue. Their job is to match the dye to the swatch, any matching after that is my issue.

Now, with the new bottle they send me some of their black dye to tint.

I paint cars as a hobby, so I'm pretty well versed in mixing things. I can't get it right. It's off by miles. Two unanswered emails later, I finally get a reponse suggesting that I "send back the dye" and we'll mix it for you. Ok, I box it up and send it back two day delivery. That was two weeks and a half weeks ago.

Since then, I have sent 5 emails and called 6 times. I never got a response to my emails but got a hold of someone on the phone three out of six times. Each time I got a reponse like, "haven't heard back from colormatch… I think it was done ?"

Hmm, I’ll check and call you back.”. I haven't received ONE reply from any phone call. None, zero. As soon as you hang up with them (if you don't get their voicemail) it's as good as never calling.

Do you think with 3 employees someone could go pick up the friggen box and send it to me ? No, this is like trying to get an answer from the IRS.

It's now been SIX weeks since this nightmare started and I'm no closer to getting this resolved. I give up. This place is a nightmare to I would strongly suggest using something else. So, the final scorecard is:

I'm out of commission six weeks, hours of aggravation, about $85, the cost of another dye PLUS whatever time it'll take to redo the whole thing. Thanks Leatherique !!

Bob

[SW03ES]

Wow, never heard a story like that about them before...

i know its a small operation...

[indiasfinest]

sorry i skimmed through the post, but what did you need the paint for?

[steviej]

demand your money back, threaten with BBB and small claims court if they don't send it back to you.

Never do business with them again. In the time spend, you probably could have had it done by a reputable upolsterer or leather tanner in you area.

steviej

[Rx330driver]

lol i would be so frustrated by that point , i would not have kept asking for more bottles.

[SKperformance]

Is there not a letherique supplier close to you who could match it properly by doing the job themselves?

[SW03ES]

sorry i skimmed through the post, but what did you need the paint for?

You took the time to post this, but you couldn't read the post?!?!

Just read the post :whistles:

[Rx330driver]

sorry i skimmed through the post, but what did you need the paint for?

You took the time to post this, but you couldn't read the post?!?!

Just read the post :whistles:

he didnt even explain why he needed to repaint his leather...i guess it was just time for a refreshing look