Urban Home Urban Home should be called "Urban Fraud" Sherman Oaks, California

Urban Home should be called Urban Fraud. When you walk in it looks like a sparse low priced version of Pottery Barn, until you find something you want to buy. What I wanted and have been seeking for years is a chair, preferably a recliner small enough to fit in my apartment bedroom.

My girlfriend and I stop in on our way to a movie in the mall. since we have a few minutes to kill. I pick up the Urban Home Scam Flyer and see a "Swinton Leather Recliner" next to a picture of a brown leather chair. An Urban Scam Associate points us to the chair. It has a paper sign next to it "Leather Recliner" It's small- just what I wanted. I sit in it and it works. The Leather is a little stiff but I figure it will soften up, and for $300! - you can t beat that.

We make a snap decision to buy the chair. At the counter, I ask the cashier, if the chair is really leather. She say yes it is, there may be a few vinyl panels on the back and some other spots. It will take a week to ship the chair 60 miles from Oxnard. She tells me about the restocking fee if I return it. 20% after 10 days, 10% even if I change my mind before I walk out of the store. That should have been enough red flags. They get paid even if I never see the box. Still most merchants under promise and over deliver in my experience so I don't worry.

The chair arrives at the the store on day 9. (So returning the chair to Urban Fraud will cost 20% for sure.) I rent a truck and come pick it up the next day (I had other stuff to move also) Take the chair home and it sits for a day cuz I'm a busy man. I unpack and assemble the chair and see on the box "PVC/Leather Recliner" I can't remember what PVC is and the topic leaves my mind.

The next day. I have some time to sit in my chair and read. When I start to notice a smell, a combination like chocolate and gasoline. The smell lingers all day and I realize it's the Urban Home/Urban Fraud chair. I inspect the chair and realize that it is vinyl. ALL VINYL. NO LEATHER AT ALL.

I call the store. They Remind me of their return policy (They need the box too) and I suggest that I shouldn't have to pay a restocking fee when the chair isn't as advertised. I still have a copy of the flyer. I go to the store. The "manager" Who looked about 20, found a piece of paper that said that some leather items were actually "bi-cast leather" which means pieces of leather held together with vinyl. (Generally considered fraud by consumer advocates.) We argue, they give me another number to call in Oxnard where I can talk to a voice mail until I'm dead.

I send an angry email to the website. Someone writes back to tell me the chair is "bonded leather" which is particles of leather mixed into the vinyl. (even more fraudulent) She also wanted to know why I was so mad. I point out that the chair I ordered was advertised as "Leather" not bi-cast or bonded Vinyl BS, and I shouldn't be charged a restocking fee for their fraud, and they should come pick it up. She said that I had had the chair too long and could not return it anyway. I sent a long expletive filled response.

I still have the chair. The arm rest have already lost their cushion so you can feel the wood against your elbows, however it doesn't stink anymore.

Urban Fraud has much nice looking cheap knock off furniture that they will gladly lie about so you think you're getting a great deal. Don't fall for it. When they say it solid wood, it's particle board. When they say leather, it's vinyl. if you like particle board and vinyl, the price is average. Urban Home is a scam.