Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Bed Bath N' Table And The Morgan & Finch Connection

I just came across a post about Bed Bath N' Table, which implies that Morgan & Finch is Bed Bath N' Table's home brand. The post says:

Bed Bath N Table is a dynamic and successful family owned business. Established in 1960, it has grown progressively under the visionary talents of Jonathan Dempsey, who took over as managing director in 1996. With innovative directives like the introduction of the home brand Morgan & Finch, in house design and exclusive product development, the company has maintained a point of difference to all competitors. The implication of uniform visual merchandising and store design has ensured recognizable continuity across all stores. There are now 50 stores Australia wide and 2 in New Zealand. Their Home brands are constantly up dated, with new styles added seasonally to incorporate current trends.

While I can't verify the truth of this - I don't know who wrote the post - if it's true, it makes our bad customer service experience even more unpalatable.

The Carindale store manager of Bed Bath N' Table was passing the buck to Morgan & Finch, saying that only Morgan & Finch could decide if the product is faulty - however it seems that they are all owned by the same people!

I understand that they are probably separate entities, but the fact that Bed Bath N' Table seem to own Morgan & Finch makes them even more responsible for the quality of the product.

I left this out of the original post, but I actually put it to the store manager that Bed Bath N' Table were responsible for the quality of the products they sold - she denied this and said they weren't responsible for the quality of the products they sell. That just doesn't hold up if the product is made by their sister company!

I'll have to check the packaging carefully, but I can't remember seeing the relationship between the two companies mentioned anywhere before. There seems to be a lack of disclosure going on.

So, at the end of the day, we received either a faulty product, or a poor quality one, from the sister company of the product's manufacturer, and were then told that they weren't responsible.

Good on you Bed Bath N' Table! I think it's highly unlikely that I'll ever shop there again or that I'll buy Morgan & Finch products in future (although as the two go hand in hand, that's probably a given).